Toronto Raptors defeated Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in a huge comeback win after Scottie Barnes’ 17-point fourth quarter.
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00:00 Raptors fans have waited for this moment, but it appears as though the Scottie Barnes
00:03 leap is finally here.
00:05 So what has the player really changed about his game from last season that's allowing
00:09 him to break out?
00:10 Let's get into it.
00:12 It was yet another dominant display by Scottie Barnes in the thrilling comeback win by the
00:17 Raptors over the San Antonio Spurs in a game in which they were down by 19 points going
00:22 into the second half.
00:23 They only scored 35 total first half points.
00:27 They were down by 15 going into the fourth quarter, but still managed to get this game
00:31 into overtime and still managed to get the job when they got there.
00:35 And a huge part of the reason why the Raptors got back in this game at all and eventually
00:38 won the game was the outstanding play of Scottie Barnes, who goes for 17 fourth quarter points
00:44 and puts up a dominant 30 points in this one.
00:46 He was a menace all over the court, whether it was on offense, whether it was on defense.
00:50 And it's safe to say that the player, the superstar, potential superstar that we thought
00:55 we had in the city of Toronto is finally starting to emerge here.
00:59 And he is putting the NBA on notice 100% because make no mistakes.
01:04 The statistics by Scottie Barnes this season are that of a potential all-star.
01:07 Now the Raptors record is going to have significant influence on if he's going to be able to make
01:11 it.
01:12 And listen, I understand it's only seven games.
01:14 Don't want to jump the gun here.
01:15 Don't want to be too reactionary, but these stats are outstanding.
01:19 And this looks like a player who has completely transformed his game compared to last season.
01:26 So far this season, he's averaging over 22 points per game, almost like right under 10
01:31 rebounds a game at 9.9, nearly six assists per game.
01:35 And he's doing so incredibly efficiently averaging well over 50% shooting from the field and
01:41 well, well over 40% shooting from three at just above 42%.
01:45 And hey, adding in the defensive statistics as well is a welcome sight for the player.
01:49 2.1 blocks per game and 1.1 steals per game.
01:52 He has been a menace all over the court for this Toronto Raptors team.
01:56 And it's a very, very welcome sight.
01:59 Maybe there was some slight doubts about the real ceiling of this player last season after
02:04 his Rookie of the Year campaign.
02:05 I mean, the sky was the limit for the player.
02:06 It remains sky the limit, even despite last season being not necessarily a diminished
02:12 season, not necessarily an improvement scene, but it felt as though there was a lot more
02:15 that Scottie Barnes could give for this team and maybe give to his own performances on
02:19 the court.
02:20 And there were some certain things that he needed to correct going into the season.
02:22 Well, he has 100% corrected those things.
02:24 There's three things in particular that he's done differently this season that we are going
02:28 to go through in today's video.
02:30 A big part of the reason why he's also been allowed to break out in this sense is that
02:33 he's given a much longer leash by Darko Rijakovic and there's a much higher trust by Darko compared
02:39 to Nick Nurse, it would seem here.
02:40 Now, we don't know what the dynamic was with the player and the coach last season.
02:45 There's certainly some hints as to Scottie Barnes, perhaps disliking for Nick Nurse.
02:51 These are all inferences, this is all speculation, but his comments after the Raptors lost to
02:55 the 76ers about Nick Nurse and Nick Nurse's return to Toronto made it seem like there
03:00 was a little bit of bad blood there.
03:02 There's definitely no bad blood right now between Scottie Barnes and Darko Rijakovic,
03:06 but we're not putting it all on Nick Nurse as well because we also have to recognize
03:10 the fact that Scottie Barnes' game and the way he plays has completely been revitalized
03:16 compared to last season.
03:17 So what is Scottie Barnes doing differently that is allowing him to break out into this
03:22 near all-star status right now and potentially the Raptors record, if it's good enough, this
03:27 player very well could be an all-star with statistics like this, doing it all over the
03:31 court and specifically doing it in fourth quarter, big time scenarios on top of that.
03:35 The first thing that needed to change for Scottie Barnes this season and he made a point
03:39 of it in the offseason, he recognized this was an issue, worked on it and you can clearly
03:43 see the differences that it's making, it's the conditioning.
03:46 It's the motor.
03:47 Scottie Barnes is a player who operates with a high motor and when he's playing at his
03:51 best, he has that high motor on the offensive end to be aggressive and get to the glass,
03:56 get to the rim.
03:57 That is where Scottie Barnes' game is at his best, but also being able to provide that
04:01 high motor to this team on offense and still being able to provide that on defense.
04:05 He's playing like an all-defense caliber player out of the gates this season as well and it's
04:10 down to conditioning to be able to execute at that high level throughout the duration
04:14 of the game.
04:15 Last year, we had all of these amazing fourth quarter performances, but it left a little
04:19 bit to be desired because we saw these amazing fourth quarter performances.
04:23 Why didn't we see it as much in the first three quarters of the game?
04:26 Now, it's not a bad thing that your young star is an amazing fourth quarter player.
04:31 We just wanted to see a little bit more consistency throughout the 48 minutes and we are very
04:35 much seeing that this season, even with high minutes going through because Scottie Barnes
04:39 is very much getting those minutes with the bench unit in Darko Rijakovic's scheme.
04:44 It's working a lot better going Barnes plus OG and three bench players rather than Barnes
04:48 plus four bench players and we went to that in that game against the Spurs, made a big
04:52 difference to the team in general and also made a difference to Scottie Barnes's game.
04:56 So the conditioning is a massive thing that's been worked on by the player and with that
05:00 conditioning as I mentioned within that point there, the second big thing that he's doing
05:04 differently is being aggressive, getting to the rim.
05:08 Last season, the Raptors, the brand of offense that we played was ugly and we wanted to deviate
05:12 away from that when we hired Darko Rijakovic.
05:14 It was a very isolation driven game and a lot of it just resulted in bad shots being
05:20 taken, some of which by Scottie Barnes where he would take shots in mid-range.
05:24 Yeah, if you want to be a star in the NBA, you want to be one of the better players in
05:27 the NBA, you need to have that in your bag from time to time just to keep the defenders
05:31 guessing but ultimately, like the best mid-range guys in the league are averaging around 42%
05:37 from that area.
05:38 That's still an inefficient shot relative to effective field goal percentages, shooting
05:42 42% from two.
05:44 They're much better off biting your way to the rim, even taking a more difficult shot
05:48 at the rim from time to time and that's what he's doing.
05:50 He's no longer settling for shots.
05:52 He is getting to the rim, finishing and using his body a lot better.
05:56 The first game was a little bit of a worry for me because he still wasn't quite using
06:00 his body in the paint to get those easy looks.
06:03 He was still trying to go around contact.
06:05 In the six games after that, he has been excellent at doing this, being aggressive, getting to
06:10 the rim and showing that aggression.
06:11 Look, yesterday may not have been the best example.
06:13 He only had 17 fourth quarter points after all but throughout this season, we've seen
06:17 a much more assertive, much more aggressive, much more confident Scottie Barnes in getting
06:23 to the rim.
06:24 The third thing that he needed to change and we were kind of just praying for this one.
06:27 We didn't know this was going to come and look, seven games is a very, very small sample
06:32 size relative to the 82 game NBA season but a big thing that he needed to work on that
06:36 if he got there, it would completely unlock his game and unlock so many other aspects
06:41 for this Raptors team on offense.
06:43 It's the shooting.
06:44 We were hoping very much that, you know, we weren't asking for the world.
06:48 We were asking for a low 30% from three, low 30s percentage shooting from three.
06:53 In his rookie season, he averaged right about 30%.
06:56 In his second season, he was just under 30%.
06:58 We were asking 32, 33%.
07:01 He has the capabilities of doing that.
07:03 The shooting form is getting better.
07:04 They're working on shooting but he really needs to hone in on this part of his game
07:07 if he truly wants to get to the next level and so far this season, he looks like a player
07:13 with so much more confidence to stroke it from the outside.
07:16 It's not just about look the catch and shoot ones that are going down.
07:19 Yes, that is we're going to be the primary focus for this team but the confidence a lot
07:23 of the time here to pull up off the dribble as well to pull up somewhat early in the shot
07:28 clock as well and the fact that they're falling here is just an amazing sight to see.
07:33 It's going to be a complete and utter nightmare for opposition defenses to deal with Scottie
07:39 Barnes if he's knocking down threes because if you actually have to go play up on him
07:43 on the outside as well, that's just going to make blowing by you and getting to the
07:47 rim that much easier for him.
07:49 It's facing the floor for his teammates.
07:51 Again, it's only seven games but the signs are there.
07:54 The form is there and it feels like look, I'm not counting on 42.1% being the average
08:00 throughout the entire season but can we even take that low 30s up a little bit?
08:05 Can we get close to league average, above league average even with Scottie Barnes shooting?
08:10 Can we go to 36% even on three-point opportunities this season?
08:14 The early indication is that that is going to be the case.
08:17 So the three biggest things that have changed for the player, it's the conditioning.
08:22 That conditioning is allowing him to be more aggressive, more consistently and it's the
08:27 shooting providing him more space to his game and more space for his teammates.
08:30 So Scottie Barnes this season is absolutely emerging as perhaps the top player in the
08:35 Toronto Raptors.
08:36 Not ready to say he's better than Pascal Siakam although we've seen a torrid run of games
08:40 from Pascal to start this season.
08:42 Scottie Barnes, it's been absolutely incredible.
08:45 The Raptors roster in every way does not cater to the strengths and the needs of Scottie
08:51 Barnes.
08:52 It's a low spacing team which is the exact opposite of what Barnes needs.
08:57 Barnes needs a team that can space the floor for his drive and kick opportunities so he
09:01 can fully run the offense.
09:03 That team has not been provided to him here so we should look perhaps in the future to
09:09 get that team in place.
09:10 But for the time being, despite the roster not catering to his strengths in any way whatsoever,
09:15 he is still thriving.
09:16 He is still succeeding.
09:18 He is still putting up outrageous numbers.
09:21 So just imagine what this player could look like if provided a proper roster around him.
09:27 Now what is that going to look like?
09:29 Some people are calling for the trade of Pascal Siakam.
09:32 Scottie Barnes is looking like he's emerging as the main guy for his team.
09:35 If that's the case, it's time to cash in on Siakam's value before he becomes potentially
09:39 a free agent at the end of the season.
09:41 Now the big problem associated with this, you can want to build this team around Scottie
09:46 Barnes.
09:47 You can want to trade Pascal Siakam to make that happen, but you cannot do that at the
09:51 expense of taking a bad return on Pascal Siakam.
09:55 But that conversation about Siakam and what the Rebs need to do for him is a conversation