Raptors Discuss Scottie Barnes' Sophomore Campaign as Regular Season Draws to a Close

The Toronto Raptors want Scottie Barnes to be a more aggressive scorer as his sophomore season draws to an end against the Milwaukee Bucks

Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

This season has ultimately always been about one thing: Scottie Barnes.

The expectation for the Toronto Raptors this season was never title contention. Sure, the hope had been improving on last season’s first-round playoff exit, a feat Toronto will almost certainly not achieve. But more important than any success the Raptors have in the near-term future is the development of the 21-year-old reigning rookie of the year.

For a sophomore, Barnes was OK.

“I don’t know if I’m super different," he said when asked how he's changed this season compared to last year. "I do some things a little bit better now. I feel like I'm still the same player, I just do things a little bit better.”

There were moments of brilliance, including a 29-point near triple-double against the Philadelphia 76ers late last month and a 32-point showing against the Los Angeles Lakers in early March. Otherwise, it was up and down. A sophomore slump, if you will.

“It’s still a work in progress,” said Raptors coach Nick Nurse ahead of Sunday’s 121-105 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks that ended Toronto’s regular season 41-41. “He’s never really been a great scorer in his short college career. What he accomplished last year scoring as much as he did was probably one of our biggest questions going into the season. Continuing to progress on that is certainly the goal.”

Barnes’ scoring didn’t improve much from last year, if at all. He'll finish this season at 15.3 points per game, the exact same as last year, with slightly worse efficiency numbers.

Mechanically, Toronto remains optimistic that Barnes’ shooting form is coming along. He increased his spot-up efficiency from 0.79 points per possession as a rookie to about 1.00 this year, per NBA Stats, a significant improvement. His catch-and-shooting, though, still needs work.

If there was one significant improvement from Barnes this year it was his playmaking. He increased his assists per game by over a full assist without making much of an impact on his turnovers.

He’s looked more comfortable handling the pick-and-roll at times, working his way into the paint with Jakob Poeltl early Sunday afternoon before finding Poeltl with a dump-off pass for a bucket. His lone hiccup against the Bucks from a playmaking perspective was an ill-advised no-look pass that bounced off Malachi Flynn’s head in the second half.

The key for Barnes, though, is staying aggressive. At times he’s too willing to settle for mid-range jumpers, a shot he’s yet to develop with any consistency. He’ll also look to pass rather than score more than Toronto would like, becoming over-reliant on his playmaking chops rather than attacking the rim to create for himself.

“If you’re gonna be an All-Star or a great player in this league, you’ve got to score,” Nurse said. “I keep saying the same thing: Unless you can score, first, a little bit, here and there, you’re not gonna be drawing multiple defenders or drawing schemes that will enable you to hit the open man.”

That’s where the Raptors are hoping and, frankly, need Barnes to get to. They want a do-it-all wing who can be both the handler and roller in the pick-and-roll, who can score in isolation, take advantage of mismatches in post-ups, and nail the occasional three-pointer to keep the defense honest.

“The biggest thing is he’s still really, really young,” Nurse added. “We like a lot of things about him. … He’s competitive. He’s big. He’s strong. He loves to play. Those skills and things, I think, are what he has to continue to work on and improve.”

Barnes will get some postseason opportunities, at least one more, and maybe more to build out his resume this year and get valuable reps in important situations. What this season has shown, though, is there's work to do. Barnes has everything Toronto could want in a prospect but it's about finetuning those skills and taking a meaningful jump next season that’ll determine how far this organization climbs.

Trent Finds His Rhythm

Gary Trent Jr. appears ready to go for the post-season next week after a couple of lackluster showings in his first two games back from injury. It helped that Milwaukee was playing in a deep drop coverage Sunday, allowing Trent to rise up and nail four three-pointers, finishing the night with 23 points on 7-for-13 shooting.

Up Next: Chicago Bulls

The Raptors will have a couple of days off before a must-win play-in game at home Wednesday evening against the Chicago Bulls.