By drafting Scotty Barnes, the Raptors bet that defense can still win the championship in a league that is moving in the opposite direction.

With the 4th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, the Toronto Raptors violated convention by selecting a 19-year-old, 6-foot-9 wing player from Florida State University, Scottie Barnes.

Considering the Raptors' lack of long-term answers on the board of point guards and Jalen Suggs, this is a surprising move. He is one of the safest picks in the draft and a high ceiling. Players. The Raptors currently built are more suitable. Suggs should have been suitable for Kyle Lowry as the starting point guard next season (or as a substitute), and the Raptors should have run back with an off-the-shelf NBA player, who just led Gonzaga to the bullfight The Canines defeated one of the most dominant seasons in the history of college basketball.

Instead, the Raptors chose a player who was close to 10 instead of 4 in most mock drafts. He was more primitive on the offensive end than Sargus, and planned to come off the bench considering the Raptors’ wing position already exists. OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam, next season and in the near future.

So why did the Raptors rank Barnes in No. 4?

Well, Barnes was a late man in the draft, thanks in large part to his jaw-dropping training: he had a great day on the NBA combine harvester, 36.00 inches standing vertical bounce And with a 7-foot-3 wingspan, they have rumors that he smashed the Raptors' training, and Suggs didn't (maybe deliberately, but who knows). As ESPN’s Mike Schmitz mentioned in the recent Woj Pod show, the team now attaches great importance to the private training and interview process-more than in the past, especially in the COVID and Barnes’s elite athleticism and appeal. Personality, it is not difficult to understand why he has improved so much in this process.

Open gym: @Bell pic.twitter.com/SHyzemt81O present moment

-Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) July 30, 2021

However, I am at least a little worried about whether the Raptors really chose him because of the training process. After all, you can learn more about basketball players from what they do in the game, rather than learning from 1-on-0 training, etc., especially when it comes to how they feel about the game and create advantages. Ability is in the context of 5 on 5 basketball. Maybe Saggs really doesn't want to come to the Raptors. If that's the case, it would be difficult to justify choosing him to such a high position. But there are also examples of this mentality hurting the team. For example, James Harden allegedly failed in the Memphis Grizzlies' trial, and the latter chose to choose the more athletic Hashim Thabeet instead of him.

Only time will tell how good Barnes can be, and equally important is how he will fit into the Raptors roster and their system. Let's start from where he is now, then analyze how he fits into the current roster, and end with his almost perfect integration into Nick Nas's system.

Barnes is a defensive player. He averaged 10.3 points, 50.3% field goal percentage, 4.1 assists and 4.0 rebounds during his rookie season at Florida State University. He was named ACC Rookie of the Year, ACC's Best Third Team Member and ACC's Sixth Man of the Year. He can legally defend from 1 to 5, and was often responsible for selecting point guards throughout the game during college. He did a great job in this regard. A person as big and strong as Barnes shouldn't move as fast as he does, and his biggest asset at this time in his career is his defensive ability and the versatility he provides in different defensive schemes.

The problem is on the offensive end. For now—remember, he’s only 19 years old, and after just one college season, every aspect of his game has been evolving—Barnes attacked during the transition period, but it was a burden at halftime (or at least He will enter the NBA) partly because of his lack of jump shots. Barnes averaged only 1.7 three-pointers per game, shooting 27.5% from the field. The Seminoles often made him a point guard last season. As far as his height is concerned, he is a very talented passer. Last season, he averaged 4.1 assists and 2.5 turnovers per game. But if there is no jumper, defense It may sink from him to the paint area, hurting space for him and his teammates. Nicknas believes that his jumper is not broken, just need to do some work, but many draft analysts are more doubtful whether it can be repaired. If not, he will have to improve his finishing ability at the basket and mid-range, and become more off-the-ball screens and organizers (such as Giannis Antetokounmpo).

So, how do the players I just described fit into the Raptors roster? The real answer is that we don’t know, because it’s not clear who will come back next season, but assuming the core of Fred VanVleet, Anunoby and Siakam are back, it’s difficult to figure out where Barnes fits. He may not be big enough to start as a center forward, and his ability to handle the ball may not be enough to start as a point guard, which means he now plans to serve as a backup wing from the bench. For rookies, this is okay, but as long as Anunobi and Siakam are still the Raptors, Barnes’s path to starting or ending the lineup will be blurred, so the Raptors must either plan more moves. Either they believe that Barnes can develop into their future point guard or center.

This is not as crazy as it sounds.

First of all, in any case, the Raptors under Nick Nurse are responsible for organizing the offense, so they will never ask Barnes to keep the ball in his hands for the entire game. They have one of the best game managers in the NBA at Kyle Lowry, and they didn't even ask him to do so. Barnes can share organizational tasks with Van Fleet and Siakam, which may be enough to survive halftime.

The really interesting aspect of Barnes' game for me is his potential as a pseudo-center. Think about it: You separate Norman Powell from Barnes' small ball lineup, which becomes more flexible, sporty, long and difficult to compete. Of course, the shooting is not ideal, but to get Lowry back, four of the five players are good three-point shooters, so if Barnes's development goes well, this may be the Raptors' lineup to end the game.

People say that the draft is always about over-fitting upwards, but fit still needs to be considered. Otherwise, the player will simply not be able to play their natural position and be in a good position to succeed. For Barnes, this was an unconventional choice, not only in the sense that the Raptors were fighting for him, but also in the way they planned to use him.

Unlike most teams that are now fully offensive in a league that has more space and technology than ever before, the Raptors believe that defense (and transitional offense) can still win championships. This does simplify it, but adding Barnes to already one of the most versatile defensive teams in the league will definitely make them extremely difficult to score for many years to come. Think about it: In Anunobi and Barnes, the Raptors may have two of the five NBA players who can legally defend 1 to 5.

More importantly, the Barnes plan is perfectly integrated into Nick Nass defensive plan. He can defend multiple positions and cover a large number of fields, so that the Raptors can actively cover the ball holder and better recover. It's one aspect of the Raptors' truly unique viewing. Half-court offense will be a big problem, their lack of shot creators is a real problem, but Barnes will immediately help on the defensive end, and by not requiring shots, he will move the ball to involve his teammates in the offensive. of.

In any case, this is not a perfect choice, but the truth is that no one knows how good any of these teenagers will be in five years. The Raptors believe in Barnes, and because of this, you should believe it too.

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