Throughout a season where the steps forward have been few, the steps backwards more numerous and the future as fuzzy as ever, the Toronto Raptors can at the very least head into a brief three-day break over Christmas believing they’ve already received the rarest gift of all: a player who can be a star.
They’ve seen enough to believe that Scottie Barnes is their foundational talent, and all of the many decisions that have to be made between now and the trade deadline and beyond will have that belief as their guiding principle: how does this move or that choice help a team constructed around Barnes?
It’s a nice problem to have, but let’s be clear: the Raptors have problems.
Among them: they can’t do enough to beat good teams (as their 0-3 record against former head coach Nick Nurse and the Philadelphia 76ers indicates), and they can’t close out teams that aren’t very good, as demonstrated in Saturday night’s 126-119 loss to the visiting Utah Jazz.
Toronto led by 17 in the third quarter and 13 to start the fourth quarter, before falling behind by 10 with 4:32 left in the fourth quarter after a Jordan Clarkson three capped off a 31-8 run that the Raptors surrendered to start the fourth quarter.
The Raptors tried to recover. Barnes scored a pair of consecutive full-court lay-ups that cut Utah’s lead to six with 1:55 to play, but after Pascal Siakam fouled a red-hot Clarkson on a three-point attempt and the Jazz sniper made all three free throws, the lead was nine with 1:31 to play and the Raptors had stumbled again.
Looking for a little bit of Christmas cheer heading into the break, they instead had the dog eat all the treats in their stocking and vomit all over the carpet. The Raptors dropped their third straight game and 10th in their last 13 to fall to 11-18 on the season. The Jazz won their second straight and improved to 12-18.
So it was in a typically bittersweet manner that Barnes finished with a career-high tying 32 points to go along with 14 rebounds and seven assists.
“He was rebounding the ball well. He passed the ball really well. He scored a lot of points in the first half,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “… He just continues to improve and he’s making the next step there. I wish that all of us, we can help [him] more and you know, help the team win.”
Barnes wasn’t perfect — he had three of his four turnovers and shot 2-of-9 in the second half — but there aren’t a lot of 22-year-olds who have played much better, which is why the Raptors have made him the focal point of their plans going forward.
But finding the necessary pieces to enhance his coming prime will be a challenge. Siakam, 29 and a pending free agent, added 19 points on 7-of-20 shooting. OG Anunoby, another pending free agent, had 19 points while Gary Trent Jr., also a pending free agent, had 16 points off the bench. After that? There wasn’t much help to be had. Jakob Poeltl, in the first year of a four-year contract paying $20 million a season, had just two points and may not be long for the starting lineup. Dennis Schroder, the replacement for Fred VanVleet, who left for nothing in free agency this past summer, was barely noticeable despite 11 points and seven assists. There is plenty of discussion that Rajakovic needs to tighten his rotation or flip his starting lineup, but is that really the problem?
“Sure, we can mix up rotations here and there during the game,” said Rajakovic. “It’s not like we have Steph Curry sitting on the bench and I’m not putting him in on the court … It’s not even really about lineups. The same people were on the court in the second half as well, but we were completely different in the way we played in the second half. That’s the mentality that we are going to look at and address …”
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Raptors shot 47.9 per cent and 13-of-32 from three but allowed the Jazz to shoot 52.7 per cent from the floor and 17-of-38 from deep. They were led by Lauri Markkanen who had 30 points on 21 shots, and Clarkson, who came off the bench for his 30 points, using 22 shots.
Barnes couldn’t lift the Raptors to the win on his own, but the version of him they are seeing more and more this season – he is averaging 20.7 points per game, 9.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists – confirms what the Raptors have believed deeply since the moment they drafted him fourth overall in the summer of 2021, when pandemic-shortened college schedules and access for scouts made judging talent even more difficult.
He won rookie-of-the-year in his first season and after a flat second year has exceeded even the most optimistic expectations so far this season.
It was never more evident than in the first half against Utah.
The Raptors have been desperate for a win. Heading into their start against the Jazz, Toronto had lost nine of their past 12 games, including Friday night’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
With each game the Raptors have slipped below the .500 mark, you can almost see the rings under the coaching staff’s eyes get a little darker, the players shoulders slump a little more.
As he seems to have a knack for doing, Barnes sensed the moment, or at least played like it. His first half was one of the best stretches of basketball of his career — offensively at least — which is saying something given Barnes was drafted with a reputation as being a bit raw offensively, known more for his role as a connector and playmaker. Shooting was considered his Achilles heel.
It’s not any longer. Barnes’ first touch was an above-the-break three in transition, and he had three triples before the game was five minutes old. After shooting just 30 per cent from three in his first two seasons, Barnes has been hovering just below the 40 per cent mark all season.
His three-point skill has improved to the point where teams have to defend for it and Barnes can exploit it, such as when he pump-faked Jazz star Markkanen, drove left into the lane, spun right when the help came and settled into a fadeaway jumper that was far harder than he made it look. In the final minutes of the first half Barnes pulled up for another triple — his fourth — in transition, found a cutting Precious Achiuwa for a dunk and then sprinted out for another dunk on a fastbreak triggered by an Achiuwa block on Jazz guard Colin Sexton as the Raptors led 71-55 at the half, led by Barnes’ 24 points.
“I was just taking wide open shots,” he said. “They were helping a lot there was easy kickouts and the shots were falling.”
He quieted a little bit in the third quarter as the Jazz began sending more defenders his way and collapsing on him more aggressively. Barnes managed to add a pair of buckets and a pair of assists and otherwise kept things moving as Siakam, Trent Jr. and Anunoby helped the Raptors maintain a 98-85 edge to start the fourth quarter.
From there? Things got dicey. The Raptors gave up a 21-6 run to Utah in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter as the Jazz took the lead after trailing by as many as 17 mid-way through the third quarter.
It was ugly, discouraging and concerning. It was the Raptors season in miniature. After 29 mostly listless games, the Raptors are facing a crisis of confidence, of sorts.
“I told guys that, first of all, me as a leader of the team, I got to look in the mirror and see what I can do better or different and how I can help the team better,” said Rajakovic. “And I expect the same thing from the coaching staff and all the players to look in the mirror and evaluate themselves (with) what can be done, what each individual can do better to help the team. We have two days off. It’s Christmas. People should spend time with family, but also it’s going to be very healthy for us to think about what we can do differently and better when we come back.”
Doubtless changes will be considered. A lineup shuffle, perhaps what happened so far this year could be the final impetus on any of the long-rumoured trade possibilities.
But Barnes has convinced the Raptors that he is a worthy cornerstone. He’s the star on top of their Christmas tree. Finding the rest of the ornaments is the focus, and the challenge.
