After Scottie Barnes put up a record-breaking, historical performance on Sunday, his head coach, Darko Rajaković, was beating the drum for his star player the following day.
Barnes had 23 points, 25 rebounds and 10 assists in a thrilling overtime win over the Golden State Warriors. With the effort, he tied Toronto's single-game rebounding record and became the first Raptor to record a 20-20 triple-double.
However, the performance came too late to impact the first Eastern Conference all-star fan voting returns, as Barnes did not appear on the list.
"I am puzzled, and I am very disappointed that Scottie did not crack top 20," Rajaković said before the Raptors game against the Orlando Magic on Monday.
"I have no doubt that Scottie Barnes is an all-star. I have no doubt that he needs to be towards the top of that list of players in the East."
More, Barnes joined Nikola Jokic as the only active player to record a game with more than 20 points, 25 rebounds and 10 assists.
Considering Barnes's all-around impact on the court – he also leads the NBA in steals plus blocks with 95 – Rajaković clearly sees no issue in mentioning his name alongside the best players in the NBA.
"Scottie Barnes, what he does night in and night out is something that generational players are doing," said Rajaković. "Seeing what he did last night in the game and the stat line that he had.
"Only Nikola Jokic and him had that stat line in (the) last 40 years. Only two players in the NBA this year have 500 points plus, 250 assists plus, 25 blocks plus and 250 rebounds plus, and that's Nikola Jokic and Scottie Barnes."
Given the statistical company he's keeping alongside the Raptors' leap in the standings this season, Rajaković appealed to Canadian basketball fans to rectify the situation and vote Barnes into his second All-Star Game on Feb. 15 in Los Angeles.
"And we need to get this right," said Rajaković. "Canada needs to get this right. Starts with us. Starts with our city. Starts with our country over here. We have 40 million people living in this country, 40 million fans of (the) Toronto Raptors."
"Canada we need to get this fixed right now," he added.
