2 reasons Raptors’ Scottie Barnes is outperforming Cade Cunningham
By Mike Luciano
Reason No. 1: Efficiency
Barnes has made his mark on the Raptors by converting on a solid 49% of his shots. With a true shooting percentage of 54.5%, Barnes has maintained his solid start on the stat sheet while continuing to expand his range. Barnes was the one who came into the NBA with shooting questions, but he’s outpacing Cunningham in this area.
Cunningham is making just 38% of his shots and 31% percent of his 3-point attempts despite taking just over seven deep shots per game. With a true shooting percentage of 48.2%, Cunningham might be putting it all together after a slow start, but his numbers still pale in comparison to Barnes.
Barnes is also winning the turnover battle, coughing it up just 2.0 times per game compared to Cunningham’s 3.8 per game.
Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes is more efficient than Cade Cunningham.
The biggest question surrounding Barnes as a prospect was his inability to be a consistent jump-shooting threat. Not only does he has a solid mid-range game, but he is making 36% of his 3-point attempts on nearly two attempts per game. Since November 21, Barnes is making 45% of his 3-point attempts on 4.1 heaves per contest.
Attempting just over 12 shots per game in just under 36 minutes per game isn’t the greatest volume in the world. Not only is Barnes managing to make those shots count, but he’s doing so while providing some quality on-ball defense at several positions.