1 short, medium, and long-term goal for Raptors to strive for in 2022

Long-term: Turn the rookies into above-average 3-point shooters

The Raptors added four rookies to the squad this season, drafting Barnes, Banton, and David Johnson before adding Justin Champagnie as an undrafted free agent. For all of their strengths, one of the things all four of them had in common as prospects was a subpar 3-point shot.

Luckily, three of these four have been making progress in this area. Banton is showing aggressiveness as a shooter in the G League, Champagnie has nailed some big shots, and Barnes is making 31% of his triples on just under three attempts per game.

The Toronto Raptors must help their rookies become solid shooters.

At this point, we know that Banton fits that high-energy bench piece archetype, Champagnie is a solid offensive rebounder, and Barnes is a matchup nightmare that is hard to stop when he’s screaming downhill. All three of them would take the next step with that jumper from deep.

The Raptors were red-hot from deep against the Hornets without VanVleet, but they still went into that game as the 20th best team in the league from 3-point range. When VanVleet is factored out, only Oklahoma City is worse. Even a few more deep shots per game from this trio would do wonders for them.