The Toronto Raptors went against the grain in the 2021 NBA Draft, as they selected Florida State forward Scottie Barnes when everyone expected them to take Gonzaga point guard Jalen Suggs. Following the departure of Kyle Lowry, many assumed Toronto would try to draft the best available backcourt player to fill the void.
Many had their doubts about how long it would take Barnes to evolve into a star, myself included. I had some concerns about what his offensive game was going to look like in the NBA. Just one year into life the NBA, Barnes shut up everyone who doubted him and anointed himself one of the game’s best youngsters.
Barnes won Rookie of the Year in his first season, averaging 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. Evan Mobley and Cade Cunningham gave him one heck of a challenge, but Scottie ultimately prevailed thanks to his exploits coming within the context of helping a playoff team.
As Barnes gets ready to start a second season that everyone expects to be better than his original campaign, it’s always fun to look back on the deluge of misplaced hate that the Barnes pick received from the media. These three takes from right around the draft have aged like milk in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
Toronto Raptors: 3 laughable Scottie Barnes takes.
3. Scottie gets a C-
Barnes was viewed as such a raw prospect that a team with designs on immediately winning would be foolish to use premium draft capital on him. The folks over at Uproxx were subscribers to this theory, as they were livid at Masai Ujiri’s audacity on draft night.
The selection of Barnes was given a C- by Uproxx, calling him “virtually a non-shooter.” While there were some concerns about his offensive game as a whole, rating him that low makes it seem like Barnes wasn’t even expected to be a lottery pick. That’s perhaps a bit harsh.
Toronto Raptors: Scottie Barnes was judged too harshly.
While Barnes wasn’t exactly Ray Allen from deep, making 30% of his triples is fairly solid for someone who rarely looked to rise up from deep in college. Already a tremendous finisher and playmaker in transition, concerns about Barnes’ offense appear to have been overblown.
Had Barnes come into the draft with a more respectable 3-point shot, there’s a good chance that he would not have been available for Toronto to select. The Raptors correctly guessed that it would not take long to get him up to speed, and they have been rewarded with a budding star.
2. Kendrick Perkins wants to trade Pascal Siakam
With the Raptors in the lottery and Barnes listed as a power forward, analysts like Kendrick Perkins seemed to believe that the Pascal Siakam era in Toronto was coming to an end. Perkins was advocating for a Siakam trade before the pair ever played together.
Perkins’ assumption was rooted in two beliefs that have since been proven incorrect. Not only was Toronto not moving into a complete rebuild after one disappointing season, but they were more than willing to tinker with the lineups to make sure Barnes and Siakam shared the floor as much as possible.
Toronto Raptors: Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes can coexist.
The Raptors moved Siakam to center and Barnes to point guard at times to make sure that their two uber-versatile switchblades were playing together. As a result, the combination of Barnes’ lightning-like quickness in the open floor and Siakam’s dominance on offense made for quite the fantastic pairing.
While some teams might have been willing to pigeonhole Barnes, the Raptors have fully leaned into the wackiness his play style can create. As a result, Toronto became the only team in the league with five starters all topping 15 points per game.
1. Jalen Suggs challenges the Raptors.
Suggs himself was praising Toronto’s developmental culture in the days leading up to his selection, especially considering nearly every mock draft out there has Suggs going to Toronto at No. 4 overall. Suggs put the Raptors, and any team who didn’t take him, on notice. At least, he tried to.
Suggs said that it would “be to their detriment” when asked about being passed over by teams like Toronto. How did Suggs’ revenge tour start off? Well, he shot just 36% from the floor and a pitiful 21% from 3-point range on over four attempts per game. The Raptors made the playoffs, while the Magic earned the No. 1 pick.
Toronto Raptors: Scottie Barnes outperformed Jalen Suggs.
To be fair to Suggs, he was dealt multiple tough injury blows during his tenure with the Magic. Orlando also had a first-year head coach in Jamahl Mosley, who is nowhere close to Nick Nurse’s level. Having said that, Raptors fans have to be pleased with how much better Barnes was as a rookie.
While Suggs is going to go into this year as the No. 3 attraction behind Franz Wagner and No. 1 overall pick Paolo Banchero on another suspect Magic team, Barnes will get to compete for a championship if everything goes right. To think that one pick separated the two.