3 Draft Day Scottie Barnes takes that were laughably wrong

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.