Raptors: Nick Nurse supports Scottie Barnes after up-and-down sophomore season

The Toronto Raptors have placed a ton (perhaps an inordinate amount) of responsibility on the very broad shoulders of Scottie Barnes, as they are expecting the Florida State product to be a franchise cornerstone. His sophomore season was by no means bad, but he was often lacking in certain areas.

Barnes’ points per game average was nearly identical to what it was during his rookie season, and his efficiency was down. The lack of aggression at times was puzzling and frustrating, as a 30-point outburst would be followed by him getting eight points on nine shots in 35 minutes in the next game.

Barnes’ season may not have been a smashing success, but he did take steps forward as an overall player that the fanbase and team should be very happy about. Head coach Nick Nurse seems to be very pleased with Barnes’ overall performance and how he handled this recent changBarnes’sponsibility.

“I think [Barnes has] handled [the ups-and-down] pretty well,” Nurse said, via The Athletic. “He’s bounced back at times when things aren’t going his way…That’s the main thing. When you’re in a little bit of a valley, You climb your way out and get back on an upswing.”

Toronto Raptors: Nick Nurse backs up Scottie Barnes

Barnes’ performance was subpar for those who expected him to turn into LeBron James overnight, but let’s consider let’she factors working against him. On top of the fact that the addition of Jakob Poeltl made it five players who needed a somewhat consistent diet of shots, Barnes also played on a team that didn’t afford hdidn’t spacing he needed to be a consistent scoring threat.

Even with the negatives, Barnes’ passing was much improved from last year to this year, which brings with it hope that he can fulfill the point-forward potential Toronto envisioned when they drafted him. Barnes also dealt with nagging injuries at the beginning and end of the season.

When the Raptors did let Barnes go to work on offense, he showed that he could be either a low-end primary scorer or a high-end secondary option. The jumper is still a work in progress, but it’s far from impossible to fix.

The Raptors need to head into next season with the knowledge they must do everything in their power to make sure Barnes gets put on the path to stardom. Having some weird bounces early in your developmental cycle is fine, but stagnating in Year 3 would be a serious issue for the Raptors.