Once upon a time it was vision six-nine. Recently, it's been the Raptors' Thanos-like acquisition of Canadian talent akin to that of Infinity Stones. Now, with the blockbuster Brandon Ingram trade now official; the Toronto Raptors hold an abundance of wing talent.
RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes have been holding down the fort in Toronto as their action-packed duo for a large part. Injuries and unfortunate circumstances have gotten in the way of things being consistent, but it's largely Barrett displaying his offensive-minded proficiencies, while Barnes is celebrated for his defense, yet is still a capable scorer in his own right.
To paraphrase profound math wiz Scott Steiner for a second: "And then, you add Brandon Ingram to the mix?"
Now, I don't know if their chances of winning drastically go down, but Toronto would be bold to just stand pat with three starting-caliber wings who don't necessarily complement each other to a tee. Ingram just got here, Barnes is definitely not hitting the trade block, so that just leaves the Raptors' hometown hero, Barrett, to be left by the wayside.
Raptors need to trade RJ Barrett to clear up top-heavy wing category
While Barrett has run the shooting guard position prior in his career, I don't know if that role would serve best suited for the "Maple Mamba" as this core begins to take shape. Look at how that ended for Barrett over in New York, you can't just rely on him to stand in the corners, shoot a bunch of 3's, and try to defend; that's just not his cup of tea.
Barrett isn't a horrendous defender, but he isn't a quality one enough to where that element of the ball is in his main focus; he's game-set on getting you points with a fair amount of touches. Safe to say, Ingram probably just stole those opportunities away from the Toronto-native. So, what's the solution then.
Well, it would hurt to lose one of the city's own homegrown star, but Barrett is more or less a top candidate to be moved elsewhere. This idea, though a disheartening one to ponder, was already explored in a previous piece whether the Raptors' lack of promotion or All-Star campaign for Barrett signalled a cryptic message of his future.
The murky fit of Ingram and Barnes is still a means for concern, but the defensive efforts from Scottie B. certainly draw more hope as to mask a lack thereof from the ex-Pelicans All-Star. Then again, even with the thought of a blossoming Barnes-Ingram tandem, the Raptors' overall roster collection still draws a bit of strange fit concerns.
These two forwards would probably be better suited with sharpshooter Gradey Dick in the fold, rather than a redundant shoot-first wing like Barrett. Even an ideal 3-and-D archetype like Ochai Agbaji might be better suited in a starting capacity alonside Barnes and Ingram.
It's not a knock on Barrett's game, but his offensive firepower could be best suited to being unleashed in a home where it allows it. Toronto just got a lot more crowded, and it could use a lot more role players than a hoard of tertiary or quaternary fringe stars.
The good news is Barrett's strong campaign in Toronto over the last two seasons has likely raised his trade value up a bit more than it once was in New York, so the Raptors don't need to worry much about a measly return. It probably wouldn't be spectacular per se, but you can bet a team is willing to shoot their shot on further StaRJ emergence. Perhaps a team like the Brooklyn Nets or Utah Jazz would seem to think so?
Maybe Toronto was always destined for a "BBQ" trio; it just meant the one B stood for Brandon instead of Barrett.