Let’s start with this: the Raptors’ win over the Pelicans should be taken with a grain of salt. The Pelicans were without Dejounte Murray and Trey Murphy. The latter leads the team in points and assists per game and absolutely torched the Raptors in their last meeting.
Nevertheless, there’s plenty to be excited about for Raptors fans. Most importantly, getting a win on the same night that the Hawks lost pushed the Raptors back into fifth place. Beating the Pelicans also hopefully created some momentum to propel the Raptors past the Magic in an important game on Sunday.
On top of that, the Raptors found a solution for their starting lineup problem with Immanuel Quickley sidelined. Losing Quickley took one of the Raptors’ few volume 3-point shooters. Replacing him with Jamal Shead created a spacing problem. So, Darko Rajaković decided to put Scottie Barnes into the point guard spot and start Ja’Kobe Walter, who has been very reliable from three lately.
It worked wonderfully. Walter hit four 3-pointers on his way to 18 points, and Barnes dished out 12 assists—his third game in a row with at least ten assists—while also recording 23 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. Barnes looked good in the point guard role, which poses the question: What would this team look like with Barnes consistently acting as the main facilitator and Quickley in more of an off-ball role? It’s becoming a more promising vision with every strong playmaking performance from Barnes—maybe not as a full-time strategy, but at least more frequently.
Scottie Barnes can do it all
Seeing Barnes thrive in the starting point guard role only reinforces something Raptors fans are already well aware of: Scottie Barnes is so versatile that he can do anything. He can guard any position, hounding small and shifty ballhandlers and battling with centers in the paint, and bring that same versatility to the offensive end.
That versatility makes Barnes the perfect player to build around because he can just fit into so many different lineups and situations.
Darko Rajaković also praised Barnes’s adaptability after the game. “I’m just waiting for the day when Scottie’s going to tell me, ‘Coach, this is too much’ about what I’ve been asking him to do,” he said. “Play the three, play the four, play point guard, play the five, go guard the point guard, go guard a five man. He’s just going to do everything he needs to do to help the team and to win the game.”
Barnes, however, doesn’t seem likely to say that it’s too much any time soon. He said in the postgame media availability that he enjoyed playing the point guard role and that it didn’t make much of a difference to him where his team needed him to be on the court.