The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie will have many fans in Toronto after his comments on the All-NBA teams and Scottie Barnes’s glaring absence from the fifteen-player group.
“Absolutely ludicrous to me that Jalen Duren was on like 89 ballots or something for All-NBA and Scottie Barnes was on nine,” Vecenie said on the May 25 episode of the Game Theory Podcast.
He also offered the only viable explanation for the oversight: people just don’t watch the Toronto Raptors enough.
“I don’t know how you can watch Scottie Barnes and Jalen Duren and go, ‘Yes, Jalen Duren is the better basketball player,’” Vecenie continued. “I don’t know how you can do that in the regular season. We saw it in the playoffs, but even in the regular season. It really does just come down to people don’t watch the Raptors.”
Scottie Barnes’s All-NBA snub came just shortly after another slight
In his first four seasons with the Toronto Raptors, Barnes had never been named to an All-Defensive or All-NBA team. So, making the All-Defensive Second Team is a win. But, at the same time, it isn’t the win Raptors fans—and Scottie Barnes, judging by his reaction on social media—had in mind.
Barnes has an excellent case to be considered one of the best five defenders in the NBA. Not many players can truly guard every single position, as he did for the Raptors this season, and he was the only player to finish the regular season with at least 100 steals and 100 blocks. On top of that, he led the league in clutch blocks.
The 24-year-old is an outstanding defender, but he is so much more than that. He is also the Raptors’ offensive engine. Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett may have averaged more points per game than Barnes in the regular season, but he finished second in total points behind only Ingram and led the team in total assists.
He does everything for the Raptors on both ends of the court, and it led to a ton of success this season. The Raptors exceeded expectations with a 46-36 record, a top-five finish in the Eastern Conference, and a seven-game first-round series despite injuries to two starters.
Scottie Barnes won’t be without an All-NBA selection for long
Barnes may not have made an All-NBA team this year, but it’s only a matter of time until he does. He is obviously already in consideration for the limited spots on the three All-NBA teams and he and the Raptors will only continue to get better.
If Barnes can carry some of his dominant scoring from the playoffs into the next regular season, voters won’t have another choice but to put him on their All-NBA ballots.
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