The Raptors are a good team. Being a good team isn’t bad—duh. It will be enough for the Raptors to return to the playoffs and maybe even win a few games. Good doesn’t win championships, though. Just good isn’t what this team wants to be.
The key for the Raptors to go from a good team to a great team is fairly obvious, at least according to Zach Lowe.
On the latest episode of The Zach Lowe Show, Lowe said, “The way that they have run their offense this year, at least suggests to me that they have decided or they envisioned Scottie [Barnes] as sort of a jack of all trades rather than a traditional number-one option and are searching for something like a more traditional number-one option, and I think it’s not controversial to say that if you actually want to become a great team, Scottie has to evolve into a little bit more of a reliable scorer, passer, traditional number-one option type.”
He also added, “If he doesn’t evolve that way, they’ve got to get someone a little bit more like that who’s just better than Brandon Ingram.”
Scottie Barnes is the Raptors’ most important player
Barnes was the Raptors’ highest draft pick in a long time and quickly became the face of the franchise. It’s not at all controversial to claim that Barnes’s development will dictate how far the team can go, especially with its current group of key players.
Barnes is the Raptors’ defensive anchor, leading rebounder, second-leading scorer, and trails only Immanuel Quickley in assists per game. His fingerprints are all over the Raptors’ success this season, even after he had to adapt to the massive change that trading for Brandon Ingram led to.
Barnes has been in the league for so long now that it’s easy to forget that he is still only 24 years old. If he is playing at an All-Star and All-Defensive level before turning 25, just imagine how much better he can still get once he actually hits his prime. The question is just whether he’ll be comfortable becoming a true number-one option for the Raptors.
This season is a great first step for the Raptors
When you have a young player who is as talented as Scottie Barnes on both sides of the floor, it’s easy to focus on the future and the prospect of building a championship contender around him.
However, let’s not forget that just making the playoffs this season would be a massive step for the Raptors. Toronto hasn’t been in the postseason since 2022 when it lost in the first round. After three straight years of missing the playoffs, getting back to the top half of the Eastern Conference standings is a nice change.
Once that is done, there’s still plenty of time to think about the next steps and whether the front office needs to get another running mate for Barnes to turn this solid team into a great team.