Two All Stars proves the Raptors’ blueprint is working

The NBA announced that Brandon Ingram will replace Steph Curry at the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles. Ingram will join Scottie Barnes in the festivities, while Darko Rajakovic and his staff will coach Team World on Sunday. It’s a busy weekend for the organization, with rookies Collin Murray-Boyles and Alijah Martin taking part in the Rising Stars game, Barnes participating in the Shooting Stars on Saturday, and the game itself.

The Raptors will certainly be well represented at the league’s weekend getaway. That’s a big deal. It proves the blueprint works.

It’s the seventh time in franchise history that the Raptors will have two All-Stars. Ingram and Barnes join Vince Carter and Antonio Davis (2000), DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry (2016-2018), Lowry and Kawhi Leonard (2019), and Lowry and Pascal Siakam (2020).

It’s no surprise that all of those years are the most winning seasons in franchise history.

Ingram’s case to be an All-Star is pretty straightforward, as Camden MacMillan writes:

Ingram’s impact is undeniable, the Raptors went from an 11th seed last year all the way up to the 4th seed so far this year, and peaked as high as the 2nd seed earlier in the year. That jump has seen them nearly eclipse last year’s win total with 32 games still remaining on the schedule. While a lot of the winning has been on the back of the defense, Toronto’s 19th ranked offense would be last in the league without Ingram. His shot-making has completely reformed an offense that was incapable of buying a bucket in the halfcourt last season, and the attention he draws has elevated his teammates.

Ingram has raised the baseline of the Raptors. He’s the team’s leading scorer, and has done so through a masterful display of midrange shenanigans. Fading, turning, falling, wiggling, Ingram gets his buckets any way imaginable, sometimes even rising over two or three defenders at a time. Ingram is the third most efficient high-volume pull up shooter in the league, and this artistry hasn’t just been for show either. It’s led to some of Toronto’s best moments so far this season.

The same applies to Barnes, who, for his part, is also putting together a great case to win Defensive Player of the Year and be considered for an All-NBA spot, as Ian Finlayson writes:

One of the greatest testaments to Barnes’ defensive talent is how the Raptors’ defence has survived without a true centre. Alongside rookie Collin-Murray Boyles, Barnes has been the primary reason why. Opponents shoot 5.7 percent worse at the rim with Barnes on the floor versus when he’s off, a 93rd percentile mark among big men, according to Cleaning the Glass, which now categorizes Barnes as a big based on how often he’s been the nominal five. He’s contested the sixth-most shots within six feet of the basket this season, just behind Rudy Gobert and Myles Turner and ahead of Holmgren, the DPOY frontrunner.  

It’s also notable how the Raptors’ rebounding has held up when Barnes plays without Poeltl – they’ve maintained average rates on the boards when centreless. His uber athleticism combined with his gargantuan reach allows him to go up and high-point rebounds over big men, rendering even seven-footers too small at times.  

Not only is Barnes able to step up and fulfill the role of a centre to a well-above-average standard, but he can also do everything else too. From guarding the best opposing wing scorer to even handling guards at the point of attack, he’s among a select few defenders that can truly guard one-through-five competently. Es Baraheni included in his piece making a case for Scottie as Defenisve Player of the Year that he ranks in the 87th percentile in B-Ball Index’s “Defensive Positional Versatility” tool, “which measures how many positions a player defends and how often.” That matches the eye test.  

He also guards plenty of stars and has often taken on the assignment of denying them the ball when the Raptors decide to enact that strategy. We saw it most recently in the win of the season against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s not often you see All-Stars playing deny defence, but Barnes is the exception.  

The blueprint works. Everything has gone swimmingly for the Raptors. They’ve been one of the best teams in the NBA this season and are now being rewarded as such.

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