Scottie Barnes isn’t a point guard, but he’s a great playmaker: Folk’s Smoke
Welcome to Folk’s Smoke — my coach’s corner! This is a weekly column wherein I look at the Toronto Raptors ‘big-picture concepts, trends, and abilities through the prism of an individual play, set, or alignment. The goal is to use small tactics as a means of team-wide analysis. From small advantages come large successes, or failures. The goal here is to uncover those relationships.
We’ve all watched. We’ve all seen it. Scottie Barnes has gotten more of the ball, and the result has been a near unprecedented run of assists by a “forward”. Over this stretch (the past 6 games) the Raptors own the 14th best offensive rating in the NBA. There have been a couple let down games, but on the whole the Raptors have scored well enough, and obviously that includes a historic performance against Orlando. Truthfully, if the Raptors were to have this type of offensive stretch in another portion of the season they’d likely be a top 10 outfit, but March basketball is a beast of its own making.
What’s been clear, no matter where Barnes has played or what position, is that he’s an extremely gifted passer. It was clear at Montverde (if you wanna go see he and Cade Cunningham pal around and dominate). It was clear at Florida State. It’s been clear since he jumped into the NBA. Barnes processes the floor quicker than most other players in the world. His frame and athleticism are standouts, obviously, but I’d argue the way he thinks the game is his greatest asset.
The last week or so of Barnes getting a lot of the basketball and the shots he’s created are largely a product of how he sees the game, rather than how he bends defenses.
A lot of what the Raptors were able to get in the halfcourt was the result of Barnes’ live dribble, hawk eyes, and quick trigger as a passer. Gone are the days where the dribble pressures the rim, the Raptors were sticking with the pass. This is, for the time being, a wholly unique offense in the NBA.
Coach Darko made reference to Nikola Jokic and Milos Teodosic as passers. Their need to “feel things out” and “test the limits”. He highlighted Barnes as this kind of passer as well. Barnes is willing to make high risk/high reward passes all the time. He hits an astounding amount of them, but there’s still a lot more risk in his form of creation, because it’s more reliant on off ball breakdowns from the defense, not on ball breakdowns by a dominant offensive player like Barnes.
The result? Obviously a mixed bag. Barnes, without anyone to create for him, saw volatile swings in his effectiveness as a scorer. Even his creation on the whole was fairly volatile in the halfcourt. And this is during March where scoring comes a lot easier in the NBA, and against some pretty bad defenses. His on ball limitations — handle, lack of a pull-up jumper from deeper than 16 feet — showed up constantly. Still though, the sheer amount of reads he got to filter through and his passing talent meant that the Raptors were guaranteed some production. This is the pitch, not even for Barnes as a point guard, but just as a more featured offensive player. A conduit on a lot of possessions to inject pace and dynamic passing. Not to mention all the things that Barnes can do well outside of this. He’s been a great mismatch iso scorer this year; really strong as a roller, and still capable on the offensive glass.
Now, back to the pace. With Barnes being seen as more of the de facto “point guard” it meant the Raptors were trying to get him the ball more often in basically every scenario. Most importantly, they were getting him the ball in transition. Barnes has been seeing nearly 10 more backcourt touches a game during this stretch, and that means he gets to make early clock decisions. Do you want a hit ahead? An outlet? Do you want a big ol’ super computer pressuring the rim in transition? They’ve all been good options.
What I see, more than anything, is that the Raptors finally allowed Barnes to play in his best role: transition decision maker.
For a team that plays as much transition as the Raptors do, they’ve been horribly inefficient in doing so. They’re always playing fast, and always underperforming that aspect of their game. Across the Raptors first 70 games of the season they had one performance that would rank in the 90th percentile and above in terms of transition efficiency. Across the past 6, they’ve had 3. Barnes’ inclusion in more of the fast-paced decision making is not only a crystal clear upgrade on Immanuel Quickley, Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett – whoever you want on the Raptors – it’s a clear upgrade on almost all of the NBA.
If you go to Barnes’ numbers in transition, the scoring stuff alone, you’ll be pretty nonplussed. The numbers are not great. However, when you extend out to Barnes’ playmaking included? Then you’re cooking with gas. The Raptors benefit greatly from that. When you look at a lot of the shots he created for teammates and a lot of the greatest aspects of putting Barnes on ball? It’s that stuff.
Coach Darko told me they’re working on getting the rest of the roster to really run with Barnes when he’s pushing the pace, and I do think that’s necessary, but it’s also flat out more necessary that they put the ball in Barnes’ hands to push more often. Does that mean the Raptors probably have to change how they sequence themselves into some opening actions and pet plays? Probably. Is the trade off worth it? Absolutely.
Two lessons always smack me in the face anytime Barnes gets a lot of on ball reps:
- He’s just too limited to create en masse for an offense.
- The Raptors have to keep letting him touch the ball and push anyway.
Have a blessed day.
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