One Bad and One Good From the Raptors Opener

 Short one today, I am tired from my long top 20 players post from yesterday, just exhausted. Really though, the joy of writing about the Raptors is lessened by a 30 point loss on opening night I can't lie. I could rant, but it's a rebuilding season so if I get caught up on every loss it's going to be a long ride to March. Anyway, believe it or not there was some good that came out of this game. There was tons of bad as well but for the sake of positivity, lets only focus on one: 

The Bad: Scottie Barnes

Rough outing for Scottie. To be perfectly fair, Evan Mobley can make a lot of guys look bad, he's one of the best defenders in the league especially against power forwards like Scottie. The issue is, a trend dating back to last season as well is beginning to form. If Scottie doesn't get it going in the first quarter, his intensity and focus drops off a cliff. He starts to sulk and his energy level is noticeably lower. This was ok when Scottie was a young player playing with leaders in Siakam and VanVleet, but this season is the first full year where the team belongs to Scottie. The front office has gotten pieces with the idea of fitting them around Scottie Barnes and the future fate of the franchise pretty much rests firmly on his shoulders. When the team leader and best player starts to sulk, naturally everyone else follows. This is a young team, there are going to be nights where they get punched in the mouth and just roll over. Watching Kyle Lowry over the years you always got the sense that even if he was shooting poorly, he would still grind, hustle, flop, do whatever it takes to be a positive contributor and try and bring his team back. Scottie hasn't shown this same level of  "will to win" when his back is against the wall. It's only 1 game and again it was against maybe the best defender built to go against Scottie, but this is concerning for sure. Going forward I want to see Scottie try and impact the game in other ways when his shot isn't falling. He's got far too many gifts and talents to disappear in any game and the Raptors truly need him to step up his leadership.

The Good: Jamal Shead

The exact opposite of what I said above, Jamal Shead is a DAWG. Down big, Jamal came in the game with insane energy doing whatever it took to help will his team back into the game. Jamal hit a 3, finished at the rim for an and 1, identified that Boucher was the hot hand and found him on multiple occasions with nice passes and overall just hustled hard on defense. Shead only finished with 1 steal and 1 block but his impact on defense in creating turnovers couldn't be captured in the stat sheet. His energy is infectious too, the Raptors can't help but play harder when Shead is on the floor playing like a lunatic. If the Raptors want to win games this season, I am calling it now, Shead needs to play big minutes. I think he should be in most closing lineups when the game is tight and if IQ misses any time he should be the starter over Davion. If Scottie can't be the leader this team needs, going forward I want the Raptors to empower Jamal Shead to take up that role. I think we're going to be seeing a lot of this guy over the next few years and I couldn't be more excited. 

OK! Have a good weekend everyone, Steelers on Monday this week which will mess with my flow but we'll make it work.