Return of Scottie Barnes

 What a fun weekend of sports as always. Some great football games on Sunday that I will be getting to without a doubt tomorrow (hoping I can make fun of Baltimore to ease my pain from the Steelers losing Thursday.) To hold us over, today I thought I'd talk about the Raptors and how they've looked with Scottie back in the lineup. Scottie came back for Thursday's game against the Timberwolves and has helped in all the ways you'd expect the team's star player to help. Going 1-1 in the 2 games since his return lets get into how the team looks: 

How Scottie Helps RJ

RJ Barrett getting reps as a first option was actually surprisingly fun and interesting. RJ emerged as an above average pick and roll ball handler with the team getting 0.94 points per possession when RJ ran P&R. This is good for 16th in the league among players with at least 5 P&R possessions per game. RJ's playmaking has improved significantly and it pairs well with his ability to get downhill relentlessly to set up his teammates for some open looks. With Scottie back in the lineup, RJ still had the chance to run some of these, but he also got to shift back into a role that suited him so well last season, playing off ball. For as good as RJ's been running pick and roles, he's been even better scoring off cuts with the team netting 1.06 points per possession on RJ Barrett cuts. Scottie Barnes can take on some of the ball handler duties and allow RJ to cut off ball, making his life a bit easier barreling towards the rim. On top of taking the ball out of his hands more, Scottie takes on the opposing team's best defender freeing up RJ more often. Without Scottie, the Raptors didn't really have another scoring threat alongside Barrett besides Gradey Dick. Teams have begun to guard Gradey with more physicality which has limited his effectiveness a bit over the last stretch, leaving RJ with a lot of responsibility. With a big strong player like Scottie back in the lineup, teams have to commit their big strong defenders towards slowing him down. This leaves RJ with a smaller matchup to take to the rim with more ease. I think finally Scottie helps RJ the most on defense. The biggest flaw in RJ's game is his effort on the defensive end isn't always there. Scottie is one of the best help defenders in the league and although you'd love to see RJ hold his matchup more, it's nice to have an eraser on the back end that can take care of some of his mistakes. 

How Scottie Helps Gradey 

Another player who really benefited from all the injuries was Gradey Dick who was asked to do a lot more on ball creation than ever before. Gradey certainly had his moments and if you go through this blog you'll see me pumping his tires more often than not. Where Gradey really thrived in this role though wasn't in the dribble moves into a pullup jumper but more in the pump and go off the catch, quick decision making type of stuff. Gradey's struggles on ball have been accentuated late in games where teams amp up the physicality against him and go after his still suspect handle. Scottie Barnes takes all of that pressure away. With Scottie in the lineup, the Raptors have another steady ball handler with RJ allowing Gradey to go back to what he does best, move around off ball. Gradey has missed some open looks in the 2 games with Scottie back so far, but the process looks great. Gradey is finding his spots with more ease now that another player is taking on so much defensive attention with the ball in his hands. Scottie also helps Gradey in the same way he helps RJ by cleaning up some of the mistakes on the defensive end. 

How Scottie Helps The Others

Needless to say, the entire team benefits from having an all-star back on the court. Davion Mitchell got to slide back into the backup PG role where he's best suited. His production was most notable against the Timberwolves where he was freed up to play some fantastic defense on Anthony Edwards without as much pressure to create offense. Chris Boucher and Jonathan Mogbo saw their roles actually increase with the return of Scottie. The Raptors without Barnes are just a small team, this forces them into situations where they need to play Bruno Fernando for his size with Jak getting a breather. With Scottie back and able to take on some of the backup center minutes, undersized lineups with Mogbo and Boucher running around wreaking havoc are much easier to stomach. Jakob Poeltl was asked to do a ton with Scottie out and he did an admirable job at it. The issue is his minutes were creeping up to career high levels which is probably unsustainable. With Scottie able to take on some of that load, Jak can go back to around 25 minutes per game, which hopefully keeps him fresh for the whole season. 

I say again, Scottie being back is ginormous for this team and I think the Raptors are set to go on a bit of a run here. I know they just lost to the Cavs, but literally every team that's faced them except for the defending champs have said the same thing. The Raptors look more dangerous in every aspect with their star out there and with the schedule softening up a bit this week, I expect them to rattle off some wins and destroy the tank stans dreams. Go Raptors!