Scottie Barnes is a monster, do-it-all wing who is already an all-star; what now? | 24 Under 24

Sam & Bryce discuss Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors during their 24 Under 24 In '24 rankings.
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Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show.

[@AleenHive]

the Aaron Gordon comparison is funny cuz Gordon has never had a season that’s COMPARABLE to the season Scottie JUST had at 23

[@akz2628]

He was 22 last season

[@leon__nights]

I think he’s already taken a leap with his shooting. He was at 39% until OG left and tried to take on the hardest defensive assignment every night and he had dead legs. If he stays as a roaming shot blocker he will be good.

[@Dawg476]

In my opinion all Scottie needs to do is take more shots and he will be a 25-27 ppg player. He only shot 15.7 shots per game. This needs to be a big leap year for Scottie in my opinion. He’s too unselfish as well.

[@williamg7138]

Absolutely not. Hes not an extremely efficient player at all and if he takes more shots it's gonna get bad

[@leon__nights]

@@williamg7138he’s more efficient than Paolo or Cade and they get all the praise for taking more shots.

[@Dawg476]

@@williamg7138 Lmao

[@theokgamer2577]

​@@williamg7138 you don't know ball

[@user-de6ld7jp2c]

​@williamg7138 he's the guy on the Raptors not the Magic, he plays defense too

[@og3945]

I think people are too overly critical of a 3rd year player on a team that’s rebuilding.

[@pgauleygale]

He's just 23 and is already 20 pig, 8 rb, 6 asst, and over a block and steal pg. Shooting efficiency needs to improve and that can be said for so so so many NBA All Stars. Raptors are heading in the right direction, still need some internal improvement and a few supporting cast trades.

[@R.B.90]

I'm a Raptors fan and I try to not be bias, but do feel Scottie is underrated. Only because players of his skillset are usually underrated. He's not flashy and he's not nearly as talented as Paolo as a scorer. But this guy has All-NBA defensive ability and is a Swiss-army knife on offense. Without the antics think prime Ron Artest who imo was also incredibly underrated. I dont mind the Aaron Gordon comparison cuz if Aaron Gordon could play pg that's Scottie. And Aaron Gordon came in with potential All-NBA talent as well but settled into his current role with the Nuggets. Idk if Scottie can be a number 1 option but he would make a perfect Scottie Pippen beside that guy. Hate on me if you must, I said I am a Raptors fan so maybe I'm overrating his potential.

[@YourWorstNightmare3333]

As a Magic fan this is exactly what I feel about Scottie. He will be an Elite 2nd option but not a great 1. Hence why Paolo comparisons is delusional.

[@PabloSkawer]

@@YourWorstNightmare3333 Delusional how? Scottie is better at everything traditional and advanced stats. He has worst shot creation but his % are better. Scottie with his crunch minutes attitute is a couple steps above, it's his 90% of the game attitude where he tries to involve the other what keeps him in the same tier as Paolo

[@YourWorstNightmare3333]

@@PabloSkawer better at everything lol keep believing that Scottie is a franchise player on a contending team I’m not the one getting fooled. You will learn soon enough that he isn’t it. No one believes he is better than Paolo except raptor fans. Enjoy him leading your team to the lottery every year

[@yonisbadar2129]

​@YourWorstNightmare3333 paolo comparisons aren't delusional, and only because of efficiency. Paolo is scottie if he attempted more shots. Scottie 15 at per game and paolo at 18. Passing is on scottie and scoring is clearly paolos. Rebounding can be the same but defense is on scotties side. The comparisons are valid only because of paolos efficiency. But rn banchero is ahead since he's entering year 3.

[@blais65ro]

Scottie has so many tools in the bag that he is figuring out as first a point guard,but also will be able to take over games when needed. Also lets not forget he's got a crew around him that he had time to gel with.This year will so fun and intriguing to watch as a fan,can't wait.😃

[@pensarebasketball]

Every year, it's nice to see you see more and more in him. I think this is the year he finally wins you over as a future All NBA type guy who can be a #1 option on a great team.

[@zzxy8669]

good to see you showing love to other communities

[@JesseYVR]

Mobley is 2 tiers below Scottie when it comes to overall defense. What is this narrative that Mobley is elite at defense?

[@GameTheoryPodcastwSamVecenie]

yeah this is just a wildly bad take. Evan literally just finished 3rd in DPOY as a second-year player and was first-team All-Defense in 2022-23. We talked a ton about what makes Evan a special defender in his video, would suggest you check it out.

[@GameTheoryPodcastwSamVecenie]

@@mollyweir9350lol okay. Sounds good, we’ll go study Scottie’s on-ball fundamentals, where his hip mechanics and gait don’t allow him to actually play with enough bend to change direction consistently and guard great opposing players. Or his closeout mechanics where he can’t quite slow down his momentum well enough to consistently be available to both contest and cut off drives. But yeah sure, we’ll make sure to actually watch the tape next time and understand what we’re looking at as opposed to just randomly citing block numbers that occur on like 2% of offensive possessions that he’s on the court for. Sounds good. We were super positive on Scottie here. Dude is an awesome player who is going to be a multi-time all-star, which is what we said. Cool if you have a different take on him. These lists are fun but they’re also basically all about what you value/don’t value. There’s so much space for disagreement, and if you notice, I don’t really care if people disagree. Think that’s a part of it and it’s reasonable to do so. Accusing us of not watching the tape and blindly just saying some bullshit isn’t going to fly. It’s patently wrong and ridiculous to suggest.

[@curto201]

@@GameTheoryPodcastwSamVecenie Mobley is overrated af. Big for no reason

[@user-de6ld7jp2c]

​@@GameTheoryPodcastwSamVecenie you're famously known as a Scottie hater, we get it. He's been the best player from that class and he's just scratching the surface. Also a physical specimen who hasn't fully tapped into that yet. You're likely to look alot worse in the yrs to come.

[@GameTheoryPodcastwSamVecenie]

@@user-de6ld7jp2cit is genuinely just a horrendous take to say I am a Scottie hater at this point. Not another way to put it. I’ve been nothing but positive about the dude for like two years now. Have gone Raptors Republic and talked about this like three separate times now lol

[@SP.007]

I also think, During his draft. People must have thought what rookie year Scottie became, would be what year 3 Scottie would look like. And his year 3 selfwould be like a year 7 or 8, where he put everything together, and this what you can imagine for the rest of his career.

[@Biggdirt1]

Darko and his coaching staff are great at developing players. I saw big improvements by alot of their players last year. Scottie , IQ , RJ and Grady are hungry players who will do the work needed to get better. Jacob also made big strides last year and they are a good example for the rest of the team to improve .

[@Jeffberg42]

Gonna be interesting to see with Jakob Scottie and RJ taking it hard to the glass makes Toronto offense functional.

[@SP.007]

3:53 - He's a natural play maker, defencive effort guy, and he can average an easy 20. If that scores mindset kicks in, just a little more, watch out.

[@akz2628]

He’s a pass first guy, I don’t see him ever averaging more than 24

[@JesseYVR]

Streaky? Try playing with Pascal and FVV. Took until year 3 to get shots because of rather than within the offense

[@guccigucci4188]

Fr

[@JesseYVR]

Settle into? He'll settle into being the best player doing all the things and stuff for his entire career

[@curto201]

You can tell these guys would love him if he was on an American team lmao

[@kevinferris3007]

It is hard to talk about Barnes with out factoring in what his team win lose record, maybe more than Cad because the Pistons were expected to be bad. But Barnes was ROY, had a meh 2 nd, then a big step forward at start of third year, to then break his hand. But I expect another leap forward this year. Many of the starters he has played with were in trade rumors for years, so think the Raptors will exceed expectations, mainly because of Scottie

[@poptarts224]

At the same time every one of those players got flaws. It you want Scottie to be as elite of a shooter, he’s top 3 maybe top 2 only to Wemby. He does so much

[@notDonaldFagen]

If you've seen Scottie standing around other guys, he's a solid 6'9" now.

[@JesseYVR]

Scottie Barnes will be a starter on Team USA in 2028.

[@Andrethegamer905]

Scottie is new groat

[@joepal843]

Scottie was the best player on the floor as a rookie in the playoffs, until Embiid injured him. We have yet to see fully unlocked Barnes when the games absolutely matter

[@user-tn5te3xv1l]

Scottie Barnes is a future Buck Giannis will play for Toronto in a few years

[@yonisbadar2129]

Scottie ceiling is 27ppg for me. But I want him yo be a 24-10-8 guy with 2 steals and 2 blocks.

[@DESOUSAB]

Liked and subscribed.

[@robertfapswell3719]

6'9" in my opinion!

[@daves9664]

Why are we still comparing scottie to aaron gordon? Gordon has literally never been as good or as talented as scottie

[@yonisbadar2129]

Raptors were 3-19 without scottie this season.

[@josephj1973]

Scotty is a good player. But history has shown that most All Stars who have played on a non contender always seemed like "Super Stars". I'll believe the hype after he brings the Raptors deep into the playoffs. Till then, fans need to settle down lmao. We already know the kind of roster it takes to win an NBA title 👍

[@PabloSkawer]

The thing here is, Scottie was playing better until the trades came, once he knew that Raptors were rebuilding his stats got way worse. He was avg +21 +9 +5 with +1.5s +1.5b on really good efficiency...

[@hello-jg8rv]

Scottie Barnes High I Q Magic Johnson in the making

[@guccigucci4188]

Magic said it himself

[@badmanettienne2139]

Rj will be better

[@johnmcneil9164]

basketball isn't just scoring...things like rebounding, defensive, passing, feel for the game, handle are really important.

[@briant.8553]

An honest assessment of him. Listen Raptor fans, especially the 2nd half of the review.

[@robsweeney7028]

Barnes won't be better than Franz

[@dorsettrobotham2634]

He already is

[@money464]

he's better than franz and paolo

[@gregtafri4166]

Yannis is not a great shooter either