There’s an old basketball truth that never seems to go away: it’s a lot easier to play defence when the other team can’t score, but it’s awfully hard to win when you can’t put the ball in the basket yourself.
The Toronto Raptors are finding that out early this season. Their defence has been creating opportunities, forcing turnovers and giving the offence extra chances. Unfortunately, those chances haven’t meant much when the three-pointers keep bouncing out.
Scottie Barnes Is the Raptors’ Leader
And that brings us to Scottie Barnes. Barnes went 0-for-12 from the field in Sunday’s loss to Minnesota, including five misses from three-point range. That’s a rough night for anybody, never mind a player Toronto needs to help carry its offence. But one bad game doesn’t tell the whole story. The bigger concern is that Toronto has struggled to shoot from long range for several seasons.
So perhaps the question isn’t simply how Barnes can shoot better. It’s what the Raptors can build around him when the shots aren’t falling. He usually is on his game, but what if he’s not?
The Raptors Have Something to Work With
Here’s the encouraging part. Toronto is generating opportunities. The Raptors forced 23 turnovers against Minnesota and had 12 more shot opportunities than the Timberwolves. They still lost by 23 points. That’s frustrating, but it also tells us something. The team isn’t necessarily being outworked or failing to create chances. It’s failing to turn enough of those chances into points.
Barnes doesn’t have to solve that problem alone. RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley need to contribute, too, and Toronto could look to give Ja’Kobe Walter more opportunities from beyond the arc. He shot 40.9% from three last season, albeit on limited attempts.
The Raptors don’t need every player to become a great shooter overnight. They need enough reliable threats that opponents can’t simply pack the defence around the players who prefer to attack the basket.
What Can Barnes Do When the Shots Don’t Fall?
This is where Barnes becomes especially important. He’s more than a scorer. His passing, rebounding, defence and ability to create opportunities for teammates give Toronto other ways to influence a game. When his shot isn’t falling, he can still help the Raptors win possessions, move the ball and keep the offence from becoming predictable.
That doesn’t excuse the shooting problem. Toronto has to improve there, and the history suggests it won’t fix itself overnight. But Barnes doesn’t have to carry the whole answer. If Toronto can turn its defensive strength into more dependable offence, the occasional cold shooting night might stop feeling like a disaster.
For Raptors fans, that’s the encouraging possibility: the team may not be as far away as the scoreboard suggests. It just has to learn how to make all those extra chances count.
Related: The Raptors Didn’t Just Choose Kawhi Leonard. They Chose a Direction.
