One of the most reliable truisms in professional sports is that ‘we protect our own.’
Mostly it’s a positive thing. Teams need to stick together to be successful and so, while honesty and accountability inside the group is important and encouraged, when criticism – however mild – starts coming from the outside, teams tend link arms and act as one.
Or the good ones do.
Take the case of Scottie Barnes, the Toronto Raptors talented second-year star who has been going through – arguably – his first case of professional adversity of late.
Nothing major, but Barnes had been in an extended shooting slump and has had some struggles with a new level of offensive responsibility and the inevitable burden of expectations that come with being the No. 4 overall pick and winning the NBA’s rookie-of-year award last year. All of which have been exacerbated because the Raptors have been without two and three starters for most of the past two weeks.
It was hard to ignore. Raptors veteran Thad Young addressed it after Toronto lost to Indiana on Saturday and Raptors head coach Nick Nurse referenced his play after another quiet night from Barnes (eight points in 34 minutes on 4-of-9 shooting) in the Raptors win over Detroit on Monday when asked if Barnes was showing with the same free spirit that was on display throughout most of his rookie season.
“I agree with you. I said that his biggest challenge going in the year was to have the enthusiasm that he had last year,” said Nurse. “Every game he was a kid in a candy store and that’s part of now you’ve got some attention you get some focal [point], you get some tough defenders, you get knocked around a little bit. But keep working at it. I thought he played pretty big defensively late in the game.”
But 48 hours later the wagons began to circle a little bit. Nurse didn’t want to revisit or rekindle any concerns about Barnes’ recent play as his club was getting ready to host the Miami Heat.
Everything was fine, nothing to see here:
“Someone asked me the other night, what’s wrong with Scottie?” said Nurse. “I mean He had a good game the other night. I didn’t see a whole lot that was wrong — he had solid numbers, guarded like crazy, and is out there a ton of minutes … I mean listen I think he’s playing really well. Love him man. I think he’s playing great.”
Similarly when Fred VanVleet got his chance to weigh in after being away from the team due to illness on the weekend, he was fully on Team Barnes:
“Nobody around here is worried about him,” VanVleet said. “We know how great of a player he’s going to be. There’s not any young player I would trade him for. The sky’s the limit for him. So, whether that’s tomorrow or a couple years, we’ll see… [But] I didn’t really even realize [Barnes’ slump] was a narrative until I was sitting at home watching the Detroit game. But yeah, it’s a little overblown.”
As always, the best way to change a storyline is to do something about it on the floor. Whether it was the comfort of having VanVleet back in the lineup to carry more of the play-making load or it was simply the natural order of things – slumps don’t last forever – Barnes had one of his best all-around games of the season, and certainly his best in the month of November as he put up 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting against Miami while grabbing six rebounds and counting six assists in 42 minutes of floor time. In his previous seven games Barnes had only managed 11 points a game on 35.1 per cent shooting, though he was still contributing 7.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists a game.
Still, for someone who was expected to carry more offence this season and did a lot of work in the summer to help make that happen, not being able lift his team offensively when they needed it most – Barnes’ slump coincided precisely with Pascal Siakam going down with a grown injury – was a new experience.
“I feel like my rookie year went kinda smooth, you know what I’m saying?” Barnes said after the Heat win. “But yeah, of course, first thing is taking on the challenge, you can see that I’m in the middle of a shooting slump, I realize that, I recognize that, but, just trying to stay confident, get through it, keep trying to be aggressive, trust your work, trust your craft.
“I feel like that’s what’s gonna get me through it every single day. Don’t try to really get down on myself, try to just push through it, what you work on is gonna show. If you work hard, it’s gonna show.”
The signs were there on Wednesday as Barnes stepped into three mid-range jumpers in the first quarter – a distance he’d been struggling from – and made them all, eventually making five of them on the night. As the game went on he mixed in some basket cuts and drives and used his size to dribble into post-ups. He didn’t have the ball in his hands all that much – his 18.4 per cent usage rate was fifth for the game – but he was aggressive when he had it.
His ups and downs so far this season haven’t set Barnes back. Instead he seems more determined to grow his game and push the envelope on where his skills can take it.
“I don’t think it’s been frustrating at all,” he said of the extra responsibility he’s taken on and some of his struggles along the way. “Of course I’m going to really embrace it, be who I am on the floor … the ball is in my hands a little more when [Fred and Pascal] are out, but I’m just trying to take the game how it is. Try and make the right reads. Try to really be aggressive every time I get it. Just try to and do the right things on the floor. I don’t back down from it. I really embrace it.”
And guess what? He’s got his coach and teammates in his corner.
“I remember on the road, Pascal and Fred telling me ‘Stay being aggressive, be great, 4!’ and them boys giving me confidence when I’m out there on the floor,” Barnes said. “I feel like that’s a big thing. I really took that to heart, them boys texting me when they’re at home … Thad [Young] telling me to keep being aggressive, don’t take things – keep the pressure on your shoulders. I feel like that’s a big thing, everybody giving me that confidence from the coaches to the players, having that support staff around me.
“I feel like that’s helpful.”
It’s what good teams do.
