by Scottie Barnes is back.
Was it pretty?
No. Not particularly. Most of the Washington Wizards’ 113-95 loss on Friday was forgettable. But after a seven-month absence from basketball competition, the Toronto Raptors have the face of the franchise back on the court.
For a moment, it looked like Barnes hadn’t missed anything. He was able to avoid a dribble handoff from Jakob Pöltl and stormed inside to score the first points of the game. Seconds later, he went into a 17-foot pull-up — the kind of shot that plagued him throughout his career — and made it. Then he found Poeltl running the court in transition for an easy basket with a half-court pass, scoring or assisting on each of Toronto’s first six points.
This is the Barnes the Raptors have been missing.
Barnes started each of the first 60 games last season before suffering a freak injury, breaking his hand when Immanuel Quickley accidentally kicked him while trying to block a layup attempt by Jonathan Kuminga. Without him, Toronto failed, going 3-19 in its last 22 games as the Raptors lacked talent due to injuries and personal absences.
Friday showed that Barnes continues to be the driving force of this Raptors group.
Apart from a few ball losses and foul problems at the start, the 23-year-old Barnes looked effective. He made another 19-foot jump shot off the dribble and opened the second half with two steals, diving into the Wizards’ passing lane and scoring two transition balls.
Barnes finished his season opener with 16 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes. He failed to convert any of his threes and had five turnovers, but for the first time in months it was a big step in the right direction.
Based on his performance, Chris Boucher deserves a rotation spot.
There’s certainly an argument to be made that his minutes should go to someone a little younger with a more solid long-term future in Toronto, but when it comes to talent entering the season, Boucher deserves to play. It looks like he’ll be able to easily slide in behind Barnes as Toronto’s backup forward. Jonathan Mogbo isn’t quite ready for that spot right now and the Raptors have no other option to help Barnes up front.
There will certainly be some frustrating games from Boucher, but the 31-year-old should see his role grow after starting out of the rotation last year. At least his performance of 22 points and seven rebounds on Friday evening should help him.
Playing without Quickley certainly hurt Toronto’s three-point shooting firepower, but the Raptors may not be quite as bad as they looked against Washington. Toronto shot 7 of 33 from three-point range and was outscored by 30 points from behind the arc by the Wizards. If the math looks this lopsided on a regular basis, the Raptors will be in big trouble this season.
The Raptors return to action for their third preseason game on Sunday night when the Boston Celtics come to town for a 7 p.m. ET tipoff at Scotiabank Arena.
