Raptors Notes: Barnes, Trent, Porter, Boucher, Koloko
The Raptors haven’t missed a beat with All-Star point guard Fred VanVleet (back) unavailable for the last two games, recording blowout wins over Atlanta and San Antonio. Reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes has been the team’s primary de facto point guard, recording a season-high eight assists on Monday vs. Atlanta and five more in San Antonio on Wednesday.
Barnes has displayed improvement as both a shooter and a play-maker in the early parts of the 2022/23 season, showing that his development after last year’s impressive debut is right on track, according to Eric Koreen of The Athletic.
As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes, the Raptors’ strong performances this week – along with Barnes’ strides as a play-maker – are proof that the team should be able to cut back VanVleet’s minutes a little when he returns, even without a reliable traditional point guard on the depth chart behind him.
VanVleet averaged a team-high 37.9 minutes per game last season and was slowed by injuries by the time the playoffs rolled around. In his first six contests this season, he averaged 38.0 MPG.
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- With a player option in hand for 2023/24, Gary Trent Jr. is in a potential contract year and is off to a good start, Grange says in another Sportsnet.ca story. While Grange doesn’t necessarily expect Trent to match the $120MM+ deals signed by Tyler Herro and Jordan Poole, who are more talented ball-handlers and play-makers, he notes that Trent is a good defender whose offensive stats (20.0 PPG on .450/.382/.783 shooting in eight games this season) continue to improve.
- Otto Porter Jr. didn’t play a huge role in his Raptors debut on Wednesday, but head coach Nick Nurse is excited about what the team’s top offseason free agent addition can provide. “I’m just hoping he can do what he’s done, which is make open threes,” Nurse said on Wednesday, per Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star. “He’s a really good rebounder, especially positionally. He’s got some good length, so hopefully he can play some defense as well. But really, the perimeter shooting is his specialty and it’s something we could use.”
- Chris Boucher, who also signed a multiyear free agent contract with Toronto over the summer, is a developmental success story for the Raptors, Koreen contends in a story for The Athletic. Considered a raw “tweener” when he first joined the team, Boucher has become one of the Raptors’ most reliable and productive reserves.
- In the early part of the 2022/23 season, the Raptors rank first in the NBA in fast break points, steals per game, and defensive rebounding rate, using a terrific transition offense to make up for their subpar half-court production, as Zach Lowe of ESPN (Insider link) outlines.
- In the same Insider article at ESPN, Lowe also touches on the early impact of rookie big man Christian Koloko. Toronto is allowing just 97 points per 100 possessions with Koloko on the floor, which is better than Milwaukee’s league-best rate of 101.3 points per 100 posessions.
Raptors Notes: Barnes, Koloko, Ujiri, Porter
Scottie Barnes was one of the surprise stories of the 2021/22 season, winning Rookie of the Year honors and helping the Raptors return to the playoffs. In an interview with Steve Aschburner of NBA.com, Barnes said he understands the game even better now after spending a full season in the league.
“I really know the difference in what it takes to win and how hard each and every game is,” Barnes explained. “So it takes a certain amount of effort every night. I’m really trying to stay consistent with the effort I make on the offensive end and the defensive end. Trying to score points and make winning plays. Try to pull out these wins, because it’s hard to win a game in the NBA. Every possession really counts.”
The 21-year-old forward, who returned to the court tonight after an injury scare over the weekend, focused on off-the-dribble moves during the summer to expand his offensive arsenal. Coach Nick Nurse wants Barnes to become more aggressive in trying to score whenever he has a mismatch.
“I’m a natural passer,” Barnes said. “The first thing I look for, I try to make the right play. See who is open. Try to draw the defense. But it’s just … me trying to be more aggressive, they give me the confidence to do that. That allows me to try to find those mismatches in any way possible. Through pick and rolls or out on the floor. It doesn’t really matter who’s on me, I’ve got to try to do what I do.”
There’s more from Toronto:
- Rookie center Christian Koloko was looking forward to his first matchup with Sixers star and fellow Cameroon native Joel Embiid tonight (video link). Koloko told reporters he hopes it will inspire youngsters in the African country to see two Cameroonian players face each other in the NBA.
- Raptors president Masai Ujiri was fined $35K for approaching the scorer’s table during Saturday’s loss to Miami and “directing inappropriate remarks toward a game official,” the NBA announced (via Twitter).
- Otto Porter Jr., who still hasn’t made his debut with the Raptors, missed another game tonight with a strained hamstring, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports. Nurse said Porter is getting closer to being ready, and with just one game over the next four days, there’s hope that he will benefit from extra practice time.
Injury Notes: DiVincenzo, Zion, Ingram, Boucher, Barnes
Warriors guard Donte DiVincenzo injured his left hamstring during Sunday’s victory over Sacramento and won’t travel with the team to Phoenix for Tuesday’s contest, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Speaking today to reporters, including Kendra Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link), Warriors head coach Steve Kerr revealed that DiVincenzo will miss more than just Tuesday’s game, indicating that the swingman will be reevaluated in one week.
As Andrews relays, the Warriors will be in the midst of a five-game road trip at that point and haven’t yet determined whether DiVincenzo will join them on that trip, which ends on November 4.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- The Pelicans are listing forwards Zion Williamson (hip), Brandon Ingram (head), and Herb Jones (knee) as questionable for Tuesday’s game vs. Dallas, writes Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Williamson and Ingram left Sunday’s loss after sustaining their respective injuries, while Jones tweaked his knee during that game, but it sounds like none of the three injuries are significant. Imaging on Jones’ knee came back clean, per head coach Willie Green.
- Although Green told reporters today that Ingram wasn’t in the NBA’s concussion protocol, the Pelicans put out a press release announcing that Ingram is, in fact, in the protocol. Within the announcement, the team noted that the return-to-participation process can begin no earlier than 24 hours from the time of the injury, which is why Ingram can’t yet be cleared.
- Raptors big man Chris Boucher has been cleared to make his regular season debut on Monday after missing the team’s first three games due to a hamstring issue, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. Scottie Barnes remains questionable for Monday with an ankle sprain, but the fact that he’ll likely be a game-time decision is a sign that the injury isn’t as serious as the team initially feared it could be, Lewenberg observes.
- In case you missed it, the Lakers ruled out two-way forward Cole Swider for at least the next four weeks due to a foot issue.
Raptors Notes: Barnes, Nurse, Reserves, Boucher
The Raptors are hoping that 2022 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes can take the next step en route to superstardom, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Barnes excelled as a scorer and defender during the 2021/22 season — the goal now is to improve his ceiling as a play-maker and shooter.
“We’ve tried to give him a little bit at a time so it’s not overwhelming and he’s not completely confused out there,” Barnes’ skills trainer and mentor Brian Macon said. “The hardest thing about training Scottie’s game is that he’s going to catch the ball in so many different positions … He might have the ball in the ball screen, he might catch it in the post, he might catch it in the short roll, he might catch it off someone else’s action. So it’s hard, because he does so much on the floor. But I think he’ll have a better plan in every single spot, and he’ll know what he likes and he’ll have more things he can go to.”
There’s more out of Toronto:
- With Barnes possibly limited in the short-term future due to a right ankle sprain, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will have to search for depth on the club’s roster, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “You guys know, I’m trying to win each game each night,” Nurse said recently. “That’s the one thing that we’re trying to do. It’s felt like the right thing to do so far by subbing the way we subbed.” Koreen notes that the Raptors seem to be lacking some half-court scoring punch.
- Though injuries to Raptors reserves Otto Porter Jr. and Chris Boucher can be partly to blame for the team’s underwhelming bench performance thus far this season, Doug Smith of The Star opines that the team’s remaining backups still need to improve their performances. “The league is all about opportunity and rhythm… especially for guys that are on limited minutes, limited rotation, limited opportunity,” starting point guard Fred VanVleet said. “You just got to know when you are checking in and know the rotation and know the rhythm, know where the shots are coming from, know what you are supposed to do when you are out there.”
- Boucher and Barnes are both officially questionable ahead of tomorrow’s contest against the Heat, but Josh Lewenberg of TSN (Twitter link) reports that Nurse anticipates Boucher will be able to make his 2022/23 season debut.
X-Rays Negative After Scottie Barnes Suffers Sprained Ankle
Raptors forward Scottie Barnes left Saturday’s game in Miami after spraining his right ankle in the second quarter, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. X-rays on the ankle were negative, the team announced.
Barnes suffered the injury on a layup attempt, with Bontemps stating that the forward nearly jumped over Heat guard Tyler Herro before landing awkwardly on his right foot. Barnes grabbed his foot in pain, but was able to walk to the team’s bench with minimal help.
After shooting a free throw, Barnes headed to the locker room under his own power. He was ruled out of the game at halftime after posting 11 points, two rebounds and two assists in 13 minutes.
Barnes sprained the same ankle during the offseason, which prevented him from training for three weeks prior to the start of camp. That led to conditioning issues that showed up during the preseason.
Barnes is coming off a Rookie of the Year season that saw him average 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 74 games. He played an important role as Toronto won 48 games and claimed the fifth seed in the East.
Raptors Pick Up 2023/24 Options On Barnes, Flynn, Achiuwa
11:52am: The Raptors have officially announced that they’ve exercised their 2023/24 options on Barnes, Flynn, and Achiuwa, locking in approximately $16.26MM in total salary for the trio in ’23/24.
11:42am: The Raptors have exercised their team option on guard Malachi Flynn for the 2023/24 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), and are doing the same for their ’23/24 option on big man Precious Achiuwa, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca.
The 29th overall pick in the 2020 draft, Flynn has appeared in 91 games during his first two seasons as a Raptor, averaging 6.0 PPG and 2.3 APG in 16.1 MPG during that time, with a shooting line of .380/.326/.750. He’s currently recovering from a left cheekbone fracture and will wear a face mask to open the season.
As Murphy notes, Flynn’s fourth-year option wasn’t a lock to be exercised, since he has yet to establish himself as a regular rotation player in Toronto. However, the Raptors’ decision to guarantee his $3,873,025 salary for 2023/24 suggests they still believe he can become one.
Achiuwa, meanwhile, enjoyed a mini-breakout season after being acquired from Miami in last summer’s Kyle Lowry sign-and-trade. He averaged 9.1 PPG and 6.5 RPG in 73 games (23.6 MPG) for the Raptors in 2021/22, making 35.9% of his three-pointers.
Achiuwa was also Toronto’s most-used reserve in the team’s playoff series vs. Philadelphia, averaging 27.8 minutes per contest despite coming off the bench in five of six games. His fourth-year option for 2023/24 is worth $4,379,527.
The Raptors also hold a third-year option on Scottie Barnes, which will pay the reigning Rookie of the Year $8,008,680 in 2023/24. That option is a lock to be exercised before the October 31 deadline, but it’s not technically official yet, tweets Murphy.
Raptors Notes: Starting Lineup, VanVleet, Last Roster Spot, Barnes
When the Raptors face opponents with bigger frontcourts, they may switch up their lineup, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby will start most nights but it “doesn’t mean you always have to start your five best,” according to head coach Nick Nurse said.
“Do we really want Scottie, Pascal or OG guarding a really good, big five to start the game?” Nurse said. “I don’t think we do, so we’re going to have to make some adjustments to that, or it’s just going to be three minutes and we’re sending in a guy.”
We have more on the Raptors:
- Fred VanVleet believes there’s good chemistry in the locker room, Michael Grange of SportsNet.ca writes. “I think you have to give credit to management and coaching staff. They have their hands full in terms of putting together a locker room that works before we even step on the court,” said VanVleet. “I think we have done a good job of building that back up. It feels more like a Raptors team now.”
- Nurse may weigh potential offensive contributions a little more heavily when it comes to deciding which player gets the 15th spot on the roster, Grange tweets. Justin Champagnie, D.J. Wilson, Josh Jackson and Gabe Brown are the candidates.
- Barnes has been a little slow getting up to speed and there’s a good reason for that — the reigning Rookie of the Year was held out of training for the last three weeks prior to camp with a mild ankle sprain, Grange tweets. Nurse commented on that subject. “He’s playing a little bit of catch-up and it’s noticeable,” Nurse said, as relayed via a Lewenberg tweet. “I don’t think he’s shown a whole lot in the preseason… I think he’s just behind a little bit, conditioning-wise, feel-wise. We need to keep plugging away and get him feeling (like himself).”
Raptors Notes: Roster Battles, Porter Jr., Young, Barnes, Birch
The battle for the final roster spots on the Raptors‘ regular season roster is ongoing at training camp, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. The team currently has 12 spots believed to be locked in.
According to Lewenberg, Justin Champagnie, D.J. Wilson and Josh Jackson are expected to compete for the final roster spot, while Juancho Hernangomez and Dalano Banton will likely claim the other two.
“We do a staff vote every single day, and that vote changes every single day,” head coach Nick Nurse admitted.
The Raptors must trim their training camp roster down to 17 players (which can include two two-way players) by October 17 at 5:00 pm ET. Toronto has established itself as a team that prioritizes length and defensive versatility. The team went 48-34 last season, finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference.
Here are some other notes out of Toronto:
- Otto Porter Jr. recently tweaked his hamstring in camp, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet (Twitter link). Nurse said Porter may be out for a “little bit.” Porter signed a two-year deal to join the team this past summer. In addition, Grange relays that Thaddeus Young (knee) is day-to-day. Young is once again expected to provide frontcourt depth off the bench for Toronto this season.
- Second-year player Scottie Barnes is impressing Nurse and the team in training camp, Lori Ewing of The Canadian Press writes (link via The Toronto Star). Barnes won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award last season. “It feels like it’s better and he’s making more in the rhythm of what we’re doing,” Nurse said. “He’s not hesitating to take them at all, the threes. He’s still doing the rest of the stuff. He’s got that long, slow, strong drive where he puts it in the basket. He’s got that pull-up thing when he has a size advantage. But the frequency with which he’s letting them go is certainly on the rise.”
- Big man Khem Birch discovered he suffered a torn meniscus when he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee this offseason, Eric Koreen of The Athletic tweets. Birch isn’t 100% yet, but he’s working his way back. The 30-year-old appeared in 55 games with Toronto last season, averaging 4.5 points and 4.3 rebounds in 18.0 minutes per contest.
Atlantic Notes: Layman, J. Jackson, Celtics, Raptors, Sixers
When they signed with the Celtics, Jake Layman and Justin Jackson both received one-year, minimum-salary contracts that are non-guaranteed. However, the terms of those agreements are slightly different — Layman got an Exhibit 10 clause in his contract, while Jackson’s deal is an Exhibit 9, Hoops Rumors has learned.
Both Layman and Jackson are ineligible to have their contracts converted into two-way deals because they have too many years of NBA service under their belts. But Layman’s Exhibit 10 contract makes him eligible to receive a $50K bonus if he’s waived before the season and then spends at least 60 days with the Maine Celtics, Boston’s G League team.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- As part of their efforts to honor the late Bill Russell this season, the Celtics have painted his No. 6 in the free throw lanes of their home court, the team announced on Monday (Twitter link). Boston will also wear Russell-themed City Edition jerseys for some of the team’s games in 2022/23 and will hold two nights in his honor, including October 18’s home opener.
- Eric Koreen of The Athletic projects which Raptors will play the most minutes in 2022/23, with Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes, and Fred VanVleet leading the way. Interestingly, Koreen predicts third-year guard Malachi Flynn will see more action than frontcourt veterans Otto Porter Jr., Thaddeus Young, and Khem Birch.
- Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice takes a closer look at who will claim the back-end spots on the Sixers‘ 15-man regular season roster, speculating that Charles Bassey and Trevelin Queen could end up being the odd men out. Philadelphia currently has 13 players on guaranteed contracts, with Bassey, Queen, Isaiah Joe, and Paul Reed on partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed deals.
And-Ones: Top Under-25 Players, Wade, EuroLeague, More
Fifteen NBA executives polled by Michael Scotto of HoopsHype unanimously picked Mavericks star Luka Doncic as the NBA player under 25 years old whom they’d most want to build a team around. While Doncic’s selection comes as no surprise, there are some interesting picks further down Scotto’s list, which was derived from asking those 15 NBA execs to name the five players under 25 they’d most want to build around.
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant ranked second and third, with Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley following them at No. 4. Former first overall picks Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves) and Zion Williamson (Pelicans) came in at Nos. 5 and 6, with last season’s Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes (Raptors) rounding out the top seven. You can check out Scotto’s full story to see the other seven rising stars who received votes.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- After spending three years in an analyst role with the network, Dwyane Wade won’t return to TNT for the 2022/23 NBA season, reports Andrew Marchand of The New York Post. According to Marchand, TNT made an offer to retain Wade, but he decided to leave his position to focus on other business ventures.
- Euroleague Basketball has appointed Dejan Bodiroga as its new president and Marshall Glickman as acting CEO, per a press release. They’ll replace Jordi Bertomeu, who served as president and CEO for 22 years and was a co-founder of Euroleague Basketball, which operates and oversees the EuroLeague and EuroCup, two of the world’s biggest non-NBA basketball leagues.
- Former NBA star Baron Davis and ex-NBPA executive director Michele Roberts are among the backers of the new Fan Controlled Hoops league, which is scheduled to launch in February of 2023, as Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic outlines. The league, which will follow in the footsteps of Fan Controlled Football, will feature 4-on-4 games played on an LED floor, with fans getting the opportunity to illuminate parts of the court to create zones where players get extra points when they score.