Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes impressed during his first back-to-back slate on Friday and Saturday, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports writes. Barnes was used as the primary defender against Boston’s Jayson Tatum in game one, then was given the assignment of guarding Dallas’ Luka Doncic in game two.
“It’s a challenge that I’m willing to take each and every night,” Barnes said of guarding the NBA’s top players, according to Lewenberg. “It’s what I look forward to.”
The 6’9″ Barnes was drafted by Toronto with the No. 4 pick in July. He has averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds in 32.7 minutes per game during his first three contests, starting in every outing.
Here are some other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- Sixers coach Doc Rivers isn’t concerned by Joel Embiid‘s recent knee injury, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Embiid managed to play in Philadelphia’s loss against Brooklyn on Friday, recording 19 points (6-of-15 shooting) and eight rebounds in nearly 30 minutes of work.
- Bulls guards Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso have been bringing chaos defensively, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times examines. The pair’s strong defensive effort is a key reason why Chicago is 3-0 to start the season. “(Ball and Caruso are) so active (defensively) you’ve got to be aware of them,’’ LaVine said, as relayed by Cowley. “Even for guys like me and DeMar DeRozan), it helps us be in the passing lanes more, get some extra rebounds because then guys’ rhythm is off. They’re effort and energy bleeds throughout us as a team.’’
- Rod Beard of The Detroit News examines the positives and negatives of the Pistons‘ start to the campaign. Detroit is 0-2 and dropped both contests to Chicago, having been held to 88 points and 82 points, respectively. The Pistons finished with the worst record in the East last season at 20-52.
I’m still wary of how much offense Chicago can create once they go to their bench. Their bench is extremely active defensively but not potent as far as scoring the ball. Coby White could change that but he could also be a trade chip
Ehh, I think they’d do well to keep White as an offensive spark plug off the bench.
I also think the Bulls would do well to add another big off the bench that’s capable of scoring.
Either way, with Caruso, Green, Brown Jr., Alize Johnson, and eventually Colby White, it looks like the Bulls FINALLY got their BENCH MOB back in action!!!
Green has actually been a HUGE plus for their rotation thus far, and plays a MAJOR part of that newfound defensive intensity this Bulls team can bring!!
Embiid back to being injured. ugh.
Him not getting surgery last year was STUPID. You could (if you had the time lol) go back to when that was going on and I was all over here saying it was a huge mistake because it’s the same injury Bynum had and didn’t get surgery on that ended his career.
100%
Thought Scotty was too raw to go that high. Didn’t think he’d do anything for yrs. He’s looked good. Gotta say he is ready. Never really watched him. So that’s on me for talking to soon. But he is looking like the right pick. Love how he puts it on the floor for his size. This guy will be special. I can admit when I’m wrong.
Yea it’s obvious you didn’t watch him if you thought he was raw. What even gave you the impression that he was raw if you didn’t watch him play? His name or physical appearance or something? He was a beast on the best HS team in the nation as a junior then transferred & was even better as a senior. He was a key player on multiple gold medal winning USA jr squads, U19 & U18 I believe. He was a beast for an FSU team that was 1 of the best in the nation last yr as a freshman. Watch these guys play and THEN make up your mind about what you think about their game. Not the other way around.
People read hot takes off other idiots about what prospects are like, then play a game of telephone around the internet among other people who know next to nothing about the players, convincing themselves there must be disappointments like there are every year. How fun it is to guess who will suck each season..
But I’m sure now that they have been told off, it will never happen again…
I’m not defending the previous poster, but there were COUNTLESS experts that had Barnes going later than where he was selected…
Most draft “experts” did have Suggs going at number 4.
Anyways, the Giddey pick was the one I was really surprised about.
The “experts” tend to parrot what information is put out there. There are a few guys establishing what will be consensus, and they aren’t necessarily smarter or dumber than the teams who need to make decisions, who might be gathering better information. And when the draft is all over, everyone is going to be surprisingly better or worse or unlucky than they thought they were before the draft started in how they understand each player.
Early
BUT
ROY candidate ?
Looks like a strong field this year but he’s certainly a candidate at the moment. Putting up great numbers. I wonder if he’ll get less minutes when Siakam returns.
At +1100, I personally thought he was a good bet to take
When I was checking out the stuff for the draft, I absolutely loved Scottie Barnes. I think he is going to be one of my favorite players in the NBA for a long time. Love him defensively, and his energy. I’ve said it here several times, but I also think he can get real minutes at PG, besides the 4 and the 5. If he gets a more consistent jump shot, or improves in the post, he is going to be a great 2 way player
Caruso has been 6th man, getting starters minutes, and has brought the winning from LA… Bulls 4-0, Lakers 1-2… “like I said”
Maybe he does not want to start, since he hustles so much, and would stress and tire starting. IDK LA’s loss, they did not want to start OR pay him, so now he sits behind Lavine & Lonzo, which is respectable, moreso than whoever the Lakers were going with besides LJ.