ScottieBarnes

Preseason question: What will Barnes’s final form even look like? Every game that he plays is a hint of what he’ll someday become. We know what he is now, at 25 years old: a toolsy forward who can do a bit of everything, at a volume and with an impact that can be overwhelming. He has the open-ended jack-of-all-trades potential to be anything the Raptors might need, but he also plays the kind of world-class defense that keeps him anchored at all times. His game could go anywhere. Could Barnes be the Defensive Player of the Year? A first-option scorer? An intangible connector who makes everything around him make sense? All of the above? Barnes isn’t a perfect player, but he rises to meet challenges—and every time he does, he widens our view of what he might be capable of. The Raptors’ trade for Kawhi Leonard had as much to do with the team’s specific needs as it did with Barnes being ready to compete for something more. Pushing the team forward is the only way to see where Scottie’s limits really are.