One of the few positives from Raptors Media Day was Scottie Barnes.
All eyes and attention will be on Barnes as he enters his third season. Fans are hoping Barnes can take a third year leap and have his best season yet.
Barnes showed up to Media Day and talked about his offseason work and how he hopes to perform this season.
Barnes said he’s been working on his game. Getting to the mid range, getting to the basket. He’s confident in his game. He says his mindset is to go out there and dominant and try to win games.
When talking about what he did during this offseason, Barnes said he did more running for his conditioning.
Masai Ujiri confirmed that Scottie Barnes has worked incredibly hard this summer and has shown the commitment that he wants to get better.
“He’s gotten stronger, his conditioning’s gotten better. He wants to be great,” Ujiri said.
Barnes mentioned he’s trying to step more into a leadership role and that he feels he can lead.
Then Barnes spoke about the veterans on the team.
“They bring more energy, bring more positivity to the situation. That’s the difference between this year from last year,” he said.
Barnes then revealed that he’s gained 9 pounds of muscle and is weighing in at 240 lbs for the first time in his life. ” I feel good,” Barnes added.
Scottie Barnes in year 3
Under new head coach Darko Rajakovic the expectation is that Scottie Barnes will have the ball in his hands a lot more and there will be plenty of opportunities for him to prove himself.
Rajakovic spoke a little bit about Barnes’ role for this season.
“The style of play we’re going to implement is players 1-4 will be interchangeable. Multiple players will be able to bring the ball up the floor. Scottie will play on the ball more. He’s such a unique player, we can use him in many ways,” Rajakovic said.
In a season of uncertainty, Scottie Barnes hopes to provide Raptors fans with optimism.
Barnes said all the right things. Now it’s time for him to deliver on the court.
Let’s see if Barnes does take the next step this season.
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