This is CRAZY…

This is CRAZY…

This has to stop the Toronto Raptors just faced one of the best teams if not the best team in the NBA in the Oklahoma City Thunder after a really emotional past couple of weeks of Trades going down the trade deadline still coming around the corner so half of this roster

Probably thinks they’re going to get dealt in the coming days and despite that despite an embarrassing loss to the Houston Rockets just a couple days ago they faced a red hot Oklahoma City Thunder team and came out and took that game to double overtime if you guys returning from injuries it was an

Allaround really strong performance from the Oklahoma City Thunder and the one thing the real major takeaway people have been taking from this game has been to trash on Scotty Barnes and yes it is fine Scotty Barnes particularly at the end of last night’s game deserves a significant amount of criticism he

Looked a little bit disengaged he wasn’t taking a lot of shots he air balled that one shot Noe and then really didn’t do much else and the expectations after trading away Pascal seak after Trad trading away OG and anobi they’re all on Scotty Barnes right now and maybe it’s

Not to necessarily win because again A lot of people are calling for that Toronto Raptor tank that’s right we have a new graphic for it this year it’s back people are calling for that Raptor tank in 2024 so people aren’t necessarily looking to win but they’re looking for

Scotty Burns to be able to close out games like this and tonight he looked a bit disengaged down the stretch of this one and I completely get it I completely get people being frustrated their mediate reactions sort of discussing that sort of loss and saying hey Scotty

Barnes needs to approve in these areas needs to do this needs to do that and we can talk about all the things that needs to be improved upon for Scotty Barnes game again I’m not one of those sort of delusional people that think Scotty Barnes is immediately you know gon to

Now that Pascal is gone ogan and obi’s gone is going to be a top two NBA player or something along those lines that’s not the case right Scotty Barnes is Young he’s developing and he hasn’t really had the chance to be the top guy on a particular team and we know how

Close he was particularly to OG and anobi we know how emotional he is in terms of being invested in games and you know he’s still a young guy probably is riding the highs and lows of a season and stuff and the Raptors are certainly at a low point they just traded away one

Of his closest friends in OG and anobi and obviously Pascal seak was probably a mentor there in the locker room one of the vets that we know didn’t seem to have a big rift with uh the younger guys last season when all that stuff was going on so Scotty barns again he should

Be playing better if he’s going to be the top guy if we had playoff expectations if we had all these things this here but as Messi jery said we need patience with this group the Toronto Raptors fan base we need to be able to look at this and take away the positives

And yes Scotty Barnes has to be more engaged she has to be more locked in there’s down the stretch of games he has to be able to sort of take on the load of the defense and not just become a passive player out there right for all

The flaks Pascal cakam sort of received for his late game play especially as he sort of you know emerged as the number one option after that uh Tampa Year all that type of stuff Scotty burns the Pascal cakam developed that sort of knack to be able

To score down the stretch games was he perfect at it no but he definitely improved in those areas to the point where fans that were calling for his head because he was missing so many clutch shots right that sort of got silenced no one ever called him a super

Clutch player but he became pretty fine down the stretch for this Toronto Raptors team no one’s going to call him Kawai or anything like that but he became solo because he had some room to grow to develop to molden that number one option no it didn’t lead to a

Championship for the Toronto Raptors it didn’t lead to you know all NBA first team apparents or Pascal cakam or anything like that but he did get better and Scotty Barnes is a heck of a lot younger he’s a lot more Raw coming into this specific role and we’ve seen them

Over the course of this season show up big during the fourth quarters during clutch moments for the team now the defense is fully locked in on Scotty Barnes right now right there’s no sort of hey let’s focus on a pascal you know as much as people are going to roast

Let’s focus on a Fred Van vet who did take a lot of shots down the stretch the eyes are locked in on Scotty Barnes right now and yes RJ Barrett he’s looking like a a proper scorer for this team that’s also developing himself that’s expanding his game that’s coming

Back from injury and all that type of stuff but Scotty Burns has clearly been handed the Reigns as the number one guy and it’s going to take some adjustments it’s going to take some shakeups cakam talked about this directly how his game had to change being the focal point of

The of the defense on the other side right no one complained no one ever trashed on Pascal cakam when he had kawhai Leonard sort of there to take the load of the offense away from him no one ever I he was one of the most liked players across the fan base and then

Obviously gets thrown into that number one position and then I never really turned on Pascal C AUM but a lot of the fan based it and we can’t be turning on our young stars like this we can’t be doing again a year from now if we’re seeing no development from Scotty Barnes

In these areas in these spaces sure but give this man some time give him some time to figure out what it means to be the actual leader of a group because people are saying oh he’s the emotional leader he’s the heart and soul you know he’s probably not that just yet right

Kyle Lowry was that emotional heart and soul for this team Pascal cakam has been that number one sort of guy for this squad in recent years Fred Van vet was sort of that last season as well even though he wasn’t our best player by any means but Scotty Barnes has to learn the

Ropes develop into that sort of space so you know in a game against one of the League’s best teams where Scotty still had a good game I mean in this one Scotty barns you know looking at the stats 19 points seven rebounds nine assists eight of 15 from the field three

Of five from the three-point line you take away that fourth you know that late late late stretch of games right of this game Scotty Barnes looks like a a Phenom out there that’s that’s an exaggeration but a young Rising Star so again down the stretch against a really polished

Team in the Oklahoma City Thunder who you know went through their learning Cur curves hit those bumps in the roads in recent Seasons I mean I am not worried long term about Scotty Burns there’s no sort of stress in my head after this game about okay Scotty Burns isn’t the

End he trash we made major mistakes and stuff yes I did agree that we should have kept Pascal cak I’ve been sort of on that train I’ve been saying hey we should be sort of in a position to give this guy’s Max and then maybe trade him

Later and things like that but the Toronto Raptors are probably making a push for that draft pick you know and fair enough is it going to become the level Pascal sa probably not and then you could look at Contract situations amongst other things so I’m not saying

It was the complete wrong decision I was still in the Pascal cakam Hive but the fact that we gave the Reign to Scotty Barnes the fact that he hasn’t immediately become that sort of Superstar player that people have sort of uh been wanting him to sort of

Elevate into you know night in night out there’s some nights where he certainly looks like a superstar and things like that I’m not worried I am not stressed I am not complaining whatsoever again fair to criticize and people give Fair criticism I’m not saying that has to

Stop but the people saying hey it’s a case of Vince Carter he looks mentally dis engaged he looks like this he looks like that he’s going to leave the Toronto Raptors first chance he gets demand to trade and all that type of stuff that’s just crazy that’s frankly

Crazy talk so I don’t know I don’t want us to start ostracizing the same way our fan base kind of did with Pascal seak the same way it did with Fred Van vet heck sometimes it did with Demar Rose and Kyle Lowry in the past I don’t want

That to be the case with Scotty barns when he’s a young team and we’ve been told you know at least for this season patience let this team devel velop let this squad sort of come into its own and then we’ll see how it all shakes out so again few takeaways from this game

That’s the first thing I main thing I want to discuss purle back looking healthy 19 points 12 rebounds three assists two blocks frankly I have been of the take and again I’m breaking up this tank animation because it’s something that uh we’re cooking up here

A lot of people are calling for it after everything that’s gone on I’ve been one of my main sort of focal points and discussions and stuff regarding that P C acam trade is I don’t think we’re going to be bad enough to proper tank a season with an actual Center I think our

Opinions of this team have been a bit skewed by purle straight up not being in the lineup and not having a center so I basically said unless we’re sitting Yak of purle for the rest of the season I don’t think we’re going to be that bad I

Don’t think we’re going to tank that bad now the Houston Rockets game switched my uh mental a little bit you know I said okay we might be but that yaka Perle looked like yaka purle in this game and a little bit better so you know we’re doing this to Oklahoma City Thunder I

Think we’re going to be able to beat a lot of these uh bad teams in the league with the AA purle actually in the lineup maybe I’m again a little bit too optimistic for this Raptors group or I guess for the tank uh tank folks the you

Know un optimistic you know for a potential bottoming out so I’m going to be interested to see how the Raptors sort of pursue this trade deadline again pe’s a nice piece we have him locked in for the future he doesn’t make free throws and things like that he’s not

Much of a lob threat he doesn’t hit threes but he catches through the basketball he finishes around the bask he’s an extremely strong rim protector in the sense that you know he moves his feet well he protects the basket and things like that yaka purle healthy in this

Lineup does have a serious impact on this team so again yaka pe’s back keep an eye out for how that story goes because again some people want to win some people want to lose you don’t want to be in the middle of all this sort of

Madness so you know we’ll see how that all shakes out you know um Off the Bench that look good Dennis shudder wasn’t super efficient but had himself a night against his former team Gary Trent Jr’s hidden threes but still still not getting assists you know Bruce Brown is

Also a guy that I feel like is just gone he’s not really engaged he’s a guy that’s sort of a role player for this team we’ll see how all shakes I didn’t play too many minutes RJ Barrett back from injury looked great last night had

A few turnovers which is uh what it is but 23 points seven rebounds four assists loving what I’m seeing from RJ Barrett Emanuel quickly hit some late threes which is great to see he’s been good you know after the the injury he was dealing with those couple games of

Rest have definitely helped his performances of late and then yeah again we’re a young team that game against the Oklahoma City Thunder is a nice development game you know darkar rakovic has talked about how uh the Raptors have had some good practices he was shocked for how they played against the Houston

Rockets I mean we’ll see this team is very unpredictable right now especially with the trade deadline around the corner I want to know what you guys have to say also Jordan War uh no Ms in this one I’m not sure if he was injured uh in this

This game so that’s what it is but folks you guys are the best for making this subscribe to the channel if you guys haven’t already anyways I’m signing out cheers

The Toronto Raptors fought in a tough overtime battle against one of the NBA’s best teams, and one of the major takeaways some Raptors fans have made after this game is to turn on Scottie Barnes. Ben Rogers breaks down why this is crazy and even thought there are definitely things to improve upon, Raptors fans need to chill.

Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnh_Q8aWS8PxQWGlodwlJaw/join

Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/MeVay9egPx

Grab your official merch at: https://raptorsdigest.myspreadshop.com/

Follow the Raptors Digest on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/raptorsdigest/

Follow the Raptors digest on Twitter at:
Tweets by RaptorsDigest

MORE FROM DIGEST MEDIA:
Leafs Digest: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_EUKCfhWZLk0dX4XxQaZIA
Jays Digest: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUTv…
Knicks Digest: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8cYEIxnSZp9Mo93nQ_52Rg
Habs Digest: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvUG…
Courtside Digest: https://www.youtube.com/c/CourtsideDi…