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[Doug Smith] Scottie Barnes needs to work much harder over the summer to be an NBA elite star



This seems surprising to me, as it always appeared Scottie worked pretty hard …

by PlumCantaloupe

23 Comments

  1. pskill43

    Whatever he worked on during the summer, it certainly didn’t translate into the actual game

  2. MakiSerb3

    Less vlogs, gaming & fashion shoots potentially.

  3. PHILtheCANADIAN

    No one on this team can shoot, making it difficult to get buckets in the paint. Honestly no idea how Siakam does it when we can’t hit open threes.

  4. PaintTouches

    1/4 of the season doesn’t define this kid and Doug Smith is still a hack.

  5. enantiornithe

    Yes I would say that any second-year player that hasn’t come out of the gates Ja hot has a lot of work ahead of him to be an elite star in the NBA. Very astute observation, Dougie

  6. ConfidentAstronomer5

    What eating at Subway does to a man

  7. Yinanization

    Third year is when lots of young players make the jump, I ain’t worried

  8. Ylissian

    Well Scottie as the starting center looks like a short lived experiment. He needs to put his personal preferences aside for the sake of the team though. He’s the only player aside from Pascal who can reliably finish at the rim.

  9. TameBusey

    Doug Smith calling out Scottie’s work ethic while stating he watched “almost every game last season and about every game so far this year” is cracking me up.

  10. Stevo120

    To me, Barnes lacks the confidence right now.

    He also doesn’t have the right skills yet, but he has the tools to train and grind for those skills.

    But it all starts with the right mindset.

  11. Mesozoic_Era

    Hard work and progression are not a 1to1 linear relationship. Especially when you’re younger. I think he did put in the work, but his body and mind is still adjusting to the grind of being an NBA player. All this nonsense is gonna look dumb in 3-4 years when this kid starts to peak. Also Doug Smith is awful at journalism.

  12. donnwizzenhunt

    The only noteworthy part of this report: “There are those in the organization whose eyebrows were raised in the summer when Barnes would flit in and out of team runs in both Las Vegas and Los Angeles.”

  13. reevoknows

    Worst case scenario Scottie maybe thought he already arrived and now this year he’s dealing with teams circling him 1st or 2nd behind Pascal in every teams scouting report. There’s an adjustment period there, he will adjust.

  14. Turkeywithadeskjob

    Never forget Doug Smith wrote in his blog how he once was having tims outside the old raptors practice building and saw Jalen Rose show up late to practice, wearing sunglasses and looking worse for wear.

    Then Rose responded by saying, I wasn’t late, I had an eye dr appointment which the coaches cleared and that is why I was wearing sunglasses, and you weren’t drinking coffee you were smoking.

    Doug Smith is a fucking hack. And if Toronto newspapers had any credibility his ass would have been fired ages ago. But he managed to stay on forever and now behaves like he’s the elder statesmen of Raptor reporters. Launch him into the lake.

    Re Barnes: I think his struggles are a bit overblown. Yeah he’s not playing well but I’m not ready to make a declaration on his work ethic, attitude or whatever. I really think he is getting used to the grind of an NBA season. He only played in 24 games in College and out of those 24 he only started in 7.

    Shit’s hectic and I think his head is spinning. Especially since he’s on a team that for all intents and purposes is priotrizing winning rather than “development”.

  15. SkullBean

    If he doesn’t make that jump by his third year then I’d say he’s just not that type of player (though not everyone’s career is linear).

    ​

    Right now I’m not too worried about him but there is ***a lot*** of stuff he needs to work on

  16. hypespud

    I think the point is that he is capable and the article is recognizing that, he has a pathway to get there

    Can’t wait until he does because he will be so awesome

  17. fug_nuggler

    Easy to say based on results, but I saw tons of pro players complimenting Scottie in the off-season for how hard he was working. Sometimes it just doesn’t translate, if anything I would say he is having more of a mental block then a physical one.

    Really weird take imo.

  18. bloopcity

    absolutely, not like there’s a known and recognizable trend of **sophomore** players going through a **slump**! it’s definitely not common enough to have its own name.

  19. KeyConscious9220

    Why are people jumping on Doug Smith here…Scottie has been pretty bad this year…obviously something didn’t translate this offseason, he’s regressed

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