The Darko Rajakovic era is off to a promising start.
In Rajakovic's coaching debut, the Raptors defeated the Timberwolves in a game straight from the 90s. Toronto scored only 97 points, but it limited a talented Minnesota team to 94 points to come away with the win.
Among the players who played well for the Raptors was third-year forward Scottie Barnes. While he struggled with his shot, shooting only 6-for-16 from the field and 1-for-4 from 3-point range, Barnes stuffed the stat sheet with 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists, five blocks and two steals.
Barnes was particularly dominant defensively against the Timberwolves. The seven stocks (steals and blocks) speak for themselves, but there was one stop that served as a great example of how unique of a defender he's becoming.
You know what that means — to the film room!
MORE: Five burning questions that will define Raptors' season
Scottie Barnes has makings of one of NBA's most unique and disruptive defenders
🎥 The play
✏️ Breakdown
Kyle Anderson brings the ball up for the Timberwolves following a 3-pointer from Dennis Schroder.
On the court with Anderson are Shake Milton, Troy Brown Jr., Naz Reid and Karl-Anthony Towns. Milton, Brown and Reid make their way to the perimeter to space the floor while Anderson hands the ball off to Towns almost as soon as they cross halfcourt.
Knowing how deadly of a shooter Towns is — he's knocked down 2.4 3-pointers per game at a 39.8 percent clip over the last four seasons — Barnes picks him up a couple of feet beyond the 3-point line. Towns is able to get by Barnes, but he's immediately met by Anderson's defender, Jalen McDaniels, at the elbow.
McDaniels does a nice job of getting his body in front of Towns on his drive, but he's at a huge size advantage. Not only is Towns three inches taller, but he has 43 pounds on McDaniels.
Sure enough, Towns is able to create some space by taking two long steps and leaning into McDaniels.
Towns would've gotten a layup had Barnes not been lurking to do, well, this:
🤔 Why it matters
Barnes played a leading role in limiting Towns, a three-time All-Star who is one of the best offensive players in the NBA today, in Toronto's season-opening win over Minnesota. According to the NBA's tracking data, Towns scored five points on 2-for-9 shooting from the field when defended by Barnes. He finished with 19 points on 8-for-25 shooting, making for one of the least efficient games of his career.
The tracking data is far from perfect, but this is one of those instances where the eye test backs it up. Sure, Towns still had a number of looks he usually knocks down, but Barnes was responsible for a lot of his misses.
Two of Barnes' five blocks came against Towns at the rim. You saw the first already. Here's the second one:
There were even a couple Barnes didn't block but altered.
Barnes also impacted a few of Towns' jump shots. (Just ignore him following up his miss below for a dunk.)
Not that you should overreact to one game, but Barnes has proven himself to be a very scaleable defender. He graded out as one of the most versatile defenders in the NBA last season, trailing only nine players in The BBall Index's defensive role versatility rating. (A few of the players ahead of him barely played or had limited roles, too.) He guarded everyone, from Hawks point guard Trae Young to Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen.
Against Minnesota, Towns was his primary assignment, but Barnes spent some time on Anderson, Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert. He can guard all five positions against most teams. It sounds like Rajakovic plans to make the most of that versatility this season.
A lot of comparisons have been thrown out for Barnes since the Raptors selected him with the No. 4 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. One I couldn't shake while watching him wreak havoc against the Timberwolves was Andrei Kirilenko, a three-time member of the All-Defensive Team who was one of the best defenders of the 2000s. Barnes might never reach the shot-blocking heights Kirilenko did — the Russian once led the league with 3.3 blocks per game, an absurd mark for a wing — but he has the tools to be a similarly dominant five-tool defender, someone who can defend on and off-ball at an equally high level with the versatility and motor to guard almost anyone.
Barnes showed flashes of that potential in his first two seasons. In Game 1 of his third season, he took another step toward actualizing it.
