Dave Feschuk: The Raptors are still Scottie Barnes’ team, but Kawhi Leonard should make his job easier - Toronto Star

Barnes and Leonard are like-minded in their vision: They ground their game on defence.

Scottie Barnes and Kawhi Leonard were rivals until this year, when they’re expected to be one of the NBA’s best defensive tandems.

Dave Feschuk is a Toronto-based sports columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @dfeschuk

In the quest to build a winning NBA team, there’s always a risk of a roster that just doesn’t mesh.

After Scottie Barnes arrived in Raptorland in 2021 as a No. 4 draft pick, for instance, he didn’t always mesh with veteran holdovers from the 2019 championship team. As Fred VanVleet said a few years back, speaking of those post-pandemic Toronto teams that never found significant success: “There was a mix of guys that had been there, new guys trying to prove themselves … The chemistry didn’t click, and that’s probably the most I can say about that.”

When a roster stocked with championship-proven, salt-of-the-earth types like VanVleet and Pascal Siakam doesn’t click, it’s only natural to wonder about the quality of the new pieces. And it was as recently as 2024 that former team president Masai Uijri was cautiously measured in his assessment when asked about Barnes’ potential as face of the franchise, let alone “face of the league,” as head coach Darko Rajakovic had ambitiously prophesied around that time.

“I don’t know if (Barnes is) ready for that responsibility, but we have to put him in that position,” Ujiri said.

Fast forward to Monday’s media day, and it finally felt like Barnes was growing into the role. Fresh off a standout performance in a first-round playoff exit in Cleveland and now entering his sixth NBA season, the 25-year-old Barnes no longer qualifies as a kid. He has twice been an all-star, and last season he was named to the NBA’s all-defensive second team for the first time.

But maybe the most impressive endorsement of his NBA-alpha status came earlier this month in a video clip from the team’s in-house “Open Gym” series. In the clip in question franchise legend Kawhi Leonard, fresh off his post-Aspiration-scandal reacquisition, spoke to Rajakovic about the Raptors’ internal pecking order in the coming season.

“If it’s Scottie’s team, it’s his team,” Leonard said in the clip. “I just want to do whatever it takes to help you guys win.”

It’s not often a two-time NBA Finals MVP defers to a teammate as relatively under-credentialed as Barnes, who has never won a playoff series. But such is the harmonious state of things in Raptorland, where Barnes spent part of Monday returning the respect by expressing his excitement at the prospect of learning from Leonard’s example.

“Seeing the work he puts in, what he’s focusing on, the consistency he brings every day, I’ll be able to take notes, and I think it’ll just affect me in a positive way,” Barnes said.

Keep in mind they’re saying these things before they’ve played a minute together. But the reason it’s all believable is that Barnes and Leonard are like-minded in their vision of the game. In a league that pays for offence, they both ground their game on defence.

“I think it’s going to work great,” Leonard said of his impending partnership with Barnes. “We’re both coming in to play defence first.”

Barnes, on that front, aired one grievance: Specifically, his omission from last season’s NBA all-defensive first team. While Barnes finished fifth in voting for defensive player of the year — which, theoretically, figures to have qualified him as a top-five defensive player — the vagaries of awards voting saw him land on the second team. Rajakovic said it didn’t sit well.

“That was not fair. He deserved to be in the first team,” the coach said. “I believe his goal, and what he needs to achieve this year, what he’s going to achieve this year — he’s going to be in the first-team all-defensive team.”

Said Barnes: “I don’t want to say how I really feel. But it just felt kind of disrespectful that I didn’t make (the all-defensive first team). And I know for sure I’ll be on there this year. I’ll make that statement.”

For all the talk of individual goals, Barnes also spread praise around the locker room. He spoke glowingly of the off-season grind endured by teammates Collin Murray-Boyles and Ja’Kobe Walter.

“Those two worked so hard this summer — I’ve seen it first hand, and I think they’re set up for really big years,” Barnes said.

He spoke of Leonard’s congeniality: “He’s a really great guy. Talks a lot, cracks jokes — he’s a genuinely great person. Before coming here, people say he doesn’t talk much, but he actually talks quite a bit.”

And for all the near-universal praise Barnes received for his performance in the post-season, he said he wasn’t satisfied with his performance against the Cavaliers, even if his numbers were elite.

“I think I played well in that series, but I still feel like I had a lot more I could have done,” he said.

He sounded, in other words, like the leader the Raptors have always hoped he’d be. All that’s left is for him to win like one.

“It should be a great year — every game is going to be a battle,” Barnes said. “You guys are in for a treat.”

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Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details

Dave Feschuk is a Toronto-based sports columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @dfeschuk