The numbers behind Scottie Barnes' efficient shooting

Imman Adan and Asad Alvi discuss Scottie Barnes' impressive shooting to start the season and what it opens up for the team. Watch the full episode on our Yahoo Sports Canada YouTube channel or listen on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed.

Video Transcript

IMMAN ADAN: Inside, let's talk about something that's a little bit more bright, which is Scottie Barnes, who's been an absolute beast to start the season. His efficiency, his scoring numbers have just gone up across the board, but his efficiency is the thing that I really want to focus in on here. So, Scottie Barnes, 22 for 35 on the season inside the arc, meaning he's shooting 63%, and he's still taking three's, as well, and shooting 36% there.

I think that inside the arc number, just being the guy to take the most two's on the team and shooting it at an incredibly efficient rate is something that we want to see. Scottie Barnes is generally bigger than anybody else he's going up against, and his ability to dominate that match-up and not shy away from contact, finish over guys, and just be a big guy inside has been an absolute steal and a dream to watch. He's also handling the ball more, just doing a lot more, and being able to take that next step offensively. It has just been a treat. What are your thoughts on Scottie Barnes, early parts of the season?

ASAD ALVI: Yeah, Scottie's been awesome. He's had a little bit of turnover worry in the first two games, but he took accountability of that in the post game after Chicago. He seemed to be pretty torn up about his late turnover, and then in that Philly game, he tightened it up. And there was no real complaints with Scottie in that Philadelphia game. He showed his aggressiveness.

IMMAN ADAN: He was the best player on the court.

ASAD ALVI: Yeah, and looking at just, like, this season versus last season, his touches are up. He went from 73 touches to 81 so far in the season. He's spending less time on those touches, about 20 seconds less per touch, and his points per touch have gone from 0.21 to 0.26. So he's just scoring, like he's more efficient with his touches. So he's getting more points out of them.

And one of the things that, I think, we saw in the Philadelphia game, he had a number of turnaround jumpers and a number of pull up jumpers, and he's been very efficient with those. So small sample size theater, nothing to get too crazy about. It's only three games.

IMMAN ADAN: We're getting crazy about it.

ASAD ALVI: He's taken 3.7 attempts a game right now, and he's shooting 72% on his pull ups. Compared to last season, he was averaging 2.9.

IMMAN ADAN: [INAUDIBLE] parade route, MVP.

ASAD ALVI: Exactly.

IMMAN ADAN: Call it now.

ASAD ALVI: Last season, he was at 2.9 a game, so he's taking an attempt more per game. And he's at 31%. So, obviously, that's going to normalize over the season, but it's a good, early sign that he's, A, confident in that shot. And he's taken more.

Like the fact that he's taking more and he's confident in it is already a good sign. The percentages are probably going to come down, obviously. No one's shooting 72%, unless you're, like, prime Kevin Durant in the hottest month of his life.

IMMAN ADAN: And who's to say he's not?

ASAD ALVI: Yeah, who's to say he's not? But even if that comes down to, like, a 45%, 50%, that's still incredible to have, and those are one of those-- like pull up shooting is one of the things that your number one guy needs to have. And for Scottie Barnes, coming into the season, I don't think pull up shooting was something that we expected from him at all. I think, at best, it was like, hey, if he can improve his catch and shoot, three point shooting, if he can be a little bit better with his turnovers and be more aggressive going to the rim, we'd be all happy with that.

But for his pull up shooting to already be this ahead of the game, that's a promising stat early on. So that's the one thing Scottie has impressed me. On top of everything else in his game, it has been his aggressiveness and just, like, how good his shooting has really been.

IMMAN ADAN: Looking to score is so important. Yeah, I also just like looking through the numbers. I'm like, [INAUDIBLE] has missed one two point shot, and it was this midi that, like, probably should not have taken. But outside of that seven of eight, like, oh, my goodness, and also, just insanely efficient from deep as well.

It sucks that he had to miss a game. So, again, we're talking about a small sample size and a sample size that just got smaller by 33%. So yeah, but I just think this early season, although, the record looks a little bleak, I think, there's reason to be optimistic about this team.