Scottie Barnes is becoming cerebral in PnR's

Amit Mann and C.J. Miles discuss the latest examples of Scottie Barnes combining his athleticism, patience and several levels of finishing to punish teams in the pick and roll. Full Strictly Hoops can be found on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed.

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

(SINGING) What's it like? What's it like to see the moment you feel yourself growing? This is greatness that I'm showing. Close your eyes. I'm still glowing. Close the door. I'm still going. This is grand business. Have a seat and be a witness. Hey, what's it like?

AMIT MANN: OK. We've gone through several subjects that don't relate to Scottie Barnes. Let's talk about Scottie Barnes, finally. The pick and roll was popping yesterday. And it's been popping for a couple of games for Scottie. What are you seeing from him? Obviously, there's growth, but are there specifics that stand out to you?

And also I should-- before I give it over to you, that Darko mentioned, after the game, that they've been working with Scottie and Jak specifically on screening angles and how to get more out of their pick and roll combination. And yesterday, it worked pretty well.

CJ MILES: Yeah. For him right now, as the ball handler, there's just so much patience. He's getting guys on his hip, getting guys on his back. He's holding them up so then he can attack the big, and it's a 2 on 1. And he's got such an advantage with his size, right?

AMIT MANN: He's huge, man.

CJ MILES: He's got his size. He sees everything. I can come dunk it on you. I can come finish. I can throw the shuffle passes. I can throw the passes over the top to the corners. He's just got such an advantage once he's got the guy on his hip and he's getting in the lane.

And, I mean, it's really as simple as that. It's just reps that are coming from him doing it more in the games and getting opportunity. And it's just letting him see the game.

AMIT MANN: Yeah. It seemed like they were using screen flippage more so with Jak and Scottie. And we talked about that at the beginning of the season is, how do you generate good touches for Scottie in the pick and roll? And it was little changes like that, where you're changing the angle.

And then, obviously, having Khris Middleton in the pick and roll, it helps. So we gotta keep that in mind, too. He's not someone that is traditionally in the situation. But that also is the reason why this is intriguing, right, is that you're gonna put players like Khris in that.

CJ MILES: We talked about it. Certain guys always mess it up.

[LAUGHTER]

AMIT MANN: That's true.

CJ MILES: We got big on bigs or guys that are good-- necessarily good wing defenders, good team defenders, not really their primary ball handler defenders. They don't get as many reps as guarding pick and rolls.

The other thing is, with the screen flippage, it's specifically for unders because guys are gonna go under if they do pick and rolls high on the floor with him as the ball handler. They're gonna challenge him to shoot 3's off the dribble.

So the screen flippage allows the big to be able to get the guard after he goes under and change his angle. That's the biggest way to utilize that screen flippage.

AMIT MANN: I want to talk about the way he engages defenses. And this goes back to his size and how he's able to hold on to the ball for another half second, one second. And that engages the defense for a little bit longer. And then all of a sudden, boom, he sprays it out to Malachi Flynn, who, by the way, had a nice little-- I mean, I don't want to get into too much, but actually, we will later on. But he had a nice little play where he faked a shot, one dribble, into a pullup. Good for him.

CJ MILES: Yeah, right in front of their bench, yeah.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, that was a nice shot. And then also, there was another one where he's staying tight on screens. And once again, he's able to just draw two quick little shuffle pass to Jak. It's that kind of length and size is where it's really showing that Scottie can just be a threat in these.

CJ MILES: And it's funny that you say that. I didn't think about that. It's opening up my mind a little bit. He doesn't have the fear that guards have getting in there and getting swallowed up by the trees. Because I'm one of the trees. So I can get deep down in the paint. I can get down, like you said, and hold the ball a little longer. I don't have to get rid of it before a certain time.

A lot of guards don't want to get too deep down there and pick the ball up because they can't see. They don't have ways to get it out. So I got to shoot this floater by the time I'm here if I can't get to the rim or it's gotta go somewhere. Scottie can be anywhere in that paint because of his size.

AMIT MANN: He did get blocked by Burke late in the game. But that's OK, man. There's other cases where-- Burke's a good player-- where he was able to get his shoulder into him, and he's able to adjust his body, hits a layup.

We're seeing this really become something that the Raptors have to start using at some point, especially because, as I said, the spacing issues that they already have is gonna be a factor. But because of the passing angles that he presents, those short-range passes that we've seen be successful for the Raptors at different points, these might be the key to them being able to get good pick-and-roll possessions, even if it's not empty set or if it's just at the top of the key. And they can use this as long as things are flowing for everybody.

But I mean, credit to him. He had a tremendous game yesterday, all things considered-- 11 of 19, nine rebounds, seven assists, 29 points. I loved his driving. I felt like the previous game, he wasn't engaged offensively in terms of getting downhill. He was settling for a few too many mid-range 2's. But in the second half, he turned it on. But in this game, it seemed like it was a focus for him that, I'm gonna get in the paint, and I'm gonna make some trouble happen.

CJ MILES: Yeah. It's just great to see the consistency of-- in his arc, the transition he's on, right, the route that he's on is staying. Even with us having a rough night, he's still able to figure out how to dominate the game and put his mark on the game and not giving up on it, right? He's still trying to play the right way. He's still figuring out ways to see things.

The frustration I was talking about and reverting to habits, clearly, that's not happening as much with him because he's able to stay steady through his. I think he's just-- he's just playing, man. I don't really know how you even say it more than that. He's just playing the game.

Playing hard. What's in front of me, I take advantage of. Seeing reads. I'm not forcing shots. I'm not taking shots outside of my wheelhouse. I'm not outside of the flow, really. I'm not holding it, but the play is for me to make the play. I'm not stopping it, but there's movement. I'm not just dribbling in a place, isoing. Those type of things.

AMIT MANN: Mm-hmm. He had four floaters yesterday. And one of them was from, what, how many feet? It was 11 feet. And he drives towards the paint, and he just has one foot in the paint. And he vaults up, and it did that toilet bowl thing, around and around and around, and it went in.

But these are the intriguing signs, more so, is like, if you talk about, how do you become a great pick-and-roll ball handler, you gotta be able to finish in an array of ways. And it seems like that's getting a little bit better, too. He's finding his confidence there.

And then the 3-point shooting, I don't know if we're gonna get to a point where teams are going over on screens because of his downhill penetration. But I could see a case where maybe they leave him out there because they're scared of what he's gonna be able to do and the rim pressure he's able to create. And now some of those shots could be available for him. And he's hitting them right now, man.

CJ MILES: And one of the most interesting things to look at as a player, right, is the situations you get put in and start to notice the shots they're willing to give you-- the shots that the team-- the defensive side deems as a bad shot for you. Make that a good shot.

It's like what Kobe said about Steph, when they first asked him about Steph and about him taking the deep 3's and the shots in the pockets off pick and rolls. He was like, I mean, he's taking all the shots that we've been telling everybody's our bad shots and made them good shots for himself. So now every defense has a hole in it when they come guard him. Nobody's been repping that out.

AMIT MANN: No.

CJ MILES: So now you change that defense for him, and now he gets to go get the shots he really wants.

AMIT MANN: Exactly.

CJ MILES: So if you can take the shots that the defense is trying to convince you is a bad shot and make it your good shot, then now what?

AMIT MANN: Yeah. He had 11 makes last night, and 8 of them were in the paint. And most of them were right around that basket.

And there was a shot that-- he didn't make the shot, but he got free throws off of it. He gave MarJon Beauchamp a bump that-- the dude went flying, right? He just gave him a bump. As soon as he got his foot in the paint, he gave him a bump. And then afterwards, he made some nice adjustments in the air. And he ended up getting fouled off the play. But he moved him, man.

CJ MILES: Nah, that's a strong kid. That's a strong kid.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, man. And this is, again, going back to the amount of ways in which he can just move defenses and the-- like, how are you gonna cover it? The only way is is that you're gonna go under, and you want to make him take jumpers.

CJ MILES: And he almost-- one that was real nice, he almost tip-dunked one of his own shots, too. He got fouled. That was crazy, too.

AMIT MANN: I think we're talking about the same play.

CJ MILES: Oh, are we? Is it the same play? Is that how [INAUDIBLE]?

AMIT MANN: Yeah, I think that's what it was. Yeah. Man, that's a great sign from Scottie. It's encouraging because you just start thinking that he should get more and more of these pick-and-roll reps if he's gonna keep on making these great decisions and great reads out of them.

CJ MILES: And I think as the season goes, maybe he becomes really a primary guy in it, right? So now you got-- you got Dennis getting catch-and-shoot 3's. You got OG getting catch-and-shoot 3's. You got Pascal getting catch-and-shoot 3's and playing off closeouts and things of that nature. Those guys are really good at that. And it lets them put him and Jak in a situation where there's two bigger guys in the pick-and-roll all the time. And as we know, two big guys don't know how to guard pick-and-rolls. They just can't do it.

AMIT MANN: No, they don't.

[CHUCKLING]

CJ MILES: They can't do it.