Why CJ Miles thinks Scottie Barnes is a unique prospect

The former Raptor has seen many players in his basketball career and expresses why Scottie Barnes' mentality will give him a chance to be one of the best in the NBA. Full discussion is available on our Yahoo Sports Canada YouTube channel.

Video Transcript

AMIT MANN: I did want to ask you about Scottie Barnes. I kind of have to because--

CJ MILES: OK.

AMIT MANN: --he's just-- he's a different kind of beast. And that's the reason why you and I end up connecting. So first question is, why is it harder for him perhaps to have a really stable, established, consistent jumper than perhaps someone else?

CJ MILES: I don't think-- I think just there's just factors that roll in that he's just learning still. You know what I mean? He doesn't have to-- he's never had to lean on it as much either like in the position he's in because now if you're a four, you're a stretch four. Every four is a stretch four.

AMIT MANN: You're a five essentially.

CJ MILES: You're a knockdown shooter. You know what I mean? Just the position you're on the floor is different. And I think not coming-- he didn't come in as a shooter.

So the only guys I feel that carry confidence like that as a shooter coming into the league right away are real scoring shooting guards. You know what I mean? Like guys that this is what they do.

He came in with a plethora of things that he does. and I think the shooting is just catching up to him recognizing shots, recognizing when they take 3's, or when not to, or playing close outs, and the spacing that he has to play in, and how he can get them, and the guys he's playing with. You still remember this-- he hasn't played this many games with these guys.

He's learning. This is the start of the ground floor for this team that they have now. And there's just reps that are going to come now. And then, there's just the flat-out confidence from finishing the season, that just experience, minutes, games, air balls, great games, you know what I mean, all of that, all the emotions that come with it, all the time that's got to be putting in to correct things, figuring out how to take care of your body through a season. You've never played this many games. You know what I mean? There's so many things that go into this.

And that's why you see so fast in the summer him being able to make the type of strides he's made in his shot because he's like, OK, I need to do this. I need to do that. He probably knew most of the things that were on the list that they were going to give him at the exit meeting before he even had to go sit down with coach because he seems like a type of guy that just wants to work. So he probably already texted his trainer, already texted his guys that I'm coming home and we going to get into it.

AMIT MANN: Sure. How are exit interviews? How do they work? I've always been curious about that.

CJ MILES: I mean, it's literally just like-- I mean, I never had another job besides basketball, so I'm not going to say that. But I would imagine it's like you sit down with your boss, and they pretty much tell you things you want to improve. They thank you for the things you do well. It's a conversation.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

CJ MILES: You talk about things. They want to know what they can do better obviously as coaches, and front office, and things that can help players because they want to maximize your talent. So it's literally, I mean, how you would think. And then, there's a talk about what you want to add, what we want to do. A free agent's exit meeting's probably a little different because you're not going to be under contract. So--

AMIT MANN: They're a little quieter.

CJ MILES: --basically, you're quiet. Or it's like, we'll see you in July, or hope you'll be back, or hopefully be back. Or there's nothing said because you're not coming back. You might not even have an exit meeting if you're not coming back. It depends.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, after his rookie season, as he's acclimated to becoming an NBA player, what were your impressions of his season? From top to bottom, what makes you go-- what are your takeaways from it?

CJ MILES: The thing is too also talking about that. He's going to learn from-- but you watch him, and you don't look at him and think like, man, he's far away from-- he don't look like a rookie. He didn't look shook. He didn't look like he was out of place and things like that.

I'm just looking at him knowing that there's so much more he's going to get better at, which is the scary part really, because he was really, really, really good, great enthusiasm. He competes super hard. He loves to play, and you can see that.

He's always cheesing and always screaming. He's excited about the game. And I think that's, especially now with a lot of young players, that's one thing that you are excited to see from a young guy because there's a lot of basketball players now that don't like to play basketball. They do not like to be in the gym.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

CJ MILES: Having a guy with that amount of talent that likes to be in the gym is kind of like the Pascal situation. He's really got the potential to be anything, and he's more polished now than Pascal was at this stage. He's got more stuff in his game already, a little bit more skillful.

Obviously, the time he's coming in that stuff is phrased more and the situations are different. But still, he's got a lot of tool. And the competitive edge like with that skill set is what gives him the potential to be perennial All-Star great, great, great, long, long, career.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, sure. The amount of players that I heard-- not just any players, but Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, saying, this guy is going to be special. That's not a word that's thrown around all the time.

CJ MILES: Yeah, especially not those guys because you got to think about their competitive nature also.

AMIT MANN: Sure, right?

CJ MILES: You're supreme competitive to be at the level they're at. They're not going to talk about a guy, a young guy, like I am. You know what I mean? You're not going to give him a special tag for no reason.