Why we're thankful for Scottie Barnes, Malachi Flynn and Pascal Siakam

During the holiday season, Imman Adan and Asad Alvi discuss why they're thankful for Scottie Barnes, Malachi Flynn and Pascal Siakam. Full episode is on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed.

Video Transcript

IMAN ADAN: All right, so let's get into a specific player. If you could give thanks to a specific Raptor right now, who would you give thanks to?

ASAD ALVI: Well, outside of the obvious answers like the Scottie Barnes or the Pascal Siakams, I think if I was to really think--

IMAN ADAN: I'm going obvious.

ASAD ALVI: Yeah? You know what? I'll dig a little bit deeper. And I will thank Malachi Flynn for making something out of himself, at least a little bit, in the early part of the season. The first four games of the year, he looked completely lost. Every time he came on the floor, it was just a collective groan from everybody watching at home.

And it was just like, oh, here comes the negative. And it was just turnovers on turnovers and nothing happening the other way. And he's been able to turn that around. He's strung together a couple of solid performances as a point guard coming off the bench, not turning the ball over as much.

Obviously in the Indiana game, he gave you a scoring punch. But a little bit tighter on defense, giving you a little bit more zip on offense. And for him to be able to salvage something in his final year of his rookie deal, I just think that we have to be a little thankful for that.

Obviously there's a lot of Darko involved, a lot of Dennis Schroder involved there in terms of just giving this guy some confidence. But we'll see where he can take it. I'm thankful for what we've gotten so far at least. And hopefully we continue to get more from Malachi Flynn because that would be fantastic if the Raptors could magically create something out of that backup point guard slot.

IMAN ADAN: It really would. And I'm going to be honest, if I see Malachi Flynn up for 3, those catch-and-shoots have been absolute money from him. So if you can continue hitting your open 3's, we'll take it. We love it.

I'm going obvious on mine. And I'm going to give my thanks to Scottie Barnes. I think that things looked really bleak. I did mention that I'm happy that this core could come back together. And we got to see what this looked like.

But the future of this team is still you're a 22-year-old, right? And if that next jump didn't happen in year three, we'd still be hopeful. I mean, it's not to say that it would never happen. Obviously, it can continue.

But seeing it and being like, yes, that's the player, that's the player that we knew he could be, and he's doing it day in and day out and game in and game out, where there's this consistency-- there are even games, I feel like, this season where you're like, it didn't seem like Scottie Barnes tonight. I wish we got to see more.

And you look at the box score after. And it's like, oh, 20-12-6. All right, never mind. I think I saw a lot of Scottie Barnes tonight. He's just able to be impactful in all of the ways, whether he is quite clearly a cut above everybody else on the court or if he's sort of taking that star B role, still being so impactful In the minutes that he has.

And yeah, it's just-- to me, watching him take that next step makes it so, even if this season doesn't work out and all things start to crumble, you know that there is that next pillar on the team and something to build out to, which leaves me hopeful. And so I'm excited about that.

And so what I'm thankful for is Scottie Barnes. How boring and basic is it to say that? But that's what I'm going with.

ASAD ALVI: Yeah, no, for sure. Scottie's been incredible this season. I think like the biggest worry coming into the year was, hey, we lose Fred VanVleet. And it's like, well, you're really betting on Scottie Barnes taking a leap at some point, right? Because it's like, why do you have all these expensive players and expensive pieces around if you don't have that next guy coming up?

Who is going to be-- where is the growth on this team going to come? You've invested in a lot of young players. Which young player is going to pop? And Scottie Barnes, obviously the obvious pick.

The Raptors made it very clear they were going to center him in all the conversations they had this summer. We just kept hearing, whether it's from Masai, Bobby, Darko, Scottie, Scottie, Scottie, Scottie.

And at the beginning of the year, clearly, they know at least a little bit better on the Scottie Barnes front because, hey, Scottie Barnes has been awesome to start the season. I think he's just been-- every advanced metric loves him. He's been defensively awesome. He's shooting 3's.

When he is engaged, he is a level of player that is just a cut above. And it is really exciting to know that that's a player that the Raptors have, at least long-term.

IMAN ADAN: Yeah, I mean, I think that's exactly it. Now, do you have any honorable mentions, something that you're-- it can be a player. It can be a stat. It can be a game. It can be anything. Is there any honorable mention for something that you are thankful for this season?

ASAD ALVI: Honestly, I am thankful that--

IMAN ADAN: That the courts were really nice for the in-season tournament?

ASAD ALVI: The courts were really nice for the in-season tournament. Unfortunately, we didn't win any of the games. So it's been a little bit drab. But honestly, I'm thankful Pascal Siakam's still on the team. I'm thankful that Pascal Siakam has found his groove in this offense, and the team has found ways to get him going because when Pascal is at his heights, whether it's against Dallas or Indiana or whenever he gets cooking like that, it's just a special thing to see.

And he's just hitting Hakeem Olajuwon spin moves on people, going left, right, pump fake, whatever it might be. It's pretty beautiful. I don't think I've seen-- the last player I can remember where, when you watch him, you just know it's going--

They're so heavy on Pascal Siakam left block, just catch and work from there. The last time I remember dumping it into a player for like a block like that was if you watch Al Jefferson or even in the past would be--

IMAN ADAN: Minnesota?

ASAD ALVI: Rasheed Wallace or something, right? Where it's like these players that are really post specialists--

IMAN ADAN: Yeah.

ASAD ALVI: But to see the Raptors being able to mix it in and Pascal Siakam be so dominant in that area, it's been a special thing. So I've enjoyed that he's still on the team for the time being. And hopefully they can make it work long-term.

IMAN ADAN: Hopefully, hopefully. I'm debating whether I want to go more controversial and say something that I think a lot of people would get mad at or just do the basic about a guy like OG Anunoby, who, every time I open up my timeline, I'm seeing people say how badly they want him on their team.

Sorry, Dallas. Sorry, Sacramento. Sorry, Golden State. Sorry to every single team and fan base that want him, we got him right now. And hopefully we can keep him long-term.

Or do, the more controversial take, which is, I know a lot of people have been down on-- or there's just been mixed emotions because they haven't been able to get the Jakob Poeltl-- I don't even know what to call it.

But I'm grateful that this team has a center. I'm grateful that Jakob Poeltl is on this team because if that trade had not been made, the Raptors would have no five right now. Christian Koloko is not-- he's not been able to play this season. He hasn't been able to play yet. And so the Raptors really need to rely on a guy like Jakob Poeltl, having him here, even if it costs a pick.

I think he's worth that. I think he's worth a first round pick. He's also only 27 years old. So having a guy like that here, knowing that that's stamped, even if you don't have the other pieces in order to make it work like you saw last season when the Raptors really started to have a starting five that looked like it was gelling and rolling together, you still have one of those pieces. And I think it's important to have one of those pieces. So I'm going to give Jakob Poeltl some love there.