Last-Minute News, Rumours, Reports before Toronto Raptors Orlando Magic Game

Scottie Barnes played 28 minutes on Sunday. He shot 12 shots and scored zero points. The Raptors lost that game by 23, and Scottie Barnes was a minus 27. And now, we got confirmation Kawhi Leonard will be out once again. Tonight, the Orlando Magic show up without their best player as well, and it's going to be a battle to see who's going to step up for these respective teams. Both the Raptors and the Magic have aspirations of being legit contenders in the Eastern Conference this year, but this isn't the battle that a lot of people were expecting. As without Paolo Banchero and without Kawhi Leonard, everything has shifted and there are a couple of numbers that are really going to determine the outcome of this game. So I'll walk you through who's out for this game, what's going on with Scottie Barnes, and why this defense is currently the best in the NBA through three games. And also really take a deep dive in terms of who the Orlando Magic are, especially now without Paolo Banchero. So let's start with the injury updates because the talk around the Toronto Raptors of the past couple days has been Kawhi Leonard and of course he is going to be out with his current knee swelling for the foreseeable future and that includes tonight's game against the Magic. He will be re-evaluated in about a week but Shams confirmed it will likely be a multiple week thing. In the two games of the Toronto Raptors, Kawhi Leonard is averaging 19.5 points per game, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals a night in just 26 minutes of action. But now on to the Magic. As I confirmed earlier, Paolo Bancaro is going to be out in this game as well, and he was at 24.5 points per game in his first two games of the season. On top of it, you have Jalen Suggs who will be out in this one as he has a bone bruise on his right knee, and he'll be re-evaluated in two weeks himself, as well as Jonathan Isaac, Penda, and Nelson are out for the Magic as well. So of course Kawhi Leonard is a big blow for the Raptors, but the Orlando Magic are coming in even more hobbled into this game so that's going to be one of the major themes out there in this one is which players are going to step up which star players the Magic or the Toronto Raptors are going to take that leap and carry their teams to victory and that brings us right back to Scottie Barnes as he's the big story for the Toronto Raptors right now he scored 23 against Chicago he scored 28 and 14 against the Washington Wizards and he had myself and many others calling him a superstar and it looked like he was taking that leap heading into this season but then of course you watch that game against Minnesota where he drops a donut and the whole narrative flips on top of its head and even though I'd argue especially in those first two games it's clear he's added some stuff to his game heading into this season the numbers don't lie Scottie Barnes through these three games is shooting 35 percent from the field and only 14 percent from behind the three-point line and also averaging four turnovers a game in his own words he came out and said that the shots were not falling and all of those threes were wide open now while i'd agree with Scottie that a lot of those looks were open they were a lot of them were pretty early out there in the shot clock and it's what the defense wants when you have a guy that's the caliber of Scottie Barnes is at getting the rim and finishing around the basket but head coach Darko Rajakovic took basically all of the blame off of Scottie Barnes which honestly is something i really like about uh the Toronto Raptors leader right here Darko came out and said that this is not going to happen again to Scottie, Scottie is going to make those shots next time and one thing we should note because Darko has been pretty adamant about saying this especially on the defensive end Scottie Barnes did have zero points but he did have four steals in that game against the Timberwolves and even a game where he looked a little bit zoned out didn't have his rhythm he was still bringing it on the defensive end so can still impact the game in other ways when the shot isn't falling but especially with Kawhi Leonard out you cannot have Scottie Barnes having zero point games it's just not something that is going to work out for this Toronto Raptors team and even if the efficiency has been rough if we zoom out a little bit of course the Raptors are two and one Scottie Barnes has been our top guy this season averaging 17 points per game 7.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists a night the real warning sign is the lack of discipline with the basketball because Scottie does have four turnovers a game and that's really high for a guy that's supposed to run the offense around a player like Kawhi Leonard and now with Kawhi being taken out and more defensive pressure put onto Scottie Barnes it makes things get even more messy now one thing that can't be disputed is Scottie Barnes has been electric from the free throw line would I like him to get there more of course he's only getting three attempts per game in the first three games but he is shooting 100% from the stripe and that's one of the biggest factors one of the biggest things I'm looking at in this one is how well Scottie Barnes is going to attack the basket and how well he's going to draw fouls and get some easy points for this Raptors team but really the biggest thing the Raptors are going to have to solve now in this Orlando Magic game and just in general without Kawhi Leonard is the shooting problem Toronto is 29th in three point percentage at just 26.2 percent and that's 29th in threes made as well at just nine a game the two top scores the Raptors have now heading into this one against the Magic are three for 25 from behind the three-point line so far this season. And this is not new. The Toronto Raptors have been the bottom five in threes made for three straight seasons under Darko Rajakovic. But there are a couple exceptions that we're seeing popping up for this Raptors team as of late. And the first one definitely is Jacoby Walter, who got the start in the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. And he's been explosive, 40% from three on nearly seven attempts per game. And, you know, with that extended run out of the weekend against Minnesota scored 22 points. He was electric out there for the Raptors squad. Emmanuel Quickly is the other player on this team that's shooting a high volume of three-point shots as he's taken 7.7 threes a game and making 30.4% of them. Of course, at that volume, we'd love Emmanuel Quickly to be much closer to 40% than 30%, but at least he's one of the only guys that's able to knock him down from behind the arc. Now, this is a common theme that won't go away for the Toronto Raptors. I made a whole video on it to start off this year. They want to shoot more threes this season, but they don't have the guys that really are set up or put in a position to really make them. You can go back to that video. I said, if you want to shoot more threes, it has to be Jacoby Walter, Emmanuel Quickly, James Saba, the players that are actually effective knocking down the three point shots, taking them. I don't care about Scottie Barnes saying all of his threes were wide open in Minnesota. There's a reason they're wide open because Minnesota of Timberwolves know how effective Scottie Barnes is at getting to the basket and of course if they're completely open there's no one in the vicinity Scottie should shoot them he's not that bad of a three-point shooter but by open it means they're sagging off a little bit and then they get a slow contest it's not these completely on an island shots Scottie Barnes has been taking there's still too many possessions where it's early in the shot clock Scottie Barnes kind of makes up in his head hey I should probably shoot a three now because they're sagging the last few possessions He dribbles up to the three-point line and lets it fly. If they are going to continue down this route, especially tonight against the Magic, it has to be Jacoby, who, again, had 22 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves, has been effective over the past couple seasons, knocking down the three-point shot. Draw plays. Scottie crashes the paint, attacks the basket, gets a paint touch, and gets Jacoby Walter out there open for a three. Or get Emmanuel Quickley, who's been your second leading scorer this season. Less of these off the dribble, off a, you know, pick and roll screen dribble pull up threes and you know have your slashers like Scotty like RJ driving in maybe not with the thought or the intention to score because all the defense is collapsing in on them but getting a paint touch kicking it out for these guys that can really knock down those shots but coming off a loss there's always a bunch of negativity but there is one thing that we can certainly take as a positive from the first three games of the season and that is the Toronto Raptors defense now obviously it's a small sample size and defensive rating can be swayed out there by you know big blowout wins to bad teams but nonetheless through three games Toronto has the number one defensive rating in the entire NBA they also only give up 103.7 points per game which is third best in the entire league and they play at the second fastest pace however the offense is on the other side of the spectrum right now they're 22nd in the league in offensive rating and that's including two games where you slapped around the Bulls and the Wizards but obviously you're missing one of the key reasons why that defense was so elite and Kawhi Leonard I know he's 35 so he doesn't move the same way he did once before but just the IQ the long a bit long arms the big hands all these things allow Kawhi Leonard to be super effective on defense and get a bunch of steals so one guy to really watch in this one who I think didn't really have a huge opportunity to shine or didn't take that massive leap against the Wolves is Colin Murray-Boyles I feel like this is a game where you can really see him come into his own and uh show what he's got. Again, especially with the struggles of Jakob Poeltl, Colin Murray-Boyles is going to be a guy that they're going to have to seriously make sure doesn't get into foul trouble, and they're able to keep the big guys in the Orlando Magic off the glass. But what's happening right now with the Orlando Magic? Because without Paolo and without Suggs, they're a very interesting team that we do have to look at, because a lot of different guys are going to have to step up. Even when their top guys were playing, the Orlando Magic have really been struggling to start off this season. They're 22nd in the league in net rating which is uh you know not very good they have uh they score about 109 points a game and their offensive rating is 106 which is 25th in the league so this is a team we talk about the Raptors not scoring the Orlando Magic are even worse Franz Wagner has been their best player so far averaging 21 points per game 8.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists a night and on Sunday against the champion New York Knicks he had 23 points 13 to 9 and 21 of those points came in the fourth quarter orlando also caught fire a bit from behind the three-point line making 18 of 42 from behind the arc which is you know 43 and wagner's only shooting 17.6 on the season so that's something that we have to look at to see if it comes back to the mean or if the orlando magic are even in a rougher spot than the raptors are shooting the basketball but once again a real threat for the toronto raptors is going to be size as you know without a lot of trust the fan base has in Jakob Poeltl, basically any big man that's semi-competent is going to be a bit scary to go up against. And Wendell Carter Jr. right now, 6 foot 10 big man, 270 pounds for the Orlando Magic is shooting 76% from the field and averaging 8.7 rebounds a game. Toronto got out rebounded 49 to 34 in Minnesota. And if that happens again, defense does not matter because if you can't close those possessions, you're not going to stop the points from coming in. But one thing we should No, because it might be easy to write off these guys because they're missing two of their top guys, but Orlando can really hurt you with their bench players or the guys that are going to step up in place of Paolo and Suggs being out. Tristan De Silva scored 19 points off the bench at Madison Square Garden with five threes, and Anthony Black, one of the more underrated players in the league, had 18 with five threes in his first game back from an ankle sprain. Jace Richardson also made his first career start against the New York Knicks, and he had six points in that one. You know, he's an interesting young prospect. I know a lot of people were talking about when the Raptors were you know in a position to potentially draft him a couple seasons ago but definitely a player to you know keep your eye on in this one but nonetheless Orlando's really struggled on the offensive end so far this year and their defense you know they have very talented defensive players do not get me wrong but so far they have been average middle of the pack on that end of the floor to start off this season they've been giving up about 112 points per 100 possessions which is 16th in the NBA. If Toronto is just able to make their open shots, this should be a game that they can get back in their rhythm and actually score some points on. Orlando is lost to Atlanta by 7, they lost to Minnesota by 22, and Toronto is 2-1 with the league's best defense. On paper, this is a game the Raptors should definitely win, even without Kawhi Leonard. But these teams both play a similar style. I mean, the Magic are 7th in the NBA in pace, so they're going to try to speed things up as well, but if the Toronto Raptors can force some turnovers, keep up with the pace of the Orlando Magic, still play their game, expect a lot of possessions, which is the style of basketball the Raptors are trying to get into every single night. So if we're making predictions or looking at the keys to the game, the biggest thing is that the Raptors have that half-court defense that, even against the T-Wolves, this team is still aggressive and terrifies the opposing team's ball handlers every single night. But even with that elite defense, they still have to make shots and all these numbers I brought up it's still an extremely small sample size and the magic even without Paolo even without Suggs have a lot of talent on this roster moving guys like Desmond Bain we've seen in the past have killed the Toronto Raptors before but the three biggest things I'd say to watch out there in this one if you're a Toronto Raptors fan is seeing if Scottie Barnes gets to the rim because I've been adamant this man needs to score from the paint first and then work his way out to the three-point line once he gets his game rolling basketball is a game of confidence. Anyone that's played it knows you have to be able to get in your rhythm before you're going to be able to knock down threes in a league, right? Next is just getting Colin Murray Bowles out there on the floor more. His plus minus has been great so far this season, and the way Jakapertel has been struggling, I want to see more CMB at center. But obviously, if that's happening, you got to make sure he stays out of foul trouble and he's able to play the level of defense you need him to play. And finally, the rebounding battle, because I didn't even touch on Jakapertel having zero points in that T-Wolves game, because that does not matter. The only thing that matters with Big Yak at the center position is going to protect the rim. And is he going to get rebounds? Those are the things I'm worried about. Those are the things that I want to see. If you can keep Wendell Carter off the glass, keep these, you know, big men out there for the Magic out there at bay, then we will be in good shape. But really have a watch, especially in that first quarter. Is Scottie Barnes getting paint touches, getting the basket? Not even is he finishing it, right? Is he just getting in the paint more than he was against Minnesota? Because if that's the case, then, you know, that's the sign of a guy that can make adjustments, make tweaks, you know, game after game with those, you know, the help of his coaching staff, of course. But if he is still settling, then I just don't like the trajectory. I don't like the game planning from the Toronto Raptors going forward. But let me know in the comments section, who do you think is going to be the best player for the Toronto Raptors in this one? Will it be Scottie Barnes? Drop a B. Will it be Jacoby Walter, who's our best guy out there in the last one? Drop a W. Or will it be someone else? like RJ Barrett, Emmanuel Quickley, let me know in the comments make sure you guys subscribe to Raptors Digest we are oh so close to 45,000 subs so you guys hit that button means the absolute world to me and you won't miss a single thing with this Raptors team and if you want even more Raptors news Raptors fits there are some rumors escalating about Karl-Anthony Towns that we cover in a video you can click it right here