TORONTO — It can be difficult, this whole thing where your team trades good players elsewhere, and you see them thrive. Watching OG Anunoby delight New York, having his name chanted by the masses as he helps turn the Knicks’ starting five into a wrecking ball? Not so fun, even if it is easy to be happy for Anunoby.
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The Toronto Raptors knew how good of a player they were giving up, even if more casual observers of the league might be surprised at Anunoby’s impact on the Knicks. By design, the Raptors are going to have to wait longer to see the trade pay off, which is what happens when you trade a player in his prime for two players who are not at their peaks to a team that had already been struggling.
Immanuel Quickley was the player the Raptors had to have. He missed Friday’s 127-107 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers with a thigh contusion, and he clearly is still trying to adjust to a starting point guard’s workload and job description. Still, there is reason to think he will mesh well with Scottie Barnes in the long term.
RJ Barrett is the more intriguing part of the trade in the sense that it is harder to predict how he will fare. In strictly financial terms, he came with the matching salary that allowed for the trade to go through. He is also a former high-lottery pick who has already had nice moments in the playoffs, a player who was picked over in the draft process and even more as the Knicks rose to competitiveness. Somehow, with all of that in his rearview, he is just 23. It feels like he should be 27.
RJ COMIN' THROUGHHH 😤 pic.twitter.com/kCMKCy1br2
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) January 27, 2024
“I think it’s very individual,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said of individual growth. Barrett had 22 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Raptors on Friday. “With (Barrett), it’s very clear that he has a lot of room to improve … . Obviously, the Olympic Games are there in the middle of the summer, as well. I think that’s going to be a great opportunity for him to play on the big (stage). … I think he’s going to have great opportunities this summer to take (his) game to the next level.”
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Whether Barrett goes down as “the other guy” in the Anunoby-Quickley trade or as a big plus for the Raptors will depend on how he can adapt his game around Barnes and his new setting in Toronto. That was a problem in New York, where Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle have the ball in their hands so much. Barrett’s biggest strength is, well, his strength when getting the ball downhill, all the way to the rim. Barnes and Quickley don’t need to dominate the ball like Randle or Brunson, and Barrett has been able to fit in a bit cleaner because of that. He came into the game averaging 20.8 points per game as a Raptor, shooting 55.8 percent from the field. He has not shot better than 44.1 percent in his first four seasons in the league. Even if regression is coming for him, and it likely is, he has a big cushion for this to count as a marked improvement.
In that sense, looking at the other side of the court Friday was instructive. In Kawhi Leonard’s age-23 season, he scored 18.7 points per 36 minutes on 56.7 percent true shooting. (Of course, he was also coming off an NBA Finals MVP award and playing elite defence on the wing at the time.) Paul George was at 21.6 points per 36 minutes on 55.5 percent true shooting. With the note that efficiency has gone up league-wide since then, Barrett’s 22.4 points per 36 minutes on 56.5 percent true shooting slides him right in the same group. His usage is higher than Leonard’s was at 23, but lower than George’s.
Players can change a lot between ages 23 and 28. The Raptors want to make sure that not only can he score efficiently, but that he can do so in a way that complements the whole. Barrett’s 3-point shot is a huge part of that, and the Raptors will have to hope his 36 percent accuracy from deep since the trade is more predictive than a fluke. We will see.
It is everything that is far more interesting because it will be the stuff that will really make him fit in what Rajaković is trying to build.
“I think that he has another layer to develop in his game playing off the ball,” Rajaković said. “I think he can be a really, really good cutter. I think he has a good feel.
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“I think when he’s going for those handoffs and turning the corner, that’s really good for us. His playmaking is a big area for development. When he collapses the whole defence, just being able to find the open man and make the right decisions there.”
It’s clear he needs more options when he gets into the paint. At times, it feels too easy to smother his left hand and lead him into either an awkward shot or a turnover. He made a sweet pass to Gradey Dick in the corner in the second quarter. He also found a cutting Barnes when help came to stop his drive. He made a nice pass out of the pick-and-roll that would have resulted in an assist had Russell Westbrook’s foul been a half-second later. There needs to be more of that, but this was one of his better passing evenings.
You can see the promise of more. At 23, promise is meaningful.
Notes
• With Quickley out of the lineup, Rajaković slid Bruce Brown into the starting lineup, preferring to keep Dennis Schröder off the bench. The group lacked organization. The Raptors also miss Jakob Poeltl, who is nearing a return from his sprained ankle. The Clippers had no trouble scoring when they got to the rim. Sunday will mark three weeks since Poeltl was hurt.
• A few too many quick jumpers from Barnes against the Clippers. He wound up with 23 points mostly because of a strong finish to the game.
• Losing Pascal Siakam and Anunoby has made the Raptors less imposing in transition. As a defender, it’s easier to sit back and hope a pass goes to an under-the-rim finisher. Gary Trent Jr. and Brown both missed good opportunities from in close early on.
• Russell Westbrook attacked Dick with hate in his heart. Life as a rookie can be rough, man. Dick later drew a charge on Norman Powell, though, so good for him for sticking with it. Dick had some other nice moments, including a perfect alley-oop pass to Barrett over some traffic. Dick also had some nice rebounds in traffic. Good night.
WATCH YOUR HEAD 🤯
GRADEY ↗️ RJ pic.twitter.com/xttWgrEUgB
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) January 27, 2024
• Five years later and Leonard still got a nice ovation upon being introduced with the Clippers starters. Powell, who apparently has a custom high-five routine with Raptors public address announcer Herbie Kuhn, was greeted warmly, too. No reason for that to change. Meanwhile, James Harden was booed often when he touched the ball. I don’t remember him wronging Toronto in particular.
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• Don’t let it become a habit, referees, but this once I’ll allow you to have taken three full minutes to review a play because it resulted in game operations getting all the way through Olivia Rodrigo’s banger “Good 4 U.” I felt lucky when they got to the bridge. It was a successful challenge from Rajaković, too. Good for you, Darko.
(Photo of RJ Barrett driving against the Clippers: Mark Blinch / NBAE via Getty Images)
