Morning Coffee - Jan. 31, 2025
Barnes misses on All-Star selection | Would you roll the dice on Zion? | Happy Friday
Scottie Barnes left off All-Star team - Raptors Republic
Despite being the most recent selection as the Eastern Conference player of the week — with averages of 20/10/7 leading the Raptors to a 3-0 stretch — Scottie Barnes was not selected as an NBA All-Star. Considering the injuries he’s faced this season (the orbital bone fracture, the sprained ankle), and the broken hand that he had surgery on and needed to rehab over the summer, he was up against it.
Even when you consider the Raptors record and just how bad they’ve been over the course of the season, and the fact that Barnes hasn’t made a massive statistical leap from last year to this one, it wasn’t as easy a sell as one would think it would be with how talented Barnes is.
This season Barnes is averaging career highs in points (20.3 per game), assists (6.5 per game), and steals (1.5 per game). His numbers aren’t as loud as many might have expected, but evidenced by his player of the week award, the NBA is capable of looking a little bit past the box score numbers for Barnes to see his impact overall. A lot of that impact comes on the defensive end, but doesn’t necessarily register in the places everyone looks for stardom.
When Barnes eventually makes another All-Star team, he’ll be the 6th Raptor to be selected to the All-Star team more than once while donning the Raptors jersey – joining DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Chris Bosh, Pascal Siakam, and Vince Carter.
Gambling on Kawhi Leonard worked. Why not target Zion Williamson at NBA trade deadline? - Toronto Star
NBA writer Marc Stein stirred up the masses this week by mentioning that maybe the Raptors want to be a bigger player and that Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans might be a juicy target.
It’s a logical idea and, since everyone in the league has been expecting an Ingram deal since the season began, the Raptors are on that list.
They, like every team, began some due diligence long ago, figuring out what it might take to sign him in the summer, figuring how he would fit culturally with the Raptors, digging into his background to see what kind of guy he is.
How he fits is debatable and it would be out of character for the Raptors to trade for him now, but who knows?
And while it’s neat to know the Raptors have had some awareness of Ingram for some time, it’s even neater to imagine them taking a long look at the other big name Pelican.
Zion Williamson.
It’s a long, long, long, long shot but there is certainly a case to be made to investigate Williamson . A stud power forward is exactly what the Toronto roster needs — it might allow the Raptors to start a giant group of Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes and Williamson — and Ujiri and Webster have known that since October.
Williamson’s salary — about $130 million (U.S.) over three years after this season — is steep but it’s a fixed cost and that’s a consideration.
Williamson’s health is a concern — he’s always been hurt — but after nursing Kawhi Leonard through a championship season, the Raptors have a history of managing difficult medical circumstances.
It is to dream, though, and since this is the silly pre-deadline dream period, why not go for it — theoretically, of course.
Imminent Immanuel Quickley return puts Raptors in a bind - Toronto Sun
It will be interesting to see how head coach Darko Rajakovic reintegrates Quickley whenever he does return and once he isn’t under any minutes restrictions. There’s no question the team will welcome back one of its best facilitators and shooters, but Quickley will need to help at the other end too in order to keep things rolling. Billed as a decent defender as a member of the New York Knicks, the slight Quickley has not impressed at that end at all as a Raptor yet.
Defence-first backup Davion Mitchell has started 22 games this season and has been a key part of the resurgent defence lately. Mitchell has also shot 51% from the floor, 42% on three-point attempts and averaged 4.6 assists over the last 10 games. Fellow point guard Jamal Shead has also been a force defensively, while shooting 48% on three-pointers over his last 10.
The team also needs to continue to find minutes for veteran wing Bruce Brown, emerging rookie Ja’Kobe Walter and Dick at the guard spots.
But it also needs to finally provide Quickley with some runway. After signing the second-biggest contract in franchise history, the Kentucky product has had the most frustrating season of any Raptor. The trouble started in training camp with a thumb injury. Quickley was back for opening night, only to take a hard fall, which injured his pelvis and cost him the next eight games. Then it was an elbow issue that sidelined him for three more weeks.
Quickley made a stirring return on New Year’s Day, scoring 21 points and adding 15 assists as the Raptors blew out Brooklyn to snap an 11-game losing streak, only to be lost again after five more games, this time with a hip issue.
As a result of all of the injuries, Quickley has not been able to find his rhythm or his game yet in 2024-25. He’s shooting career lows on three-point (34.5%) and two-point (40.6%) attempts, and wasn’t getting to the free throw line or rebounding the way he had in the past.
It’s going to be a delicate balance for the franchise for another week until the NBA’s trade deadline, and then beyond. Toronto could move only 3.5 games out of a play-in berth by beating the Bulls, but nobody in the organization, aside from the players, wants to be anywhere close to that mix later in the season. As team boss Masai Ujiri once said: “Play-in for what?” The franchise needs to land a top draft pick. Playing one or two extra games would be of little benefit at this point.
Former Raptors Legend Reveals How He Wants to Honor Toronto Before Retirement - Sports Illustrated
DeMar DeRozan plans to leave the NBA the same way he entered it: as a Toronto Raptor.
The six-time All-Star made it clear in the latest episode of Open Gym that when his career comes to an end, he wants to sign a one-day contract and retire with the franchise that drafted him in 2009.
“It's the only place I would want to go out as well, doing the whole one-day [contract] thing,” DeRozan said. “I think I’ve said it before, I will never have an emotional connection in no other place like I had in Toronto.”
DeRozan, who spent nine seasons in Toronto, reflected on the deep bond he formed with the city and the franchise.
“Me being drafted there, there was no other place I wanted to go,” he said. “I just always think even the tweet that I tweeted when Chris [Bosh] left, don’t worry I got us. I meant that. I meant that wholeheartedly. And I think the love, the ups and downs, I really gave my all to that organization, to that country because I just wanted them to be respected in return.”
DeRozan’s retirement plans mirror those of Kyle Lowry, who reiterated to Open Gym that he intends to do the same.
“I want to finish my career as a Toronto Raptor because what that place did for me, what that place did for him, what that place did for our families and friends,” Lowry said. “It’s the place that I became me.”
Lowry and DeRozan played together from 2012 to 2018, forming one of the most successful duos in Raptors history. They led Toronto to five straight playoff appearances, including an Eastern Conference Finals run in 2016.
