Raptors Film Room: Scottie Barnes Returns In Ugly Pre-Season Game

The Raptors continued preseason action with a second game against the Washington Wizards, but this time, with their franchise player back in the lineup. Scottie Barnes played in his first game in seven months and quickly returned to his All-Star ways, but the Raptors lost in an ugly preseason game.

Without RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Kelly Olynyk, Ja’Kobe Walter, or Bruce Brown — the Raptors started Davion Mitchell, Ochai Agbaji, Jakob Poeltl, and Gradey Dick alongside their franchise star.

Barnes set the tone early, scoring on a hand-off for his first bucket, settling into a pull-up jumper, and making a dime to Jakob Poeltl on the game’s first three possessions to force the Wizards to call a timeout. He did pick up three quick fouls (chalk it up to pre-season) that forced him to sit early, but he showed off a new, speedier jump shot that intrigued fans. Barnes finished the game with 16 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes.

But folks, you could have turned off the game after that and would not have missed a thing. The rest of the first half was some of the ugliest, pre-seasoniest basketball you could ever witness. The Raptors and Wizards combined for 28 fouls, 24 turnovers, and 37 free throws through 24 minutes of action. It was stoppage after stoppage after stoppage.

That said, there were some intriguing moments elsewhere.

Jamal Shead and Davion Mitchell continued to make plays on both ends of the floor, using Gortat screens to get downhill, connecting on passes in the pick-and-roll, and mucking up actions on the other end (which partially forced all of those Wizards turnovers).

Boucher was the beneficiary in most cases. The Raptors’ longest-tenured player dropped 16 points and nabbed six rebounds in 11 minutes of action in the first half. He finished the game with 22 points. He was his comfortable old self, crashing the offensive glass to create extra possessions for his team, diving to the basket, and using his length on the defensive end to contest shots. Coach Rajakovic mentioned during Training Camp that he would give Boucher a fair shot this season, and I’d like to see him contribute off the bench.

Perhaps this is the start of a renaissance for the fan-favourite.

Other notes:

With no Kelly Olynyk tonight, Bruno Fernando stepped in as the backup big man and struggled.After starting last week, Jonathan Mogbo had a quiet night in his second pre-season game. It seems like Mogbo still needs to adjust to the pace and physicality of the NBA and, in my opinion, could use some run with the G-League to improve as a rim-runner and screener and find his spots on the offensive end. Everything feels a tad bit too rushed for him right now. It’s clear he knows what he wants to do, but the game speed is a step ahead of his decision-making right now. (Update: He made some nice reads and plays in the fourth quarter against G-League and Exhibit 10 players, which proves the point here. I’d urge patience with a guy like him. But the promise is there). After having an impressive performance versus the Wizards last week, Gradey Dick was quiet in the first half this time and still hasn’t been able to connect from beyond the arc much. Dick is now 2/9 from three to start the pre-season.

If you’d like to learn more about the Raptors’ win against the Wizards and what I noticed tactically, check out the video above and subscribe to the Raptors YouTube channel for more videos.