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Scottie Barnes is like Draymond Green, and ‘he could be a lot better than me,’ Green says

SAN FRANCISCO — Like every good playmaker in the NBA, Scottie Barnes is getting good at recognizing traps.

“I wouldn’t say I wonder that,” Barnes said Friday morning when asked if he’s ever thought about what it would be like to play with such shooters as Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. “I don’t know how to answer that. You trying to set me up?”

“Yep,” Malachi Flynn said nearby, affirming Barnes’ belief.

Barnes was right: There was no good way to answer that question. Who would even ask such a silly question? (Me, and it was, uhhh, poorly worded. It was not intended to make Barnes squirm.) Instead, it was an attempt to acknowledge the different contexts in which Barnes, a young playmaking forward, and Draymond Green, a veteran playmaking forward , exist. They are not the same because, in addition to being two different humans, the Warriors have two of the greatest shooters of all time and a bunch of other threats who make Green’s lack of scoring easy to accept, and the Raptors … don’t have all of that. They don’t need Barnes to score 20 points per game, but if he were averaging eight, as Green is, it would be highly problematic. As it happens, Green had just five points in the Warriors’ 129-117 win over the Raptors on Friday, while Barnes had 24.

It’s the other stuff that makes both players stand out, though. If you look at the ways Barnes and Green set up their teammates — darting passes to cutters, waiting for their better-shooting teammates to slip behind a screen, dribbling into a handoff situation — the commonalities begin to appear. There are only three forwards or centers averaging fewer than 20 points per game but more than 4.5 assists: Domantas Sabonis (18.4, 7.3), Barnes (15.4, 4.9) and Green (8.0, 6.8).

“Of course you can see some similarities in our games — how he plays defense, bringing that intensity,” said Barnes, who added six rebounds, five assists and two blocks. “I could see his vision on the floor. I would say you could see some similarities, but we’re not the same.”

“He could be a lot better than me,” Green said The Athletic after the game. “I saw a tweet the other day that said, ‘Scottie Barnes’ floor is Draymond Green.’ And that’s a damn good floor. And I believe that. He’s such a special talent.”

Unlike his dynastic teammate Curry, Green has not reshaped the league in his image. There aren’t kids in gyms across the world learning how to read split-screen actions, nor are there many learning how to dissect every set out there so they can call them out on defense.

There are even fewer people who can do all of that but don’t seem particularly inclined to shoot. That’s Green. He got the benefit of playing with two transcendent shooters, sure, but they got the benefit of having someone who understands what they are trying to do, too.

“Draymond is so unique that there are not many players to compare him to, but Barnes is a good one just with the versatility and the playmaking,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “The first thing you notice about Barnes is he’s elite defensively. The next thing you know is he’s sort of a point forward. I think it’s a very appropriate comparison.”

“I love his game because it’s not predicated on sheer skill or sheer will,” Green said. “It’s a mixture of all of that. It’s a mixture of skills. It’s a mixture of will. It’s a mixture of smarts. It’s a mixture of length and athleticism.”

There is also the reticence to shoot, which the Raptors have been trying to coach out of him since he got to Toronto. He doesn’t have the luxury of handing it off to the world’s best shooters. As he went down the court for an uncontested layup to start the game, he slowed to a crawl, seemingly wanting to give it to OG Anunoby for a basket. Anunoby was trailing, and Barnes reluctantly dunked it. Barnes took six shots in the first quarter, while Green shot four times for the game. Barnes took 15 shots for the night, a figure Green has reached just once all season.

Regardless, Barnes can throw every pass he needs to. His holding the ball long enough to suck in enough defenders, allowing Precious Achiuwa to sneak in behind to grab a lop, was Draymondesque. He found the tiniest of seams for a bounce pass to Pascal Siakam in the fourth. His step-back 3 over the green early on, necessitated by the shot clock being close to expiring, was beautiful but spiritually incorrect.

Barnes’ defense isn’t as impactful as Green’s is, but as a second-year player, it would be weird if it were. He has too many lapses on the perimeter, but his length currently makes up for a lot of that. He had a pair of steals early and erased two points for Curry in the third. Seeing how well he reads the game offensively, that should translate more defensively with time.

Green has been figuring out how to make it work in the Warriors ecosystem for more than a decade now. Barnes is just in year two, and the fit has been awkward, even when it has worked. The offense is too often isolation-dependent and stagnant, as it was in San Francisco in the second half. The Warriors assisted on 80 percent of their buckets, and the Raptors came in at 52. That’s about all you need to know about the difference between these teams. Change to the Raptors’ ecosystem is coming, probably sooner rather than later.

Now, the Raptors aren’t going to happen into two generational shooters, turning Barnes into Draymond 2.0. You wouldn’t want to limit him like that, anyway. Still, it will be fascinating to see how the Raptors modify their team, because that will dictate which skills Barnes will have to accentuate.

After the game, Green and Barnes shared a long hug.

“I told him, ‘I say this every time I see you, but I’m so impressed with your game,'” Green said. “I’m a big fan of yours. I love to see you play. I love your growth. And I’ll probably say it again next time I see you.’”

Observations

• Anunoby suffered a left wrist sprain in the second quarter, landing hard after he attempted to dunk over Golden State’s JaMychal Green. Anunoby was able to shoot the pair of resulting free throws, hitting one, but the Raptors took a foul to get him out of the game. X-rays were negative, but the Raptors said they were planning to do further testing and evaluation Saturday in Portland, where the Raptors will play the Trail Blazers. Precious Achiuwa started the second half in his place and recorded his 10th double-digit-scoring game in his last 11 appearances.

• Siakam had a rough night offensively, shooting 8-for-26, as can happen when Green is spending a lot of time guarding you. More concerning: He got lost on a few screens defensively, and appeared to just stop moving.

• Fred VanVleet was awesome, finishing with 28 points and 10 assists. He made big plays, making up for Siakam’s struggles, helping the Raptors stay in it in the second half when, on balance, they probably deserved to be blown out.

VanVleet passed Jonas Valanciunas for eighth all-time Raptors scoring in the first quarter. He’s still more than 900 points behind Morris Peterson for seventh, in case you are wondering.

• Nurse said before the game that the Raptors are hoping to have Dalano Banton available Monday in Phoenix. He was with Raptors 905 for a stint and has been dealing with a hip pointer since then. He hasn’t played for the Raptors since Dec. 18.

• Joe Wieskamp was at practice Thursday, the last day of his second 10-day contract. The Raptors would have had to sign Wieskamp for the rest of the season to keep him, and they didn’t, which makes sense given an open roster spot might be useful leading up to the trade deadline.

• The big screen inside Chase Center has to take up a bigger percentage of the arena than its counterpart does in AT&T Stadium in Dallas. It is mammoth.

(Photo of Draymond Green rejecting a shot by Scottie Barnes during Friday’s game: D. Ross Cameron / USA Today)

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