TORONTO \u2014 Star, all-star or superstar?\u00a0<\/p>\n
That he\u2019s a star \u2014 let\u2019s just say capable of being the best player on a good team \u2014 is a bedrock floor at this point.<\/p>\n
Through the early days of the season, the Raptors are the surprise of the Eastern Conference. The team that was in the draft lottery in June would be hosting a first-round playoff series, if the season ended today. It can all but clinch a first-ever appearance in the NBA Cup quarterfinals with a win over the woeful Washington Wizards on Friday night at Scotiabank Arena (7:30 p.m. ET\/ 4:30 p.m. PT on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+).\u00a0<\/p>\n
And while the Raptors have benefitted from the addition of Brandon Ingram, the availability of Immanuel Quickley after he played just 33 games last season and a more robust bench unit, it\u2019s Barnes who has been at the heart of everything.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s producing at a level very comparable to his all-star season from 2023-24, but only with greater efficiency.<\/p>\n
And while a month into a season is a bit early to begin projecting year-long trends, it bears mentioning that he\u2019s the only player in the NBA with across-the-board per game averages of 19.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.4 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots.<\/p>\n
In fact, according to\u00a0basketball-reference.com, if Barnes maintains that pace, he\u2019ll join Kevin Garnett (twice), Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only other players to ever do it for a full season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That Barnes is doing it with an effective field-goal percentage of 55.2 \u2014 which is bolstered by what would be a career-best 40.4 per cent on three-point attempts \u2014 would make him stand alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, given that company, it\u2019s hard to argue that superstar isn\u2019t on the table.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But even Barnes would acknowledge that reaching that level \u2014 maximizing the upper limit of his potential, basically \u2014 is a tall order.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He seemed to speak the challenge last Thursday, when he was dominant in the Raptors’ impressive road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers with a performance that was somehow even more eye-popping than his 28 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and five blocks indicated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what I\u2019m capable of, so just gotta bring that every single night,\u201d Barnes said, after his big night in Cleveland. \u201cBe aggressive, attacking downhill, being aggressive on both ends, and I was just helping my teammates a lot. If someone gets beat, just trying to be help for them. So just doing those things on both ends \u2026 (it) just opens up a lot for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t just that he blocked five shots, it\u2019s that three of them came against Jarret Allen and Evan Mobley, arguably the best big-man tandem in the NBA. It wasn\u2019t just that he scored 28 points on 12-of-22 shooting, he did a good chunk of the damage while being defended by Mobley, the reigning defensive player of the year. It wasn\u2019t just his ball movement, but the range and creativity of his assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barnes on his best nights can be one of the best players in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But how routinely can Barnes play at that level? It\u2019s a question that goes to the heart of the matter as it relates to the Raptors’ ceiling in the Eastern Conference, this season and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure. That\u2019s that next step for me. It\u2019s about consistency,\u201d he told me during a conversation after his big night against the Cavs. \u201cEveryone thinks that I had a really great game against Cleveland, but I think that I can do that every single night, so that doesn\u2019t surprise me. It might surprise other people. I just have to go out there and show it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working against Barnes getting a full measure of recognition for his overall play is that unlike most of the league\u2019s upper echelon all-stars, scoring the basketball isn\u2019t his primary attribute, though he\u2019s certainly capable. He\u2019s shown again this season that, at his best, he can tilt the game defensively like few others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely should get recognized,\u201d he said. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t get thrown under the bus. When we win, it\u2019s just going to put everything else in the right perspective.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Plays like his game-saving block against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday should help with that cause.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly I get rebounds, I get assists,\u201d he told me. \u201cPeople worry about points a lot. But just being able to get to that consistent number, consistently. Sometimes people see me go out there and play with force, sometimes they feel like I don\u2019t go out there and play with force. But I know what I do out there on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
But playing at that exalted level is extraordinarily difficult, and in the NBA of the moment, the bar for superstardom is exceptionally high.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Defending MVP and Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has now scored 20 or more points in 86 consecutive games, something only Wilt Chamberlain has ever done. The Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic has finished first or second in the MVP race for five straight seasons but is somehow on pace for his best season yet as he puts up 29.2 points, 13.4 rebounds and 11.1 assists while shooting 64.8 per cent from the floor. And Lakers star Luka Doncic is averaging a career-best 34.6 points (along with 9.0 assists and 8.5 rebounds) as he guns for his sixth first-team All-NBA nod in seven seasons at age 26.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of the league\u2019s upper crust, the player that Barnes identifies with most might be Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two-time MVP with the Milwaukee Bucks who was off to another MVP-calibre season, averaging 31.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists while converting 62.9 per cent of his field-goal attempts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like the Bucks star, when Barnes is at his best, it\u2019s when he\u2019s using his broad shoulders and powerful base to bowling-ball lesser defenders out of his way on his way to the paint and to the rim. It\u2019s the NBA\u2019s hardest-won territory, but most valuable because it generates high-percentage shots, free-throw attempts and kickouts to open shooters as the defence collapses. But it\u2019s heavy lifting, allowing for few easy possessions or easy nights at the office.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one I\u2019m so shocked with is Giannis,\u201d Barnes told me. \u201cThe way that he plays with force every single night, the way he\u2019s constantly attacking downhill. He\u2019s playing through so much physicality because he\u2019s six-foot-11, seven-foot, super strong, they\u2019re going to allow people to foul him. But to be able do that every single night, don\u2019t care, go up on three people, dunk it on them, it\u2019s a different type of intensity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It’s a level of intensity that\u2019s hard to bring to the floor every single night and perhaps the last hurdle Barnes needs to cross to join the NBA\u2019s elite.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Saturday, In the next game after his Cleveland explosion, the Raptors star didn\u2019t convert a field goal in the first half against the lowly Indiana Pacers, and finished with a pedestrian line of 14 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Two nights later, against Charlotte, it was 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, which is not to overlook his game-saving blocked shot, or game-tying dunk after posting up Miles Bridges with 58 seconds to play. In the three games before his showing against the Cavs, Barnes averaged 15.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists. Nothing to be upset about, but not the kind of nightly excellence the league\u2019s greats make seem routine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just got to stay consistent,\u201d Barnes said.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cSteady grind and consistently do that every single night.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is the final stage of growth that Barnes needs to reach to join the NBA\u2019s elite. In his fifth season, he\u2019s closer than ever. Pull it off, and there won\u2019t be any question about where in the NBA pantheon Barnes will be standing.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Star, all-star or superstar?\u00a0 That he\u2019s a star \u2014 let\u2019s just say capable of being the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-295489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}