On opening night of a new NBA season, the Raptors lost their shirt and Scottie Barnes didn’t find his.
That is a long story in need of some explanation and this will be a long season for the Raptors and in many ways, opening night couldn’t have gone any worse for Canada’s favourite basketball team.
Begin with Barnes, the apparent piece to build this franchise around. He didn’t shoot well in the 136-106 loss to the rather average Cleveland Cavaliers. He didn’t score well, ending up with nine points. He didn’t necessarily defend well — the Raptors were outscored by 33 points when he was on the court. He came closest to fouling out and afterward showed up at the post-game players’ news conference wearing a snazzy suit and no shirt.
It was a look.
A look not much better than the Raptors showed on their first night of a new season, with a team hoping to find an emotional lift from a crowd excited by this dressed-up 30th anniversary of the franchise.
The Raptors brought Damon Stoudamire back. They brought the Junk Yard Dog, Jerome Williams, back. They even brought T.J. Ford back, and someone please explain why. They dressed up people in Morris Peterson and Matt Bonner outfits. They gave out T-shirts. There was a lot of looking back Wednesday night.
There wasn’t a lot to cheer about looking forward.
The Raptors will go only as far as Barnes and the point guard, Immanuel Quickley, take them this season and Barnes began the season hitting on three of 14 shots and after 14 pretty decent minutes, Quickley crashed to the court T.J. Ford style and didn’t return.
He scored 13 points in 14 minutes. That matters somewhat. What matters more is the status of his health. They called it a pelvic contusion post-game. On Thursday, Quickley will undergo the usual battery of tests and imaging to see if he will be out for any length of time, which the young and marginally talented Raptors can’t afford after just one game.
R.J. Barrett didn’t play Wednesday night because of a shoulder injury and he’s one of three stalwarts the Raps are going to need to find anything resembling success this season. He’s out, Quickley might be out, and Barnes needs to show a whole lot more star than he flashed on Wednesday night.
“We just have to come back from this,” said Barnes with a straight face. Really, what could he say after a night like this for him and his teammates? Training camp opened a few weeks back with the Raptors talking seriously about playing better defence. By the second quarter against the Cavs, where the Raps were outscored 36-17, it is already back to the drawing board for Toronto on defence.
“We got slapped in the face,” said Chris Boucher, the longtime Raptor who all but disappeared last season but showed up for opening night with an 18-point performance in just under 20 minutes played. Boucher offered something. The sophomore Gradey Dick finished with 16 points and showed some promise. But that was about it.
“It’s Game 1,” said Darko Rajakovic, the Raptors second-year head coach. “We wanted to compete and win … we have to be patient with our young team.
“It’s one night. It’s one game. We all believe in Scottie. He will be just fine.”
Everything begins and ends on the Raptors with Barnes. In a league built around superstars, Barnes is Masai Ujiri’s selection as the chosen one. He is being paid ridiculous amounts of money — isn’t everyone in the NBA who is any good? — but you can’t win and you can’t build around a star unless he is truly a star.
Barnes may be that player. It’s impossible to know who he is at this point. Sometimes he looks the part of star. Sometimes he doesn’t. On Wednesday night, there was a little of both in Barnes. Good moments and bad. Moments that made you wonder. Moments that made you doubt.
And then there were moments where you looked and saw all he can as this unicorn kind of NBA player. He isn’t easily defined. He’s not a point guard but he plays some point guard. He isn’t necessarily a power forward but sometimes he plays that position. His on court vision is exceptional — and sometimes you could see that against the Cavs, his rare ability to find players open.
But the Raptors need him to be more than a star. They need him to be a superstar. They’re paying him to be that.
And they are hoping he grows into all of that.
The Raptors have 40 more games at home, 81 left im the season. This was just one game. Barnes would probably prefer to toss this one in the circular file. The Raptors lost their shirt. He didn’t find his.
Maybe it was in his hands and when he went to put it on, he missed.
On X: @simmonssteve