Toronto Raptors GM shares details of one-on-one meeting with Scottie Barnes
Heading into a new season, there’s perhaps more pressure on a pair of Toronto Raptors mainstays than anyone else in the organization.
Team general manager and chief exec Bobby Webster addressed the media today, with Raptors training camp set to open next week.
Known for over a decade as part of a front office team along with former team president Masai Ujiri, Webster now operates the team’s front office as the lone top voice after his high-profile colleague’s firing earlier this summer.
With Toronto having missed the playoffs each year since 2022, there’s much pressure for Webster’s Raptors to show some progress this coming season.
One of the topics Webster addressed was his expectations for Scottie Barnes, the one-time All-Star who is now heading into his fifth NBA season after being taken fourth overall in 2021.
“I just met with him yesterday,” Webster shared. “[We spoke about] his defence, his energy, his rebounding, keeping the team together. The starting unit, it will be interesting to see how they mesh… there’s a really high floor for Scottie.”
While Barnes is now the team’s longest-tenured player after the departure of Chris Boucher, there are still many question marks as to what exactly a team with Barnes as its de facto leader can look like.
He’s still looking to hit his first-career 20 points-per-game season, often a benchmark for the game’s top scorers.
“The scoring, I think, can come easily for him when he gets early seals, when he attacks the rim, when he gets to the free throw line,” Webster added about Barnes. “You don’t want it to put so much pressure on his scoring.”
He’s not the only former All-Star on the team — trade deadline acquisition Brandon Ingram is set to debut for the Raptors next month after sitting out much of last season with an ankle injury.
But Webster admitted a bit of uncertainty as to how all the team’s players will mesh together, particularly with none of them having played with Ingram before. 17 different players started games for the Raptors last season, with 11 different players starting at least 10 games or more.
“We haven’t put that full season together yet. I think that’s the challenge for this group, from the first game there at Atlanta, can they be competitive? Can they fly back to Toronto? Can they play Friday night? Can they play Saturday night?” Webster added. “Can you do that on a consistent basis? And then we can have the conversation of, ‘where do we think this team will be, or where do we think this team can be at the end of the season?'”
For the Raptors, it all gets started next Tuesday in Alberta, where they hit the road for a week-long training camp in Calgary before heading to Vancouver for their first preseason game in Vancouver on Oct. 6.
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