Toronto Raptors forward Thaddeus Young spoke about Scottie Barnes’ growth as a player after Tuesday’s 132-131 road loss vs. the Los Angeles Lakers (26 points/3 rebounds/6 assists/2 blocks/11-20 FG/3-7 3-PT/1-2 FT).
(via Toronto Raptors):
Reporter: “What have you been able to see from Scottie? Obviously this is not the first time that he’s played the Lakers, but you go up against a guy like LeBron who doesn’t shrink in the moment, and then you have a game like this that requires Scottie to not shrink in the moment. How have you seen that edge to Scottie develop over your time with him?”
Young: “Scottie’s going uphill. He’s developing into what we all think Scottie can be, and he’s showing it each and every night. He’s worked on his jump shot, he’s gotten better at that, he’s making them at a high clip. He’s getting downhill. He’s punishing guys. He’s rebounding the basketball. He’s blocking shots. He’s all over the court and he’s done a heck of a job of putting us on his back night after night with the other guys. But he’s that type of player, he’s that high level player going into superstar mode. I see it for him. He’s continuing to work and he’s a very, very smart individual. He has a high basketball IQ, he knows how to play basketball. And that’s what you love about him, that he knows how to play basketball. He doesn’t just have the physical attributes, but he has the brain to go with it as well.”
