Can RJ Barrett take a step forward this year? | NBA Total Projections | Toronto Raptors Preview - video Dailymotion

Peter Klein

RJ Barrett came to the Toronto Raptors mid-season last year, so what is he going to look like this year? Peter Klein gives three season point total projections to watch for with the Raptors this year, surrounding RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and Scottie Barnes.   Apple Pod: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couch-potato-diary/id1564122189 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM Twitter: twitter.com/primetimeklein IG: instagram.com/primetimeklein Facebook: www.facebook.com/Couchpotatodiary Twitch: twitch.tv/primetimepk Email: couchpotatodiary@yahoo.com We Had No Idea: every Wednesday morning,  instagram.com/wehadnoideapodcast

Transcript

00:00I'm going to have to change that a little bit.

00:14It's not the Toronto Raptor podcast anymore, it's just the Toronto Raptor segments here

00:18on Couch Potato Diary.

00:19But, um, looking at player totals today.

00:22We have gone through potential breakouts, potential x-factors, normally we do potential

00:27fall-offs, but no one played well enough last year that they're going to fall off this year.

00:31So, we've gone through a few different things.

00:32Now it is time to look at a couple of stat projections, I guess, that the Toronto Raptors

00:38may hit this season.

00:40And so these are provided in kind of season-long point total things, like we did with the wins

00:46yesterday.

00:47And so once again, for the fine overlords at Twitch, none of this is actual gambling

00:52advice.

00:53This is just a, hey, I think that a, these point thresholds that they give us are an

00:57interesting talking point, and b, this is just a, what I would consider, not necessarily

01:01what I think you should do.

01:03So, with that all in mind, let's take a look at a few of them here.

01:06First is, um, RJ Barrett and Emmanuel Quickly, 20 plus points per game each, at plus 200.

01:14I feel like I can't really say I think Emmanuel Quickly is actually going to be a breakout

01:18player in the whole NBA this year, not just with the Toronto Raptors, and then think he's

01:23going to get under 20 points per game.

01:25With the Raptors last year, he was around 18.5, I think it was 18.7, so he was right

01:30in kind of that area.

01:32And so, I think that there is a real opportunity given, again, him being more of a focal point

01:38in this offense, and him seemingly having a, what should be stylistically, a pretty

01:43good rapport with Scottie Barnes.

01:45I think that should be something that helps get him to that 20 point threshold.

01:49With RJ Barrett, there is a bit of an injury concern right now, but I do also think that

01:54he averaged, I think it was 23 points a game, or 22, 23 points a game, last season.

02:00I should actually kind of look this up because he's coming up again here in a second, but

02:03um, he, I think that A, he played really well with the Raptors, um, sorry, he was at 21.8

02:10points a game with the Raps last season, he was at 18.2 with the Knicks, but again, there's

02:15going to be more opportunities for him to score the basketball, and coming off of an

02:18Olympics where he looked phenomenal, I do think that there might be a little bit of

02:22a boost for RJ Barrett.

02:24And so I think the only thing that can hold you back in this is an RJ Barrett injury,

02:29and I didn't look, to be perfectly honest, to see if there was a, he has to play X amount

02:33of games, and so if he plays 5 and averages 30, then blows his leg up, uh, look at that,

02:39we hit.

02:40Hopefully that doesn't happen.

02:41But, you know what I mean.

02:42So, I think that that is one, and it's sitting at plus 200 right now, where I found this.

02:47So that, I think, is a pretty good one to look at.

02:49I would be taking that if, um, if you were into that sort of a thing.

02:54Another one is RJ Barrett specific.

02:56He is, again, averaged 21 and a bit points per game with the Raptors.

03:01This one is saying RJ Barrett to get 23 plus points per game, and 6 plus rebounds per game.

03:07He had 6.7 rebounds a game last year with the Raptors, and again, averaged 21 point

03:11whatever it was, points per game with the Raps.

03:14Just over 21 points per game.

03:15And so, again, I think now there is an opportunity for him to step up into that role.

03:21Also, the one thing that concerns me about the rebounding thing is that, while the Knicks

03:26had Mitchell Robinson and stuff like that, they didn't necessarily, and I guess Hartenstein

03:29as well, so they did have a couple of rebounders there.

03:31But, um, with Portal and Barnes, those guys tend to gobble up quite a few of those boards,

03:36and so I do worry that maybe they won't all be there for RJ Barrett this season, depending

03:41on how the Raptors maybe utilize him on the offensive side of things or whatever, but

03:45I still think that, to assume he sticks around at the same rebounding total he did a year

03:48ago, and maybe a slight tick up in the points, given where he is at in this Raptors offense,

03:54and a level of comfort now, having a full, I guess not a full training camp because he

03:58was injured, but at least having that full offseason, and again, the boost coming from

04:02the Olympics, I just think all of that together leads to what should be a positive year for

04:07RJ Barrett.

04:08And so I also like to take this one again, over on 23 points per game and over on 6 rebounds

04:12per game, getting you at plus 250.

04:14And the last one is Scottie Barnes, 5 plus triple doubles this season.

04:19The, if he gets 5, we get this one, it's at plus 150, and for Scottie Barnes, he had 5

04:25last year.

04:26And now again, we are assuming a touch of development in his game, um, I, I don't know

04:32how well the team is going to do, but that could lead to extra rebound opportunities,

04:38at least.

04:39But I, I'm interested to see what kind of distribution they use in terms of who is,

04:44who the offense is running through.

04:46And so if it is definitely a little bit more quickly heavy with the, the basketball, then

04:50all of a sudden there might be a bit of an issue with us getting to that number in the

04:53assist category.

04:54But I think he is so clearly the number one scoring option on this team, and has shown

04:58to be a very good rebounder, I think there are going to be enough nights that the assists

05:02are there that this is a, a pretty wise play at plus 150.

05:07For more NBA on the YouTube channel right now, um, just search Couch Potato Diary, there

05:12is the mega preview that's going to come out in podcast form as soon as this episode

05:17here on Twitch is done.

05:19So check out the, the, the mega preview, which is a combination of all of the preview segments

05:24we did all thrown into one and put out there on the YouTubes and it'll be available in

05:29podcast form as well.

05:30And we'll do the same thing with the Raptors stuff, um, early tomorrow, certainly not going

05:37to be the, I think this one ended up clocking in at a couple of hours for the mega NBA preview.

05:41It's certainly not going to be that.

05:42It might not even make it to half an hour, but it'll be a nice little combination of

05:45everything that is going on.

05:47And the interesting part about the NBA mega preview, if I may, is there in the, you can

05:51kind of tell like the, the Randall trade happens in the middle of it, or the cat trade happens

05:55in the middle of it.

05:56And so you can kind of hear where some of the predictive, like, okay, well, maybe this

06:00could happen and this would shift this and then the reaction to it as well.

06:04And how we kind of had to pivot on that.

06:06So I think there's some interesting stuff in there.

06:09You think Scotty Barnes is a bonafide number one option in this league?

06:13I think he's a bonafide number one option on the Raptors.

06:16Um, I, I think in a perfect world for a Scotty Barnes, he would probably be from an offensive

06:24standpoint a number two or maybe even number three.

06:29I mean, obviously a perfect world, he's like a number 10 option and you're on a super team,

06:32but for realistic purposes, I think if he was a two as an offensive option, I think

06:38you'd be okay.

06:39Um, and I think a three, it would kind of be perfect, but I think where he really shines

06:43is his ability to play all over the floor, right?

06:46Like he can defend multiple positions and I think the defensive aspect of it is what

06:50really does kind of help you with him and make you feel like that this is someone who

06:55can be, was deserving of being an all-star and can be a number one guy on a team because

07:00of what he can do at the defensive end of the floor.

07:03And then the offensive side has improved to the point where he at least can be a number

07:07one and it's not laughable, although maybe a few less isos for him at the end of basketball

07:13games might be beneficial to this team's long-term success.

07:17But so from a scoring standpoint, I don't think he's a bonafide number one, but from

07:22a overall team constructing standpoint, I think you can build around this guy and have

07:26a pretty successful team.

07:28I do.

Can RJ Barrett take a step forward this year? | NBA Total Projections | Toronto Raptors Preview

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