Something very important was lost in the shuffle of the Raptors tankathon last season: Scottie Barnes’ prolonged, elite defensive performance.
Now, of course, it wasn’t lost on fans of the Raptors, because they tuned into a lost season night after night and watched Barnes provide the best defensive season of his young career, which is a real rarity to see on teams that lose 65% of their games. Even as the Raptors sprinted up the leaguewide defensive rankings across the season, it was chalked up to late season malaise – which I don’t mind much. Always a grain of salt. Things of that nature.
However, the tape did not lie about Barnes. He has translated so much of what he did well last season and expanded on it this season. If he was a defensive playmaker before, he is a supercharged version now. If he was a quiet helper before, obscuring driving lanes with his presence, he’s now become a loud subwoofer, booming and vibrating constantly as a reminder to everyone to be aware of him.
Speaking of that defensive playmaking, it’s the easiest thing to highlight. You’ll hear Matt Devlin bring it up on the broadcast every game. Barnes is putting up massive numbers. He is the sole NBA player with 30+ blocks and 30+ steals so far this season. Some even come in the game saving variety. He’s even in the top 10 in deflections per game. On top of all of this, Barnes is also in the top 25 in the NBA in shots contested at the rim. In that grouping, he’s one of 3 non-centers. He’s also top 10 in miles traveled on defense.
Scottie had the game saving block, but this play was my fav of the game
Deni tries to go early and Scottie stonewalls him, clear out iso, slide, take the bump, assess, meet him at the rim and swat it
Deni is a bull in a china shop, this is a really smart, really physical play pic.twitter.com/opdP3Aoi2G
— Samson Folk (the coach) (@samfolkk) December 3, 2025
“We been working on that all summer. Trying to find ways to get deflections, to get steals, trying to find those little pockets where I can knock it out of defenders hands and be able to recover so we can get going on the offensive end.” Barnes told Kayla Grey prior to the matchup against the Trailblazers.
So, Barnes is not only creating a near league best amount of stocks (steals + blocks) — he’s 2nd in the NBA — those juicy, definitive playmaking stats, but he’s also near the top of the league in the quieter “this guy is doing stuff” stats. The correct read of Barnes’ defense at first blush is very much: “this guy is doing stuff.”
When big, athletic guys are hyper-active? That’s the good stuff. Rudy Gobert and Jaren Jackson Jr., while a good deal larger than Barnes, came into the NBA with sky high foul rates. Why? Because they were trying to make things happen. They wield their size and mobility as a cudgel against offenses, and they’ve both been awarded handsomely for it. Make stuff happen, then dial back the jackassery. If you get stumped in the latter? Maybe you’re closer to Hassan Whiteside on defense. Barnes, however, is already deep into his refinement process.
The first clip in the video above is a perfect example of the quiet and loud parts of Barnes’ defense.
With Donovan Mitchell turning the corner, Barnes begins to perform a Next rotation. This is a rotation where the man one pass away switches onto the ball handler, and the trail man maintains his momentum to switch onto the other player. In this case, Barnes’ presence kills the Mitchell drive, Quickley stays on Mitchell’s hip instead of making the long rotation, and Mitchell makes the obvious read to Mobley. Not only is Barnes nearly able to get a hand on the pass because he’s so close to Mitchell, but he tracks back to actually block Mobley’s 3-point shot. When I watched this play live, I was nearly speechless. That level of ground coverage is an absurdity. Even if it didn’t end in a block, that type of constant pressure is a huge boon to any defense. But, of course, it did end in a block, because Barnes is that special.
Near the 25 second mark of the video you can see Barnes step into the lane and road block a drive against KCP while protecting Dick. Then, KCP moves the ball on to Wells, and Barnes steps out and blocks Wells’ 3-point shot. This is what Barnes can do if you place him on a less-than-dangerous big man such as Landale. He can simply roam off and shut down everything. This is very similar to how OG Anunoby is used in New York, and Pascal Siakam in Indiana. Big forwards cover the damn court.
Barnes’ ability to read the floor on both sides is evident to those who watch. Caitlin Cooper, world’s best basketball analyst, likened Barnes to a dancer: “He’s kind of like when you watch a dancer doing turns and they have to spot. That’s what he looks like when he’s rotating and getting out of rotations. He doesn’t lose his place. He’s always able to get out and find it. He’s very talented at that end of the floor.”
Even when Barnes receives a star matchup, like the ones against Embiid or Antetokounmpo, you can still find him racing around the court to plug holes before finding his way back to front the big boys. He’s even been able to absorb their physical drives, keep his feet, and block them. A lot can be said about Barnes’ reading of the game, that almost innate mapping of the court, but sometimes he is just exhibiting very special physical tools to hang in with guys.
Last year, Barnes was the major motivator for a defense that ended up settling in at 14th best in the NBA. A bad team that busted it’s rear end to get to that spot. Now, Barnes is over a quarter of the way through the season, freshly anointed as the Eastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Month, and the best defender (by some measure) on a top 5 defense in the NBA. Also, for those who like the advanced metrics, Barnes is in the top 5 in defensive win shares, and the top 10 in defensive box-score plus-minus.
He had no momentum coming into this season. Merely viewed as a “positive” defender without much consideration for looming accolades. He’s been doing the quiet stuff for some time now. To refer back to the play against the Cavaliers? Barnes has always been gumming things up in the lane, and no one cared much to notice. But, win some games, quarterback an elite defense, and block Mobley’s shot? Well, people might start looking a little bit closer to see what came before. And the closer you look at Barnes’ defense, the better it gets.
We’ll see how the league and media view him by the end of the season. There’s a good chance an All-Defense spot is on the horizon, with a puncher’s chance at something more.
Have a blessed day.
