Darko Rajakovic on trying to narrow down what Scottie Barnes should focus on to get him to the next level.
November 20, 2023
Darko Rajakovic on trying to narrow down what Scottie Barnes should focus on to get him to the next level.
9 comments
Lmao Darko is hilarious and a true gem. I can’t wait to see what he molds Scottie into.
Here’s my 3 elite things:
– Passing – Defense – Inside Scoring
If he becomes Top 5-10 in each of those, he can be a decent ball handler, average at 3PT% and below average at mid-range% and he’ll still be 1st Team All NBA.
its interesting to hear him say that and it generally seems to hold true (an easy exception seems to be jokic). I assume he means this with respect to the offensive side of the ball since having good defensive traits shouldn’t take away from your offense.
As many have noted about the teams roster construction, to fully unlock his potential as an interior scorer – where most of his strengths are – the rest need to provide the spacing for him to operate. It will help tremendously if siakam can bring back his 3pt shooting off the catch. His best traits are easily his paint play, passing, and decision making
“*He needs to become elite at tampering so I’m not forced to play Jaden McD because lawddddddd*”
Ok now do me
Valid
This is super interesting. I don’t know exactly how you classify offensive traits, but you could consider them as perimeter creation (dribble penetration, PnR handler), pull up/midrange shooting, spot up/3 point shooting, finishing at the rim and post play. I’d say Scottie should focus on perimeter creation, spot up/3 point shooting, and finishing at the rim.
He’s a great passer, so a good perimeter creation game will be needed to best utilize his best skill. His handling will need to continue to improve and he’ll need some more experience in the PnR.
His finishing at the rim could improve from having some more go-to moves that he uses. This is something he should absolutely be able to improve on.
His 3 point shooting has already seemed to take a step. If he continues to shoot 36-38% from 3 that will be enough to provide spacing and open up the rest of his offence.
Bro i am in love with this new coach
Scottie is really such a unique player. He was a PG in college then won ROY primarily playing small ball C as a 20 year old. Once Poeltl was acquired he shifted back to playing more wing/guard. I think experience in all these different roles will truly make him a superstar once he hits his prime.
Also Cade fans always talk about his lack of spacing but Scottie has never had the luxury of good spacing around him either. He is usually playing with 2 or more of Siakam, Poeltl, Achiuwa, Boucher, McDaniels or Koloko last year. That’s just the way the roster is built currently but I would love to see what a lineup of Flynn, Trent, OG, Porter and Barnes for example could look like. 4 shooting threats around Barnes and Flynn as a PnR partner could really unlock the halfcourt offence when Dennis, Siakam and Poeltl are sitting.
Lol I feel like he’s basically saying Scottie might fall in love with the jumper too much and get away from what he can be truly elite at (attacking the paint consistently to finish, which would open up lots of passing lanes). I get what he’s saying tho, become the master of what you’re best at before you start expanding your game too much. Have a narrow and in-depth approach rather than a wide and shallow approach when it comes to adding skills to your game
9 comments
Lmao Darko is hilarious and a true gem. I can’t wait to see what he molds Scottie into.
Here’s my 3 elite things:
– Passing
– Defense
– Inside Scoring
If he becomes Top 5-10 in each of those, he can be a decent ball handler, average at 3PT% and below average at mid-range% and he’ll still be 1st Team All NBA.
its interesting to hear him say that and it generally seems to hold true (an easy exception seems to be jokic). I assume he means this with respect to the offensive side of the ball since having good defensive traits shouldn’t take away from your offense.
As many have noted about the teams roster construction, to fully unlock his potential as an interior scorer – where most of his strengths are – the rest need to provide the spacing for him to operate. It will help tremendously if siakam can bring back his 3pt shooting off the catch. His best traits are easily his paint play, passing, and decision making
“*He needs to become elite at tampering so I’m not forced to play Jaden McD because lawddddddd*”
Ok now do me
Valid
This is super interesting. I don’t know exactly how you classify offensive traits, but you could consider them as perimeter creation (dribble penetration, PnR handler), pull up/midrange shooting, spot up/3 point shooting, finishing at the rim and post play. I’d say Scottie should focus on perimeter creation, spot up/3 point shooting, and finishing at the rim.
He’s a great passer, so a good perimeter creation game will be needed to best utilize his best skill. His handling will need to continue to improve and he’ll need some more experience in the PnR.
His finishing at the rim could improve from having some more go-to moves that he uses. This is something he should absolutely be able to improve on.
His 3 point shooting has already seemed to take a step. If he continues to shoot 36-38% from 3 that will be enough to provide spacing and open up the rest of his offence.
Bro i am in love with this new coach
Scottie is really such a unique player. He was a PG in college then won ROY primarily playing small ball C as a 20 year old. Once Poeltl was acquired he shifted back to playing more wing/guard. I think experience in all these different roles will truly make him a superstar once he hits his prime.
Also Cade fans always talk about his lack of spacing but Scottie has never had the luxury of good spacing around him either. He is usually playing with 2 or more of Siakam, Poeltl, Achiuwa, Boucher, McDaniels or Koloko last year. That’s just the way the roster is built currently but I would love to see what a lineup of Flynn, Trent, OG, Porter and Barnes for example could look like. 4 shooting threats around Barnes and Flynn as a PnR partner could really unlock the halfcourt offence when Dennis, Siakam and Poeltl are sitting.
Lol I feel like he’s basically saying Scottie might fall in love with the jumper too much and get away from what he can be truly elite at (attacking the paint consistently to finish, which would open up lots of passing lanes). I get what he’s saying tho, become the master of what you’re best at before you start expanding your game too much. Have a narrow and in-depth approach rather than a wide and shallow approach when it comes to adding skills to your game