{"id":591677,"date":"2026-02-09T02:50:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T02:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/591677\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T02:50:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T02:50:28","slug":"rajakovic-predicts-bright-future-for-barnes-after-dominant-performance-against-pacers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/591677\/","title":{"rendered":"Rajakovic predicts bright future for Barnes after dominant performance against Pacers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a style=\"display:block\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/resizer\/v2\/27GNJTL66JEHZD2NMHE2SELDMQ.jpg?auth=bdd8830d70fd18c20c5f4f9552781b28974fcda4d0c1e2627f47d3eacda4bce4&amp;width=600&amp;height=400&amp;quality=80&amp;smart=true\" aria-haspopup=\"true\" data-photo-viewer-index=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"figcap-text\">Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) is fouled by Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell (9) during their game in Toronto on Sunday.Frank Gunn\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic believes that the future belongs to Scottie Barnes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Rajakovic was effusive in his praise for Barnes after the Raptors all-star scored 25 points and had 14 rebounds in Toronto\u2019s 122-104 rout of the Indiana Pacers on Sunday afternoon. Barnes also surpassed former Raptors all-star Pascal Siakam \u2013 now on the Pacers \u2013 for the fifth most double-doubles in Toronto history with 103.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">\u201cScottie is defensive player of the year. He\u2019s an all-star. He\u2019s going to be a Finals MVP. He\u2019s going to be an MVP one day,\u201d said Rajakovic.\u201cWrite down the date I said that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Barnes could only chuckle at Rajakovic\u2019s prediction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">\u201cThat\u2019s my coach, man. He\u2019s always supporting us. He\u2019s always got our backs,\u201d said Barnes. \u201cThat\u2019s Darko for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Barnes helped Toronto blow the game wide open in the third quarter, scoring 13 of his points and grabbing eight rebounds in the period. He also had four assists, two blocks and a steal in the third.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">The Raptors dominated the period, making 60.7 per cent of their field-goal attempts and all six of their free throws, outscoring Indiana 44-26 in the quarter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Barnes said he tried to step up after rookie centre Collin Murray-Boyles left the game in the first quarter. Murray-Boyles aggravated a sprain in his left thumb when another player hit his hand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">\u201cI just do what the game demands of me,\u201d said Barnes. \u201cObviously, Collin wasn\u2019t there so I needed to rebound more, we needed some rim protection. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">\u201cGoing where the game demands. I was feeling a little bit like I was going downhill, attacking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Trayce Jackson-Davis made his Raptors debut after being traded to Toronto by the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. He had 10 points and 10 rebounds in 15 minutes of play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Jackson-Davis said it has been an easy adjustment for him so far.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">\u201cYou could see during the game, they\u2019re hyping me up every time I made a play, giving me a lot of confidence, and so I\u2019m happy to be here. I\u2019m happy to be a part of the team,\u201d said the 25-year-old centre. \u201cOne of the assistant coaches came up to me and said \u2019at the end of the day, it\u2019s just basketball, just go out there and play.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">\u201cSo that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">Although it was a solid debut, Rajakovic wanted to wait before commenting on Jackson-Davis\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">\u201cI don\u2019t want to pass judgment. &#8230; I just want to let him be. I want to coach him. I want to help him. I want to build him and see where we go,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cI don\u2019t want to, based on one good game or bad game, to pass any judgment on him. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">\u201cI want to see a chunk of 10 to 15 games and see how he grows with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-article-body__text text-pr-5\">The Raptors (32-22) are fifth in the Eastern Conference and will host the Detroit Pistons (38-13) on Wednesday. It\u2019s the last game for both teams before the NBA\u2019s all-star weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) is fouled by Indiana Pacers guard T.J.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[10388,10376,7,10389,4500,9436,10390,4821,10371,10382,10383,10378,10372,10370,7678,6682,10387,10381,10375,10401,10373,10374,10380,113,126,3866,10377,1943,2679,10391,9876,6,10396,10397,10399,10394,10398,10392,114,10395,6870,10385,10386,3559,10384,10393,83,1963,9087,10379,4486,447,10400],"class_list":["post-591677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indiana-pacers","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-basketball","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-indiana","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-indianapacers","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-nba","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pacers","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}