Welcome to "One Play!" Throughout the 2021-22 NBA season, our NBA.com Staff will break down certain possessions from certain games and peel back the curtains to reveal its bigger meaning.
Today, we focus on Toronto Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes.
Context: Scottie Barnes is growing right in front of our eyes — in a literal and figurative sense.
No less than a day after Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said that Barnes had sprouted to a height of 6-foot-10 did the rookie step up down the stretch of a narrow overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets. In the process, Barnes finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
MORE: Fred VanVleet speaks on Barnes' sky-high potential
At 20 years and 135 days old, Barnes became the youngest player in franchise history to finish with 20-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and five or more assists. Before Barnes, it was a Hall of Famer by the name of Tracy McGrady.
That's pretty good company to keep.
MORE: Barnes is already improving upon his biggest perceived weakness
What Barnes did is one thing, but how he did it is another, shooting 7-for-13 from the field and 3-for-5 from deep, which would have been 3-for-4 had it not been a desperation heave at the end of overtime. Considering the questions surrounding Barnes' shooting ability ahead of the draft, there's one shot, in particular, that stands out as the perfect example of how much he's growing as a player.
With that said, let's head to the film room.
The play:
Breakdown: Did anyone know Barnes was capable of doing this?
Off of a kick out from VanVleet, Barnes realizes there are six seconds on the shot clock, meaning the possession is likely going to end with him. Barnes gets the ball on the right wing but doesn't have much room to operate seeing how Pascal Siakam has occupied the block and Chris Boucher is in rebounding position under the rim.
On the catch, Barnes sizes up his defender, fellow rookie Kessler Edwards, setting up what looked to be a baseline drive.
With under five seconds remaining on the shot clock, it was highly unlikely that Barnes could make a play for someone else before the clock expired. With Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant and David Duke Jr. all in help position, a baseline drive would have been a forced possession that would have ended in a low-quality shot.
Instinctively, Barnes went to the step back.
As good as it looked leaving Barnes' hands, it appeared he didn't think it felt good as he quickly ran to follow his shot before seeing it go through the net.
Even more surprised? Nets rookie Day'Ron Sharpe, who reacted to Barnes' step-back triple in visible disbelief.
This is notable because, in addition to being members of the same draft class, Barnes and Sharpe were high school teammates at Montverde Academy just two years ago. Considering the amount of time these two had to have spent in the gym together as high school seniors, it would seem that Sharpe has never seen this from Barnes before.
Why it matters: First, this shows that at 20, no moment is too big for Barnes, who tied things up late in the fourth quarter of a road game against a legitimate (albeit shorthanded) title contender. Second, and equally as important, is the fact that Barnes is ahead of schedule in his development as a 3-point shooter.
Coming into the league, Barnes' shooting ability was viewed as one of the weaker spots of his all-around game. When he was selected by Toronto, many cited the examples of Siakam and OG Anunoby's development as shooters as a reason that Barnes could one day be effective from deep.
It turns out he's getting there already.
After Barnes' performance against the Nets, Sports Illustrated's Aaron Rose asked Nurse about Barnes' shooting, to which he replied "I think the biggest thing he'll learn going forward is his mechanics are solid, especially on the release and all that stuff. So you can do a lot.
MORE: Could Barnes be the next Giannis?
"You can shoot off the dribble, you can shoot not 100 percent on balance, you can shoot on the move, you can do a lot of things when, at the end of it, you snap it through with those good mechanics."
Over his last 10 games, Barnes is attempting 4.1 triples per game and connecting on them at a 41.5 percent clip. A small sample size, sure, but also a sample size that shows Barnes has been extremely coachable and committed to improving on a game-by-game basis.
I'd say that at some point in the year, Barnes might stop following those shots and start admiring them as they go in, but we all know the type of effort he plays with and that's not happening anytime soon.
And that is what makes Scottie Barnes so special.
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