Fast facts on Scottie Barnes
ca.nba.com
Scottie Barnes, pick number 4. Does not have mind-blowing stats but has good efficiency from the field, so he does have great potential. I was expecting Jalen Suggs. I think this means that they are trying hard to trade Pascal Siakam,
since Barnes is a forward.
I would agree he is best suited at forward but Barnes actually played primarily at PG in college and he's big enough to play C in small lineups. He's a swiss army knife that can excel at every position.
As great_times2 said, Suggs is the safer pick with the higher floor but Barnes ceiling is way higher. If I had to bet on one of the two completely flaming out or wager on one of the two becoming an elite superstar, I would put my money on Barnes for both. From what I saw of them in college (admittedly not much..... especially Barnes) I just don't see superstar in Suggs. I see him being a good player maybe even an all star a couple of times but might be like Lowry in that much of what makes him valuable isnt reflected on that stat sheet.
Barnes is not considered a good shooter but neither is Suggs so if you cancel that out for both, Barnes upside is far higher.
If this was the case then Ujiri or Webster would've done a swap with Orlando like Grunwald did with the Warriors back in 1998.
That's making huge assumptions...... That the Magic were willing to add anything worthwhile to swapping, otherwise why bother?
That the Magic didn't prefer Barnes over Suggs too. Most expected Barnes to go to Orlando (after Toronto took Suggs) so it's very reasonable to assume Orlando liked Barnes and would have taken him at #4 anyhow.
Not to mention if true that OKC liked Barnes, they could have traded with Orlando to swap 6 for 4 and Toronto would have been stuck with their second choice.
