Scottie Barnes Earns First All-Defensive Selection of NBA Career

The Conference Finals are underway in the NBA Playoffs, and that means the All-NBA, Rookie, and Defensive Teams are being announced. Today is Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, but more importantly for the Toronto Raptors, the All-Defensive Teams were just released. To no surprise, two-time All-Star Scottie Barnes was selected to the All-Defensive Second Team. 

It was already known around the league that Barnes is the franchise cornerstone for the lone Canadian team, but this season, he was able to show that he was ready to take his game to a whole new level. His ability to seemingly do anything and everything on the defensive end cannot be overstated after this season, and he rightfully earned the Second-Team recognition. 

Barnes finished in fifth place for the Defensive Player of the Year award, so it’s only right that the same voters also slotted him an All-Defensive team. The former No. 4 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft became the first player to record 100 steals and 100 blocks in the same season since Andre Drummond in 2019 (via StatMuse). He also finished the season in third for stocks (steals + blocks) behind only Victor Wembanyama and Ausar Thompson. 

This only allows for a glimpse of the defensive impact Barnes had this season. Opposing teams were constantly forced to know exactly where he was, otherwise they would be punished for it. Whether he was guarding a big man in the paint, switching on to a guard on the perimeter, or roaming the surrounding areas to disrupt passing lanes and help on drives, he was always a factor in the decision-making for opposing offenses. 

That was proven against the cream of the crop in the first round of the playoffs, 11-time All-Star James Harden and seven-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Raptors were not expected to put up much of a fight in that series, but they were able to push one of the final four teams to seven games, even without two starters in Games 6 and 7. They were able to do so largely because of the incredible defensive display by Barnes and the Raptors. All season long, the former Florida State Seminole has led by example, and his team’s defensive aggression is what got them as far as they did. 

In this season, Barnes was able to take another big step offensively as well, showing the ability to facilitate at a very high level when it’s needed of him. If he can continue to develop his outside shot, while finding a proper balance of facilitating and being aggressive when attacking the basket, Barnes has real potential to be one of the absolute premier players in the NBA for years to come. His outstanding impact on both ends was hard to miss for the Raptors this year, and now time will tell if the media agrees by giving him the first All-NBA selection of his career.