What Will The Scottie Barnes-Led Bench Lineups Look Like?
The Myth of Sisyphus is about a former Greek King whom the Gods punished for his tyranny by forcing him to roll a gigantic boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down every time he got close to nearing the top. As it goes, Sisyphus was doomed to struggle for eternity, pushing that boulder up the hill forever and ever.
There has been much discussion about the Raptors’ starting lineup heading into the 2024-2025 season, but perhaps more important than that is the bench-laden lineup led by Scottie Barnes. In a very Sisyphean way, Barnes had to carry those lineups for the Raptors laboriously last season.
Before the OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam trades, the Raptors made a point of throwing Barnes to the fire, testing his limits for how positively he can impact lineups that were doomed to fail. If you remember, the Raptors starters would play for the first 6-8 minutes of the game and then sub out Barnes. Scottie would then come back in right before the end of the first with a lineup dominated by bench players that included Chris Boucher, Malachi Flynn, Gradey Dick, Precious Achiuwa, Otto Porter Jr., and one other starter (usually either Dennis Schroder or Anunoby).
Those lineups weren’t made to succeed. They were made as a stress test for Barnes’s abilities. For a long time, that Sisyphus-type honour was bestowed upon Kyle Lowry, who did his best to keep the Raptors above water without their starters. Now, Barnes is responsible for pushing that proverbial boulder up the hill.
The lineups had a mixed result but struggled for the most part. According to PBP stats, the Raptors had a net rating of -19, with Barnes on the floor and without Siakam or Anunoby. That number improved when Barnes and Siakam were paired (-5.8), and Toronto was a net positive with Barnes and Anunoby (+4.9). After the trades, things became a little less muddy. Barnes was asked to carry even more and was often asked to run the second unit next to Kelly Olynyk in a lineup that typically included Ochai Agbaji, Bruce Brown, and Gradey Dick (that group had a -12.5 net rating in over 60 minutes together). Without Immanuel Quickley or RJ Barrett, the Raptors had a -7 net rating in over 150 minutes with just Barnes on the floor.
This isn’t Barnes’s fault. Again, he is being provided an impossible task on purpose. It is the fate of the franchise player to be responsible for turning water into wine. To keep pushing that boulder up the hill tirelessly.
So, how can those Barnes-led bench units possibly succeed this year?
Foundationally, the Raptors seem to enjoy pairing Barnes and Olynyk. Darko Rajakovic has said as much during training camp, indicating that they will use Barnes and Olynyk as ballhandlers and screeners in pick-and-roll actions to leverage their playmaking prowess.
“Kelly’s great at passing,” Barnes told reporters in practice in Toronto. “He can dribble really well for his size and just his vision on the floor. So being able to create those advantages where a big is used to being in the ball screen, it kind of messes up a team or messes up some rotations, for sure. So just got to try to use that, exploit it at times, and see what works throughout the process, throughout games. If it keeps working, you know, you just keep attacking.”
Defensively, Barnes can also help Olynyk as the help-side defender, providing some cushion for when teams throw Olynyk into screening actions, hoping to exploit the slower-footed 33-year-old.
So, Olynyk and Barnes will be paired. Who else?
The likely move involves adding another starter. Quickley could be an option. Barnes and IQ will probably see a lot of minutes together, but to allow room for Quickley’s playmaking to develop, they will likely stagger those two in non-starter lineups. Barrett would be an excellent, formidable option here next to Barnes. He’s a superb cutter, and pairing him with Barnes and Olynyk, who can make reads over the top of defenses, is a potent offensive combination.
That being said, I think the starter they’ll pair Quickley and Barrett together and lean on Gradey Dick in these units — who is also a blossoming cutting machine but provides an extra bit of shooting and gravity on the perimeter that Barrett doesn’t. Olynyk and Dick developed a fun two-man chemistry in their short amount of time together last season, and I think leaning on that as a source of bench offense is the way to go.
Davion Mitchell is the natural next man up in these groups. When I spoke to Darko Rajakovic in Montreal during Training Camp, he mentioned that Mitchell will be tasked with running and organizing the bench units, and his fit makes sense next to a group of Dick, Olynyk, and Barnes — which could admittedly use the boost he provides on the defensive end.
Mitchell can serve as a ballhandler next to these guys, has improved as a catch-and-shoot player (knocking down 37% of his attempts in his final season in Sacramento, albeit on low volume), and is also surprisingly springy in hand-off situations, which should pair well with Barnes and Olynyk offensively. (Note: maybe this spot eventually ends up going to Jamal Shead for my Shead Heads, but I think Mitchell will have the first crack at it to start the year).
I feel pretty confident locking in Barnes next to Olynyk, Mitchell, and Dick as the go-to bench lineups the Raptors initially lean on this season. The fifth spot is challenging to pick, however.
In the past, the Raptors have leaned on Agbaji to be that player. He’s a good perimeter defender with many offensive questions, but his effectiveness as a screener and cutter could earn him this spot. Bruce Brown is an acceptable option in this role and a more trustworthy shooter than Agbaji (that’s not saying much), but he’s currently sidelined for the next little bit. The Raptors likely hope that Ja’Kobe Walter can become that player for them by the end of his rookie season. He can provide an extra offensive punch with his prospective three-point shooting and off-the-bounce game, and defensively, despite still needing to fill out, he has the length necessary to be menacing off the ball. Still — sidelined for the next bit. All three players will likely get their opportunity in that spot at some point during the season.
That said, I think we’ll see Jonathan Mogbo get the first look.
It’s all theoretical at this point with the rookie Swiss army knife. He couldn’t show much during Summer League due to injury and was relatively ineffective as a starter in the Raptors’ first preseason game versus the Wizards. Still, I can’t help but think he can complete this group in a significant way on both ends, and it could help ease him into what his hypothetical role will be in the NBA: an off-ball machine. Defensively, his length and size can provide extra deterrence at the rim and on the weak side to cover for Olynyk next to Barnes. Offensively, his burst and athleticism can be used as a cutter, like Barnes, diving to the basket and finishing in traffic. Perhaps there’s too much duplication, skill-set-wise, between Barnes and Mogbo and where they occupy space to play them together, but I’m at the very least curious to see what it would look like.
So finally, we have Barnes, Olynyk, Dick, Mitchell, and Mogbo in the lineup. And yet still, the responsibility — like the boulder to Sisyphus — will land on Barnes’s shoulders to carry the Raptors in those moments.
A worthy honour for the team’s superstar.
We’ll see how he handles it this time around.
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