Why failure without Kawhi Leonard is ok, but not without Scottie Barnes

When you start dating, there’s something to be said for bad dates and breakups serving as lessons for the do’s and don’ts of the world of romance. But, if you keep making the same crummy jokes, not brushing your teeth, over and over again, you’re not learning much from those bad dates. At a certain point, losing becomes unproductive.

It’s kind of like that with basketball, too. And in the last couple of matches, the Toronto Raptors’ losing has been real, real unproductive. Because, it doesn’t tell anyone anything that they don’t already know.

TORONTO, ON- OCTOBER 21 – Scottie Barnes #4 of the Toronto Raptors and Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors share a laugh on the bench as the Toronto Raptors play the Chicago Bulls in their season opener at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. October 21, 2026. Steve Russell/Toronto Star (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images) | Toronto Star via Getty Images

Both times when the Raptors have traded for Kawhi Leonard, there’s been an implicit gamble attached to that. Leonard won’t play a lot of regular season games, but take him to the playoffs okay, and he’ll turn into the ’84 Terminator, or ’85 Jordan, whichever set of skills might be needed more that night.

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This season, Kawhi went out early. Okay. That just means that the other guys need to start pulling extra weight a little sooner. And you remember the playoff series against the Cavaliers, and say, “okay, Scottie and RJ, maybe they can anchor this offence, even without a scorer like Brandon Ingram or Kawhi Leonard.” And then… Scottie Barnes goes down.

Yikes.

An old teacher of mine told me that “practice doesn’t make perfect — perfect practice makes perfect,” and it concerns me that that Raptors are just practicing really, far, far away from perfect. Now, Scottie seems like he’s going to come back soon; when exactly that will be is unclear, but there has been little indication that the groin strain is something particularly serious.

But, losing the games that the Raptors are losing, without Scottie Barnes, doesn’t really help them understand how their team is going to perform in playoff settings, which,…

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Publish date : 2026-11-13 22:00:00

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