ALL-STAR HIM | Scottie Barnes Stats Don’t Lie

https://youtu.be/8F0xBTwX1Rw

Scottie Barnes has been playing fantastic over the first half of this season. Taking on new challenges and responsibilities to help catapult the Raptors back into playoff contention. With the Raptors sitting at fourth in the eastern conference, it should be a no brainer that either Scottie or Ingram should make the team. Here’s why I believe Scottie should get that spot.

Also, check out Zulfi Sheikh’s recent piece about the Raptors defense and their “cobra mentality”!

But it wasn’t until opening night, when — after pumping the Atlanta Hawks — Darko Rajakovic unveiled what appeared to be a 6-foot staff with a Cobra adorned on top, that I really started to get curious. According to the Raptors’ head coach, the post-game gesture was awarded to a player who “changed the game and brought energy on the defensive end of the floor.”

With the slithery serpents continually showing up, I decided to go right to the source that first piqued my intrigue.

“I feel like last year, toward the end of the season, we kind of picked out how we’re guarding on ball, and then we went more into it as we got steals … whether it was sneaking behind somebody or when they went for a lay up thinking it was wide open, we’d smack the ball out and get even more steals. So it kind of led over to Summer League,” Mogbo began to tell me when I asked him about the origins of cobra mentality.

“And I remember, Ja’Kobe (Walter, who Mogbo said has been dubbed “Ja-cobra” by his teammates) was getting a lot of those, we all were, and I was like ‘oh, this is like a cobra strike.’ So that’s where it started off … something that just came to the brain, and I continued with it.”