Scottie Barnes Responds to Being Among the NBA's Rookie of the Year Frontrunners

If you build it, they will come.

That's been Scottie Barnes' approach to the Rookie of the Year award for which he's the odds on favorite to win as of recently. If you build the resume, if you do the things that contribute to winning, everything else will fall in place.

"It's not a goal to try to show that I'm the best player in the draft," said the Toronto Raptors' first-round pick. "It's something that I'm going to try to win for sure, but it's not something that I'm super chasing. I'm trying to play basketball, win games, contribute on the floor and help this team."

Even with a bit of a lull lately, Barnes has still been among the Raptors' best players. He leads all rookies in scoring and rebounds, averaging 15.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, and his three assists per game are the fifth-most of any rookie.

As of Friday, he sits at +250 on FanDuel, the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award, ahead of Evan Mobley, Cade Cunningham, and Jalen Green, respectively.

The next step for Barnes, as Raptors coach Nick Nurse mentioned on Thursday, is expanding his game beyond the three-point arc. He's averaging fewer than one three-point attempt per game this season and Nurse said he'd like to see that number jump to three or four.

"He can do it," Nurse said. "His free throw percentage just keeps going higher and higher and his 17-footer’s a good shot. And he needs to stretch out because it's gonna be there. To me the sooner he starts attempting the sooner it will become part of his game. And what are we waiting for?"

If Barnes can keep opposing defenses honest with at least the threat of a three-pointer, it would go a long way to improving his game and bring some much needed spacing to the Raptors' offense.