After a solid freshman season at Florida State, the next stop for Scottie Barnes is the NBA. He enters the 2021 NBA Draft as a lottery pick and could potentially go top five.
Scottie Barnes 2021 NBA Draft Profile
College Career
Barnes was one of the highest-ranking recruits that Florida State has landed in recent years. He was a five-star recruit out of Montverde Academy. During his lone season at Florida State, Barnes was not a regular starter. He only started in seven of the 24 games he played in last season. Barnes’ numbers at Florida State don’t exactly jump out at you because he’s not known as a scorer. Despite that, he had a solid freshman season. Barnes averaged 10.3 points, four rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.5 steals while only playing 24.8 minutes per contest.
His college career ended after getting knocked out in the Sweet 16 by Michigan in the NCAA Tournament. But he took several awards in recognition of his 2021 season. Barnes was named the All-ACC Freshman of the Year, All-ACC Sixth Man of the Year, and Third-team All-ACC.
Strengths
Barnes’ main strengths are his defense and playmaking abilities. He has point guard abilities as a power forward and can also play the small-ball center. Playmaking-wise, he’s a good passer for his size and has solid court vision. He has gotten assists in a variety of ways last season. Whether it’s drop-off passes, hitting the corner on drives, outlet passes in transition, and even some no-look passes.
On defense, he is very versatile. Barnes can guard multiple positions but primarily guards point guards and routinely pick up 94 feet. He can bother opposing players with his length and mobility. Barnes’ mobility allows him to stay in front of his man. When opposing players were guarded by Barnes last year, they shot 32.7 percent from the field. His stifling defense is one of his best attributes. Furthermore, he’s excellent at getting deflections and steals. Barnes has great size for an NBA prospect. He stands 6’9″, 227 pounds with a 7’2″ wingspan. Barnes is also very athletic and has a high motor. Those are some of his other strengths.
Weaknesses
The main weakness in Barnes’ game revolves around his shooting and his offensive game. He shot 27.5 percent from three in college and 62.1 percent from the free-throw line. Looking at his jump shot, he has a slow release and struggles to shoot off the dribble. Barnes lacks the ability to create offense for himself. That’s a big area that he needs to put a lot of work in and improve on. The lack of scoring ability for Barnes could cap his upside as a lottery pick and this will be the factor that will decide whether he’ll become a star in the NBA.
Comparison
Barnes has a lot of similarities to Draymond Green with regards to their play style. Both are great defenders, they play with high energy, have playmaking abilities, and are not known as scoring threats offensively. Barnes is a lite version of Green the way he is at the moment. He’s not yet on par with Green with regards to their playmaking and defensive ability.
2021 NBA Draft Projection
Lottery Pick: 6th- 10th overall
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