Cavs 2021 NBA Draft: Scottie Barnes’ potential impact on the team

The Cleveland Cavaliers will more than likely have a pick somewhere in the lottery for the 2021 NBA Draft. Depending on where their pick falls, one of the players that they should be keeping their eyes on and name on their draft boards is Scottie Barnes.

Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report recently projected that Barnes will be drafted seventh overall by the Toronto Raptors. If the Cavs have a pick around that range, they should definitely consider adding Barnes to the roster.

Barnes spent one season with the Florida State Seminoles in which he had a very solid season. The Seminoles had a very talented roster which led to Barnes having reduced numbers compared to what he could have put up at another school.

He averaged 10.3 points, 4.1 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per game. There are two major concerns with Barnes, though.

The first is that he is not a skilled shooter. He shot 27.5 percent from three-point range at Florida State. With the NBA three-point line being even deeper than the college three-point line, this is not very promising. Also, he shot 62.1 percent from the free throw line.

While this may be a red flag to some, there have been countless NBA players who have come into the league without a solid shot and have developed into very serviceable or even great shooters, and Barnes has at least shown some feel for hitting some looks in the lane and some touch on push shots.

The second concern is that he only started in seven of the 24 games that he played in. This is due to him being on a very skilled Florida State roster that was loaded. Along with this, Devin Booker and Dion Waiters are two other players who did not start in many of their college games and went on to be two very notable talents in the league; granted, Booker has much more so.

Despite coming off of the bench, Barnes still received very high honors when awards season came around. He was named to the All-ACC team, All-ACC tournament team, the ACC All-Freshman team, the ACC Rookie of the Year, and the ACC Sixth man of the year.

With all of that being said, Scottie Barnes is still a really talented prospect and could bring a lot to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

We’ll highlight how Barnes could impact the Cavs here.

He is one of the most versatile players in the 2021 NBA Draft, for one. Barnes stands at 6-foot-9 and weighs in at 227 pounds.

Despite his build, he has a great feel for the game and possesses point guard skills. Along with this, he can dominate the paint and power his way to easy baskets around the rim, and he also can by utilizing his quickness.

Whether Barnes ends up realistically playing the 3 or 4, his point forward capabilities, circling back a bit, would greatly help out Darius Garland, whose deep shooting has really been on display lately, as an aside.

Additionally, due to his athleticism and size, he can guard almost anyone in the league. Barnes is a player that can do a little bit of everything and can fill any need that the Cavs have based on lineup construction, and especially defensively.

Lastly, he is a high motor player that gives everything that he has every possession. This is something that Cavs fans should love to see in a potential player and the defensive intensity between Barnes and Collin Sexton would be unmatched.

If Scottie Barnes is able to work his way into having a solid jumper and outside shot, he will arguably be the most complete player in the draft and relatively unguardable. We’ll have to see if that ends up being the case in the near future, though.