One week into my season-long attempt to twinge the Friday newsletter with as much rampant optimism as humanly possible, I’ve been dealt my greatest challenge. Scottie Barnes, the guy around whom this whole fact-finding season was meant to orbit, is out with a broken orbital bone for at least 3 weeks and almost certainly more.
It’d be a death blow if sniffing out silver linings like a truffle hog weren’t my entire brand. Like Gradey Dick against the Hornets, I’m about to be in my freaking bag.
It’s true, these next few weeks aren’t going to feature Barnes testing his mettle as a number one with an increasingly healthy supporting cast on his flank. And yes, the Raptors are almost surely about to lose a metric crap ton of games. But for a team this young, this full of zest, and with this little riding on actually racking up Ws, all is certainly not lost.
Especially because with Barnes’ injury comes the beginning of the Jonathan Mogbo / Jonathan Moblocks / Johnny Moboards Rookie of the Year campaign.
I think Darko Rajakovic did the right thing thrusting Mogbo into the starting five as the direct response to Barnes going down, for more than one reason.
First off, Mogbo’s the only other Barnes-sized guy who does remotely Barnes-like things on the roster. He’s not bringing lead creation, but the handles in transition, whip-smart passing and tidy interior finishing serve as a close enough Barnes cosplay to keep things functional. The fit next to another non-shooter in Jakob Poeltl isn’t ideal, but should get a little more tenable once Immanuel Quickley is back pulling defenses apart from the top.
Mogbo also gives the Raptors a shot to be not a total disaster without Barnes’ multifaceted defensive chops available. Rarely is this said about a rookie, but Mogbo is already one of this team’s most trustworthy defenders. We don’t worry about small sample regression here on Toxic Positivity Friday, so here are some insane Mogbo defensive metrics from the early going to tickle your imagination.
- Opponents are shooting 11/39 (28%) with Mogbo as the closest defender, guards are shooting 3/16 (hi, Tyrese Maxey).
- Mogbo is 9th in the NBA with 16 deflections, bumping his very large shoulders with Alex Caruso, Dyson Daniels, Cason Wallace and Jalen Suggs and other rad defenders in the Top-10. He’s played the second-fewest minutes of anyone in the Top-20.
- The Raptors are 19 points worse per 100 possessions when Mogbo sits vs. he’s on the floor; The Raptors are +7 in 83 minutes with Mogbo on, and -47 in the other 162 minutes.
- The Raptors have a 98.4 Defensive Rating with Mogbo on the floor; best on the team aside from DJ Carton.
All awesome, all perfectly sustainable, nothing to see here.
The move by Darko to start Mogbo also rocks because it’s simply the most fun of the possible options. Mogbo’s looked all kinds of promising, even in his mistakes. He’s trying things, testing his limits, seeing just how far his natural inclinations can take him before he needs to worry about boring things like craft and refinement. For those, like Mogbo, who manage to stand out athletically among literal pro athletes, the NBA is a sandbox.
For a few weeks at least, we should have a ball watching Mogbo learn how to play in it.
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It’s Toxic Positivity Friday today on the show, where we put the blinders on to all the things that suck with the Toronto Raptors and focus only on the things that don’t. Mogbo gets discussed, along with Jamal Shead, Gradey Dick and Immanuel Quickley, all of whom should get some burn in the weeks Barnes is sidelined. Enjoy the show, and have a great weekend.
I’ll have plenty on the Vince Carter retirement ceremony this Saturday when we reconvene on Monday.
