Barrett has always had high regard for Ginobli’s game. Now, his coach thinks he can add it to his.
Darko Rajakovic made the analogy very casually when discussing RJ Barrett’s development and future prospects.
He slid it in so rapidly that it took only a beat second to register.
“Manu Ginobili,” the coach announced.
Pardon? You mentioned Ginobili, right? The Hall of Famer, multiple NBA champion in San Antonio, Olympic gold medalist, and pillar of Argentina’s golden age, which dominated the world game for nearly a decade?
Is that Ginobili? Ginobili and this still-young Raptor forward, who is still touching the surface of his entire game?
Ginobili and Barrett, certainly.
“We had a conversation, couple weeks ago, I told (Barrett) I see some of that type of play in him,” Rajakovic was quoted as saying. “That he can actually attack, that he sees the floor really well and that’s what we need for him to do — to be able to score and attack, and also to make right plays and be playmaker for us.”
Ginobili was a wizard on the court, with feints, shoots, and drives to the left that everyone on the floor saw coming but couldn’t stop.
Barrett is not currently at that level, but he is only 23 years old, and with the correct effort, game development, and coaching, he has the potential.
Barrett has always had high regard for Ginobli’s game. The Mississauga native became a big fan of the Argentine when he was a young kid.
“He was good, he was really good, I especially always liked watching him,” remarked Barrett. “In the (2013) final versus the Heat, because I’m a huge LeBron fan, I didn’t want Ginobili and the Spurs to win, but he was playing extremely well. I remember him dunking on Chris Bosh, and I was upset about it.
“(it was) how smart he was, making reads, making the right reads, the right plays, always solid and steady every single game.”
Of course, Barrett has a long way to go before he can compete with Ginobili, but there have been some aspects in Barrett’s game with the Raptors that bear resemblance.
Barrett is developing into a fine passer on the move — he got in the paint and kicked the ball out to open shooters on three impressive plays in the first few minutes of Thursday’s game against Brooklyn — and Rajakovic will work to improve Barrett’s playmaking as the season ends.
“It really helps that his mindset is the right one of finding the good balance between being aggressive and really finding his teammates,” Rajakovic said in a statement.
“He ended that game (against Brooklyn) with seven assists (a season high) and, to be honest with you, I expect that from him every single night.”
It appears like Rajakovic would like his Raptors to emulate the style Ginobili introduced to San Antonio and the Argentina national
Those teams, particularly Argentina’s 2004 Olympic gold medalists, played a beautiful, spectacular style of basketball, with players continually moving in unison, touching the paint and kicking the ball out to shooters, repeating the process until an easy, open shot appeared.
Rajakovic’s goal for the Raptors is to discover a Ginobili clone in Barrett, which will make the process easier.
Barrett, the Raptors’ southpaw, always finds a way to go to his left side, even though every opponent knows he will, as Ginobili did for years, so that’s one step.
Now the coach is sitting with the young player to delve deeper into how the Argentine Hall of Famer performed his magic.
“I’m planning on sitting down with (Barrett) and just watching that film together and just enjoying that film together,” Rajakovic was quoted as saying.
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