Toronto/CMEDIA: Scottie Barnes, 20, is 3rd Toronto player after Vince Carter (1999), Damon Stoudamire (1996) to win the NBA Rookie award of the year on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena.
A video tribute showed former Raptors great Vince Carter making the announcement to Barnes and his Toronto teammates after their morning shootaround.
“We are incredibly proud of Scottie, and are thrilled and grateful that his hard work has been recognized with this honor,” said Raptors vice-chairman and president Masai Ujiri in a statement. “What you see on the court is exactly who Scottie is: enthusiastic. Joyful. Athletic. Skilled, and a winner.
“We — and our fans — loved seeing his development through this season, and we can’t wait to see what the future brings.”
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse wasn’t even sure Barnes would play against the Sixers on Saturday.”We’re still just waiting. He’s upstairs right now getting his fitness test to see how he’s doing,” said Nurse in a pre-game news conference. “He did participate in the parts of practice. We shall see shortly.”
#ScottieBarness; #TorontoRaptors; #NBARookieOfTheYear
