TORONTO - Scottie Barnes, last season’s NBA rookie of the year, has been slowed by an ankle issue that has affected his conditioning, according to Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse.
“Listen, Scottie is playing a little bit of catch-up here and it’s noticeable,” Nurse said after practice Tuesday. “I don’t think he has shown a whole lot here in the pre-season. I mean he was held out the last three weeks leading into training camp so that affected his conditioning.”
Nurse called it a “light ankle issue.”
“But they held him out for all that, and now I think he’s just behind a little bit, conditioning-wise, feel-wise, all that kind of stuff so yeah, that’s it,” he said.