TORONTO — Time flies. 

It was only four years ago when a relatively fresh-faced Scottie Barnes told the NBA that he wanted to be an all-NBA defender. 

"I feel like that’s what I do best," Barnes said after his second training camp as a pro, before the 2022-23 season. "That’s one thing I always pride myself on, trying to guard. That’s my goal."

Given he’d been just as vocal about his goal of winning rookie-of-the-year honours and ended up taking home that trophy after the 2021-22 season, you can’t blame the guy for trying to speak his future into existence. 

But stating goals isn’t as simple as achieving them. 

Barnes didn’t make the NBA’s All-Defensive team in his second season, the start of what were three successively ominous years as the Toronto Raptors failed to bridge the gap between the post-championship years with Barnes driving a new era alongside Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam. 

And he didn’t make the NBA’s All-Defensive team in his third or fourth seasons — an almost impossible task because the Raptors won 25 games (in 2023-24) and then 30 (in 2024-25) while undertaking a rebuild on the fly, trying to find a formula that could win with Barnes as a cornerstone. 

But the Raptors turned a corner this past season, winning 46 games, making the playoffs for the first time since Barnes’ rookie year and performing admirably during their first-round loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are now in the Eastern Conference Finals. 

And in related news, Barnes reached his goal: On Friday night, the fifth-year star became just the third Raptor in franchise history — Kawhi Leonard and Anunoby being the others — to be recognized as one of the NBA’s 10 best defenders. Barnes did his Raptors peers one better by becoming the first Raptor to earn first-team honours.

Barnes got 42 first-team and 46 second-team votes and finished sixth overall in the voting conducted by a panel of media members. I had a ballot and gave Barnes a first-team vote. 

His ability, willingness and determination to take up any challenge Raptors head coach Darko........

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