Insights from the Raptors' narrow loss to the Hornets

Charlotte Hornets 138, Toronto Raptors 133

It's time to refuel.

Nobody wanted to do that so early in the season. The hope had been that Toronto could see Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett grow together this year as this young core developed for the future. But now that Barnes is sidelined for the foreseeable future due to a fractured eye socket, the writing is on the wall.

The good news is that this year's draft class is loaded with talent, from presumptive No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg to Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey to many other highly touted talents. With any luck, Toronto should have a pretty good chance of recruiting one of these top players and beginning its push back to the playoffs next year with Barnes and another blue-chip contender.

However, things are going to be pretty tough at the moment.

Toronto plays a lot of strong teams early in the season and it's hard to imagine the Raptors getting many wins against those teams. However, Wednesday's loss could be a big one as this season comes to a close, as Charlotte looks set to be in the mix again as one of the worst teams in the league fighting for the lottery odds this summer.

It's the RJ Barrett show now.

With Barnes sidelined and Quickley still nursing his pelvic injury, the Raptors are relying on Barrett to fill the void left by Toronto's top two offensive players. At times it looked a bit uncomfortable early on Wednesday evening. Barrett has trouble making shots from a standing start, but when things go downhill, he's hard to stop.

He found Jakob Poeltl for an alley-oop out of a pick-and-roll in the first quarter and found Jonathan Mogbo in the second quarter for a two-count with a clever dump-off pass. It was part of an eight-assist push from Barrett that left him just one goal shy of his career high.

Barrett finished the night with 31 points on 10-for-18 shooting. He hit two great three-pointers in the fourth period and cut Charlotte's lead to just five in the final two minutes. He had 17 points in the fourth quarter, but that wasn't quite enough.

Five missed free throws from Barrett and 10 misses in the Raptors' charity jersey plagued Toronto, which couldn't quite make up the difference as Charlotte converted its free throws down the stretch.

Raptors coach Darko Rajaković went out of his way to mention Gradey Dick's shot selection earlier this week. It wasn't terrible, but there were times earlier this season where Dick was a little too aggressive against tough defenses.

“Gradey is the type of player he needs to find his moments,” Rajaković said after Toronto’s loss to Denver on Monday. “There will be games and nights where teams are so focused on him and he could get three points in the first half. He has to stay patient and make good decisions.”

Against the Hornets, Dick answered.

The second-year sharpshooter looked great and helped Toronto get out of a 23-point hole in the first half with a series of jumpers in the second quarter. It was the type of display the Raptors hope to see more of from Dick as he develops into a more versatile offensive weapon in the future. He handled mid-range jumpers with ease, weaved around off-ball screens to fire his shot and got into the air to finish after contact.

Midway through the fourth quarter, he cashed in a mid-range jump shot and set a new career high with his 26th point of the night. He finished the game with 30 points on 11-for-17 shooting.

Dick's role will increase in these games with Barnes and Quickley out, and if Wednesday's game is any indication of what's to come, this will be a healthy development opportunity for the 20-year-old shooting guard.

In some cases sales were to be expected.

This is a young team still getting used to each other, and the losses of Barnes and Quickley have left the Raptors lacking reliable ballplayers. But it was a little worse than expected.

Toronto entered Wednesday night leading the league in turnovers per game, which gave the Raptors a lift against the Hornets. Seven turnovers for Toronto in the first quarter turned into easy goals for Charlotte, which quickly jumped to a double-digit lead. As the Raptors recovered, there were more turnovers towards the end of the third period, which cost Toronto the lead. Four turnovers in the final three minutes of the quarter allowed Charlotte to go on a 12-0 run and take the lead again in the fourth quarter.