November 2, 2019

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June 29, 2018

Harrison Barnes
SF/PF - 6’8, 225lbs - 26 years old - 6 years of experience

At this point, it appears as though Barnes has tapped into basically as much as he is going to tap into. Recording pretty much an identical season this year as last year, Barnes appears to have reached the limits of his talents considering his athletic limitations, and this may be him at his highest plateau. So, how good is that?

Pretty solid. Consistent, solid and dependable, Barnes is more of a product of volume than efficiency, which does not please the modern-era analytical way of thinking, but context does matter. Obviously, he would not be as much of a go-to guy were he not on a team as relatively devoid as talent as this one. The fact remains however that Barnes is making that work as best he can.

Lacking much speed to do much movement off the ball, Barnes gets a lot of touches isolating at the elbow and in the mid-range, hitting a lot of mid-range jumpers and getting to the rim at times but somehow never drawing fouls on any of it, and being a distinctly poor rebounder for a power forward, as well as an impactful defender. That’s who he is, and it is flawed. There were however subtle but important moves away from that this season. While he has never been much of a three-point shooter, Barnes went back to it more this year and saw an efficiency uptick accordingly, as well as isolating less in the mid-range in favour of being the pick-and-roll ball handler.

Output like this will never enamour a lot of suitors, and with good reason. Barnes is limited and in an oversized role on an oversized contract. But he is making the best of it, is still young, and contributes every night. It should all count for something.

Player Plan: Two years and $49,209,770 remaining, the last year of which is a player option. Given that he does not figure to have trade value at that salary, and that the contract is not exactly inhibiting much on a very free Mavericks cap number, he might as well see it off.

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June 29, 2017

Harrison Barnes
SF, 6’8, 210lbs, 25 years old, 5 years of experience

Given the opportunity to be a focal point of the half court offence, Barnes enjoyed a mini-breakout and scored a load of points. It was certainly not an especially efficient load of points, with 589 shots taken from the usually-blacklisted mid-range areas, without high volume three-point range, and in rarely getting to the line. Nonetheless, as a mismatch four man, Barnes was pretty dependable as a half court option, even moving Dirk out of position. Ultimately, Barnes needs to take what he currently has and go away from it slightly, attacking the basket more rather than floating the ball up or stopping for a two point jump shot, getting the threes up with more confidence, and using the defensive gravity he has to move the ball around. He needs to use the fact that he has proven he can isolate as a decoy. A good season, though, in which he was set up to fail but didn’t.

Player Plan: Three years and circa $72.3 million remaining, including a 2019/20 player option. Needs flanking with quality, but certainly looks to be one piece of the puzzle, and is certainly paid like one.

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June 30, 2012

Pick 7: There won't be a trade here. Golden State has been oft-rumoured as trying to trade this pick for a small forward, but now they don't need to, as Harrison Barnes falls to them and is quickly snapped up. Barnes struts to the stage like a panther, and then proceeds to give the most clichéd interview possible. There's been two types of interview tonight, the cliché and the tearful. It's good, but it also makes me miss the third way - the broken non-English speaker. Jonas Valanciunas may have inadvertently retired that last year.

Barnes will join Klay Thompson on the wing in Golden State, giving the Warriors two good offensive components. But both are finishers rather than creators, scoring in the teens without ever being a go-to player, and it's difficult to project either Thompson or Barnes as ever becoming one. Given a clean bill of health, a Steph Curry/Thompson/Barnes/David Lee/Andrew Bogut lineup is pretty solid, one that has enough both inside and out, a legitimate defensive anchor with just enough help on the wing to put together a decent unit on that end and no offensive holes. The floor will most definitely be spaced. But it's also a team with an upside of a late seeded playoff team. Late playoffs is better than late lottery, but it's not great either.

Enough of that, though. I know you're more interested in how Harrison Barnes would look with Anthony Davis's eyebrows.

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March 16, 2011

In the wake of an obscene amount of hype, Harrison Barnes started very slowly, causing columnists and media pundits the world over to blame the unfair expectations of everyone in the media. (Other than, of course, themselves.) But Barnes has improved greatly throughout his freshman campaign, and took a big leap forward when the Marshall/Drew swap was made. This as not a coincidence, and is a testament to just how much easier Marshall makes everything (as well as just how little Larry Drew did the same). Barnes has a good all-around game and few obvious weaknesses, but his most obvious strength is as as shooter. With his size and athleticism, you can't stop him from getting shots away, and he has the handle and off-the-dribble shot to create any look he so wishes. North Carolina frequently turn to him for shots down the stretch now, and he is delivering, living up to the promise and the hype everyone foretold for him, long after they distanced themselves from ever making it. Between he and Marshall, UNC have probably the nation's best freshman duo, perhaps topped only by the one in the entry below, or the one two above.

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