Harrison Barnes

[2011Champs]

He's never going to the D League. Dallas would never embarrass him like that plus with his tenure he would simply refuse to go.

The horrible knee-jerks should probably at least wait until we've played one actual game....

Who knew, he could actually play...

Who knew...lol
Maybe he was tanking in the preseason on purpose? Well it's just one game but that one game so far Harrison was better than Parsons. Hopefully he builds off of this and doesn't return to his awful preseason form.

[Mr B]

He's never going to the D League. Dallas would never embarrass him like that plus with his tenure he would simply refuse to go.

The horrible knee-jerks should probably at least wait until we've played one actual game....

Who knew, he could actually play...

I did. I said it before that most of the guys here are underestimating him. What we saw last night is what we should expect of him.

[2011Champs]

He's never going to the D League. Dallas would never embarrass him like that plus with his tenure he would simply refuse to go.

The horrible knee-jerks should probably at least wait until we've played one actual game....

Who knew, he could actually play...

I did. I said it before that most of the guys here are underestimating him. What we saw last night is what we should expect of him.

Hopefully so. I will take 19pts/9reb and 50%. Not too shabby.

[kaiballz]

glad to see HB found his footing here. bogut will be good as long as he stays healthy.

i've watched all of HB's games. The lad has his flaws, but he has always been insanely clutch, and its nice for him to show the mavs fans that in the first game. i knew he was going to hit that tying 3 the moment he released it. if someone could analyse his clutch shot percentage for gsw i think they would be pleasantly surprised. I don't have the stats personally but he's always given me the feeling that the big moments don't faze him.

you can't teach clutch.

[RGM_SU]

I don't have the stats personally but he's always given me the feeling that the big moments don't faze him.

you can't teach clutch.

Using Basketball-Reference's Shot Finder:

5 Minutes or less left in 4th or OT, margin within +5 and -5
2015-16: 9-17 (4-11 3P) / 3-5 (1-1 3P) in the playoffs
2014-15: 4-8 (0-1 3P) / 4-8 (2-4 3P) in the playoffs
2013-14: 6-17 (2-3 3P) / 1-3 (1-2 3P) in the playoffs
2012-13: 6-18 (1-2 3P) / 4-10 (2-5 3P) in the playoffs
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Total: 37-86 FG (43%) / 13-29 3P (45%)
Last 2 years: 20-38 FG (53%) / 7-17 3P (41%)

[kaiballz]

I don't have the stats personally but he's always given me the feeling that the big moments don't faze him.

you can't teach clutch.

Using Basketball-Reference's Shot Finder:

5 Minutes or less left in 4th or OT, margin within +5 and -5
2015-16: 9-17 (4-11 3P) / 3-5 (1-1 3P) in the playoffs
2014-15: 4-8 (0-1 3P) / 4-8 (2-4 3P) in the playoffs
2013-14: 6-17 (2-3 3P) / 1-3 (1-2 3P) in the playoffs
2012-13: 6-18 (1-2 3P) / 4-10 (2-5 3P) in the playoffs
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Total: 37-86 FG (43%) / 13-29 3P (45%)
Last 2 years: 20-38 FG (53%) / 7-17 3P (41%)

not so good in his rookie and sophomore years but pretty darn nice in the last 2

[Mr B]

Who knew, he could actually play...

I did. I said it before that most of the guys here are underestimating him. What we saw last night is what we should expect of him.

Hopefully so. I will take 19pts/9reb and 50%. Not too shabby.

He's going to get more shots than he did in GS and he's going to be used a little different here. The key is, he's young, he's big for a SF, and he's very athletic. I have every bit of faith that Carlisle can get the best out of him.

[Dirk]

I felt that the stat line looked better than what his actual impact was through most of the game. You didn't feel his presence in the game for a long period (in fact, I even felt Carlisle had him on the bench longer because of that), but I'm very glad he hit some big shots there and it really should build his confidence.

One thing he has to look at is that he can't bail out the smaller defenders on him. He had at least two plays where he could have posted them up deep inside and instead settled for tougher shots. He had zero free throws.

There's also this thing about his body language. Whether things are going well or badly, he pretty much never changes. I hope he does develop more of a more mean attitude. He needs to be Aminuesque. In this team, he really has to bring a ton of energy, fly around and be physical.

I kind of hate the fact that it seems we'll be dealing with all this scrutiny. There's this hilarious topic (went over 10 pages over pre-season stats!) and it seems it will be bumped regularly during the season.

All things considered, it was a very good debut game.

[RGM_SU]

I kind of hate the fact that it seems we'll be dealing with all this scrutiny. There's this hilarious topic (went over 10 pages over pre-season stats!) and it seems it will be bumped regularly during the season.

I'm neither a Mavs fan (but a Dirk fan, he's great), nor a Barnes fan, but I have a tendency to root for people who I feel get unfairly criticised, which is the case with Barnes. It's stunning how much flak and ridicule he gets for his bad play down the stretch in the finals and for the contract he received and how many people are just waiting for him to fail. By all accounts he is not a bad person (I can understand some people feeling this "brand" thing he was pushing in college to be a bit uncomfortable, but on the other side, how much of that was on him and how much on his parents/management?) and a hard worker (saw on twitter yesterday that the morning after the Indiana game he was already back in the gym working out). While I don't think it'll happen I'd love to see him become an all-star by merit and shut all his critics up.

[Dirk]

I'm neither a Mavs fan (but a Dirk fan, he's great), nor a Barnes fan, but I have a tendency to root for people who I feel get unfairly criticised, which is the case with Barnes. It's stunning how much flak and ridicule he gets for his bad play down the stretch in the finals and for the contract he received and how many people are just waiting for him to fail. By all accounts he is not a bad person (I can understand some people feeling this "brand" thing he was pushing in college to be a bit uncomfortable, but on the other side, how much of that was on him and how much on his parents/management?) and a hard worker (saw on twitter yesterday that the morning after the Indiana game he was already back in the gym working out). While I don't think it'll happen I'd love to see him become an all-star by merit and shut all his critics up.

Generally we can't resist preying on the weak. Barnes became a running joke, so it's very easy for people to join the crowd and mock him. It doesn't matter that, 1) it's pre-season (it is an horrible barometer to judge a player, any player), 2) 99,9% of them didn't catch a minute of the Mavs pre-season, most just wanted to get their snarly remarks in. There are trends and current themes, most people just jump on those. The fact that it went 10 pages long is kind of pathetic.

I was shocked when I first read the news of the Mavs maxing him, but what can you do? Mavs weren't tanking. Looking at the bigger picture - the Mavs are not going anywhere really, whether Barnes becomes an all star or stays average or even if he turned into a scrub (that would help the tank effort ah). His contract is outrageous, but the reality is that he doesn't have to improve that significantly for it to not be toxic or anything - people really need to look at the market.

And yeah, while he has a very indifferent body language on the floor (which doesn't mean he isn't playing hard), from everything else you read and hear, he is working extremely hard and is a very nice guy. Doesn't look like he is someone that is going to slack. So it's the kind of guy that if you do not root for, he doesn't give you any reasons to hate. He and his agent were smart and played things well. It's not rational to hate him for being overpaid and not live up to whatever standards you expect out of a 94M man.

[2011Champs]

Harrison Barnes biggest upside is that he is not Chandler Parsons. If he produces effectively then it is just an added bonus.

[Baz]

All we can hope is that he stays consistent. I thought he was average in the first game despite half decent numbers but it was good for his confidence to get that clutch shot. Probably the best thing we can take out of that game.

[turk3d]

Barnes had more threads posted on the Warriors boards practically his entire stay there (and that's even before he got the contract). Looks like it will be no different on Mavs board. Might be the most controversial player in the league as far as fans are concerned. Can't understand why. As some of you point out, he is a nice guy and seems to be a pretty hard worker.

[skiz2]

Bigtime UNC fan here. Barnes IMHO, has had a microscope on him throughout his career that began in HS, when he was unfairly getting compared to Kobe Bryant.

People will point to his putrid finals performance this past season but forget how effective he was in the playoffs his rookie season (at times he looked dominant) and how good he was in the finals two seasons ago.

Barnes' weaknesses mainly come from re-adjusting after injuries and a lack of hip flexibility. Due to his lack of hip flexibility, his ability to create will always be limited as it is predictable where he is going when he does try to create.

At UNC his sophomore season before his ankle injury he was putting up the best numbers a UNC wing has had since Rashad McCants (which in Roy's system, wings are not featured as much as bigmen):

He was averaging 18 ppg, 44% from floor, 44% from 3
After his injury his production was 14.3 ppg, 35.4% from floor and 26% from 3

We saw something similar happen this past season with the Warriors:
He was averaging 13.4 ppg, 60% from floor, 40.7% from 3
After his injury his production was 10.4 ppg, 43% from floor, 32% from 3

What I am getting at here is that it takes him a bit of time to adjust after injuries, but when he is healthy and has found his niche, he is a productive player. I think more consistent higher volume of shots will help him impact the game more and be more effective as well.

He will likely never be Kobe, but I think he can be a 16-18 ppg guy for the Mavs. I am hoping he improves and gets some love because we at UNC need to point to guy in the NBA for recruiting purposes. Be patient with him, give him time to find his role and I think he will be an above average solid asset to the Mavs.

[Lord Cuban]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[Torgeir Bryn]

Reposting what I said on the general board: While he probably won't hit pull-up jumpers at this rate the whole season, he looked really confident and I liked how he asserted himself on offence. Barnes is gonna be hard to guard for a lot of big 4's, but a bit less effective when he plays SF.

[RGM_SU]

Barnes is gonna be hard to guard for a lot of big 4's, but a bit less effective when he plays SF.

For Barnes to become more effective as a scorer at SF he needs to improve his post game. If he can score consistently off post-ups against other perimeter players he'll become a versatile threat at both forward positions.

[Torgeir Bryn]

Barnes is gonna be hard to guard for a lot of big 4's, but a bit less effective when he plays SF.

For Barnes to become more effective as a scorer at SF he needs to improve his post game. If he can score consistently off post-ups against other perimeter players he'll become a versatile threat at both forward positions.

Yeah and he has shown flashes of it before. Think he used to post up quite a bit under Mark Jackson.

[feyki]

He has surprised me with his mid range game . Really interesting to see Worthy in him .

[BIG FURB]

He has surprised me with his mid range game . Really interesting to see Worthy in him .

In college he had a prettygood mid range game, but since he was never asked to do a whole lot offensively with the warriors it wasn't really showcased