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Matt Barnes: The Clippers' polarizing pariah who tells it like it really is

...But once he does, something strange happens. People don’t just tolerate Barnes, or like him. They love him. “Once he joined us, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is going to be great,’” says Jordan. “He’s all about team. All about family.” Clippers point guard Chris Paul says he used to “really hate” Barnes as well, but he now calls him, “an unbelievable teammate”, mentioning “how hard he plays” and his “selflessness.” J.J. Redick played one season in Orlando with Barnes in 2010 and for years after, whenever asked, cited Barnes as his favorite teammate ever. “And I bet,” says Redick, who’s now reunited with Barnes in Los Angeles, “if you ask a bunch of guys that have played with him you’d get the same response.”

On the rare occasions when Barnes isn’t feeling his usual energy before a game, he will grab his phone and look through his Twitter mentions. He scrolls past the compliments and wannabe groupies and requests for RTs until he finds what he needs: negativity. “…[you’re an] invisible man on the court, ur a better talker than a player”. “Matt Barnes looks like that deadbeat uncle that buys you alcohol in high school…” “…If only the Clippers had a better starting SF offensively than Matt Barnes…”

Sometimes, Barnes clicks on profiles, to see who’s dissing him. Sometimes he responds. Then he seeks out more insults. He admits this is a bit masochistic, but he fears that without sufficient anger he will lose his edge. And, to Barnes, that edge is everything. “That negativity is what keeps that chip on my shoulder, what makes me a dog, what makes me an a--hole on the court.” he says. And being an a--hole, he knows, is what’s kept him in the league. So he stores away the criticisms. Later, during the game, if he needs inspiration during a down moment, he cues up the hecklers in his head. “And then I’ll be like, ‘Lock back in, let’s go!’”

Chris Ballard, Sports Illustrated

mttwlsn16 wrote:I wasn't a fan until he joined our team, and I love the guy now. I think it's exactly like most would think, he's the kind of guy you hate unless he's on your team.

mttwlsn16 wrote:I wasn't a fan until he joined our team, and I love the guy now. I think it's exactly like most would think, he's the kind of guy you hate unless he's on your team.

"I can't wait to play against Doc Rivers," he emphasizes.
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Truth be told, Barnes wanted to stay and finish his career with the Clippers but knew that would never happen, knew it almost from the day when he got a new coach two years ago.

"Doc never wanted me," he said. "He couldn't wait to get rid of me. Doc and I never saw eye to eye. He tried to get me out of there the second he got there, so it wasn't too surprising to me what happened when things went south."
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"I think so," said Barnes. "I've always respected this team and what it does in order to win. This is a defense-first team. I've never been on a team that paid this much attention to defensive detail. It's something I appreciate and a place where I think I will thrive."
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"I never had teammates who had that same mentality that I had, so to speak," he said. "I've had to go at Z-Bo to help Blake (Griffin), or try to calm down Tony to get him off Jamal (Crawford). It's good to have guys on my team like that, so we can create hell for everyone else."

Will the Clippers miss that swagger, and who will act as a bodyguard for Griffin and Chris Paul now?

"There's a lot of things that didn't show up in the box score or in the stat sheet that I did, on the court and off the court and in the locker room that I know they don't have anymore. They know what type of guy I am," said Barnes, leaving it at that.