sunny wrote:my whole point regarding roy williams and barnes is that I think it is unfair and wrong to assume that his offense is being hindered by the system and that he will show new skills in the nba that he doesn't display in college.
I think its a mistake people have made when discussing unc/duke players over the past decade and the results are always the same IMO.
It's not about him showing new skills - he's shown pretty much every skill you could ask of a wing player. It's about his numbers and the way he gets them. He's shown dribble-drive skill but many will say he's mostly a jump shooter, which is where his looks will come primarily in the UNC offense.
I think people do fall into the trap of projecting players too much, but it's certainly not limited to UNC/duke guys, and scouts fall into the opposite trap as well. Look at lawson, who was too short (7th PG taken in his draft but probably the best all around NBA player of the group now) or Hansbrough (many were calling him a Madsen-type NBA player but he's been a solid rotation guy and was a very good starter for a stretch last year).
The key is to evaluate Skills, Production, and Potential and not get too swayed by any one of the 3. Potential is the sexiest of the 3 but Skills is the most important. A perfect example is Demar - a guy with great potential but almost no skills coming out of college. It's hard to develop skills in the NBA. Barnes has a world of skills - Plus defender, plus shooter, plus IQ, solid handle, plus size, solid athleticism, plus clutch guy. He also has very good production - only 26 minutes per game but 17/5/1 on very good percentages. And he was the highest regarded high schooler in a long time so there's definitely potential.
"JJ is a fineness player." - knickerbocker2k2 (meaning to say "finesse", about James Johnson)
