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Sunday, October 30, 2016

Harrison Barnes Is Going To Be A Star Player

By Matthew Addie - https://www.flickr.com/photos/heelsports/8541868627/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26073051
This summer, the Dallas Mavericks signed Harrison Barnes after most of the big name players were taken. Many people have said that Harrison Barnes is overpaid and cannot lead a team or be a big name player. In this article, we see whether this is true or not.

While only 2 games have been played in this regular season, Harrison Barnes has looked solid, averaging 25 PPG, 7 RPG, and only 1.5 Turnovers per game in these 2 contests. Compare that to his career average of just a little over 10 PPG, and it looks pretty impressive. Barnes has also managed to shoot 56.8% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line in these games.

While these numbers are solid, this has been two games, which both happen to be losses, and have no reason to justify that he could lead a team, right? Well, let's take a look at the Rockets vs Mavericks game. Barnes had 31 points in this 8 point loss. James Harden had 26. And while Barnes did struggle defensively on Ariza, he still managed to have a great night while having the most points out of anyone in that game.


Take a look at the game vs the Pacers and it tells a whole different story. Barnes was outscored by Dirk Nowitzki, Deron Williams, J.J. Barea, Paul George, Myles Turner, and Jeff Teague. However, Barnes did hit the shot to put the game into overtime. While he was good, he certainly wasn't great. This proves that Barnes's game was just a really good game for him right, he can't possibly do this on a regular basis right?


Well, let's take a look at how Barnes is scoring these points. Interestingly enough, Barnes has gone into Isolation about 14% of the time in these two games. While he obviously hasn't taken that many shots in isolation, he is 4th in points in isolation so far. He's only behind Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, and Damian Lillard. Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving however, have played 3 games, while Barnes has only played 2. And you may think Barnes has gone into isolation, but he can't possibly be making the shots. WRONG! Barnes has been 6 for 6 in isolation so far which means he's been perfect in isolation situations. Of course as the season continues, this will change, but he's obviously been great in iso so far. In fact, he's been better than Kawhi in isolation in not only efficiency, but he's scored more often than Kawhi in iso as well. While he's been better just catching and shooting, Barnes has shown that he can still shoot over 50% no matter how many dribbles he takes.

Harrison Barnes has also been able to shoot no matter how close the defender is to him. When a defender has been within 2-4 ft of Barnes he's hit 46.7% of his shots, and it only increases from there.

Now I know what you're thinking, Barnes has played 2 games this season, 2 games! You can't take two game to prove a point. But this isn't Barnes being left wide open to score his career high, this is him taking the ball and wanting to score. And while it's only been 2 games, he's doing it very efficiency and more than lots of NBA stars. Not to mention, Barnes is 24 years old. He still has room to grow. If he can hit isolation shots in 2 games, can't he do it in more, and if he's only 24 can't he only get better at them. It may be 2 games, but Harrison Barnes is looking like a promising player. He's been around guys like Klay, Steph, and Iggy. He knows how to improve and get to that level. And so far, it looks like Barnes is on the right track.

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