What is happening with Harrison Barnes?

[RedHot]

I'll admit that I've never been bullish when it came to Harrison Barnes and what I felt was unwarranted hype. He was pretty much what I thought he'd be in his rookie regular season -- a solid, albeit somewhat average, starting SF. Then, he had that tremendous run in the playoffs which pleasantly surprised me. I never thought he'd be able to reproduce that over a full season, but he did show some nice skills in that 7-8 game run.


Then came this season... he started out OK in his new backup role, pretty much producing at the same rate he did in his rookie year for the first couple months of the season. That's what I always thought he'd be in the NBA. A solid starter on a pretty good team or a backup on a really good team. That's why I didn't want him with a Top 5 pick, but that doesn't mean I think a guy has no game.

I'm under the impression Barnes has some game, however...

Over the last four months or so, he has been just awful. How bad?

In the 51 games since Dec. 15, he's putting up a meager 7.3 points per game on 33.3% shooting and 32.5% from three, to go along with 3.7 rebounds. That's not exactly a small sample size... it's 2/3 of the season.

It gets worse... As this season has progressed, his play and production have gone further down the drain. In the last 14 games, he's averaging 5.3 points on 26.6% shooting and an almost unfathomable 13% from three. He scored in double-figures for the first time in three weeks last night, but it was just 11 points on 3-12 shooting in 35+ minutes.



Is this an issue with the team or Barnes? I'm assuming it has to be some kind of nasty combination. Does he still have a future there? How do GSW fans feel about his future on the team?

I'm genuinely curious, because these numbers don't make a ton of sense to me.

 

[Clutch]

He's basically become Dubs version of Derrick Williams both play well when they are given extended mins starting and both turn to ghosts in smaller roles off the bench. They need to play with quality players around them to get them easy buckets than there confidents picks up and they can play well otherwise them having to carry bench units is a complete disaster.

 

[RedHot]

He's basically become Dubs version of Derrick Williams both play well when they are given extended mins starting and both turn to ghosts in smaller roles off the bench. They need to play with quality players around them to get them easy buckets than there confidents picks up and they can play well otherwise them having to carry bench units is a complete disaster.

Naw, Barnes hasn't played good in any role this year. With the starters, off the bench, with Curry, with Iguodala, with Bazemore, at power forward, at small forward, posting up, shooting 3's, on defense, in the dunk contest. He's literally sucked at everything.

I think he's pretty overrated to be honest. The only time he's looked good in the NBA was when he was posting up Tony Parker and even then he was shooting some inefficient crap like 7-20. He was mediocre for most of his rookie year as well. He's not that athletic - he actually can't blow by people very well. His instincts suck, he overthinks everything, and he's a total ball-stopper on offense.

I mean there's literally ZERO reason to play him over Draymond Green right now besides the fact that Barnes was the 7th overall pick and Green was the 2nd round pick. Green is a better shooter than Barnes right now, which is sad because Green can't shoot at all. But when Barnes is 2 for his 27 3 pointers, he should be getting DNP-CD's.

 

[FTW]

Needs a change of scenery. Had loads of potential coming out of the draft, still does. At the time I thought he had landed in a great situation, he seemed to slot in so nicely in between the bigs Lee and Bogut and the guards Curry and Thompson.

The acquisition of Igoudala has undoubtedly hurt him. I don't think it will be too long before he finds himself on another team and as long he gets consistent starter minutes I think he can still put up 16 ppg.