Despite Dallas’ struggles, Harrison Barnes proving his worth
When the Dallas Mavericks decided to sign Harrison Barnes to a gigantic offer sheet in the past off-season, they were faced with much scrutiny from nearly everyone involved in basketball. Barnes has rather unfairly become the butt of many jokes because he became the 5th option on a Warriors team that has the best shooting backcourt in NBA history. Barnes was no doubt poor in the past finals, but the criticism of his game went too far and caused him to become criminally underrated. Luckily for him, Mark Cuban and Rick Carlisle recognised this, and have found themselves a potential star as they didn’t buy into the agenda against him.
Dallas are currently 0-4 which is their worst start to a season since the 2006-2007 campaign, a campaign in which they ironically managed to win 67 games. Although Dallas probably won’t hit those heights again this year, the play of Harrison Barnes means that they might be able to become a playoff team. He has looked more like ‘college’ Harrison Barnes as opposed to the ‘role player’ Harrison Barnes that we had become used to seeing.
Dallas as a whole have been relatively tepid so far, they sit 21st in defensive efficiency and 20th in offensive efficiency which is unusual for a Rick Carlisle team. Carlisle runs a playbook style offence which makes sense because this team lacks shot creation and players who are particularly creative in the half court, the space has to be created by off the ball action as opposed to on the ball action in Dallas’ system. Barnes however has been the real spark and has stood out in a Dallas roster full of veterans and castaways.
Barnes is averaging 18 points per game on 49% shooting which is a welcome boost to a Dallas team that ranked in the bottom third of field goal percentage last year and often appeared to lack consistent output from their wing players. Barnes’ numbers were obviously going to go up, but what has impressed many is the fact he has embraced becoming the go to guy for Dallas, whilst also producing efficiently in this role.
It is early to address NBA Play type statistics as gospel, but for the purpose of this article they are valid as they can be used to highlight the ways in which Barnes is impressing in his early Dallas career. Barnes is shooting around five catch and shoot field goals per game and he has an eFG% of 55 on these which is impressive considering his confidence was completely dented at the end of last year. He is familiar with the catch and shoot jumper as Alvin Gentry’s offence in Golden State. These numbers are similar to last year, but it is fair to say that Barnes had all the time in the world in Golden State as only Atlanta created more wide open looks than them. In Dallas, he is attracting the attention of the best defenders, and still producing.
This says a lot about the mental make-up of Barnes, because he was ridiculed nationally by people who were scared to pin the blame of the Warriors failures on Steve Kerr and the star players. Barnes became an unfair scapegoat, but he is recovering well in Dallas as he has a coaching staff that is committed to making him a huge part of the team, as opposed to just a guy who stands in the corner shooting threes when another is double teamed.
What makes Harrison Barnes’ start more impressive, is that he has spent the majority of his time at the power forward position as Dirk Nowitzki is injured. He has not only had to overcome a mental barrier, but he is actually playing in a position that he isn’t used to. In the Warriors ‘lineup of death’, Barnes frequented the three position as Green played at center and Andre Igoudala played at the power forward. Barnes gives the team versatility if he is a serviceable option at the four position, as small ball lineups are a great way of maximising floor spacing.
Rick Carlisle has been full of praise for the former North Carolina Tar Heel as he said that he has ‘always believed’ Barnes was a special player and just needed to be in the right situation. Carlisle’s belief and Mark Cuban’s commitment to winning may well have helped the franchise unearth a gem and a potential star to succeed Dirk Nowitzki. No one is laughing at him anymore.