First of all, he has a GREAT point guard to play with him. He does not get into the lane well, sure, but he does it more than people on here give him credit for. Besides, he is more efficient shooting off the dribble, thats one of his best strengths and I think he has a lot of confidence so he resorts to that a lot. He is very good at creating space off the dribble for his shot. For the three point shot, well some people (me included) think Brad Beal will be a fantastic three point shooter, despite shooting 34% from three. Barnes mechanics are very good, and I think he can improve his shot even more with experience and be a knock down shooter. You are correct about his passing / playmaking, but he makes up for it with other parts of his offensive game. As for not defending well, I will just have to disagree. He was a good to very good defender. Not elite like MKG, but still a good defender. Barnes also has more steals per 40 (and per 40 pace adjusted). He has fewer blocks, but playing with a huge frontcourt could have something to do with it, and thats not too much of a concern to me.
I mean 44% is not really too inefficient. carmelo anthony, regarded as one of the best scorers in the nba, shot 45% in college. Beal is at 44%. Miller 44%. He has obviously improved since his freshman year, when he shot 42%, so i would expect him to continue improving.
First, barnes is a good defender, and Im not sure where you are getting that he is not. Maybe not on Deng's level, but he is good on that end. What players would you take ahead of him? I would take Davis, MKG, Beal, Drummond, and then Barnes. So I don't think he would necessarily be a good pick depending who is left, but I wont be outraged.
