Goldin Brown
NBA Starter
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2010
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If he's a Giannis like player, how important is the shooting really? I'm not saying he's going to be a Giannis when he gets to the league, but he is very similar. I don't imagine he'll be as good but I kinda think he'll be close, I don't think he'll impact the game with scoring as much as Giannis, but maybe be more of a playmaker. I think that's what's intriguing about Barnes, he's got a wide range in terms of where his skill set and intangibles can take him, but the upside seems so high.The interesting thing about the Barnes discussion to me is that there's almost no argument about what he does well vs what he doesn't, it seems like we're all in agreement on this. The argument seems to center around how effective he can be with his current skill set and how much room he has to improve.
To me, I see major problems whenever you rely on a non-shooter to initiate and create a big part of the team's offense. You even see it with Giannis before he embraced working off ball and rolling more, and Giannis is just about as good as you can possibly be with his archetype. Shooting is the single most important and most synergistic skill in basketball- you can never have enough, and more shooting only makes things easier for your teammates and raises the offensive efficiency as a whole.
I'm also really skeptical that Barnes will ever shoot well enough to justify being a go-to option as his mechanics are a mess on the move, he shoots a low percentage from the free throw line, and I believe he also had really bad touch on floaters and push shots (?).
Even if he settles into a Draymond type player, Draymond has major limitations that really show up whenever he isn't playing with maybe the best off-ball scorer in NBA history. As much as he would allow us to be versatile with defensive personnel, he would also shoehorn us into our offensive personnel as everyone around him would need to be a great shooter.
If guys want to draft him in the top 4 because they believe he can work on his shooting to the point that it isn't a weakness, then I can see that. But if they think the shooting just isn't important for a guy with his skill-set, I just really disagree.
With that said, I wouldn't pass on the chance to take Mobley. My concern with Barnes isn't so much the shooting, it's the touch around the rim. I don't know if that's a thing that guys can really develop to a high level if they don't already have it. Leads me to think it's less likely he'll ever be a big time scorer.
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