The Golden State Warriors bent over backward to get Harrison Barnes, and for a while, it looked like those efforts were going to pay off.
Despite violently tanking after the 2012 trade deadline, the Dubs still needed to win a coin flip with the Toronto Raptors in order to prevent their first-round pick from going to the Utah Jazz. They won it, though, and used the No. 7 selection on Barnes.
Even amid Golden State's elation over simply having a lottery pick to spend, there were some warning signs with the North Carolina product. Barnes had been a disappointment in his sophomore season, making it hard to project his ceiling after a freshman year that made him look like a top-three pick.
The small forward was polished, though. He was unusually mature, obviously athletic and seemed to fit the prototypical specifications for an NBA wing. Plus, he wasn't far removed from being named the nation's best high school player in 2010.
So the Warriors snatched him up, started him 81 times in his rookie year and watched with delight as he blossomed during their postseason run.
But a funny thing has happened s ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Grant Hughes
Harrison Barnes Is Proving He’s an Overrated Player
March 25th, 2014 by Grant Hughes Leave a reply »
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