Harrison Barnes had a fantastic first game of the season, but has been pretty quiet ever since. As such, he’s drawing the ire of some Kings fans. After all, with such a slow start, it’s easy to be discouraged, to wonder if Barnes might be better coming off the bench instead of starting, or to even think that maybe Monte McNair has held onto Barnes too long. After all, his averages through the first 8 games don’t inspire much confidence for the season moving forward:
33.2 minutes, 11.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 38.9% overall, 18.5% from 3
Oh wait. Those are the first 8 games of last season. My mistake. Here are the first 8 games of this season:
31.1 minutes, 12.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 47.8% overall, 40.5% from 3
Sure, the rebounds and assists are a bit lower. And yes, Barnes gets cooked on defense but that’s not exactly new. So what, exactly, is our complaint?
To be clear, I am among the chorus of fans who have been unimpressed with Barnes so far this season. But perhaps it’s more a matter of expectations. We keep hoping Barnes will become more than he was before, or will step up more often especially when De’Aaron Fox is out. But at the end of the day that’s just not who Harrison Barnes is. He’s going to have ups and downs, and when he’s on he’s going to make us wonder why he can’t do it all the time.
After last season’s slow start Barnes went on to finish with averages of 15.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, shooting 47.3% overall and 37.4% from 3. This is who Barnes is. He’s contributing at a reasonable rate for a 5th starter. I don’t think it’s a terrible idea to try moving him to the bench at some point, and I suspect it will eventually happen. Eventually. Probably later than we might want because I don’t think Mike Brown will be quick to demote his veteran. But whether it’s off the bench or as a starter, Barnes is who he is. He’s going to produce, he’s going to knock down a respectable percentage of his threes, he’s going to rebound less than we would like him to, and every now and then he’ll have a huge game.
This is who Harrison Barnes is. If we keep expecting him to be something more than that, that’s our flaw, not his.
Seasoned Kings fans: “If you have no expectations you can’t get disappointed!”
Then we know who he is. The biggest question is that enough to start at forward and to bring us closer to a championship? Or do we try and play someone else from within or a trade? IMO he would be valuable from the bench but not as a starting forward.
I agree but lets not forget that he was (and I’d argue that he still is) crucial to the team’s success. He really taught several of the younger players what it means to be a professional, how to take care of their bodies, and other advice one can only get from an elder statesman like HB.
I’d be entirely happy with HB playing out his full contract, whether that means he starts or not, I don’t know. If he were to transfer to the bench, I’d want him shooting and driving more than he does with the starting unit, really try to get to the line, he’s quite good at that and we saw a lot of it early on last year.
What to do with Barnes, assuming we won’t be trading him right away, comes down to 2 questions:
Who could we play who will be more productive?
How will Barnes produce off the bench?
If there is an actual answer to the first question, anything about the second question is just a bonus, honestly. In other words, can you start Lyles, Murray and Sabonis together and actually be a better team? Maybe. And then 10 points / 4 rebounds from Barnes off the bench is nice production. If Lyles (or Vezenkov, or whoever) isn’t making the starting unit better or equal to what you have with Barnes, then what is the point of rearranging the deck chairs…
So we can eventually win a championship and stay in the running for that goal as long as we can.
I like him in a Jeff Green role — bench forward who can’t be a main guy in a lineup, but he’ll fill in the gaps. But for that to work, we’ll need an Aaron Gordon-type in the starting lineup — defensively versatile guy who puts pressure on the rim, with a little spacing and playmaking
They are out there but can we get one? I think so. I trust Monty on this. Either a PF or SF would work. But whom? A couple that might work at PF are Patrick Williams, Naz Reid or Huerbert Jones and at SF OG Anunoby. Maybe some of you have others. I picked these because they are still young and haven’t reached their full potential.
Williams seems like he would a good get, but he seems to be similar to Barnes in the way that they are both highly inconsistent from game to game.
The guy is only 22 where Barnes is almost 32. Williams is a really good defensive player in all aspects of the game and is shooting the 3 at 40%. IMO if we could get him at $9,800 ( although he is on an expiring contract) he possibly would be our PF for years to come. Not even close to his prime.
I think most of us didn’t care for resigning HB, let alone at the number he ended up being signed for. That move is not looking good for MM right now. Ideally, HB starts playing well and becomes somewhat of a trade asset to help upgrade the defense.
10% of the season thus far. Judgement time gets him an incomplete.
season veteran, total Pro, championship resumè, coachable, doesn’t make many mistakes, is in excellent shape and healthy, dependable, excellent mentor.
One super game, followed by 7 forgettable performances.
Who is his replacement? cost?
Recent body of work – last season, 3rd best starter.
To me, he’s a bigger plus than a minus.
Let’s re-evaluate on December 15.
100%. He’s mostly doing what is asked of him, which is being a complimentary player. A 4th or 5th option on offense and a guy that can be switchable from 3-4 and sometimes 5 on D. I don’t think his D is as bad as some make out. He’s a strong positional defender that can handle some of the stronger 3s and 4s and shows an ability to match up with guys like Lebron and not get bullied. He’s a pros pro that shows up to work every day and rarely gets injured, and one of the best abilities is availability. He’ll find his role and excel at it. The issues the Kings are having are with Huerter/Murry on the starting unit, not Barnes. Murray and Huerter’s shots will start to fall and that will open everything else up and all will be right again.
The bigger questions in the rotation is what to do with Sasha/Edwards/Lyles.
Barnes is absolutely a starting forward in the NBA. He’s switchable on D, can take advantages of mismatches when they present themselves, stays within his role, and is a utility guy that can fit almost anywhere. He typically plugs whatever holes there are on any given night. I’m not worried about the slowish start. The issues the Kings are having are more related to poor shooting from Keegan, Mitchell, and Huerter than anything Barnes is or isn’t doing. Any ire directed Barnes way is misdirected.
Doesn,t play good defense but that’s what we need.
Barnes is the smartest player on this team and he does the things to win that nobody else on this team will do.
That being said….Jack is itching to turn this roster over in a singular trade.
I think the more interesting conversation is who Jack trades first and how close he is to reality when MM pulls the trigger.
We will see.
What does he do that nobody else does?
My biggest issue with Barnes is that he seems to have almost no impact on the game when he isn’t shooting. Setting screens, rotating well, help defense, off-ball movement, back cuts, etc. I often see him just standing in the corner or on the wing for almost an entire possession…
When he is aggressive and moves, cuts, etc, then he is impactful. It just doesn’t appear to happen very often.
The coach calls the plays and the sets. HB does what coach tells him to do. Blame the coach.
Some truth in that offensively. HB still can crash the boards offensively. And defensively he just seems to get beat a decent amount. He just needs to impact the game more when he isn’t scoring, like Keegan had been doing so far this season
The difference between HB last year and HB this year is a first round draft pick given away to sign him.
you think Olivier-Maxence (Max) Prosper was traded to sign Harrison Barnes?
I thought he was an exchange for $25M of Richaun Holmes and helping to get an All-NBA player to a 4 yr deal at a discounted rate and not be an UFA at the end of this season.
Dang! I totally blew that one. That GM McNair is so crafty! That’s why he wears vests- so he can keep his cards close!
Nah dog
His offense feels pretty on par from last season. He was 6h in FGA last season on the team and is once again 6th, but with a one less shot per game. His usage is also down to the lowest of his career! That’s all expected with Keegan’s rise in role, and I have no issue with it.
The issue for me, however, is his matador defense early this season. He’s getting absolutely smoked on the perimeter by everyone’s first step. He looks step slower on his rotations and he isn’t crashing the boards. The Kings are in desperate need of a defensive wing, and Keegan is trying to fill that role, but if Barnes can’t at least hold his own, Kings may need to look elsewhere
I’d def like to see him rebounding at a higher rate since he’s not really a feature of the offense at this point. And the defense part…
It’s time to cut our ties. I absolutely love Harrison’s character and veteran leadership. However, Mike Brown said we are trying to win a championship and I believe him. We are not currently built to win that elusive championship without some type of move. Trade Harrison, possibly Davion, and possibly Duarte. The McGee experiment is over as well because Len is that dude. Came in as a very high draft pick. So many expectations and years later, it seems he is who he is now. This guy just knows how to get it done when called upon. Just don’t ask him to do too much though 😂. We “should” get some value back for a solid 3/4…maybe two. Don’t forget we have Petrušev just waiting to be unleashed. OAN, Sasha needs to just keep shooting when he gets mins. If he has the shot take it. MB should have the same approach with Sasha as he does with Keegan if you have the shot, shoot the damn ball. These two are phenomenal shooters. Headhead Huerter should keep shooting as well, but man his this guy stepped it up in all other areas! MB has shown he’s not afraid to shake things up and he’s also said nobody’s spot is safe. Time to shake it up if we’re serious about contending. We’ll only get better with a shake up along with Fox AND Lyles returning. Everyone else has or will understand their role. It’s taking a little longer (8 games…meh), and that’s due to our amazing 22-23 season and high off-season expectations. But if Fox doesn’t go down and Lyles is healthy we are at least 7-2, possibly 7-1. Klay was supposed to miss that last second shot. We had him draped.
OT: Just a hat tip to Keegan for getting the top spot on the NBA’s Top 10 plays of the night (11/10/23) for his dunk over Holmgren the other day. It’s got to feel good, hope this is the first of many.
Heh, Clippers lost to the Grizzlies at LA. 3-6 now, and…
Barnes’ averages are not great but acceptable for someone who now should be the fifth option. It would be fine if he was consistently close to his averages and you could count on that but you can’t. You don’t know if he’s going to shine or disappear. That’s the problem.
This is that time of year I remind myself that I don’t make any big-picture opinions about a team until 20 games. I know that’s probably a little late, but there it is. I certainly don’t expect the Sixers to have the best record in the league at the end of the year, just like I don’t expect the Lakers to be above .500 either. 🙂
I like him coming off the bench to get a bucket by posting up or drawing a foul and getting to the line to either help nurse a lead or get the offense back on track if there is a scoring drought. Make his light greener off the bench and I think we’ll see more production.
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