Obviously, there is going be bias in his favor following that great game yesterday, but that was a bit eye opening. After seeing him get extended minutes to finish out last season, I hated his game. He reminded me of a Crawful kinda player who couldn't shoot. But he looks so much better this season in his limited time. He's still a bit crazy and some of his decisions make me shake my head, but it seems more like controlled chaos this year. I love his athleticism and that he's actually using it to the team's benefit. I think Stotts needs to expand that 9 man rotation of his to include Will. Getting him 10-15 mpg by taking a few away from Nic/Dame/Wes/Mo shouldn't be too hard.
And tbh, I could have just as well made a thread for Victor. Dude can ball. Doesn't look to score, but does everything else. I like his game a lot
He has this gangly, Rudy Fernandez kind of quality about him where you never know if he'll dunk or throw a nifty pass or do something utterly retarded. Barton is longer, while Rudy was a more legit three point shooter. But both guys play like they are there to put on a show. When hot it's a thing of beauty. When not, you wonder how the guy even made it into the NBA. Will "The Thrill" Barton is a perfect nickname for him. I'm a fan, just because Stotts has the luxury of playing him 2 minutes and yanking him if it's not his night. Rudy was frustrating because we had so little talent on the team that you had to play him. And then of course he seemingly lost all his athleticism on that one bad fall.
I am not sure how good he is, but I know I want to find out. As mentioned in the game thread by a few, Will possesses some things we need off the bench. For his position at SG, he has good length, pretty good handles, solid passer, solid rebounder, solid shot blocker, solid defender, solid finisher, good at getting to the basket, and runs the floor well. I would not say he is a solid shooter, but he does find ways to score. Yes he still takes the occasional quick shot and screws up a defensive assignments. But I think his desire to run the floor will help the second unit get easier baskets. And we all know that has been an issue. We keep trying to find someone who can help Mo off the bench. I am not sure if they have the right chemistry together, but we need to figure it out pretty quick. I like how the second unit of Mo, Will, Claver, and Trob all like to run the floor. The second unit has committed so many turnover as it is this season, they might as well get them while running the fast break. I think with Barton in there they run better.
First off, we could have brought kids out of the stands and put them on the floor and they would have looked like All-Stars against the Nets last night. With that said, I have to admit that whenever I see Will play I like what I see. For "out of control" as he can be, he controls the ball better than Mo a lot of the time. When he dribbles into traffic during a 1-on-4 fast break he doesn't turn the ball over with the regularity that Mo does. He's also a better and more willing passer. Offensively he reminds me a tiny bit of a scrawny Ruben Patterson - and we've been needing a "Rube" on our team for a while now! I always thought he was the better option to keep when it was between him and Elliott Whoever at the end of our bench. But I never thought I'd actively want to keep Will. With development and playing time he could become a semi-valuable trade asset - of which we have few. But before that, his energy could be something that really helps in the Playoffs.
Barton is a raw, undisciplined player. At best, he can develop into a backup SG (a middle-of-the-pack player on a roster). Right now, he's a #3 SG. However, we have 15 spots on our roster, so he fulfills the #3 role well. If he really wants to make a niche for himself in this league, he should focus on defense. He has the length, athleticism and energy to become a defensive pest. He's already a terrific rebounder. His offense is binomial; he's either on or off. However, if he can make himself a shutdown wing player while not hurting you on offense, that's a real spot of value on any roster.
I have a hard time believing that a guy can come into an NBA game put up 20pts, 11reb and 4 assists and be only a marginal NBA player. Now I get it once in a while a marginal player will have a decent scoring night, but Will Barton has done it more than once. His per 36 numbers and PER are really pretty impressive for a bench player. At his age with his skill I think he will be considered a solid rotational guy once he gets consistent minutes.
I disagree. I think the Nyets came out and competed for the first quarter and a half. We were just better than they were last night. We showed them we wanted the game more than they did, and they packed it in and decided to save their energy for the next game against Denver. It ended up being a blowout, but the first 18 minutes of that game was a test of wills. We wanted it more. They wanted to slow it down and we wanted to speed it up. We kept attacking and attacking and attacking until we broke them. It certainly had nothing to do with their talent level. If you've seen them lately, they had been playing very well, especially Williams. You shouldn't minimize what we did as a team last night.
I didn't get to see the game last night, but weren't most of Barton's points off dunks? I'd give most of the credit for those types of plays to the guy making the assist or even to the Nets' crappy defense.
Good point: for the first time in I don't know how long, we imposed our will on the game, and forced the other team back on its heels.
He had a few dunks, but he made a lot of Js. He was impressive last night. Really impressive. He was a monster on the boards and also made some beautiful passes. In fact, his no look pass to Nico for the easy layin I think was the highlight of the night.
Two of them from what I remember were in deed nice passes from Mo. And they were in traffic. But you still need someone to cut to the basket and finish. Barton (like Rudy before him) does a great job of that. Everyone points out that the Blazers are a jump shooting team........don't we desperately need more shots at the rim? Will helps with that. Maybe teams will adjust to his game, but he seems to be in constant motion. He is a tough cover because of it.
If he can master the fundamentals of the game (defense, spacing,...) he is a starter in this league. His 3-pt shooting seems to have improved from last year. Somehow, if we could combine the best of Claver and Barton into a single player, that player would be an all-star.