Barea's Game "One Of Best Ever" - Marty Blake PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Those who have watched point guard Jose Juan Barea play the past several years know how special he is. But now every team in the NBA knows. And the NBA Director of Scouting can't stop raving about him. That is the result of the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, which invited 64 top seniors to compete in its event Thursday through Saturday. All Barea did was shatter the tournament record for assists with 41 - the previous mark was 35, set in 1990. Keep in mind that the Portsmouth tournament has a rich, 54-year history that includes legendary point guards John Stockton, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe and Tim Hardaway among many other great players. Barea punctuated his brilliant tournament with a sensational effort on Saturday, when he set Portsmouth's single-game record with 18 assists. Perhaps even more amazing was that Barea had just one turnover. That performance caused NBA Director of Scouting Marty Blake to make an amazing comment about Barea. "Jose Juan Barea," Blake said, "had one of the best games I have ever seen." Read that quote again, because it is eye-opening. "Jose Juan Barea had one of the best games I have ever seen." Now consider how respected the source is. Blake is regarded by some as the No. 1 expert in the world on college and pro basketball talent. He has been in the NBA for 58 years, including 17 as the general manager of the St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks. Under Blake's guidance, the Hawks won the NBA championship in 1958, defeating Boston during an era when the Celtics were almost unbeatable. In fact, over a 13-year span, only one other team beat the Celtics. But Blake's Hawks were no one-year wonder. They won seven division titles and finished second 8 times. In 1970, Blake is credited with drafting the first international players in the NBA and has become the world's foremost authority on hoops talent. So when Blake says Barea's performance was one of the best, it holds incredible weight among executives and general managers throughout the league. Blake also put Barea's amazing performance in perspective when he said that the former Northeastern University and Miami Christian High star set his Portsmouth records against very tough competition. "This is the best group we've ever had at Portsmouth," Blake said. Mahlon Parker, the Portsmouth tournament director, told The Daily Press newspaper that the talent was so good because few players turned down invitations. "Of the 64 players," Parker said, "13 were conference Players of the Year." And Barea was the best of the best, according to Blake and anyone else who witnessed this tournament.
Wow, this guy is literally popping out of nowhere. It sounds as if he is more ready for the NBA than most of the Portsmouth invitees. Eighteen assists with one turnover? Sign him up. I'm about to google Jose Juan Barea, to find out what he's been up to the last few years, how tall he is, where he is from, etc. Sounds like a sensational player. EDIT: Wow, this guy's been in the states this entire time?!?! Did Dick Vitale mention him in any of his rants? GoBarea.com is nice. Barea played at Northeastern. There's some nice video of his Northeastern play at Gobarea.com. Funny how he went for a left side layup with his right hand. He'll need to learn to rely on his left when he goes to the left side of the board for the NBA.
I think he could be the David Lee of this years draft class, in a sense. Last year David Lee went from being undrafted on some mocks going all the way to a 1st rounder in some. I think this kid will do just that, looking at his numbers and even before reading this article I thought he would raise his stock.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Buckets:</div><div class="quote_post">I think he could be the David Lee of this years draft class, in a sense. Last year David Lee went from being undrafted on some mocks going all the way to a 1st rounder in some. I think this kid will do just that, looking at his numbers and even before reading this article I thought he would raise his stock.</div> Anyone who had seen David Lee play more than once would know better than to have him going undrafted, and I can't recall many mocks doing that. He was highly scouted, even in high school. He was a McDonald's All-American, and he could have even made the jump to the NBA early, maybe after a year or two at Florida so he's a very different case than Barea. Still, I can see your point on Barea's stock rising, although it's probably not in the first round just quite yet. A first round pick is a guaranteed contract, and with his size, Barea's a hell of a gamble to give a guaranteed contract to, opposed to an equally established player who also has NBA size, such as Maurice Ager. A lot will also depend on what he does in Chicago and how tall he measures in at once he's there. Portsmouth has really been watered down over the years, so its stats can be kind of misleading. From what I've heard, Bobby Jones made the greatest impression on scouts there anyway, not Barea. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">EDIT: Wow, this guy's been in the states this entire time?!?! Did Dick Vitale mention him in any of his rants?</div> I'm sure Vitale's at least mentioned the kid, but then again, Vitale isn't exactly the most reliable basketball analyst anyway. What you have to realize about Barea's college numbers though is that they were inflated from playing on Northeastern, a mid-major with a 19-11 record. Take a performance like the one he gave against Wright State for example. He put up 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, but his team was run out of the gym, so that all becomes more or less meaningless. Just to give you an idea of how playing for a team like Northeastern can inflate your stats, one of Barea's teammates, Shawn James, finished the season with a blocks per game average of 6.5. You also have to consider that Barea averaged about five turnovers per game. That's almost as ridiculous as his assist average.
Yeah, I think you're right about Portsmouth being watered down. When Jordan was the Wizards GM he picked Mike Smith who had won the MVP at the Portsmouth invitational. Who's Mike Smith? Exactly.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">Anyone who had seen David Lee play more than once would know better than to have him going undrafted, and I can't recall many mocks doing that. He was highly scouted, even in high school. He was a McDonald's All-American, and he could have even made the jump to the NBA early, maybe after a year or two at Florida so he's a very different case than Barea. Still, I can see your point on Barea's stock rising, although it's probably not in the first round just quite yet. A first round pick is a guaranteed contract, and with his size, Barea's a hell of a gamble to give a guaranteed contract to, opposed to an equally established player who also has NBA size, such as Maurice Ager. A lot will also depend on what he does in Chicago and how tall he measures in at once he's there. Portsmouth has really been watered down over the years, so its stats can be kind of misleading. From what I've heard, Bobby Jones made the greatest impression on scouts there anyway, not Barea. I'm sure Vitale's at least mentioned the kid, but then again, Vitale isn't exactly the most reliable basketball analyst anyway. What you have to realize about Barea's college numbers though is that they were inflated from playing on Northeastern, a mid-major with a 19-11 record. Take a performance like the one he gave against Wright State for example. He put up 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, but his team was run out of the gym, so that all becomes more or less meaningless. Just to give you an idea of how playing for a team like Northeastern can inflate your stats, one of Barea's teammates, Shawn James, finished the season with a blocks per game average of 6.5. You also have to consider that Barea averaged about five turnovers per game. That's almost as ridiculous as his assist average.</div> a 19-11 record is the most underrated mid major conference in the Nation. He played against George Mason and Hofstra(who will make the NCAA tournament). Auger is like 6"4 on a good day, the ideal SG size is 6"6, not 6"4 on a good day. 6.5 blocks anywhere is impressive, you don't just walk on the court and have 6.5 blocks with ease. Incase you forgot, Jose Juan Barea won the MVP at Portsmouth, every scouted said he was by far the most impressive player, stop hating with no logic, I only accept hating with logic. Jose Juan Barea broke the records by a mile with his 18 assist one turnover preformance in 28 minutes along with 9 points and 5 rebounds in a 117 -100 VICTORY. Not only he was a dominant player, he made people around him better. He averagd 14 ppg 5.7 rebounds and 13.7 assist with 1.7 turnovers Barea has a good assist to turn ratio. No one on Northeastern has ball handling skills except Barea and Adrian Martinez, he needs to handle and protect the ball. And when you have the ball most of the time, you're going to force turnovers at times. He's still 3rd in the Nation in assist, with 8.4, thats good consider the College basketball assist is usually lower than NBA. Barea is the best college basketball point guard who's game will transcend to the NBA better. He is hardnosed, driven, and has tested himself against the best talent in the nation and the world in FIBA play (Dropped 29 points on the USA team with Chris Paul, other current NBA players, and loterry picks this year) with a 1.79 A/TO ratio and a monster 8.4 assists a game, Barea was the star point guard of the CAA. The closest assist man on his team? Bobby Kelly at 1.7. The closest assist man in the CAA? John Goldsberry at 5.2. The ACC was led by Greg Paulus 5 While his shooting percentage was kind of poor, at the NBA level, he won't be the primary option on his team. He will be first and foremost a point guard, and as proven by his numbers, he is just as willing to pass as shoot. All throughout his life Jose Juan Barea has made a habbit of proving critics and non-beleivers wrong. They have always had an excuse to try and find a major weakness in his game. He's always been to small, when he's the best player on the team, like he was at Northeastern, and he puts up 25 or 30 a game then he's a ball hog. When he tries to make the people around him better and gets more than ten assits then he's scared of taking the shot and does not have the skills to take over a game. They always have something to say, they always say he can't, but the fact of the matter is he always shows up and surpasses any expectations and simply leaves you in awe. Jose is a close friend of mine and I have known him sinse I was a little kid, so I have have seen him perform at every level. When he played high school in Puerto Rico he was so far above any other player that it was just not fair, so he went and played a year in The U.S. and again they said he was to short, but all he did was captain his team to the Florida State Championship, against teams that included the likes of Amare Stoudemire. Then no major college program beleived this kid was for real so he went to play at a school were they gave him a chance, all he did was retire as one of the schools leaders in both points and assists. He was all-conference every year and finally this year was named CAA player of the year, a conference which included a couple of NCAA tournament teams including final four cinderella Gerge Mason. He was the only player to be Top 20 in both scoring and assists for two years straight, at NU he was an all-america honorable mention and a finalist for the Bob Cousy award twice...and they said he couldn't cut it at this level. Now nobody beleives he can make it at the NBA level, well I say this not as a friend but, as a fan of basketball, he has a better all around game and more capability to make those around him better (as he showed at Portsmouth) than any other point guard in the draft. Maybe there are point guards withj more potential to develop, there are definitely taller ones; but not a single one of them have the drive, the desire, the passion and the heart tha JJB has. It is these same qualities along with his game that have allowed him to silence his critics at every level, and if given the chance there is no doubt in my mind he will once again do this in the NBA. Had he played at a major program this would'nt have been an issue, but just look at the numbers and look at his accomplishments, all this kid knows how to do is win whether its FIBA, Portsmouth, NCAA, High School, Barea doesn't care about stats, the man wants to win...he is for real, you better beleive it!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting j0se:</div><div class="quote_post">a 19-11 record is the most underrated mid major conference in the Nation. He played against George Mason and Hofstra(who will make the NCAA tournament).</div> C'mon, j0se. As big of a fan of his as you are, don't pretend like the CAA is one of the better conferences. Northeastern played a weak nonconference schedule too. They finished with losses to teams like Wright State and Drexel, and they were blown out by Holy Cross and Providence. This just wasn't a good team. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Auger is like 6"4 on a good day, the ideal SG size is 6"6, not 6"4 on a good day.</div> Ager* is actually 6-5, 202 lbs. You can check ESPN.Com for verification on that. So where do you get 6-4 from, and why would that be "on a good day", when that's an inch shorter than what he's officially listed at? I've been to a camp that he partipated in, and he's about my height to an inch taller, and I'm between 6'4" and 6'5". So, point is, he's average size for a shooting guard. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">6.5 blocks anywhere is impressive, you don't just walk on the court and have 6.5 blocks with ease.</div> Of course it's impressive, but do you really think he'd get half that at a school like Duke or Michigan State? I brought his stats up to illustrate how much playing at a midmajor can inflate your stats. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Incase you forgot, Jose Juan Barea won the MVP at Portsmouth, every scouted said he was by far the most impressive player, stop hating with no logic, I only accept hating with logic.</div> I'm sorry for getting on my knees for this kid like you are, j0se, but I'm not "hating with no logic" by pointing out the kid's weaknesses. Psh... you and your blind optimism... And no, every scout was not the most impressed with Barea. A lot of scouts would probably tell you he upped his stock the most, but not every one. Bobby Jones only got to play in two games because his team went 0-2, but in the two games he did play, he had the scouts buzzing with his NBA potential, and not just because he could fill up a stat sheet, but because he was the best defender by far at the tournament, and because he has great size for an NBA two guard. Does that qualify as "hating with logic"? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Jose Juan Barea broke the records by a mile with his 18 assist one turnover preformance in 28 minutes along with 9 points and 5 rebounds in a 117 -100 VICTORY. Not only he was a dominant player, he made people around him better. He averagd 14 ppg 5.7 rebounds and 13.7 assist with 1.7 turnovers</div> Great. Did I ever say he had a bad showing? All I said was that Portsmouth is watered down and that Jones made a bigger impression on a lot of scouts. What are you trying to prove by telling me that he broke the Portsmouth assist record (who cares)? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Barea has a good assist to turn ratio. No one on Northeastern has ball handling skills except Barea and Adrian Martinez, he needs to handle and protect the ball. And when you have the ball most of the time, you're going to force turnovers at times. He's still 3rd in the Nation in assist, with 8.4, thats good consider the College basketball assist is usually lower than NBA.</div> Like I said earlier, playing at Northeastern inflates his stats. Compare his assists and turnovers to Marcus Williams, a currently projected mid-to-late first round draft pick. Williams not only gets more assists per game but he also gets about a whole turnover less than Barea, which is kind of ironic, because one of the big knocks on Williams is that he's turnover prone. Not to mention that playing at UConn, he's going to be facing much more talented defenses than Barea faces at Northeastern. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Barea is the best college basketball point guard who's game will transcend to the NBA better. He is hardnosed, driven, and has tested himself against the best talent in the nation and the world in FIBA play (Dropped 29 points on the USA team with Chris Paul, other current NBA players, and loterry picks this year)</div> First of all, that first sentence makes no sense. Second of all, great, he scored 29 points on Team USA. What does that prove? Do you know how many nobodies have lit up Team USA recently? Pittsburgh's LeVon Kendall scored 40 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 assists on Team USA, and he's likely got no NBA future. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">with a 1.79 A/TO ratio and a monster 8.4 assists a game, Barea was the star point guard of the CAA. The closest assist man on his team? Bobby Kelly at 1.7. The closest assist man in the CAA? John Goldsberry at 5.2. The ACC was led by Greg Paulus 5</div> You're repeating yourself. Yeah, he had great assist number. Whoop-dee-do; look where he played. His big assist nights this season came against schools I didn't even know existed, like JMU, Cental Connecticut, etc. Meanwhile, Marcus Williams was putting up better numbers, except against teams like Syracuse, Notre Dame, Indiana, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">While his shooting percentage was kind of poor, at the NBA level, he won't be the primary option on his team. He will be first and foremost a point guard, and as proven by his numbers, he is just as willing to pass as shoot.</div> Yeah, he's pretty much not going to be a scoring threat whatsoever on the NBA level... <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">blahblahblahblah...he is for real, you better beleive it!</div>
Where did you here Bobby Jones was the most impressive player? Barea was the most impressive player cause of the impact he had. Jones didn't have the impact Barea had. Stop hating.
I know you like to hype up your Latin boys all over this board Jose, But c'mon man. Berea declared last season, and what happened? He was basically told he didn't have a shot in hell and to return to college. He got NO love from the scouts last season. He can play, yes, he can fill up the basket, however, his overall game, his size, he does have limitations to how he'd be able to run an NBA franchise. I know you wanna give love and have pride for your people, but that'd be like me coming on here and declaring every white boy in the draft to be the **** and over inflating their numbers to sound better than they are. You can always find one person to fall in love with a player. Find an article about how great they performed here or there, but, it means nothing if zero out of 32 GM's think the same thing. I don't even wanna begin how much we've had to hear about how Guillermo Diaz is going to be the next great 2 guard in the NBA. I'm glad he's declared and I can stop hearing about him once he falls deep into round 2.
He would difenitley be more reconized before this if he was taller and played in a bigger conference/school, and did the same with less turnovers. But, he did really good. I thought Keydren Clark won MVP at Portsmouth?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting KICKSDADDY613:</div><div class="quote_post">I know you like to hype up your Latin boys all over this board Jose, But c'mon man. Berea declared last season, and what happened? He was basically told he didn't have a shot in hell and to return to college. He got NO love from the scouts last season. He can play, yes, he can fill up the basket, however, his overall game, his size, he does have limitations to how he'd be able to run an NBA franchise. I know you wanna give love and have pride for your people, but that'd be like me coming on here and declaring every white boy in the draft to be the **** and over inflating their numbers to sound better than they are. You can always find one person to fall in love with a player. Find an article about how great they performed here or there, but, it means nothing if zero out of 32 GM's think the same thing. I don't even wanna begin how much we've had to hear about how Guillermo Diaz is going to be the next great 2 guard in the NBA. I'm glad he's declared and I can stop hearing about him once he falls deep into round 2.</div> If that was the case, I would be hyping poor Sammy Hernandez. Barea is the future captain of the PR National team, he will be better than Carlos Arroyo. Barea's family made him go back to college...MARTY BLAKE man. Thats enough love right there.
