Barton needs to get stronger NOT bigger. I see him like a smarter version of Travis Outlaw, super lanky and super athletic.
Barring injury I don't think he will get many minutes this year. I think he is a year away. But I like him as well. There was one play where he went coast to almost coast, where he surprised me with his ball handling skills. He just needs to keep working on every aspect of his game and be ready when they need him. Right now he is all SG IMO and I think Wes and Elliot will get most of those minutes this year. Next year will be a different story though. He seems to be one of those players that has the "intangibles". Edit: OOps I see Wiz already used the intangible description. Probably others as well. So I guess it must be true.
I really like Barton, but his variance is so high it's crazy. I really think he could end up anywhere from a mediocre bench player (like he would be now) to all-star. It's just not obvious where he's going to end up, especially since it also depends on how much opportunity he gets. He does seem like a hard worker. Good Luck Barton!
I like Barton OK ... he plays with a high basketball IQ, he's long and he looks pretty versatile, but I can't shake the feeling that maybe the NBA is going to be a league just a little bit over his head? He's way too skinny to take much physical abuse and his athleticism looks just "OK" ... and that's against Summer League competition. Who knows what he'll end up as a finished product, but my gut tells me he's at least a year+ away from being a rotation player.
I think he may benefit from real NBA games not being so helter-skelter. He won't get out of control, he'll be able to pick and choose his spots more.
See, but that's fine. I don't expect him to be a contributor in his first year, or even his second. Shit..... Babbitt is going into his third season and I still have no expectations for that bum. Barton was a second round pick, so the way I see it, anything from him is gravy. I'm just merely saying I like what I've seen so far and I think the guy has a lot of potential. He seems to have a nose for the ball, and I'm hoping he can carry it over to the NBA.
That's fair. Barton isn't a high flyer like Ariza. But they seem to both be at the same level quickness wise. I love how Barton gets in the passing lanes and he really showed an ability to push the ball yesterday, which surprised me.
His best bet at his frame is catching the ball off screens and hitting mid-range jumpers. 6'6" 170lbs is a bag of bones. I've been impressed with his ability to read the passing lanes though.
I totally agree with your assessment; I think my comments were spurred by reading the word "all-star" somewhere in this thread ...
Interesting that you flared up reading the word "all-star", but your opinion was the same as mine when you essentially summarized my post with Perhaps you should reread my earlier post? Try not to cringe at any one word or phrase
Is he better suited at the two or the three is my question? If he's a three, I think we can safely put Luke Babbitt to bed.
Not sure. I think he's projected as a 2 who can also play some 3. Can he guard 1s? Sounds silly, but I really think Barton is the one of the best Blazers to have in a game of Rat Ball. People talk about how he's thin, and he's crazy thin. But, I haven't seen any opposing players take advantage of that in Summer League. I don't know how he's hold up to 82+ games, probably not well if he we on the Riley Knicks, but probably all right for the current Blazers.
Fair, enough, but I honestly didn't even remember who wrote the word and I wasn't trying to single anybody out. Mostly I just noticed a "tone" in the entirety of the conversation that I wanted to talk at. Regardless, I think we're splitting hairs here. I think he's intriguing and I hope he becomes an impact player, but I just haven't seen enough physically or athletically in summer league that I would read too much into.
After the first 4 games of summer league I assumed he couldn't shoot, be he shot well including several 3s.
I think Barton displayed his uber-slow combine speeds in summer league. The guy looks like a 6-5 version of an old Andre Miller (only with a higher vertical). But Andre made it work.
I don't really understand that. I say Barton taking people off the dribble in summer league, not just the last game. Do you have a link?
