Harrison Barnes the not so sneaky athlete…

 Those vertical numbers are surprising.  I don’t remember seeing much of that at UNC.  He showed flashes but didn’t always have it on display.  

Some players show out better in these settings than an actual game. I still think when he gets into the NBA he will still be considered a good athlete, but not elite.

 so who cares if he has crazy athletic numbers, when you see him play he doesn’t use any of them.

 in high school he showed athleticism dunking on people showed he was a aggressive player but it seems that once he got to UNC he just sat around on the wing and showed no kind of aggressivness he just waited to get the ball towards the end of the shot clock and by the time he got it all he could do was shoot so he really never got a chance to show it. harrison said before the combine the reason he showed up to the combine was to prove he was athletic which was a big knock on him and i think he did prove he has athleticism but will he show in the nba is the question?

 the thing is he doesn’t play to his athletic abilty, he relies on his skill, which why might have suffered this year at UNC.

 I was just trying to say he relies too much on shooting rather than getting to the basket, part of which is because his handle is a bit iffy. If he’s got all that athletic ability why not run more on the break and go for dunks and lay-ups instead of being a shooter. I think he’s very good and talented, just settles for jump shots.

Harrison is a very smart young man and I believe that he cheated a little bit. Standing 6’8 w/ 6.11 wingspan his reach was only 8’5.5 which is like 2 or 3 inches lower than it should for a 6’8 guy with pretty good wingspn in comparision Joe Alexander measured almost indentically but his reach was 8’10.

Of course, Harrison has broad shoulders but I do not believe that the difference between his and Alexander’s reaches should be 4.5 inches. What I do believe is that Harrison very well understands that one of the biggest concers about him as a prospect is his not elite athletism so, most likely he just simply didn’t tried really hard to extend his arm to the max reach which gave him lets say 2.5-3.5 additional inches to his vertical.

That being said, his vertical leap results still would be pretty impressive for a 6’8 guy, epecially no-step vertical. I’m huge fan of Harrison, I believe he can be a 6+ times All Star player and an outstanding #2 option (don’t know about #1 but it’s possible, we will see). While I do believe that Charlotte thinks very seriously about drafting him, I would love to see him in Cleveland with Kyrie. I think they would a superb tandem for years to come and with another lottery pick next year and Tristan they can form a at least top 4 team in Eastern Conference.

 if you grew up playing with these types of guys you would know what I mean when I say Barnes is a "smooth" athlete.  meaning he has strong muscles but not explosive.  its in the fast twitch.  he is a good athlete, not elite, but very good.  if you notice, from HS to his Freshman year to his Soph year, his body has drastically changed.  he has added a lot of muscle because he was rather skinny a couple of years ago.  admittedly some of this weight held him down.  he is never going to be the explosive guy but solid.  reminds me some of Deron Williams when he came out….I think he didnt show that much of the athleticism at Illinois but he really toned his body up from his college days and more of his athleticism came out in the NBA.