Harrison Barnes or Playoff Barnes was a crucial piece in the Warriors’ championship run. He started all 82 regular season games and the 21 additional postseason games. The small forward from UNC is up for an extension with an October 31 deadline. If an extension can’t be reached, he will finish this upcoming season and will become a restricted free agent.
-== 8 Moves That Paved Way for Warriors’ NBA Title ==-
Last season, the Warriors locked up Klay Thompson and this offseason belongs to Draymond Green. Barnes is hoping the Warriors continue their streak of retaining their homegrown talent, as he wants to stay with the Warriors.
According to Diamond Leung of the San Jose Mercury News, Barnes is confident in the core and wants to keep competing:
“I mean, we just won a championship,” Barnes said. “Of course I’d love to keep this group together for many years to come, you know what I’m saying? So that’s obvious.”
The team’s core is comprised of Stephen Curry, Thompson, and Green. Starting with them, Barnes is the fourth best player on court. In the NBA Finals, the defense was focused on making players other than Steph and Klay beat them. Iguodala and Barnes stepped up. He’s shown flashes of brilliance but hasn’t shown consistency to become the next All-Star.
Under Steve Kerr, Barnes played 28 minutes per game and shot 48 percent for 10 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. The Black Falcon is only 23 and was drafted in 2012 with the 7th overall pick, the same draft as Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green.
I would like to see Barnes be a little more aggressive on the offensive side of the ball especially in attacking the rim. Barnes has a tendancy to stay out on the wing and wait for a pass to hoist a three, or wait for the splash brothers to shoot first, which is sometimes a good strategy, but not all the time. Hopefully he will continue to improve.
Well I hear you HB, but if don’t sign you by the beginning of the season, you are clearly not in the Warriors plans. If they won’t sign you for a discount, then….you know the rest