For Harrison Barnes that is.
A couple of pieces that hit the interwebs this week. First up from Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman who goes as far as to call Barnes “The Savior”, “The Man” and makes a comparison to Kobe Bryant.
Barnes, after spending a few days working on his perimeter skills at Chris Paul’s Camp down in Winston-Salem, finally stepped foot on campus earlier this week.
Which also means that The Savior won’t be doing any interviews until his first official college basketball game (those are the North Carolina rules).
Barnes is a heck of a player, arguably the most talented incoming freshman in the entire country.
But he alone can’t rectify all the issues in Chapel Hill.
Barnes does solve perhaps the most glaring need – a wing that can create his own shot and also someone who is able to make a play with the game on the line.
It’s likely he can help with filling more than one of the Tar Heels weaknesses: Barnes can also make shots from the perimeter and is capable, even as a freshman, of quickly becoming the team’s leader.
Goodman does not place the entire burden of turning UNC around on Barnes. He rightly points out that Larry Drew and Kendall Marshall are huge pieces as is Reggie Bullock. However, Barnes gives them a go-to scorer and a solid perimeter shooter. What Goodman does not point out is Barnes also gives UNC an alpha dog leader and a very smart player who can create offense for his teammates as well as for himself.
Luke Winn wades into the pool over at SI.com with a glowing report which says Barnes has the complete arsenal of skills and based on this excerpt might have Tyler Hansbrough’s work ethic:
I witnessed Barnes giving at Paul’s camp. On Day 1, in a suicide-sprint drill, Barnes outran every point guard other than Georgetown’s Chris Wright; and after the campers’ grueling workout was complete, Barnes was the lone player who remained out on the court, doing additional shooting drills. It may please North Carolina fans to hear that, but they’re likely more curious, or anxious, to find out just how much Barnes can give to the Tar Heels in Year 1. He certainly isn’t the first recruit of his caliber to enroll at UNC, which has produced 10 draft picks since 2006, but he arrives following a season in which the Heels spectacularly underachieved, finishing 16-16 in the regular season and missing the NCAA tournament for the first time under coach Roy Williams.
To say the Tar Heels struggled to score in ’09-’10 would be putting it gently: They ranked 92nd in adjusted offensive efficiency after finishing in the top 10 each of the previous six years. Carolina has two NBA prospects on the interior in Tyler Zeller and John Henson, but there’s a massive point-production void on the perimeter, and Williams’ best option is to make Barnes the No. 1 option. After watching him for three days at Paul’s camp, it’s clear Barnes has a more advanced and diverse offensive arsenal than anyone on the Tar Heels’ current roster.
In other words, Barnes is exceptionally versatile and works his rear end off. Winn goes as far as to say Barnes is option #1 for Roy Williams once the Heels actually start playing games. Based on the reports trickling out of pick-up games that already appears to be the case with Barnes leading the current roster of Heels(minus Graves and Drew) in scoring vs some of the alum.
The questions all of us have struggled with since last spring was how many eggs do we put into the Harrison Barnes basket? Do you believe the hype? Is he good as advertised? If UNC had a “normal season” by Tar Heel standards(24-28 wins, Sweet Sixteen appearance) then we probably would less prone to ask these questions. Unfortunately last season was a disaster. As much as I would like to give Goodman grief for labeling Barnes any kind of “savior” I can’t. To a great extent he is correct. At present, what UNC needs and what Barnes can give gives them a tremendous boost over last season. Toss in an improved Drew(we hope!), Bullock, Henson with some extra weight not to mention an idea what he is doing, suddenly you have the pieces to be a top ten team. It is still a team game but in this case UNC needs the offense in particular to sort of revolve around Barnes or at the very least flow through him. The good news is it appears Barnes has the skills and I also believe the right head on his shoulders to accept that mantle.
And in case you are still unconvinced here are three quotes about Barnes that is sure to set you at ease.
@bomani_jones: Barnes is as advertised. Bullock’s nice. Marshall ok. RT @TheRafters: how the heels look? the young ones.
@johnhenson31: you heard it here first….Harrison Barnes is a Machine…I think he just sleeps on a charger…lol…no but seriously… 0_o
Nolan Smith: “He could be something special.”
The hype machine is rolling for Barnes but so far it looks completely deserved.
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Nobody really knows. It all depends on what kind of player Barnes turns out to be. Is he more Shane Battier, excellent all around, but not really one to close the deal by himself, or is he more Kevin Durant. If he is akin to Durant, then it is hard to see how UNC should not be considered a title contender. If he has a season more like Henson’s rookie year, then UNC will be fortunate to make it to the second round of the NCAA.
People have short memories. Now, Duke is the dead-on favorite for next year to win it all. 12 months ago, coming off a horrible loss to Villanova, losing their presumed best player and undergoing transfers, things looked much less sanguine. Everything can change in one year with one player. Have you heard much from Jacksonville University lately? They made it to the finals when they had Artis Gilmore.
On another note, it is kind of sad to see Rasheed Wallace go out again, in embarrassment after apparently trying to confront the referees after his fine performances in the Finals against L.A. He has had a decent career but I can help but think that he had Hall of Fame talent but ended up being only a fringe All Star type of player. He, along with Paul Pierce, certainly wins the award for worst demeanor by NBA players who were coached by either Dean or Roy in college.
No one knows what Sheed was doing but one of the guys from ESPN said it did not appear to be a confrontational sort of thing. Was he there to just say “goodbye” since it looks like he may retire?
The problem is reputation. One can’t blame the referees or whoever, if they thought Wallace was attempting entry for no good purpose, whereas if Shane Battier or Steve Nash tried the same thing, the worry might not be the same.
Wallace, unlike Jerry Stackhouse, never bothered to graduate from UNC, and I certainly cannot have even remotely the same kind of feelings for him that I have for Mitch Kupchak, who deserves congratulations for unloading the unripe Marc Gasol for the more mature version of the same player but five years older in his brother, Pau. Of course, Jerry West claims that Memphis got the better of that deal, even if they did have to take Kwame, to boot.
Rasheed has probably been, I think we all would agree, the pleyer that UNC fans were most embarrassed to claim as one of their own, in the way that some Georgetown grads might not be thrilled to claim Allen Iverson. I would, however, like to see him come back for another year. I think he showed that he can still do it out on the court and Boston should try to give these guys one more year to make a run at the Lakers. Maybe that way, Rasheed could clean up his act and go out on a really high note, instead of praying not to get another double technical lest he be suspended.
The thing I’ve continually thought about Rasheed is what could have been. The fact that he never could learn how to control his temper with regards to referees is frustrating, but the most frustrating thing is that Rasheed had the skills to be close to, if not the best big in the league. Rasheed has a butter soft touch and high release to go with a plethora of moves in the post that would have made him unstoppable if he would have ever consistently decided he wanted to dominate. Add to that he could defend, block shots and rebound, and by all accounts he has a high basketball IQ. However with all that talent he was more content to float around the perimeter and coast instead of dominating consistently. I’ve seen him get get pissed off with an opponent and decide to take them down into “the office” in the paint and just destroy them for a few possessions. It was beautiful to watch and frustrating all at the same time. He got paid like a superstar and had the talent of a superstar, but never decided he wanted to actually be a superstar with his performance. He should have been a hall of fame performer instead of a fringe all-star as William called him.
This team will probably be the most talented bunch to ever play together, they don’t have a weak spots except perhaps in the PG position. A lot depends on LD2 (and that’s why I was disappointed in his decision to spend the summer in LA rather than in CH as his coaches wanted) and if he can elevate his ball-handling, passing skills and decision making from last year. If these players can gel together they can make a deep run in the championship.
All this Sheed bashing. I’ll claim Sheed any day over Rick fox. I wish we had Rasheed and 4 others like him on our team this year we would’ve had a lot of technicals but i bet we never would have lost by 30 points.
“Rasheed has probably been, I think we all would agree, the pleyer that UNC fans were most embarrassed to claim as one of their own”
No – we would not all agree, because at least one of us (me) has no problems pointing out that Rasheed Wallace is not only a Tarheel, but also has gotten along wonderfully with all the players and coaches he has played with/for… including Dean Smith.
Unc 33, if I come off as bashing Rasheed that’s not my intention. I simply wish that he would have played up to his talent level in the league. I think he has all time talent but never displayed it consistently enough.
I look forward to seeing the new players coming into the program, as always. I do not like the early over-hyping of ANY player. Their merits will be proven on the court in games. Period.
I wish all former Heels well at the next level but have 0 interest in the NBA games or any teams that participate. My interest does not go much beyond college sports and the baseball games of my 14 year old grandson. Go Heels!!
“The Savior”? “The Man”? Really? Even if he is as advertsied, that is totally ridiculous. I’m glad that Barnes is good, but calling him “The Savior” is going a little too far in my book.
THF, refresh my memory but wasn’t Drew supposed to be on campus during the first summer session? At least that’s my impression.
@850–totally agree–loved Rasheed as a Heel and a Pro. Unselfish to a fault? Maybe so. Based on the officiating in the last 5 minutes of that game, I wouldn’t have blamed him if he kicked the door in. Freakin finally let em play for 3 and a half quarters, then decide to get in the game deciding business–Jeebus!! Nearly as big a sham as today’s match.
I have confidence that Barnes will be a force, but I also think Bullock will make a big splash too.
Hard to believe that the Celtics couldn’t get any calls. How do you win all those titles without getting any calls? It used to be Duke and Boston got all the calls, but I guess we are down to just Duke getting all the calls now. I never thought I would see the day when someone would seriously argue that Boston gets a raw deal from the officials in the play-offs. Watch out, Duke! Your days of getting all the calls may be over soon, too!
I hope that some people are just “joking” about it being okay to kick in doors when bad calls go against you. I certainly doubt that is anything Roy Williams or Dean Smith ever taught. It is not very funny, regardless. Bad calls and losing are part of sports and part of the maturation process.
Dean Smith, himself, wrongly, in my opinion, called out Wallace for never graduating in his book. Take it up with Smith if you have a problem with that. I am glad that Wallace gets along with other people in our program. I think I said that I was rooting for him to come back and that I admire his talent, in spite of his failure to reach his potential as a great NBA player. He still was one of the top 50 or so in the league for many years, which is nothing to sneeze at, but he seemed to have Kevin Garnett talent to me. I am often embarrassed by how he behaves when he disagrees with calls against him. He basically leads the league every season in technical fouls. If someone can, please explain how that fact makes you proud of him.
At the same time, it should be recognized, that Rasheed Wallace is not an alumnus of our school, something that is disappointing, given that virtually every single other UNC player in the NBA has received his degree, including Michael Jordan’s nemesis on the Wizards, Jerry Stackhouse, who left the same year, and who had a similar career to Wallace in the NBA.
I hope people on this site are not reaching the point where they equate playing for the Tar Heels for a year or two with being an alumnus. And at least, even if you don’t want to finish at UNC, bring home that sheepskin, Rasheed–they have good schools in Philly–and make Dean happy.
William, an alumnus is someone who attended a school. It doesn’t have to be a graduate. Davis Love III is a UNC alumnus. Joseph Forte is an alumnus. Brandan Wright is an alumnus. Rasheed is an alumnus.
I saw somewhere that Harrison Barnes is considering joining a fraternity at UNC. This may probably be nothing more than mutterings from the rumor mill; however, part of me actually likes this in that it marks yet another sign that HB wants to become firmly entrenched at the University of North Carolina.
All of these comparisons are fun to line up, but after having watched countless hours of video on Barnes, I am struggling to find a matching talent. I would have to say, without reservation, that there is definately Kobe-type potential in HB. I’m not sure how his skills will develop within the North Carolina team context, but I can see why some have used Paul Pierce as the template. He really could dominate in the mold of Billy Cunningham, in that he simply did a little bit of everything, and did it better than anyone else on the court. The only detractor to the Cunningham years was that the Heels were fighting to be better than .500 and Dook were the toast of the ACC.
Nonetheless, I cannot wait for the Harrison Barnes era to begin. Let’s go Heels!!!
Technically, alumnus comes from the latin word for male student, so I guess Wallace qualifies. However, the notion of being a graduate is strongly implied in general usage and dictionaries make note of this.
I like Rasheed. I wish he had stayed four years and graduated and had the benefit of that extra tutelage under Smith.
Like Marcus said, however, remember, Rasheed came out about the same time as Joe Smith and Tim Duncan, whom he played against in the ACC. I thought he was at least as good as Duncan and better than Joe Smith in college, but Duncan has obviously outstripped both of them in the NBA. Wallace definitely made some big shots in game 7, which made me wonder why he hadn’t been starting all along. I wish him the best for the future, but controlling his emotions might be a lifelong struggle for him.
Wallace got outplayed consistently by Duncan in College & the NBA, but that doesn’t diminish him imo, although I do agree he had the potential to be a dominant player like Duncan. Some guys just like being a solid role player, and I think the KG comparison is apt. I too thought he provided much better balance than Perkins (how about his defense–3 blocks in the final at least), but apparently he was struggling with back issues. It was a brilliant move by Danny & Doc to add him to the roster, but I think they knew he would be a valuable sub in the playoffs, and not a reg season starter. Like I said, had the officiating not been skewed in the last 5 minutes, the Ainge/Rivers formula might well have worked. LA sure sounded like they knew they got some help.
nativeheel:
Amen.
I find watching virtually any US Pro team sport painful. A lot of this has to do with the monopoly that each franchise has.
Compare American Football with the English Premier league, where what the rest of the planet calls football is played. In these pro leagues, each year teams are promoted or relegated based on wins/losses. As a result, each game counts and each is hotly contested from the first day of the season to the last. Occasional exceptions arise, but not at all like what happens in most of US pro sports, where real effort is largely confined to the “playoffs”.
I think this is a better system.
Maybe such a system would be applicable in the mega-conference scheme that college athletics is heading toward.
^you make a good point, but you cast a wide blanket. I think the NBA is the worst transgressor per the regular season, but the playoffs should engage any true fan of hoops. The skill level is truly incredible to witness at times (in the playoffs). The NFL is fine like it is imo, and frankly so much better than college football that it’s not worth discussion.
Each level has it’s strengths & weaknesses–to me, the current “Calipari” trend of College hoops of “one and done” is quickly going to undermine it’s appeal if something isn’t done about it soon.
@ DeanForever: Thanks (for staying on topic) the report on Harrison. I too believe the young man is special by all the reports of his work ethic and talent. I do believe that all of us Tar Heel fans should employ a healthy dose of wait & see as it pertains to the 2010-11 team.
On the positive side we have a talent like HB coming in as well as Reggie Bullock who could be better than advertised and Kendall to share duties at PG. We have Knox to add depth up front and a much more confident player in Henson.
But this team has a lot to work on as far as skill development, team chemistry, leadership and mental toughness. Freshmen still have to adjust to the next level. Post play and perimeter shooting are still a question at this point. Hopefully McAdoo will join us this year.
I just hope we can all be patient and let these kids develop. But I share your anticipation for the Harrison Barnes era..GO HEELS!!