Warriors forward Harrison Barnes has been selected to join Team USA.
Here’s some words I never thought I would type: Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes has accepted an invitation to play for Team USA during the upcoming Rio Olympics.
He joins teammates Klay Thompson and Draymond Green on the team, although if I had to guess, they probably won’t be teammates any longer by the time the Olympics are over. I think Barnes goes to the Thunder as part of a sign-and-trade for Kevin Durant, but that’s another story for another time.
So Harrison Barnes is an Olympian, was E’Twaun Moore too busy?
Look, it’s nothing personal against Barnes. By all accounts, he’s a reasonably hard worker and a good guy. I just don’t think he’s very good. Wouldn’t his teammate Andre Iguodala have been a better choice?
What about one of the guys on the USA select team? C.J. McCollum would be able to spread the court. Same with Devin Booker from the Phoenix Suns. Heck, take newly-minted #2 overall pick Brandon Ingram with you to Rio. I would have been perfectly fine with that.
But it’s Barnes.
This is going to do nothing but contribute to the absolute and utter fallacy that Harrison Barnes is worth a max contract this off-season (God help the team that offers him). The 24-year-old small forward averaged 11.7 points and 4.9 rebounds for the NBA Championship runners-up this past year.
For reasons that I’ll never be able to comprehend, we’ve had it shoved down our throats that Harrison Barnes is a future star in the NBA. The first instance of this propaganda that I can remember personally was during Barnes’ McDonald’s All-American game. During the broadcast, one of the announcers compared Barnes to Kobe Bryant — without laughing.
Amazing.
This is what happens when Bradley Beal, Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, LeBron James, Steph Curry. James Harden, John Wall, Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, Gordon Hayward, Kawhi Leonard, Andre Drummond and others, withdraw their name from consideration.
Thanks guys, do you see what you did?
Anyway, I never intended to be so pedantic with this piece. Barnes simply frustrates me. More-so, the notion that Barnes is a budding star frustrates me. With all of that said, he’s now a member of Team USA and I’m in his corner rooting for him to excel.
