Harrison Barnes is one of the most solid role players in the NBA today. He is athletic, skilled and has a team first attitude. He was a key member of the 2015 NBA Championship winning Golden State Warriors team. Harrison Barnes currently plays for the Sacramento Kings, where he started all 82 games last season, averaging 32.5 minutes per game. In this post, we will find out more about Harrison Barnes. Let’s get started.
Harrison Barnes: A Stellar Career
Hungry and humble. Two words burned under the skin of Harrison Barnes. Two terms have accompanied the forward since his earliest childhood, since he one day wrote them with a pencil on a piece of paper that he still carries every day in his pockets. Two qualities that have helped him become one of the better players in the NBA.
When was Harrison Barnes born?
Harrison Barnes was born on May 30, 1991. He grew up in the small town of Ames, in the state of Iowa. Under the strict gaze of his mother, Shirley, and as a mirror of his little sister, Harrison Barnes began dribbling a ball with the sole desire to have fun and spend time with his sister. Little did he know then that that orange sphere was going to be his life and his passport to a better future for him and the two women in his life.
How was Harriso Barnes’ childhood?
The former North Carolina player spent his childhood with no major worries other than obeying and helping a mother for whom work was everything. Shirley, a single mother, intended to give the best possible future to her children and with her efforts she became the mirror in which the young Harrison looked to evolve as a person and as a player.
Who is Harrison Barnes’ idol?
Harrison Barnes has always been clear about it. Neither Michael Jordan, LeBron James nor any other NBA player has been his idol. His mother has been the best example for him and the one who has instilled in him the culture of effort, ambition and humility as cornerstones of his life. Values that he reinforced by growing up in a small community like Ames, to which he has always been grateful.
Harrison Barnes: Basketball Career
High School
Harrison Barnes soon stood out with the ball in his hands. His ability to score from long distance earned him fame as a great scorer since his adolescence, when he led his school, Ames High School, for two consecutive seasons without losing in the Iowa state championship. A total of 43 victories with averages of 26 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals per game earned him the title of one of the two best high school players in the entire country. The effort was beginning to pay off.
Barnes was part of the elite of American college basketball and as such he was invited to the Jordan Camp Classic in 2010, where he coincided with the ‘rookie of the year’ Kyrie Irving and with whom he shared MVP, and with his classmate, Jared Sullinger.
Why is Harrison Barnes called Black Hawk?
In that tournament, Barnes began his legend as the ‘Black Hawk’. A nickname that according to the player himself came from an ESPN correspondent who gave nicknames to all the players present at the Jordan Camp. “I told him I wanted him to be an animal. Jordan was the ‘Black Jesus, Kobe is the ‘Black Mamba,’ so he named me the ‘Black Hawk.'”
College
After his school years and with the star sign under his arm, Barnes began university interviews. Universities such as Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma and UCLA offered him basketball scholarships. When everything indicated that the forward was going to choose the one closest to his home (“Iowa has made me what I am,” says Barnes), North Carolina appeared and through a Skype conversation coach Roy Williams managed to convince his future star.
In the ‘Tar Heels’ he began to stand out from his first game with 21 points in an exhibition game in the Bahamas. It was only the beginning. Barnes became one of the offensive focal points of the North Carolina team and after two years wearing the blue and white jersey, his stats demonstrated the offensive capacity of this forward, who had taken the leap with averages of 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
However, his university experience was not complete as he did not win the long-awaited national title. “This has shown me that you have to work extremely hard to achieve your goal. I hope this will help me in the future to be a better professional,” Barnes self-flagellated after the season.
NBA Draft
Digesting the bitter taste of defeat, the forward decided to put an end to his university adventure on March 29, when he announced his intention to sign up for the draft along with his teammates Kendall Marshall, Tyler Zeller and John Henson. The time had come to prove that he was made to play for the seniors.
Harrison Barnes: Player Profile
To achieve success in the NBA, Harrison Barnes was blessed with more than enough weapons to dream of a long NBA career, starting with a physique suitable for playing in the League, especially in terms of mobility. But his main asset is his outside shooting. Analysts compare him to a sniper like Glen Rice and highlight his ability to shoot the ball as soon as he receives it, in addition to his ability to make and score shots from almost any position. If we add to that his good vision of the game and his intelligence on the court, Harrison Barnes is a perfect NBA player.
One of Harrison Barnes’ weaknesses is that he has a limited ability to generate his own shots, in addition to his lack of explosiveness in the first step, which prevents him from being a threat when it comes to scoring shots. It was a burden that weighed on scouts, who saw him as a somewhat one-dimensional player, whose only offensive weapon was shooting.
However, all the talent scouts pointed out his wide room for improvement as an investment for the future. Above all, because of his ability to work, his hunger and his humility. These values seem necessary to succeed in the NBA. And Harrison Barnes has proven himself very well in the NBA since he was drafted 7th overall by the Golden State Warriors in 2012.
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