Dallas Mavericks Have Bright Future With Harrison Barnes

By Fansided and Paolo Pascual/FanSided via Hoops Habit
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Harrison Barnes' consistency throughout this season is something the Dallas Mavericks can build on.

The Dallas Mavericks were officially eliminated from playoff contention on April 1 when the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Phoenix Suns. Despite the up-and-down season, Harrison Barnes has been a bright spot and Mavs fans should be excited moving forward with him.

For the first time in his five-year professional career, Barnes is a key focal point for a growing team. He's averaging career highs in both minutes and points. More importantly, he fits in well both with his team and the Mavericks organization.

As a basketball fan, I'm excited to watch him grow into a solid all-around player.

It's no secret the Mavs have disregarded the draft, but it's nice to see they have some talented young players they can continue to develop. Nerlens Noel, Yogi Ferrell and Seth Curry all have strong potential to be successful contributors in this league.

Combine that with great coaching and a world-class training staff, the Mavs are certainly heading in the right direction.

Now if they can just finally nail their draft pick, that would be awesome too. Just to refresh everyone's memory, here's an illustration of their picks since the 1998 NBA draft.

138 Selections Table
Year Rd Pk Player
2016 2 46 A.J. Hammons
2015 1 21 Justin Anderson
2015 2 52 Satnam Singh
2013 1 13 Kelly Olynyk
2013 2 44 Mike Muscala
2012 1 17 Tyler Zeller
2012 2 55 Darius Johnson-Odom
2011 1 26 Jordan Hamilton
2011 2 57 Targuy Ngombo
2010 2 50 Solomon Alabi
2009 1 24 Byron Mullens
2009 2 56 Ahmad Nivins
2008 2 51 Shan Foster
2007 2 34 Nick Fazekas
2007 2 50 Renaldas Seibutis
2007 2 60 Milovan Rakovic
2006 1 28 Maurice Ager
2006 2 58 J.R. Pinnock
2004 2 50 Vassilis Spanoulis
2003 1 29 Josh Howard
2003 2 57 Xue Yuyang
2002 2 54 Mladen Sekularac
2001 2 43 Kyle Hill
2001 2 53 Kenny Satterfield
2000 1 12 Etan Thomas
2000 2 31 Dan Langhi
2000 2 58 Pete Mickeal
1999 2 36 Wang Zhizhi
1999 2 40 Gordan Giricek

It's clear they haven't been very successful in recent drafts.

Back to the positive, though. Per Eddie Sefko (DFW Sports Day) before the season started, Dirk Nowitzki said:

"There's been tons of guys who told me they're gym rats and I've never seen them in the gym at nights. But this guy (Barnes) is constantly in there in the mornings and nights already the last few weeks. He wants to be great. A guy like that, you have to root to succeed."

Coming from the GOAT, I'd say that's as strong of a recommendation that you're going to get. With coach Rick Carlisle's guidance and the opportunity to learn from Nowitzki himself, Barnes is exactly where he needs to be. He certainly isn't taking his opportunity lightly either.

Per Game Table
Season Tm G GS MP FG% 3P% FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
2014-15 GSW 82 82 28.3 .482 .405 .720 5.5 1.4 0.7 0.2 0.9 1.8 10.1
2015-16 GSW 66 59 30.9 .466 .383 .761 4.9 1.8 0.6 0.2 0.9 2.1 11.7
2016-17 DAL 77 77 35.7 .468 .352 .863 5.1 1.5 0.9 0.2 1.3 1.6 19.4

In 77 games, Barnes has started in all of them and has been the definition of consistent.

While his shooting percentage, assists and rebounds have stayed around the same from the last two seasons (which weren't terrible to begin with), his minutes and points per game have seen a strong increase.

More impressively, he doesn't take many bad shots and he's certainly shown that he can hit big shots down the stretch. For instance, his 15-point fourth quarter in Milwaukee on Sunday, including a clutch bucket that put his team up five with 20 seconds to go.

Barnes has certainly taken on the challenge of becoming a go-to player that his coaches and teammates can depend on. At age 24, his future is bright.

With his work ethic and his ability to be consistent, he'll be a key building piece for the Mavericks moving forward.

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