Will Barton making a case for backup Shooting Guard spot
By David MacKay
Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard Will Barton has been very busy this summer. The first reports that he was broadening his skill set to include facilitation came back in early July, when Mo Williams’ fate was uncertain and before the Trail Blazers signed free agent point guard Steve Blake. It was the beginning of a bold gambit for minutes that I don’t think anyone expected to yield a born-again point guard—and it hasn’t. But Barton’s results have been interesting nonetheless.
He is presently competing in a fierce race with C.J. McCollum for the Trail Blazers’ backup shooting guard role entering the 2014-15 NBA season. Coupled with three-point shooting, McCollum’s primary advantage has always been play making, but Barton appears to be gaining ground. In yesterday’s Wells Fargo Fan Fest scrimmage, Barton looked exceptional playing alongside Damian Lillard as a secondary play maker. He finished the game with 13 points, six assists, and a typically impressive seven rebounds (one shy of Meyers Leonard’s game-high eight).
via Portland Trail Blazers’ YouTube channel
Because of Fan Fest’s low-key nature, there is no reason to extrapolate more from this performance than is correlatively appropriate, but it was encouraging to see how comfortable Barton was exhibiting the fruits of his labor. He played a tighter, smarter game than we are used to seeing from him; setting up teammates on multiple occasions. If this improvement holds in a larger sample size against stiffer competition, we could see Barton crest a developmental hill this year and perhaps earn a more regular spot in rotation.
"“That’s what I’ve been working on probably the most during the summer, besides my jump shooting, is trying to become a better playmaker, being smarter, making better reads hitting our shooters because we have a lot of shooters. I like to get to the rim so if I can suck guys in and hit guys like Damian [Lillard] and Wes [Matthews] and Nico [Batum] for jumpshots and threes, it makes my job easier, get some assists. That’s something I’m really harping on and hopefully I can continue to keep doing that.”"
– via Casey Holdahl, ForwardCenter.net
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Whether or not this mentality helps Barton edge McCollum for minutes in the backcourt has yet to be seen, but we may get a better idea of where they stand in preseason, which begins for the Trail Blazers on Tuesday in Utah. Both players are ready to go and Head Coach Terry Stotts has once again been watching closely to see which direction he wants to go with Portland’s second unit:
"“Training camp is a competition no matter what. For playing time, right now we’re going to start the same starters. I don’t know if anyone is competing for a starting spot, but that’s what October is about. That’s what training camp is about. Everybody is competing for minutes. That’s where you find out where you want to go. Last year, Joel Freeland won a spot in the rotation. On this day a year ago, I couldn’t have said that was going to happen, but that’s what eventually came out of the month of October. So I don’t know what is going to happen.”"
– Terry Stotts, Media Day 2014
Nothing is set in stone at this point, so now is the time for Barton to force his way into consideration. There are really no losers in this from a team standpoint. Any time two players compete for the same spot on the same team you’re going to see a heightened level of play from both. McCollum has looked steady, but steady may not be enough when the regular season rolls around. Barton is bridging the mental gap and maintaining separation on the physical end. Preseason could be a real showdown.