Addition Of Matt Barnes Should Help The Grizzlies

One of the few moves the Memphis Grizzlies made this offseason that actually added something to the team was the acquisition of forward Matt Barnes from the Charlotte Hornets. While most of the deals Memphis made either replaced departed players or kept current members of the roster in place, Barnes is a new addition that could shake things up considerably.

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Barnes is a 12-year veteran of the NBA, drafted out of UCLA in the second-round of the 2002 NBA Draft. In that time, he has played for eight different franchises and has career averages of 8.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Barnes is known for playing tough and not backing down, which has resulted in more flagrant fouls and ejections than would make most head coaches comfortable.

Last season with the Los Angeles Clippers, Barnes averaged 10.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game and shot 44.4 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from the three-point line. Considering how dreadful the Grizzlies were from beyond the arc last year, the addition of Barnes should be welcomed by fans just due to that stat alone.

But even with Barnes being a solid three-point threat, that isn’t why him joining the Grizzlies will help the team return to the Western Conference Finals.

It’s all about the attitude.

As I already talked about, Barnes is not what anyone would call a meek player. He talks trash, throws insults and will make his presence felt on the court both physically and on the scoreboard. He had 13 technical fouls and was ejected twice in 2014-15, which is a huge part of the reason Doc Rivers wanted to ship him out of Los Angeles so badly. There are very few teams where a player such as Barnes could be made to feel right at home.

The Memphis Grizzlies happen to be one of those teams.

The Grizzlies have had a chip on their shoulder for years and that isn’t going to stop any time soon. They play basketball their way and the rest of the association can pound sand before that is going to change. Memphis has never gotten the respect they feel they deserve from opponents and it shows in the way they play. Memphis knows it, the rest of the NBA knows it and it has made for some great basketball over the years.

But they also paradoxically have a reputation for being one of the nicest group of players around. It is a well-known fact Marc Gasol and Mike Conley are great human beings as well as basketball players, and Tony Allen and Zach Randolph aren’t far behind.

With the addition of Barnes, they get a hard-working player who talks the talk as well as walks the walk. Barnes has attitude — some would say too much for his own good — and that should translate very well to the Memphis “grit-n-grind” way of playing basketball.

No one would ever call Matt Barnes a “great human being,” but maybe that is just what the Grizzlies need to take their game to the next level.

In Barnes, the Grizzlies get a seasoned veteran who is a serious three-point threat and brings with him the right attitude to play in a place like Memphis. Put him on the court with Allen and Randolph and suddenly you have a team that isn’t afraid of contact, doesn’t care about technical fouls and will get in the face of anyone who dares go there, no matter who they are.

Sounds to me like a match made in heaven.

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