Dallas Mavericks Have Bright Future With Harrison Barnes

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.

Related Story: Dallas Mavericks--25 Best Players

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.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/4/2017.

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.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/5/2017.

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.

Next: Ranking The Last 50 NBA Champions

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