Cleveland Cavaliers may be doomed with Harrison Barnes at the #4 pick

Cleveland Cavaliers may be doomed with Harrison Barnes at the #4 pick

 

With the Rookie of the year in Kyrie Irving and 4 picks in the 2012 Draft. The Cleveland Cavaliers seem to headed in the right direction. The only problem is they have the potentially catastrophic #4 pick in the 2012 NBA draft, also known as, Harrison Barnes.

If the Cavaliers draft Barnes, there is a 97.7% chance that the pick will be wasted. Only thing that keeps me from going the full 100% is his ability to shoot, and the fact that I’m a coward. Plus if they do draft him, the 2.3% gives me the ability say, “Well maybe I was wrong.” The problem is he’s a guy that underachieved for 2 years with a team that was loaded with talent. He was supposed the guy that put the ACC on its head, the only freshman to ever make the ACC Preseason first team. However he never showed up, and in the end, wasn’t even the best player on his team. In addition he went King Houdini 1 (Please read the footnote, and add King Houdini to your sports lexicon…oh, you’re welcome) in the NCAA Tournament, and the last thing Cleveland needs is another Houdini2.

If you’re a Cleveland fan and you think about the potential of acquiring Harrison Barnes. Not only should you be disowned by your closets relatives. But you should be nervous to the point where your butt cheeks are so tight that you could pick a cherry up by the stem. In March Grantland.com ran an excellent article named “Brand Gone Bust” by Jay Caspian Kang about Harrison Barnes. Kang chronicled the career of Barnes from high school to college. One thing that was highlighted was Barnes’ awareness of his public perception and his goal to become a brand. Those things should be Red Flags to everyone in the city of Cleveland. You can see by his well image that Barnes is just a guy telling you what you want to hear. He reminds me of a car salesman at a Kia dealership. Though he’s selling you trash, he’ll convince you that he’s doing things the right way.

To make matters worse Harrison Barnes did a public decision when deciding what college he would go to, and he selected his school by skyping the head coach he wanted to play for (Red Flag). So not only did he go decision, but he had a grown man huddle around a computer, waiting to see if a 17 year old would call him. “And you thought LeBron James was pretentious”.

Drafting Harrison Barnes is not worth the risk. We don’t need to be spectators to a guy trying to increase his value. Lord knows Cleveland fans have had enough of dudes trying to build their brand (If you need a reminder please see LeBron James and the dude that claimed he couldn’t run the ball because he had strep throat). Now Barnes would be worth the risk if he had LeBron James type game, but he doesn’t. At best Harrison is a role player on a championship team. So instead drafting Harrison Barnes and his brand name, take a risk on the upside of 6′ 10″ Andre Drummond, or maybe draft and trade Kendall Marshall.

We’ll see what the Cleveland front office does, but they’re on the clock.

 

1. King Houdini is a term I came up with for LeBron James’ disappearing act at the end of basketball games. Feel free to use this term for the hometown frustrating player of your choice. Just be sure to holla out ya boy and shoot me a #KingHoudini.

2. No more. Nuff said.

 

Kortney Shane Williams

Editor-in-Chief of Comedic Prose

Follow Kortney Williams on Twitter @kortneyshane

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