Remember when he shot 26 percent during the preseason? That feels like an awfully long time ago at this point. He’s had seven games this season with a scoring output higher than the percentage he shot during exhibition season.
Player development is not always linear; a player does not simply improve at every single facet of his game without ever taking a step back in a different area, and sometimes growth can take days, weeks, months, or years. Every case is different. In Barnes’, though, he has improved dramatically since signing as a Maverick. That, combined with a hugely increased workload over the one he carried during four seasons with the Golden State Warriors, has resulted in one of the most unexpected, pleasant surprises of the 2016-17 season: Barnes is averaging 20.