And made 501. At the practice facility. Just saw this on Twitter. Wow. 914 shots. Way to go, Will! Keep working.
A real baller would have shot an even 1000. ...no, but seriously, it's awesome to see him working on his big weakness offensively.
Man if Barton actually puts a perimeter game to his existing game, he could be a serious asset! That's great news!
I wonder if the goal was to make 500 shots and he took as many as necessary to get there? Then had a streak going so kept shooting past 500 made, missed one, and couldn't leave the gym on a miss so hit 501?
I just hope he doesn't use it as a crutch though. The spot up shot is the easiest shot for a wing player. It's the drives and getting to the line that are the hardest for the wings. I want a decent % from the perimeter, but I want this kid to drive and finish in the paint. We need that player badly!
Funny you should say that because thats why I said I "only" want him to get decent. Meaning shoot it you are wide open in the flow of the offense but really use it as a way to open up the driving lanes for you and others.
That's hopefully what I see in Barton. When I saw him during the summer league, I thought he was going to be good. He is good at finishing around the rim. I would love to see him add a little more strength and work on that control many of us were complaining about at the beginning of the season. He was getting much better, but he's still a long way from being "in control". If he can have a half way decent shot, control and added strength; he will be REALLy GOOD!
This weekend took my nephew to shoot360 in Beaverton. He shot 315 shots in about 45 minutes. Each shoot they record the height, distance and makes and print it all out afterwards so you can view the results. Pretty cool, at one time he was on a roll hitting 9 out of 10 in a row (free throws) with a 43-48 degree arch. Anyways he is 12 years old and took 315 shots in less than an hour. I was surprised how fast the shots can start piling up when you have someone or something feeding you the ball constantly.
Barton's not going to be relied on for 36 minutes a game; players like that have no real "crutches" as long as they're making an impact. If he jacks some threes and makes 35% of them, he can pretty much jack threes all he wants for the 12 minutes he plays.
This could get Barton's trade value up to Babbitt's. We can replace the NBA season with 82 practice sessions of 18,000 fascinated fans watching Barton and Babbitt compete in thousand-shot shootouts.
This is May 8th. No down side to this news. He just needs to keep working. I wouldn't be surprised if he is better than 90 % of the SG's we evaluate during the draft process.
I think Will can be our backup shooting guard next year. Wes could be expendable if the right player becomes available.
^LOL. But this is good news. Down the stretch, as Will was playing more, I liked more and more what I was seeing. Except I felt like he was missing some easy, open 12-15 foot jumpers that were killing us. So, I can only see the efforts as a very good thing, as this kind of effort will significantly cut back those easy shots he was missing.
