Friday, December 10th, 2010 at 11:29 am  |  15 responses

Who’s Number One?

Harrison Barnes has lost his iron-clad grip on the Draft’s number one spot.

by Jeff Fox / @HoopsManifesto

It’s been quite a few years since we’ve been able to have a serious debate over who should go first overall in an upcoming NBA Draft, but it appears like 2011 is one of those rare years that a debate is in order. Due to the slow start to his freshman campaign, North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes has lost his iron-clad grip on the top overall spot, a spot he has held for a few years already. Shooting 33.7 percent from theHarrison Barnes floor and 27.3 percent from long-range is not going to impress many scouts. But perhaps the most concerning aspect of Barnes’ early performances is the steep drop-off in his level of play when going up against tougher competition. In the Tar Heels four games versus major conference teams (Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Illinois and Kentucky), the freshman has shot 23.3 percent from the floor. Yikes!

So if Barnes isn’t number one, who is? Depends on who you ask. It could be Duke sensation Kyrie Irving, who has been tremendous for the Blue Devils so far. He has shown poise in running the team, has risen to the occasion against tougher competition (he shut down Kansas State’s All-American Jacob Pullen, for example), can get past his defender and to the rim with ease or knock down the outside J, and has been compared to Chris Paul. What more can you ask for? One problem – Irving recently injured his toe, the extent of which still hasn’t been announced, and he could be done for the year. Yikes (again)!

Ok, how about Baylor’s Perry Jones then? Some scouts believe he has more potential than Barnes or Irving because of his size and length. And he’s also had a strong start to his collegiate career, putting up a solid 12.8 ppg, 9.0 rpg and 1.5 bpg. He also leads a very talented Bears team in minutes played. Skeptics still have room to criticize because Baylor hasn’t faced any tough teams thus far–the Bears first real test of the season won’t come until January 17th when they host No. 4 Kansas.

So who’s number one? Your guess is as good as ours. But no worries – we still have six months to figure things out.

Read more of Jeff Fox at The Hoops Manifesto and The MMA Manifesto.

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  • Clos1881 Posted: Dec.10 at 12:05 pm
    Harrison is still the best of the group his game Is more of A NBA style game.

  • Scott Posted: Dec.10 at 12:16 pm
    Irving would probably be number one right now. Irving reminds me of Chris Paul.

  • niQ Posted: Dec.10 at 12:17 pm
    Perry Jones is likely to go number 1 if Barnes can’t pick it back up. Irving could’ve snuck into number 1 but the injury could hurt his stock. Still, I don’t think Irving will fall lower than top 3.

  • Scott Posted: Dec.10 at 12:18 pm
    Barnes reminds me of Marvin Williams and that is not a good thing. It is early maybe Barnes will turn it around but i doubt it.

  • Billions Posted: Dec.10 at 12:26 pm
    Sullinger.. Nuff said

  • c_cantrell Posted: Dec.10 at 12:28 pm
    as of right now sullinger has the number 1 pick on lock down

  • Scott Posted: Dec.10 at 12:31 pm
    Sullinger won’t go top 5.

  • Big O. Posted: Dec.10 at 12:40 pm
    @Jeff, lets just stop this Harrison Barnes debate already, he’s a 18 year old kid trying to figure things out, it’s still early in the season. I heard him say in a recent interview that his focus on winning and trying to get better. He’s just a freshman, media and so-called draft experts are the one that puts all this expectations on him. I don’t think he is worthy of a top 10 pick at this time. But it’s very early, things can change. We act like he’s the second coming of Lebron and again who is. Anyways, my top 3 for number pick is Sullinger, Kyrie Irving, or Terrence Jones. Enough said….

  • c_cantrell Posted: Dec.10 at 12:44 pm
    ^scott..
    your an idiot

  • Big O. Posted: Dec.10 at 12:49 pm
    I agree Scott is an idiot and should be banned from this sight….

  • Scott Posted: Dec.10 at 1:01 pm
    Irving, Jones, Barnes, Valanciunas, and Kanter all have better upside. Its just common knowledge.

  • omphalos Posted: Dec.10 at 1:06 pm
    This could have been a much better post, but it’s really just a few numbers and a basic statement of facts most basketball fans know. Come on dude, give us some real arguments!

  • Luiyo Posted: Dec.10 at 1:26 pm
    What about Jared Sullinger??

  • Big O. Posted: Dec.10 at 2:43 pm
    Sullinger = Beast

  • Diesel Posted: Dec.10 at 3:20 pm
    I have to eat my words on this one. I said before the season that I wasn’t impressed with Irving, but I was wrong. Dude is tearing it up.

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