Earl Barron: 2014-15 Phoenix Suns Player Grades
By Gavin Schall
Highlights:
Barron fully lived up to his nickname I made up two slides a go in his final game of the season. He ignited an admittedly emotionally desperate Suns crowd by hitting two threes in the team’s final game — not exactly a common occurrence for Barron.
Don't act like you've never seen Earl Barron make a 3-pointer. It was only 7 years ago (3/18/2008 for Miami). #SunsVsClippers
— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) April 15, 2015
“I’ve always been able to shoot, it’s just a matter of getting out there, being relaxed, being comfortable and having fun,” Barron said.
Watching Barron make corner threes look like pop-a-shot in practice, I can confirm that he’s not lying.
Barron’s season proved that he’s in basketball purgatory: too good for the D-League and not quite cut out to be a consistent contributor on the NBA level.
The bright side of purgatory is that Barron had half a season of doing whatever he wanted against overmatched D-Leaguers.
He averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds per game on the Jam and had two absolutely ridiculous performances:
Watching those two videos it’s immensely obvious that D-Leaguers aren’t use to dealing with seven-footers that can shoot and move quite like Barron. At the 1:30 mark of the first video, Barron rips through a double-team and makes a fool out of the second help defender before finishing on the other side of the hoop. (Dirk Nowitzki voice) SHUT IT DOWN, LET’S GO HOME!
The Barron took no prisoners and may or may not have been the D-League Kevin Durant — and yes, that sentence constitutes a very meta season highlight.
Next: Final Grade