Film Study: Harrison Barnes' 3 Go-to Shots

What were Harrison Barnes' 3 go-to shots last season with the Sacramento Kings? How can the Spurs help Barnes get some of those same looks in San Antonio?

Similar to how I wrote about Chris Paul’s 3 go-to shots Tuesday, today, let’s explore the 3 go-to shots for Harrison Barnes with the Sacramento Kings last season.

Here was Barnes’ shot breakdown when the first reports came out that he was going to be joining the Spurs.

As we can see from the breakdown, Barnes’ 3 most frequent shots came from 1) The Arc Three, 2) The Corners, and 3) Layup/Dunk Range.

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The Arc Three

When examining Barnes’ shot breakdown, we see that 29.9% of his shot attempts came from the arc three, making this his most frequent shot area.

While overall from the arc three he shot 1% better than league average, there was a stark difference when he took shots from the left wing, compared to the right wing. 13% of Barnes’ shots came from the right wing three, but he shot just 32.6% from there, about 3% worse than league average.

On the left wing though, 11.1% of Barnes’ shots came from there, and his accuracy increased to 42%, about 6% better than league average.

While the video clip above does show Barnes making a few pull-up threes, that’s not usually the type of shot he shoots from three. Just 14% of his three point attempts came off pull-up threes, while the rest were off catch-and-shoot action.

When watching Barnes shoot from distance, you see that he’s usually in a ready-to-shoot position on the catch, and he has a slight dip to start collecting power. Since he already has the ball near his upper body area, he’s ready to quickly launch his outside shot.

Playing alongside Victor Wembanyama, who will command the attention of multiple defenders, Barnes should continue to get some open looks out on the arc. What will be interesting though is to see if Barnes can spot-up more often on the left wing when Wemby has the ball, so that if the ball eventually makes its way to Barnes open from three, he has a better chance of drilling the shot from that area of the floor.

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The Corners

When combing both corners, 22.7% of Barnes’ shot attempts last season came from the corners. It didn’t matter which corner Barnes shot from, he shot better than league average from either side. Barnes shot 39.8% from the left corner, which was almost 1% better than league average. From the right corner, Barnes made 42.5% of his triples, about 3% better than league average.

Barnes displays his quick shot release more evidently from the corners. He has both hands in a ready-to-shoot position off the ball, and with his passing target near his chest, as soon as he catches the ball, he squares up and releases the shot without taking too much time.

Barnes also shows the ability to run the corners and make himself a target from the corner when a play is in motion, and he shows the ability to quickly shuffle-step from the wing to a corner, so he can easily be an option to receive a corner pass for a three. This is a key action in one of the Spurs’ halfcourt offensive sets known as the ‘hammer’ action.

With passers like Chris Paul, Tre Jones, Wemby, and Stephon Castle on the team, Barnes should also be able to get some pretty good looks from the corners with the Spurs this upcoming season.

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Layup/Dunk Range