8th ave wrote:Just bought 2k13 yesterday. They have Brandon Rush's overall skill level at 71. What a damn shame. He's at least a 76 or something. They have Bogut at 79! WTF!?

And, as always, they make the former Warrior LEAGUES better once he's on another squad (Monta Ellis is an 86... the highest rated Warriors are Curry and Lee at 82). They've done that with Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, and Jason Richardson in recent years... 86 or 88 on the Warriors; 90 on the Clippers. Whoever runs the whole rating system clearly has something against Golden State. I'm still pretty happy that they rank them 13 of 30 overall, though.

And at least they got something right with the Signature Skills feature. That was something they REALLY needed to impliment and it makes a huge difference. Last year, you could pretty much throw it to LeBron and drive and just have him jam it on everyone. This year, with dudes like Bogut getting "Defensive Anchor" love - or Serge Ibaka, with "Eraser" skills - guys like Shannon Brown are no longer unrealistically dominant on the drive. Clutch addition for sure; although I would have loved to see them add some negative ones as well as positive... wouldn't be too hard to slap a guy with a "Loud Mouth" label that triggered technical fouls during cold steaks, or maybe "Lagger" for guys like ARandolph/Jeremy Tyler that jog back on defense after missing a lay-up. I'm sure Hove didn't wanna offend anyone (hence the lack of negative signature skills), but hopefully next year they run with this feature and add a couple dingers for guys like Biedrins that just flat-out play with some obvious flaws. It'd be histerical to give a guy like Russell Westbrook "Tunnel Vision" and disable the pass button he's driving to the cup during a cold streak!

Gotta edit guy's dunks and lay-ups though. DLee's favorite jam is clearly the quick-release back-scratch and they don't even give that to him on his default package.

Looks like Rush is winning the 3 battle right now.

The small forwards on the Golden State Warriors' depth chart include Harrison Barnes, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush. According to Marcus Thompson of The Oakland Tribune, the Rush might be the early favorite to win the position.

Thompson writes: "I'm told he's looked really good, so far. And not just looked good in the sense that everybody who isnt out of shape or injured looked good. But apparently, Rush is standing out. I thought Richard Jeffersons experience might win over coach Mark Jackson. Though Rush as the starter makes a lot of sense, perhaps the most sense. He ran with the first team at training camp on Wednesday, so something is there."

Small forward is the only starting spot up for competition. The four players locked into the first unit are Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, David Lee and Andrew Bogut.

32 wrote:

8th ave wrote:Just bought 2k13 yesterday. They have Brandon Rush's overall skill level at 71. What a damn shame. He's at least a 76 or something. They have Bogut at 79! WTF!?

And, as always, they make the former Warrior LEAGUES better once he's on another squad (Monta Ellis is an 86... the highest rated Warriors are Curry and Lee at 82). They've done that with Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, and Jason Richardson in recent years... 86 or 88 on the Warriors; 90 on the Clippers. Whoever runs the whole rating system clearly has something against Golden State. I'm still pretty happy that they rank them 13 of 30 overall, though.

And at least they got something right with the Signature Skills feature. That was something they REALLY needed to impliment and it makes a huge difference. Last year, you could pretty much throw it to LeBron and drive and just have him jam it on everyone. This year, with dudes like Bogut getting "Defensive Anchor" love - or Serge Ibaka, with "Eraser" skills - guys like Shannon Brown are no longer unrealistically dominant on the drive. Clutch addition for sure; although I would have loved to see them add some negative ones as well as positive... wouldn't be too hard to slap a guy with a "Loud Mouth" label that triggered technical fouls during cold steaks, or maybe "Lagger" for guys like ARandolph/Jeremy Tyler that jog back on defense after missing a lay-up. I'm sure Hove didn't wanna offend anyone (hence the lack of negative signature skills), but hopefully next year they run with this feature and add a couple dingers for guys like Biedrins that just flat-out play with some obvious flaws. It'd be histerical to give a guy like Russell Westbrook "Tunnel Vision" and disable the pass button he's driving to the cup during a cold streak!

Gotta edit guy's dunks and lay-ups though. DLee's favorite jam is clearly the quick-release back-scratch and they don't even give that to him on his default package.

Yea, they didn't rate the players on the warriors very well, individually. But like you said they were ranked 13th out of 30, which means they must think highly of the team. Ranked at 13 means you could easily be in the top 10 at any given time. Warriors could be really good this year.

8th ave wrote:Looks like Rush is winning the 3 battle right now.

The small forwards on the Golden State Warriors' depth chart include Harrison Barnes, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush. According to Marcus Thompson of The Oakland Tribune, the Rush might be the early favorite to win the position.

Thompson writes: "I'm told he's looked really good, so far. And not just looked good in the sense that everybody who isnt out of shape or injured looked good. But apparently, Rush is standing out. I thought Richard Jeffersons experience might win over coach Mark Jackson. Though Rush as the starter makes a lot of sense, perhaps the most sense. He ran with the first team at training camp on Wednesday, so something is there."

Small forward is the only starting spot up for competition. The four players locked into the first unit are Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, David Lee and Andrew Bogut.

They spun it in a positive light, but make no mistake: I'm disappointed if Harrison Barnes can't beat out Brandon Rush for the starting 3 spot. Dude is supposed to be an NBA-ready scorer and he's already giving journalists quotes about how Klay's the best shooter but HE wants to be the best scorer. How you gonna be the team's go-to scorer from the bench, kid?

32 wrote:

8th ave wrote:Looks like Rush is winning the 3 battle right now.

The small forwards on the Golden State Warriors' depth chart include Harrison Barnes, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush. According to Marcus Thompson of The Oakland Tribune, the Rush might be the early favorite to win the position.

Thompson writes: "I'm told he's looked really good, so far. And not just looked good in the sense that everybody who isnt out of shape or injured looked good. But apparently, Rush is standing out. I thought Richard Jeffersons experience might win over coach Mark Jackson. Though Rush as the starter makes a lot of sense, perhaps the most sense. He ran with the first team at training camp on Wednesday, so something is there."

Small forward is the only starting spot up for competition. The four players locked into the first unit are Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, David Lee and Andrew Bogut.

They spun it in a positive light, but make no mistake: I'm disappointed if Harrison Barnes can't beat out Brandon Rush for the starting 3 spot. Dude is supposed to be an NBA-ready scorer and he's already giving journalists quotes about how Klay's the best shooter but HE wants to be the best scorer. How you gonna be the team's go-to scorer from the bench, kid?

I would be disappionted if Barnes starts at the 3 to start the season. That would mean that a rookie beat out Jefferson and Rush.... no way should a Rookie be your best player at a position in a playoff team. I think he can earn it, say mid way through the season, then yeah. But would perfer to see Rush start, and bring him off the bench first half of the season.

GSW Hoops Fan wrote:

32 wrote:

8th ave wrote:Looks like Rush is winning the 3 battle right now.

The small forwards on the Golden State Warriors' depth chart include Harrison Barnes, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush. According to Marcus Thompson of The Oakland Tribune, the Rush might be the early favorite to win the position.

Thompson writes: "I'm told he's looked really good, so far. And not just looked good in the sense that everybody who isnt out of shape or injured looked good. But apparently, Rush is standing out. I thought Richard Jeffersons experience might win over coach Mark Jackson. Though Rush as the starter makes a lot of sense, perhaps the most sense. He ran with the first team at training camp on Wednesday, so something is there."

Small forward is the only starting spot up for competition. The four players locked into the first unit are Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, David Lee and Andrew Bogut.

They spun it in a positive light, but make no mistake: I'm disappointed if Harrison Barnes can't beat out Brandon Rush for the starting 3 spot. Dude is supposed to be an NBA-ready scorer and he's already giving journalists quotes about how Klay's the best shooter but HE wants to be the best scorer. How you gonna be the team's go-to scorer from the bench, kid?

I would be disappionted if Barnes starts at the 3 to start the season. That would mean that a rookie beat out Jefferson and Rush.... no way should a Rookie be your best player at a position in a playoff team. I think he can earn it, say mid way through the season, then yeah. But would perfer to see Rush start, and bring him off the bench first half of the season.

Not even a lottery pick can be a starter on a playoff team? Barnes isn't Charles Jenkins; he's a highly touted prospect that - in all likelihood - would have gone top 3 if he stayed another year in college. He put a beefy post jumper right through Kobe's uprights yesterday. And he's got bonafide size.

Rush is talented, but at 6'6", he's a little small to be seeing the majority of his minutes at the 3. Maybe I should clarify my initial position: I'm gonna be extremely disappointed if Barnes can't outplay Rush at a position that Brandon slides to out of necessity. Barnes is this team's most talented small forward. Jefferson is the only other real 3 on the roster and his legs are gone. The only way starting Rush makes any sense would be to slide Thompson up to the forward spot. But, again, if Barnes isn't ready to go out of the box, I'll be shocked. He had NBA-ready offensive game at the time they drafted him. And if he doesn't start, it means he's either lazy, can't comprehend the play book (ala, Diogu), or simply a less talented player than we thought. Any one of those outcomes disappoints me.

I agree that Barnes should be good enough to start as the SF. Where he was picked, he should be starting caliber material at the very least. Rush is good, but him starting is a sign of a non championship team for sure and one of the worst starting SFs in the nba.

migya wrote:I agree that Barnes should be good enough to start as the SF. Where he was picked, he should be starting caliber material at the very least. Rush is good, but him starting is a sign of a non championship team for sure and one of the worst starting SFs in the nba.

but does barnes have defense?

Stairway Man wrote:

migya wrote:I agree that Barnes should be good enough to start as the SF. Where he was picked, he should be starting caliber material at the very least. Rush is good, but him starting is a sign of a non championship team for sure and one of the worst starting SFs in the nba.

but does barnes have defense?

More than he's touted for, albeit he's not the defender Brandon Rush is.

What I'm most interested in will be Barnes' rebounding. We know he can score, his defense is enough to make it, but if he can get this team over 5 rebounds a night in starting time, he deserves to hear Franco Fin call his name at the start of the night. No question, this team needs massive help in the rebounding department and I think Barnes allows this team to go big, which is where it seems most dangerous.

Getting back to defense, he's a bigger option than Rush, so 3's like Pierce, Prince, Butler, and Artes- er, World Peace will match up well with him. Look for quicker 3's, like Marion or James, to put up big numbers on Barnes.

Stairway Man wrote:

migya wrote:I agree that Barnes should be good enough to start as the SF. Where he was picked, he should be starting caliber material at the very least. Rush is good, but him starting is a sign of a non championship team for sure and one of the worst starting SFs in the nba.

but does barnes have defense?

That's the thing that will and should dictate whether he starts or not and whether he gets big minutes. Barnes has to at least play pretty well in the defensive scheme and in the team setup to get the start and the big minutes. Same for all player actually.

I don't see any value in holding Barnes back on the bench. We already know what Rush can do and he does it very well off the bench. And lets face it... Rush will never be an Allstar. But Barnes could be. We need him to develop and the only way he is going to do that is to spend time on the court. Yeah, he's going to make mistakes but in those circumstances we'll have the luxury of bringing Rush off the bench to replace him. The more experience he gets this season, the better he'll be next season. We all saw the improvement from Klay after he started playing lots of minutes. I'm certain that Lebron will school him but Lebron does that to everyone. It's all good experience.

Good point and that could well be the best reason to go that way with starting Barnes, because the team's future hinges alot on how good he gets. He is definately the only SF on the team right now that is proper talent to be starting SF and one that is in the top half of starting SFs in the nba. He has to be given every chance to play and develop.

Ringo wrote:I don't see any value in holding Barnes back on the bench. We already know what Rush can do and he does it very well off the bench. And lets face it... Rush will never be an Allstar. But Barnes could be. We need him to develop and the only way he is going to do that is to spend time on the court. Yeah, he's going to make mistakes but in those circumstances we'll have the luxury of bringing Rush off the bench to replace him. The more experience he gets this season, the better he'll be next season. We all saw the improvement from Klay after he started playing lots of minutes. I'm certain that Lebron will school him but Lebron does that to everyone. It's all good experience.

+1, QFT.

I'm not saying he should get the Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant treatment (25 attempts per night, 35 minutes a game), but Barnes is a foundational piece to this team now. He could feasibly sure up that small forward spot for the next 10 years.

32 wrote:

GSW Hoops Fan wrote:

32 wrote:

8th ave wrote:Looks like Rush is winning the 3 battle right now.

The small forwards on the Golden State Warriors' depth chart include Harrison Barnes, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush. According to Marcus Thompson of The Oakland Tribune, the Rush might be the early favorite to win the position.

Thompson writes: "I'm told he's looked really good, so far. And not just looked good in the sense that everybody who isnt out of shape or injured looked good. But apparently, Rush is standing out. I thought Richard Jeffersons experience might win over coach Mark Jackson. Though Rush as the starter makes a lot of sense, perhaps the most sense. He ran with the first team at training camp on Wednesday, so something is there."

Small forward is the only starting spot up for competition. The four players locked into the first unit are Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, David Lee and Andrew Bogut.

They spun it in a positive light, but make no mistake: I'm disappointed if Harrison Barnes can't beat out Brandon Rush for the starting 3 spot. Dude is supposed to be an NBA-ready scorer and he's already giving journalists quotes about how Klay's the best shooter but HE wants to be the best scorer. How you gonna be the team's go-to scorer from the bench, kid?

I would be disappionted if Barnes starts at the 3 to start the season. That would mean that a rookie beat out Jefferson and Rush.... no way should a Rookie be your best player at a position in a playoff team. I think he can earn it, say mid way through the season, then yeah. But would perfer to see Rush start, and bring him off the bench first half of the season.

Not even a lottery pick can be a starter on a playoff team? Barnes isn't Charles Jenkins; he's a highly touted prospect that - in all likelihood - would have gone top 3 if he stayed another year in college. He put a beefy post jumper right through Kobe's uprights yesterday. And he's got bonafide size.

Rush is talented, but at 6'6", he's a little small to be seeing the majority of his minutes at the 3. Maybe I should clarify my initial position: I'm gonna be extremely disappointed if Barnes can't outplay Rush at a position that Brandon slides to out of necessity. Barnes is this team's most talented small forward. Jefferson is the only other real 3 on the roster and his legs are gone. The only way starting Rush makes any sense would be to slide Thompson up to the forward spot. But, again, if Barnes isn't ready to go out of the box, I'll be shocked. He had NBA-ready offensive game at the time they drafted him. And if he doesn't start, it means he's either lazy, can't comprehend the play book (ala, Diogu), or simply a less talented player than we thought. Any one of those outcomes disappoints me.

I just think that Rush is more polished right now. I do see Barne's contribuiting, but he needs work before he is ready to be a starter. Mainly on the defensive end.
If we weren't worried about losing a couple games in the begning of the year then I would say ok, go ahead and start Barnes, but every game matters this year.
I really liked how they brought Klay in slowly last year. Don't put to much presure on them in the beginning and make them work hard and earn their keep.

Just my opinion. Not saying that Rush would be a better fit at SF then Barnes, just that he is more experienced and can contribute more right away then Barnes.

I just think that Rush is more polished right now. I do see Barne's contribuiting, but he needs work before he is ready to be a starter. Mainly on the defensive end.
If we weren't worried about losing a couple games in the begning of the year then I would say ok, go ahead and start Barnes, but every game matters this year.
I really liked how they brought Klay in slowly last year. Don't put to much presure on them in the beginning and make them work hard and earn their keep.

Just my opinion. Not saying that Rush would be a better fit at SF then Barnes, just that he is more experienced and can contribute more right away then Barnes.

Good post - I'm leaning more towards Rush starting out the season as well..perhaps for even half the season and see where we're at with that. Definitely put Barnes in for a good 11-13 minutes per game and see how he does against other teams' starters, etc.