Denver Nuggets: 3 Expectations for Will Barton

We accept some volatility to Will Barton’s game.

As mentioned above, Will Barton can drive the fan base nuts with missed shots or turnovers.  He can also lift the team onto his shoulders with a big shot or and ‘and one’ opportunity.

Denver Nuggets

That’s the thing with Thrill (which I prefer to Willy B Buckets, Barton claims no preference) he’s got to try, has to push the envelope.  It’s why he’s here, how he made it to the NBA.  Let’s also not forget that Barton had a very good season for Denver in 2017-18 and was more than willing to fill any role coach Michael Malone asked of him.

As with anything you take the good with the bad but in Will Barton’s case you’re taking a whole lot of good with a little bit of bad.

Barton averaged 15.7 points, 5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and a steal per game in 2017-18.  More impressive is that he averaged career highs in field goal percentage at 45.2% and 3-point percentage at 37%

The point of this is that Barton is a better basketball player than Nuggets fans give him credit for. He’s also a much more integral part of this team than it seems.  The white-hot light of the Nuggets young trio of Harris-Jokic-Murray casts a bright light and that can sometimes shade the value of a player like Will Barton.