NBA: 3 durable, savvy players that the advanced stats love in 2022

2. Harrison Barnes, Sacramento Kings

Free throw percentage- 82.9%

Shooting fouled percentage- 17.8%

Minutes Played- 1131

Can you believe Harrison Barnes is one of the three? I was surprised; Barnes is a nice player but definitely not a household name kind of guy. After a trip down Harrison’s basketball reference page, I found that for the past six seasons he shot 80 percent or greater, he’s a classic example of when coaches would say, “your 3-point shot will open up driving lanes.”

Barnes isn’t the ball handling-break you down with the dribble kind of scorer. He’s got great size, a phenomenal athlete, and is very fundamentally sound. The shooting foul percentage does surprise me but as I watch him more and more and think about the way he attacks closeouts, it makes a lot of sense.

Barnes is shooting above 40 percent from behind the 3 this season and has shot in the high 30’s in the past few seasons as well. I’m convinced that his ability to knock down the outside shot is a huge point of emphasis whenever teams scheme against him and Sacramento. That is a key contributor to driving lanes, thus enabling Barnes to attack and get to the line. This year especially as he is averaging the most free-throw attempts per game of his career, 5.1.