I was completely on board the Will Barton hype train last year. Maybe I was even the conductor? I’ve been the conductor for a lot of wrecked hype trains, but I don’t know. Every time I try to think back farther than one week everything gets hazy. Anyway, I was definitely in full support of his Sixth Man of the Year/Most Improved Player candidacies in addition to my other duties on his train of hype.
Then something happened, around the midpoint of the season. Was it just a natural regression to the mean for his shooting averages? Or was it something more sinister? Answers are hard to find. In either case, he slumped heavily, then disappointed in the dunk contest, and by the end of the season was no longer in contention for any awards. Not many people noticed, because Denver, but I sure noticed. I noticed, and I mourned.
It hasn’t gotten better for Will the Thrill since then. He’s still producing at an okay rate when he’s playing, but he hasn’t been playing much lately because of his ankle. He also looks scrawnier then ever. I wonder if that’s because he got rid of a bunch of hair that made him look bigger? He looks worse than Corey Brewer now. Must be those bulging eyes of his.