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Eggers: Blazers G Will Barton Comes In Motivated

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Apologies for letting this one slip through the cracks earlier this week, but Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune has a nice look at Portland Trail Blazers second round pick Will Barton. ------------------------------------ "I definitely have a chip on my shoulder," says the 6-6, 175-pound swing man from Memphis, taken by the Trail Blazers with the 40th pick of last Thursday's draft. "I'm a first-round talent. Now I just have to go in there this summer and prove I should be on the team." ... "Will's body type hasn't changed a whole lot since high school; maybe that scared some teams," says Chad Buchanan, Portland's director of college scouting. "It didn't scare us at all. (Strength and conditioning coaches) Bobby Medina and Todd Forcier will get with him in the weight room and add some muscle. They'll get him to be wiry strong." ------------------------------------ Connor Letourneau had a look at Barton, special to OregonLive.com, as well. ------------------------------------ Still, he has plenty of doubters. At 6-foot-6 and a rail-thin 175 pounds, scouts question his ability to finish at the rim in the NBA. They figure he'll struggle to take contact, that his body type won't allow him to add weight comfortably. And without a consistent jump shot to help ease some of those concerns, a number of pundits feel Barton simply isn't an NBA-quality player. "He's a nice player, but he's just not the perfect mold," said Aran Smith, founder and president of NBADraft.net. "I mean, he's not a great shooter and he's just so skinny." ------------------------------------ -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter