Originally Posted by
gumbomoop
You know, Section 2 is pretty fascinating, as well. If you compare the overall title of Wiederer's article - "Is Harrison Barnes too robotic for his own good?" - with the subtitle of Section 2 - "Harrison Barnes is an interesting young man" - we find that what Wiederer finds most interesting about Barnes is his "polished ... media persona." This may be a compliment [though that word "persona" is a hint of something], but when Wiederer adds, "robotic almost," we are invited to linger just a bit further on "persona."
Then Wiederer describes Barnes's mannerisms as "measured," and tells us that Barnes exerts "extra-effort to show he's sophisticated." The word "measured" is intended to be a hint - what's going on here? - whereas the info that it's important to Barnes to "show he's sophisticated" is pretty blunt, and hardly a compliment. The punch line to this foray into Barnes's persona is that it's a "subplot" to pay attention to.
As best I can tell, Wiederer here is reflecting a general perception about Barnes, while observing some specific traits, so I assume Wiederer himself hasn't gone off the deep end.
I think Barnes is as good as advertised [well, at least until he was advertised as preseason 1st team AA] and will have a great [I hope short] career at UNC and [I hope long] beyond. For his sake, it would certainly be better if scribes find themselves paying a whole lot more attention to his game, and get way beyond the "subplot" of his "persona." Barnes could help, if he himself could get beyond his "persona."