Harrison Barnes might not put it exactly this way, but he made a strong closing argument in his case to land a spot in Golden State’s season-opening starting lineup.

Barnes scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Warriors beat Phoenix in their preseason finale Tuesday night. Beyond those numbers, Barnes showed nice range on his jump shot – hitting 3 of 4 attempts from three-point land.

The Warriors can use that kind of production as they embark on their 82-game, regular-season journey, starting Wednesday night against the Suns. Barnes, the team’s top pick in the June draft, is competing with four-year veteran Brandon Rush for the starting job at small forward.

“I’m very comfortable with both of them,” Jackson said after practice Friday.

Barnes shot 48 percent on three-pointers in the preseason (12-for-25), giving the Warriors another long-range option alongside Klay Thompson. Barnes has been working on driving to the basket, so opponents cannot crowd him on the perimeter.

“It’s a long season,” he said, “so worrying about who starts and who plays a certain amount of minutes is not really important.”

via Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle