The revised early-entry process for the NBA Draft this season seems to already be making waves in the way underclassmen make their professional choices. 

NC State junior Anthony said on Monday after practice in Washington D.C. at the ACC Tournament that he will explore his NBA options following the season. 

“I’m going to talk with my family and my coaches and just go through the process and see what happens," Barber said according to the News and Observer. 

Barber also had highly complementary things to say about the new process that gives players more freedom and should better allow them to understand where they are in the pre-draft process. 

“I think that rule helps a lot of people,” Barber said. “You can see where you are and if you’re not high enough, you can pull back out.”

The 6-foot-2 scoring guard is currently the No. 80 overall player on my CBS Sports NBA Draft Big Board. That's well within range of being selected at this point, as Barber can rise with underclassmen above him inevitably drop out of the draft. He's an interesting prospect because of his scoring ability, but he's also a fairly flawed one that may not necessarily have much room for growth in the pre-draft process. 

On the plus side, Barber is one of the best scorers in college basketball. He's excellent at creating his own offense due to his ball-handling ability, tremendous quickness, and his ability to shoot off of the dribble. That's been where he has seen the biggest improvement this season. He's currently in the 62nd percentile nationally in shooting efficiency off-the-dribble, which is pretty impressive when you consider that he's currently seventh of nearly 2,000 players nationally in points off of off-the-dribble jumpers per game according to Synergy. He's also become a strong shooter off of the catch, knocking down shots at a rate that currently puts him in the 82nd percentile nationally, according to Synergy. Those are terrific numbers, and they'll make him one of the best scoring guards to enter the draft this season if he decides to fully declare at the end of May.

He's also one of the best players in the country at drawing fouls. So far this season, he's averaging 8.4 free throw attempts per game, good for sixth in the country, and he converts them at an 87 percent clip. That boosts his scoring output, and free throw shooting is something that does tend to translate to the NBA at the highest levels.

Cat Barber has been terrific this season for NC State. (USATSI)
Cat Barber has been terrific this season for NC State. (USATSI)

The thing to remember here though is that there are always guys who can shoot and score in the NBA. It's how you round out your game that is equally as important. And right now, that's the biggest question mark surrounding Barber. At 6-2 with what is a pretty below-average wingspan (last measured at 6-4 in 2012, per Draft Express) and a slight frame, Barber doesn't have the best body and he's also not particularly explosive vertically. The biggest place that can be seen is in his finishing around the rim, where he's shooting about 50 percent right now in half-court settings -- good for the 40th percentile in the country according to Synergy.

Barber's also never really been a particularly creative distributor as a point guard. He is averaging 4.5 assists per 40 minute this season, with an assist rate at 21.6 in conference play. Those aren't great numbers for a point guard, which means NBA teams will probably need to play him with players who excel at moving the ball and creating looks for others. That might be a function of his role on this season's NC State team -- where he was basically their only source of offense -- but his numbers and tape over the last two seasons as a distributor when he had better talent surrounding him weren't much better. 

Defensively, Barber is as quick as his name suggests he would be, but overall he's a mixed bag there as far as NBA projections go. He does a good job of cutting off one-on-one-penetration and staying in front of his man. However, he's not great at fighting through screens on that end -- likely in part due to his lack of strength -- and his lack of length shows up in his inability to force turnovers. 

Indeed, Barber at this point is mostly just a through-and-through scorer by NBA standards. And that's totally fine. Sometimes, those guys just latch on and make it, and Barber is particularly adept at creating looks for himself and putting the ball in the basket. But at his size, he needs to round out his game in order to maximize his chances, be it as either an excellent defender or as a better passer and playmaker for others. 

And that's where there is a bit of a hiccup for the NC State star. With point guard Dennis Smith Jr. coming in next season, Barber will likely move off the ball more, much in the same way Marcus Paige did this season at North Carolina. Smith is a potential lottery pick as a point guard, and the kind of talent you just can't keep off the floor or away from the ball. It seems unlikely that Barber will get a chance to develop as a distributor, limiting his opportunity to improve his stock. 

For that reason, this is a difficult call. Throw in the fact that Barber also has a one-year-old daughter, and there are just way too many factors at play here to even begin to predict what decision he will ultimately make. Does he think his stock will improve next season as the team improves? Is his stock at its highest point given that he's sixth nationally in scoring? I do not envy his situation by any stretch of the word. 

At least he'll get to go into that choice with the most information possible though, and much more information than he would have had a year ago.