Harris is still a great two way player.
It is no secret that Gary Harris had a great season. He really polished his offensive game and became one of the best three point shooters in the league.
The one thing that people have been criticizing him for this season though is his defense. Can you believe that? Gary Harris being criticized for defense. A look at his less than stellar defensive rating of 114 on the year and it is easy to point to that.
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However, one should not be fooled by that. Bear in mind that Harris missed the first part of the year which gave him less of an opportunity to showcase his defensive talent. On top of that, he is always tasked with the hardest assignments on the perimeter. When you are having to guard the likes of Klay Thompson, Bradley Beal, and C.J. McCollum and so on, you are bound to get burned once in a while.
That still doesn’t take away from the fact that he is the best defender on the Nuggets as of right now. If you are still not convinced that you should not be worried about his defensive rating, then look at the stats from the first two years of his career. The year before this season, he possessed a defensive rating of 111 and a 109 rating in his rookie campaign. He was healthy for the majority of the season in these two years.
Not to mention, Harris averaged 2 steals per 100 possessions in his second year and still had a 1.9% steal percentage this season. The man may have had a bit of a down year defensively by his standards, but he is still by far the premier defender on the Nuggets squad. Not to mention, he still showcased some impressive lock down defensive capabilities for having such a “down,” year as well.
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Harris’ defensive rating may have taken a bit of hit this season, but do not let you fool you when it comes to how good he really is and what the future holds. All stats were verified via basketball-reference.com.