Is it me or is he the crappy defender out there? Looks like he went to the RJ school of defense. I was expecting the Harris who was a good defender with Dallas to show up this season. I'm getting concerned.
I was thinking the same thing. Unless taking charges counts on his resume as being a stout defender, I'm not seeing the defense he was supposed to be known for. But it is only preseason so I'll wait till 20 games into the season before I make a call on it.
Preseason games are a waste of time. They are glorified scrimmages. I hate them. I only care about games that count in the standings. I am bored to tears by exhibition games of any kind - including All-Star games. Whew! I just had to get that off my chest! Devin Harris is a great perimeter defender. I have seen it with mine own eyes, I have.
Yup... hope he goes back to that. Celtics play that kind of defense in the preseason. If I'm Devin, and I know I picked up some bad habits towards the end of last season, I would start correcting that in the preseason. I haven't even seen a 5 minute run where I can say that is the defensive Devin Harris I was hoping for. I've seen a couple of those 5 minute runs on offense.
Devin is incredibly fast on defense. Here is a play late in the 4th quarter where Devin came to double Wade and then quickly recovered on his man and then poked the ball away taking time off the shot clock. With Devin's speed, him and Dooling should be able to make an effective full court press/trapping team in theory because Harris is fast enough to run the court to help and recover on defense. http://www.sendspace.com/file/3neo2f
No doubt the guy has the skills, but so did Jefferson. Some guys just don't like to play defense regardless of their ability to.
I think he WAS a good defender before he got here but remember, he was already hurt when he got here. I honestly think his ankle injury might still be slowing him down, those never really go away, but I've noticed this since the end of last year. He's lost a lot of lateral quickness. He gets beat off the dribble fairly easily sometimes and I think it's just a lack of focus on the defensive end. He seems like he's been more focused on the offensive side and at the same time, he's forcing the issue too much, too worried about getting points and not about d.
I totally disagree with you. The guy can get to the basket whenever he wants. I has a decent shot. With practice he will get better at shooting the ball. He will have to when Defenses limite this drives. The thing I worry about is the play making. I really think a pass first PG is needed this year or in the Future. Harris' D will get better. Someone posted that youtube of that G, Rubio. I am all for that.
From D'Alessandro's blog recapping last night's game So is this a slap at Devin? Isn't he the guy on the ball? When Luis Williams goes off for 18 points and 5-6 shooting from downtown isn't it mostly a reflection on him? Maybe Avery was hard on him because that is the only way he lives up to his potential?
I completely disagree with this. I have seen him play smothering man-to-man defense. He was excellent in the '06 playoffs. His defense was one of the main reasons they got as far as they did. The Nets had the worst perimeter defense in the league that year and his play led me to propose a bunch of Kidd for Harris trades. Of course, Kidd was All-NBA 1st team defense in '05-'06.
