Around the NBA: March 2020 edition

Zach Lowe's Ten Things, including this blurb on Tobias Harris (who some say would be a good target for CJ swap).
"Harris is a really good player who does a little bit of everything for a team that because of its weirdo personnel -- mega-skills with giant holes -- sorely needs a jack-of-all-trades type.

He's up to 37% from deep after a chilly start. He worked all summer posting up smaller defenders, and has attacked one-on-one more often. (He's especially dangerous when he brings the ball up in semi-transition with a guard stuck on him, and rampages through that guy toward the rim.) He has doubled his pick-and-roll volume in Philly, a necessity given the Sixers' nominal point guard refuses to shoot jumpers and is therefore not really a pick-and-roll threat.

Harris can produce a workable shot almost whenever he wants. If there's something that leaves you wanting, it's his playmaking. There are corner shooters and baseline cutters -- Josh Richardson below -- Harris doesn't see until he's already launching a long 2:

Sometimes he shoots before compromising the defense:

Harris is dishing three assists per game -- a career high." There are some videos that go with this:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...ike-including-la-clippers-nba-title-favorites

 

Also something in there on CJ crossover with video. Points out he doubled his free throws with Lillard out.https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...ike-including-la-clippers-nba-title-favorites

 

and that's with him still getting the benefit of calls as he gets hit a lot on his drives to the basket to no whistle. Even Lillards free throw rate should be higher as he often doesn;t get the benefit of the calls other players of his caliber get.

 

What's funny is I just saw some stuff the other day where some people were making the argument that Harris has the worst contract in the league. He's the CJ of the 76ers.

 

Lmao

 

Well he has a teammate with a way worse contract.

 

I'm assuming you mean Horford? It's not even close. Horford only has 2 more years guaranteed with the 3rd year partially guaranteed. Harris still has 4 more years at way more money including nearly $40 million in the 5th year.

 

One is 27 and an efficient 20 point scorer while the other is 33 and is also unplayable with their superstar. Horford has aged! He is one step slower than last year and it will only get worse. I can see teams trading for Harris, but I cannot imagine who would trade for Horford. They benched him!

 

that's a pretty lazy 'research' by whoever it is

Dame has missed 8 games this season. In those 8 games, CJ has 204 FGA's and 37 FTA's. That generates a .181 FT rate which is not much better than his career mark of .167

* that FT rate would rank him 235th out of the 347 players who have played 30 games or more
* it would rank him 80th out of the 86 players who average 12 FGA's or more a game
* it would rank him 57th out of the 65 players who have a usage rate of 25% or higher

even with a crazy low sample size, context matters. In this case, CJ was averaging 25.5 FGA's a game (Harden leads NBA at 22.9) and a usage rate in the 34% range (Dame is at 30.5%), so he had the ball in his hands a ton. And without Dame, defenses were paying more attention to him. CJ deserves credit for his production and actually ramping up his efficiency a little. But he really shouldn't be giving much credit for increasing his FT rate from pathetic to bad

 

Waitters and Noah are decent pick ups.

 

How many players can Clippers sign? lol

 

Waiters signed with the Lakers not the Clippers.

 

Isn't that the same as saying he is pro-Clippers?

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28856190/nets-coach-kenny-atkinson-mutually-agree-part-ways

Wow didnt see that coming.

 

Either Atkinson did something wrong or he's getting the blame for Marks signing Kyrie. Either way it's surprising.

 

Yeah the nets signed an oft injured PG and a guy with a torn achilles Im shocked they arent better...