Bump. Harkless is the shit. Love him and aminu together, especially defensively. If one of them could just develop a somewhat consistent shot. I do think Harkless has potential as a post up player though with his quickness and length.
Also, is there any reason why Aminu couldn't be the full time PF going forward into the future? The numbers the past two seasons say that's his best position. He might not have the strength to guard some (and I stress the word some, because there aren't many) PFs but his length bothers everyone, and offensively a lot of fours struggle to run around with him.
Harkless has been awesome! He's becoming one of my favorite Blazers along with DameCJ and Ed Davis. He's started 7 games now. He's had a block in 6 of them. He's scored in double figures the last 6 starts. Dame and CJ are the only starters to do that this season. Hendo has a string of 7 double figure games and Crabbe has two strings of 7 double figure games. Harkless brings great defense, hustle, athleticism, and can drive to the rim. Is he an elite shooter? No, but with DameCJ starting our offense is already lethal. The starting group is crushing opponents by over 16 points per 100 possessions. Very excited to see the MoAl duo the rest of the season.
I think Vonleh has promise and he's only 20, but don't forget hHark appears to be "breaking out" and he's only 22, Harkless IMO is > Vonleh at this time, and as far as Leonard go I hope he's not on the team next year
I definitely think he could hold his own with Green. Unless LA takes Aminu into the low post, I don't see any reason why he wouldn't be able to defend him as well. And I think that Aminu would force Aldridge to work a lot harder on defense than a traditional big would. Then on the other side, can Vonleh defend LA particularly well, or more specifically better than Aminu can? Or are we contrasting Aminu at PF with the possibility of a trade/FA addition? At any rate, I think there's a lot more to the question than just whether or not Aminu can effectively defend Aldridge. Not the least of which is the overall improvement in our team defense when MoeMinu™ is out there.
Aminu at PF seems to go hand in hand with Hark at SF, not Vonleh at SF, so we'd be pretty small unless we get a side of beef at C.
Yes. Doesn't mean he'll shut them down, their great players. He can guard both as well as anyone on our roster.
Yeah, we'd be small, but that's a good thing. We still have great rebounding; the drawback of most small teams.
I think a Hark/Aminu sf/pf combo with a C like Whiteside could be very interesting, and hopefully Vonleh develops into another PF to throw into the mix and we keep Davis as backup and perhaps Plumlee for another yr
Whiteside would be interesting but I'd be very wary of giving him a long term huge deal. I'd give him a full max offer but only guarantee one season so he has to keep proving he deserves it.
Aminu and Harkless are both 6'9", and plenty long. Obviously neither is as hefty as a prototypical 4, but I don't see that as a problem in today's game. Their defensive instincts and versatility are much more important than their size.
I like Aminu better at PF than SF as well. It doesn't mean we can't use Ed Davis or Vonleh there too .....depending on the matchups . (i.e Davis on LMA) And I still think Meyers should be used at back up center so he really does not effect Aminu's minutes there. Aminu has a Brandon Wright like wing span and is more versatile on D, so I agree it makes sense. Plus it allows the Blazers to give more minutes to Crabbe and Harkless at SF and Henderson at SG. This is assuming we do not sign a FA wing and we re-sign our guys. (Which is only one scenario of many that Neil will be looking at)
I really like Harkless, but I'm surprised that others do - especially those that had/have trouble with Batum's consistency. Harkless feels like feast or famine. A high energy Harkless does it all and is a star caliber player. A low energy Harkless is coasting out there and doesn't deserve to be in the rotation. So, right now Harkless has had a good few games and people are happy. Great! But... try not to get down on him when he reverts to Dr. Jekyll. He's young and still improving.
But this has all happened before. Harkless was given playing time over Leonard, played well, then Stotts replaces him in the rotation with Meyers. But I like Harkless/Aminu better than Leonard/Aminu.
Aminu shut down Aldridge during a game last year. You can't really shut down Draymond Green, cause he's not really a scorer, but Aminu has a better chance of chasing him around than any of our bigs. I've long believed PF is Aminu's best position. I don't know if he's starting quality though.
IMO, Batum's inconsistency was based primarily on engagement. To date, Harkless' seems more based on role. But when he's on, he's so intriguing and talented, it's hard not to get excited. However, if Harkless remained feast or famine (© @Tunchi) with consistent significant playing time, then I'd be similarly frustrated to how I felt about Nic.
And.... He would never sign that contract and we wouldn't get him. Thinking he'd sign it really isn't realistic. Someone will offer him a way better deal. I'll say it again: We need to give Larry Sanders a chance. With leaders like Dame and CJ he'll be fine.
This. There have been too many games where Harkless plays a bunch of minutes and literally does nothing. It's hard to trust his consistency but when he's engaged he looks awesome.
