Offensively, Harris is a very good player and he is also good as a defender. He is very active defensively and gets into passing lanes. He plays very hard on the defensive end, which is always extremely valuable. Harris defends the pick and roll well and when his defensive partner is Nikola Jokic it can be difficult to keep defenders from scoring. The Nuggets tended to have Jokic drop back deep on pick and rolls allowing guards to shoot uncontested mid range jumpers. They should be a better defensive team with Millsap joining them and Harris will definitely contribute to that as well.
Harris has looked good so far in preseason for the Nuggets. In their second preseason game, Harris exploded for 25 points against the Lakers and looked good finishing at the rim and shooting in space. He is a smart player and knows how to play the game. The only knock on Harris is that he does have trouble getting his own shot and relies a great deal on others to set him up and deliver the ball to him. The Nuggets do not really have a traditional point guard, but Jokic has a great deal of control of the offense. He is the centerpiece of it. Gary Harris is a big part of what they do, but he is reliant on others. According to nba.com/stats, Gary Harris made 320 field goals last year and Jokic assisted him on 81 of those field goals. This season will be a huge one for his development. It will be interesting to see if head coach Mike Malone allows Harris to be more of a playmaker and run more pick and rolls or allow him to facilitate the offense more. Harris is eligible for an extension before the season begins and the rumors are that the Nuggets and Harris are close to an agreement. Harris will not be cheap and the clock is ticking for the Nuggets to get better. They have Millsap and Jokic alongside Jamal Murray and Harris. They are going to need some development from the three young guys to get Denver where they want to be. Part of that is to get Gary Harris more comfortable with the ball and allowing Jokic to pick and choose his spots more.
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