Devin Harris

[edit] Biography

• Picked No. 5 overall in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards.

[edit] Statistics

<stats> Player=Devin Harris Sport=NBA </stats>

[edit] Scouting Report

[edit] Offense

Harris made significant strides in his second season, largely silencing the critics who labeled him a bust as a rookie. While his jumper was actually markedly worse than a year earlier, he more than made up for it with a newfound commitment to getting to the basket. Harris' FTA/40 skyrocketed from 3.5 in 2004-05 to 7.4 this past year, and he took 50% of his shots from close range -- compared with just 31% in '05. In conjunction with the typical second-year player's reduction in turnovers (which happened to have been his biggest weakness as a rookie), Harris was able to score frequently and earn himself more minutes, especially in the playoffs. He is quick, ultra-athletic, and loves to drive to the rim going to his right, but is more of a scoring point than a passer at this stage, so court vision is an area in which he must improve. Along with his passing, Harris also needs to work on his shooting, lest opponents start to back off and dare him to uncork jumpers instead of letting him abuse them on drives.

[edit] Defense & Rebounding

Harris is a decent rebounder for a point guard, and a very solid defender. He is adept at stealing the ball (although he did so less in his second year), and boasts good size for a PG. At 185 pounds, strength is still a concern, but with some work he could become (along with teammate Josh Howard) one of the best two-way guards in the NBA.

[edit] Summary

Like most of the 2005-06 Mavs, Harris responded much better to Avery Johnson's coaching style than to Don Nelson's. In response to criticisms of his decision to make Harris (at the time an overmatched rookie) Dallas' starting PG early in 2004-05, Nelson largely buried him on the bench in the second half of the year. In 2006, though, Harris saw an expanded role and ran with it, becoming a key player in Dallas' Finals run. If he improves on his shooting, he will almost certainly become a Top-10 point guard -- although he will still have to split time with Jason Terry, who was brought back as well this summer.

Vitals

[edit] References

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