Player The restricted-age video store section of Dylan Harper

[STAT88]

This kid is so special.

 

[Ice009]

In-f'ing-sane are his efficiency levels. For a rookie guard, even crazier. He should be getting more minutes, more time initiating, more time with the ball in his hands. Maybe they are trying to get him to learn to play off ball and all that, but he should still get more time as the primary initiator on offense.

 

[kxs783]

It's a crime that the Spurs aren't using Harper as the primary perimeter creator. He should be starting, but even if he's not "ready" for that, he should be the main guy when he's on the court. I'm trying to figure out why he's not driving as much nowadays. It looks like they're focusing on having him play off ball, and the shooting improvement gives that approach some merit. But that's seemed to come with some passivity or deference that really shouldn't be there.

Harper getting the ball with a live dribble on the perimeter should be seen as one those situations the Spurs offense is built to create, like Victor in the paint or Champ in the corner. Dylan should only give the ball up in those situations if they have something wide open or Wemby has a mismatch.

Why, when Castle is doing just fine running point and is doing everything you mentioned. No need to force the ball in Harper's hand when Castle is just as elite.

 

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2041525296382550416

 

[bozhemoi]

I'd pause on too much excitement about his shot percentage. It's a pretty small sample size. But it does look like a great shot.

 

[SpursBills]

Both Harper and Castle have shown themselves to be decent catch and shoot guys, which is huge because it allows them to play together. You can’t have 2 negative shooters in the backcourt and allowing them to play together lets the team leverage their size defensively as well. Not surprisingly, the Harper-Castle backcourt is +14 this season, best of any spurs backcourt combo, and the Castle-Harper-Wemby combo is up to +39. Both guys are shooting >90% of their 3s assisted, which indicates that Mitch is bringing their shooting along slowly (for reference, Fox is at about 70% assisted and Castle was at about 70% assisted last season). The OTD dribble shooting will be the question in coming years and the big factor to see if either can make the next leap but just having both guys be decent at catch and shoot is several seasons ahead of where I expected them to be.

 

[Mugen]

On the trajectory to be the nastiest backcourt since Curry/Klay tbh.

 

[bozhemoi]

Both Harper and Castle have shown themselves to be decent catch and shoot guys, which is huge because it allows them to play together. You can’t have 2 negative shooters in the backcourt and allowing them to play together lets the team leverage their size defensively as well. Not surprisingly, the Harper-Castle backcourt is +14 this season, best of any spurs backcourt combo, and the Castle-Harper-Wemby combo is up to +39. Both guys are shooting >90% of their 3s assisted, which indicates that Mitch is bringing their shooting along slowly (for reference, Fox is at about 70% assisted and Castle was at about 70% assisted last season). The OTD dribble shooting will be the question in coming years and the big factor to see if either can make the next leap but just having both guys be decent at catch and shoot is several seasons ahead of where I expected them to be.

I wonder if we'll see a lot of off the dribble pull-ups by the Spurs. I don't remember seeing it much. It's an inefficient shot and the team seems much more interested in impacting the lane and generating offense from teams having to react to those attacks.

 

[SpursFan86]

I'd pause on too much excitement about his shot percentage. It's a pretty small sample size. But it does look like a great shot.

Obviously shooting >50% from 3 isn’t sustainable, but the fact that he is having this sort of stretch for a 20 game sample size (almost 1/4 of a season) is a great sign that he’s at least capable of being a legit 35-37% type guy. His form is very solid and he looks comfortable taking these shots.

If you would’ve told me that he’d top out as a 36-37% 3 point shooter at some point in his career I’d have been happy. The fact that he’s potentially already there as a 20 year-old rookie is incredible. He’s not going to be Steph Curry, but he could legitimately end up being a 40% shooter from deep in a couple of years which is massive for a guy who will be playing alongside Castle and Wemby.

 

[LeBowen]

 

[Ice009]

I'd pause on too much excitement about his shot percentage. It's a pretty small sample size. But it does look like a great shot.

I'll agree with this. It's very small sample, and a lot of those shots were pretty good looks from what I can remember.

Both Harper and Castle have shown themselves to be decent catch and shoot guys, which is huge because it allows them to play together. You can’t have 2 negative shooters in the backcourt and allowing them to play together lets the team leverage their size defensively as well. Not surprisingly, the Harper-Castle backcourt is +14 this season, best of any spurs backcourt combo, and the Castle-Harper-Wemby combo is up to +39. Both guys are shooting >90% of their 3s assisted, which indicates that Mitch is bringing their shooting along slowly (for reference, Fox is at about 70% assisted and Castle was at about 70% assisted last season). The OTD dribble shooting will be the question in coming years and the big factor to see if either can make the next leap but just having both guys be decent at catch and shoot is several seasons ahead of where I expected them to be.

Very well said. Great analysis of what it looks like they're trying to do.

Obviously shooting >50% from 3 isn’t sustainable, but the fact that he is having this sort of stretch for a 20 game sample size (almost 1/4 of a season) is a great sign that he’s at least capable of being a legit 35-37% type guy. His form is very solid and he looks comfortable taking these shots.

If you would’ve told me that he’d top out as a 36-37% 3 point shooter at some point in his career I’d have been happy. The fact that he’s potentially already there as a 20 year-old rookie is incredible. He’s not going to be Steph Curry, but he could legitimately end up being a 40% shooter from deep in a couple of years which is massive for a guy who will be playing alongside Castle and Wemby.

Like Sean Elliott said during the broadcast when Jacob asked him about it, Sean said he's been working very hard at it, that's why he's improving.

 

[DaSlicer]

With a consistent 3 point shot Dylan becomes a combination of Kyrie and Harden.

 

[cediskace]

With a consistent 3 point shot Dylan becomes a combination of Kyrie and Harden.

right now, his threes are mainly open 3's. that's fantastic for his game if he's able to maintain his efficiency on open 3's. that helps a lot his game. but to shoot the 3's like harden is another thing.....

 

[SpursFan86]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2041381068511510976

Apologies in advance if this isn’t accurate (posting from my phone and not trying to fact check lol). But…

This just goes to show just how rare it is for PGs to be legitimately positive impact players as rookies. It’s even more impressive considering Harper is on the younger end of the spectrum for a rookie (2-3 years younger than Lillard/Curry/Rubio were, for example).

The poise and maturity in his offensive game + his defense are just not things you generally see from 19/20 year-old guards.

Calling it right now: if he’s still coming off the bench next year he will be a clear favorite to win 6MOTY.

 

[spurraider21]

its believable. rookie guards tend to be very inefficient which makes it hard for them to pop in advanced stats. and rookie guards dont tend to get a lot of run on good teams, so many stats that revolve around winning being net positive are hard to come by.

 

[wEmBoY]

It's a crime that the Spurs aren't using Harper as the primary perimeter creator. He should be starting, but even if he's not "ready" for that, he should be the main guy when he's on the court. I'm trying to figure out why he's not driving as much nowadays. It looks like they're focusing on having him play off ball, and the shooting improvement gives that approach some merit. But that's seemed to come with some passivity or deference that really shouldn't be there.

Harper getting the ball with a live dribble on the perimeter should be seen as one those situations the Spurs offense is built to create, like Victor in the paint or Champ in the corner. Dylan should only give the ball up in those situations if they have something wide open or Wemby has a mismatch.

castle already got the role what you think should’ve been harper’s role on the team.

 

[kxs783]

castle already got the role what you think should’ve been harper’s role on the team.

Yep. Harper just has to get use to this role for the next 3 or 4 years because I can't see him overtaking anyone in the starting lineup unless the use him at SF/PF. He's clearly better than Devin but the loyalty from the Spurs organization isn't going to sit him unless his shooting just completely falls off a cliff.

 

[Em-City]

I wonder if we'll see a lot of off the dribble pull-ups by the Spurs. I don't remember seeing it much. It's an inefficient shot and the team seems much more interested in impacting the lane and generating offense from teams having to react to those attacks.

Patty Mills was pretty much the only guy with a green light to take those shots 12-13 years ago

 

[SpursFan86]

Yep. Harper just has to get use to this role for the next 3 or 4 years because I can't see him overtaking anyone in the starting lineup unless the use him at SF/PF. He's clearly better than Devin but the loyalty from the Spurs organization isn't going to sit him unless his shooting just completely falls off a cliff.

Sorry, but you're out of your mind if you think Harper is going to still be coming off the bench in 3 or 4 years. Are we watching the same player?

 

[Mugen]

Dylan will be coming off the bench at max for 1 more season. After that, either Fox will be gone or they'll try and shoehorn all 3 of them into the SL tbh.

 

[Ice009]

Yeah, there's no way. If the Spurs are stupid enough to keep trying to do it for 3-4 years, he's going to ask for a trade most likely. I think he's be fine coming off the bench for another 1-2 years max IMO. I think he sees that Harden did it for the first 3 years of his career and he'd probably look at that and be OK with it for a bit (as long as we're winning). He's definitely going to have to get more minutes starting from next season, IMO.

 

[ginobilized]

View attachment 1552View attachment 1553

Insanely balanced shot chart for a rookie, especially. He's a problem for opposing defenses. I could see a future SL of Castle/Harper/Champ/CB/Wemby with one of Fox/Vassell traded and the other moved to the bench. If Fox can't show up 4 times in a playoff series his value really declines for us. Vassell is proving that he can adapt his role and has already played amazingly well in big games. Fox has his moments, unfortunately, they are both ends of the spectrum. When he's playing bad it feels worse than most the other players on the team. I also see Mitch pulling Harper for rookie mistakes and holding him to a very high standard, similar with CB. Once those 2 get more experience and execute with more precision, their talent will have to push them ahead of the veterans. Mitch is molding them into high level players. Fox needs to get his shit together in the next year or he becomes expendable.

 

[OK Computer]

Dylan will be coming off the bench at max for 1 more season. After that, either Fox will be gone or they'll try and shoehorn all 3 of them into the SL tbh.

Or Fox comes off the bench tbh

 

[Mugen]

Or Fox comes off the bench tbh

Probably less drama just to trade him tbh.

 

[Ice009]

I mean, Fox has had his run as a star player on a team for 7 or so years, so maybe he'd be cool with being a 6th man if the player starting ahead of him is actually better? He might be OK with doing that just to stay on a winning team.