Player The restricted-age video store section of Dylan Harper

Shmurs said:
Yeah I agree with the observation here but not the implication. His long term trajectory is still fine. He demonstrated baseline eliteness with what he is capable of. But I do think this steep drop off is concerning. He isn’t moving the same way. Seems much slower and heavy footed. The confidence is one thing. He just doesn’t look explosive anymore. Which is weird.
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Yeah, I've noticed that too now that you've brought it up. Definitely doesn't look as explosive as he did before. I wonder if it's also a physical thing as he's probably never played this many games before ever. Maybe he's not doing so well physically because he's tired/fatigued on top of the rest of the stuff that is going on (defenses shutting the paint, losing a tiny amount of confidence etc.).
 
NBA defenses adjust to you. Once they have film, shit that was easy suddenly becomes impossible because they take away everything you do well. Combine that with the physical grind and you have the rookie wall.

It's easy to just go out and have fun playing for a team people predict might make the play-in. When you're in second place and games start meaning something every night, that just adds to the pressure.

Harper is so young, so good, and so committed to working hard to improve that I am not worried about him at all. At worst, he will probably get his second wind around playoff time. That would be great news because he really is a big part of the leap this team has taken.
 
Probably the best/most realistic take so far. Maybe I overblew the confidence thing. And yes, he has been a gigantic part of the leap the team has taken. I guess I just don't like seeing him struggle when I believe he can play better.
He shot really well in that NBA Cup final game against NYK, and I just didn't think he had a lack of confidence shooting the ball which it seemed like he was starting to have these past couple of weeks. Maybe the pressure of having to make shots when everyone else was struggling got to him a bit.
 
He'll be fine - these struggles were honestly not wholly unexpected, they just came earlier than I thought they might. His most realistic comp pre-draft was never Cade or James Harden based on his strengths/weaknesses (high level rim pressure, very questionable OTD jumper), imo it was actually De'aaron Fox who also struggled a ton his rookie year. Harper's a much more natural PG than Fox ever was and his size gives him more switchability, but they score in similar ways and it's good for Harper to get an up-close look at what he has to do to "counter the counters" to his game in the coming years.
 
This season has been such a smorgasbord of learning opportunities for a really young team that is brimming with talent and potential. Every close win, heartbreaking loss, pressure situation and challenge gets them ready. If they can go into the postseason without over thinking themselves I'm pretty damn pumped about their chances to make some noise.
 
One possible reason that Harper, and Castle, are looking slow-footed of late might be that they play defense. Harper is not used to the rigors of the league and player's legs tend to turn to mush by the All Star break. Some rest over the break will be good for him I'd guess.
 
Ice009 said:
He's doing things right (shooting open 3s like you said), but I still do think he's lost a bit of confidence. He's not playing with swagger like he did early on and that feels/looks like a loss of confidence to me. I'm not saying he's lost all confidence, just a little, and I think that is making him not play at his best anymore. He's not playing at full speed anymore and it looks like he's thinking a little bit now. The hanging of his head after missing layups a few games back is a tell if you ask me. Not sure how quickly he moves on for those though. If he wipes the slate clean on the next play, I don't know. Just saying what it looks like to me.
I agree with what you said about rushing shots down low. I still think there is some truth to what I said, though, regardless of him still trying to play the right way. I could be wrong, but I just want to see that swagger back while he's learning/trying to adjust.
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After his third season, Parker’s jumper was still so shaky that the Lakers back door swept us by just going under all pick and rolls. He eventually did develop that J, won a FMVP, and is in the HOF.

I think we can give Dylan more time before saying he’s lost confidence. It’s much more likely just the rookie wall, combined with poor spacing during our team wide shooting slump.
 
I couldn't be any less worried about Harper. I'm 100% certain he will be an all-star caliber player for years to come. Folks freaking out about a teenager having bad games need to chill all the way out. 24 years old Manu was getting DNP's at this point of his rookie campaign, tbh.
 
Yeah, but with Parker, he could get to the rim any time he wanted to if there was a sliver of daylight. I remember the Lakers series. The Lakers basically gave up and left TP, Hedo, all those guys open and they couldn't hit a shot.

As for Manu getting DNPs in his rookie year, I'm pretty sure that was due to his badly sprained ankle he got in the FIBA WC semi-final game. He started off the season injured. I'm pretty sure he wasn't getting DNPs for any other reason than health.
 
SpursBills said:
He'll be fine - these struggles were honestly not wholly unexpected, they just came earlier than I thought they might. His most realistic comp pre-draft was never Cade or James Harden based on his strengths/weaknesses (high level rim pressure, very questionable OTD jumper), imo it was actually De'aaron Fox who also struggled a ton his rookie year. Harper's a much more natural PG than Fox ever was and his size gives him more switchability, but they score in similar ways and it's good for Harper to get an up-close look at what he has to do to "counter the counters" to his game in the coming years.
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I believe Harper recent struggles come as a bit of disappointment because he was clearly not playing like a rookie the first 30 games or so. His demeneaor was one of a vet and we tended to forget that he is just a rookie after all.

Harper will be fine, he needs to adjust to the physicality, opponents paying attention but also as exstatic mentionned the poor spacing following our 3 pts shooting recent mess. Like Castle and Fox he is a guard who needs room to operate inside, when dat spacing if off he needs to learn to continue contributing.
 
ginobilized said:
One possible reason that Harper, and Castle, are looking slow-footed of late might be that they play defense. Harper is not used to the rigors of the league and player's legs tend to turn to mush by the All Star break. Some rest over the break will be good for him I'd guess.
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Yes, especially Steph. He’s ask to guard anyone from SGA, Brown to Randle is a given week. VW will get the lion share of credit there, but Steph is a huge reason our defense is so stout.
 
brazil said:
I believe Harper recent struggles come as a bit of disappointment because he was clearly not playing like a rookie the first 30 games or so. His demeneaor was one of a vet and we tended to forget that he is just a rookie after all.

Harper will be fine, he needs to adjust to the physicality, opponents paying attention but also as exstatic mentionned the poor spacing following our 3 pts shooting recent mess. Like Castle and Fox he is a guard who needs room to operate inside, when dat spacing if off he needs to learn to continue contributing.
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i think they coached him into being worse tbh... he's clearly attempting to play like steph, i imagine based on scheme
 
brazil said:
I believe Harper recent struggles come as a bit of disappointment because he was clearly not playing like a rookie the first 30 games or so. His demeneaor was one of a vet and we tended to forget that he is just a rookie after all.

Harper will be fine, he needs to adjust to the physicality, opponents paying attention but also as exstatic mentionned the poor spacing following our 3 pts shooting recent mess. Like Castle and Fox he is a guard who needs room to operate inside, when dat spacing if off he needs to learn to continue contributing.
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I put Harper in the Barnes bucket of pleasant early season overachievers who allowed us to get off to a hot start, but have now come down to earth.

In Dylan it’s a clear case of rookie wall, and you can really feel the impact of not having his (and Barnes) early season production in this last stretch of 12 games.

(On the flip side, I think Champ and Keldon have gradually ramped up their production as the season has gone on which has buoyed the team)
 
There are always ebbs and flows with rookies. Harper's ceiling is very high, I believe that. Teams have adjusted to defending him now that they've seen him in action, and he'll need to be tweaking his game as well. I wouldn't underestimate this kid.
 
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Great bounceback game for him last night. That dunk and staredown on Nurkic was nasty, I didn't think he had that in him. Shit felt almost personal.

Hopefully that game was enough to get his head outta his ass, we are sorely missing his steadying play for the second unit.
 
Sugus said:
Great bounceback game for him last night. That dunk and staredown on Nurkic was nasty, I didn't think he had that in him. Shit felt almost personal.

Hopefully that game was enough to get his head outta his ass, we are sorely missing his steadying play for the second unit.
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Well said. I hope it's going to turn it around for him and he gets back to attacking and being aggressive again. He was a real difference maker to start the season and did not play like a rookie at all. He contributed to winning right away, and the team really needed that. Might not have near the same record if it wasn't for how he played in his earlier NBA games.
 
Exstatic said:
One thing I’ve noticed in maybe the last two games is that both Harper and Castle have stopped trying to get to the rim on every possession. They’re both shooting middies now.
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That's a good compromise. If they can eventually become great at the midrange then they can transition out and become decent 3 point shooters.
 
He has great body control on those pull-ups. That little fake and step back/elevate is nice. Once he's dropping the three more consistently he's going to be picking teams apart...he's already started to.
 
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