Player The restricted-age video store section of Dylan Harper

Dylan Harper's DEPM (advanced stat for defensive rating) is at the 79th percentile for all players in the NBA. I haven't checked for point guards but he must be in the 95th percentile at least for ball handlers and playmakers in defense. His offensive EPM is as of now negative but that was largely due to a stretch in End December -late January when he slumped and shot poorly.

But now his offense is back being very efficient and his defense is only getting better. His is a very rare archetype of a lead guard and a near elite defender with the only thing missing being a consistent 3p shot. Unlike Castle though ..I expect his 3p shooting to improve quickly because of a better repertoire in high school and college. His ceiling is as good or just below one 2025 draftee, Cooper Flagg.

Others - VJEdgecombe and Kon Knueppel don't have the same ceiling but Derik Queen and Fears will have defensive limitations because of how they are sized or how they play.
 
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kxs783 said:
He's great for what he is and what he does. What I'm saying is that we have to stop pretending like the players drafted after him don't have the ability to be really good or better than him in their respective positions. Queen, VJ, Kon, Bailey and Fears all have shown that they can can be just as good or better as Harper. We're acting like we juat know we drafted the next Jordan lol. All of these guys still have to prove it and their upsides are just as good as Harper's. That's all I'm pointing not.
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Wow, put down the pipe.

There were two players in this draft you could build a team around: Flagg and Harper. That’s it.
 
Yeah, while Edcombe or Knueppel would fit nicely, I'd draft Harper again if there was a redraft. (trading down to take one of the others is another story)
 
Even if edge one or Knuepple turned out to have a better nba career I’d still say Harper was the right choice. He was clearly the best prospect at the time and no amount of history rewriting will change that.

It was:
Flagg



Harper








Everyone else
 
This dude better be playing his own highlights in Mitch's office's laptop on a loop. Hell, pull up to his fucking house and fuck his wife with the highlights on in the background, both the bedroom TV and in the living room. Lights on, socks off. Anything to get more playing time.
 
(Knuepple will also be an all-star. It's crazy how good he is.)

Can someone explain to me why he looks like he's gliding across the floor? He's like a cat, a mix of speed, relaxation, flexibility, balance, and body positioning...

When he starts, his first step doesn't seem explosive, and yet in no time he's overtaking everyone. He doesn't seem to be affected by gravity like the others. He's an alien too.

And then there's his footwork... he spins around, avoiding contact like an ice skater in a bowling alley. I hope no one ever tells him he's soft and that he should play like Giannis... He's flexible, he glides on water... let Castle play the bully, not him.

Fox will quickly end up joining the second unit if he keeps up the efficiency he's shown in recent games.
 
kxs783 said:
That's true but we have to stop pretending like he was the only one in that draft besides Flagg. The way it's starting out, a lot of these top 7 or 8 guys look like they may become legit stars.
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Harper is not a star. He's a franchise player.
 
kxs783 said:
Ding, ding, ding! Someone finally explained my reasoning on wondering why we drafted Harper. Of course the talent is there but the fit isn't at this moment. I think they made the pick knowing one of these guys will be used for trade bait eventually and nothing else. We had much bigger needs that we could've filled using the draft, yet we drafted another guard who plays the exact same way as the two in front of him. The point was made plenty of times before the draft that you can't play all of them together because of their shooting issues, so why draft him? Again this is not a knock on Harper, this is a knock on the organization not drafting to build a team properly. Someone made the argument that you don't draft for fit, you draft the talent lol. Well we'll have to trade one of this guys anyway to find a piece that fits better with helping Wemby with floor spacing, so in essence, you always look/draft for fit once you have your key pieces in place. Wemby, Fox and Castle were already in place, we just needed to upgrade the supporting pieces. The Harper pick only would've made since if we didn't already have Fox or Harper. Now there's chatter about trading one or sitting Castle because of the lack of playing time for Harper. I don't see under any circumstances where he'll ever leapfrog Fox or Castle for playing time until one is gone. You drafted a #2 pick to have him sitting on the bench not getting significant playing time. Wild.
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Charlotte offers Kon for Harper. You taking it? Who else takes that offer?
 
Really interested to see how next season plays out. If Harper continues to ball out the rest of the season + playoffs, I can see him getting the keys as early as next year tbh.
 
I think Harper will eventually force Mitch to play the 3 guard lineup (Fox, Harper, Castle). For that to happen consistently Castle and Harper will have to become at the very least low 30s% 3 point shooters.
 
Manu20 said:
I think Harper will eventually force Mitch to play the 3 guard lineup (Fox, Harper, Castle). For that to happen consistently Castle and Harper will have to become at the very least low 30s% 3 point shooters.
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I'm actually cool with Castle pulling on catch and shoot 3s, they seem to go in way more than his off the dribble shots (which is true for most players). He just needs to shelf the off the dribble 3s for the rest of the season and get back in the lab over the summer and see what it looks like next year.
 
Per 36 minutes PPG/RPG/ASG

Harper: 18.1/5.5/5.9

Flagg: 20.9/7.0/4.4

Knueppel: 21.1/6.1/4.1

Edgecombe: 15.3/5.4/4.2

- It would be clear 3-way race for ROTY if Harper was playing enough minutes (he's playing a whooping 13 & 11 minutes less than Flagg & Knueppel respectively)

- I think VJ is a tie below those three guys.
 
Ice009 said:
Nothing I loved more than the old style Spurs defense when they were holding teams under well under 100 ppg (under 90ppg some seasons too). I loved the pressure and intensity of those games. They'd just keep turning up the pressure bit by bit and making it almost impossible for the other team to score, then the other team has to execute to keep up, and then if they can't, then they start crumbing and making unforced errors as more and more pressure is applied. Keep applying the pressure, then more pressure, keep turning those screws, and then seeing the other team crack and unravel within those high intensity games was great (was great watching Detroit do it too for those couple of seasons).

I don't know why the average fan doesn't like that type of play or like defense in general. I loved those type of games (that could also be because the Spurs were great at it and most other fan's teams couldn't do the same thing), and I thought it was awesome. Super hard fought victories like that were very satisfying too. A 4 point grind-it-out win felt like you really had to work your ass off to earn it.
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That DET finals was so epic. Every basket, every FT from tipoff meant something
 
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