Denver Nuggets: Gary Harris might be making another leap

Gary Harris’ career has been marked by consistent improvement. Early returns indicate he won’t buck that trend this year with the Denver Nuggets.

On Oct. 7, the Denver Nuggets made a commitment to Gary Harris in the form of a lucractive four-year contract extension. The $74 million Denver guaranteed Harris ($84 million overall) accurately captured the tremendous amount he’s grown since being selected 19th overall in the 2014 NBA Draft.

While Denver shelled out a great deal to lock up its prized 2-guard, the extension came in well below the maximum amount Harris could have possibly earned, which was indicative of the room he still had for growth.

Harris has an impressive track record of improving on his weaknesses. In his rookie year, Harris posted a true shooting percentage of 39.5 percent, the 26th-worst in any season since 1979 (minimum 700 minutes). He was an historically bad shooter. In his third year, Harris posted a true shooting percentage of 61.1 percent, higher than Bradley Beal and Kawhi Leonard. He had evolved into an elite shooter.

One glaring hole remains for Harris, though. It’s been there since he was in college, and it’s continued to plague him in the NBA. He can’t finish at the rim.

More from Denver Nuggets

• This overlooked skill proves that Nikola Jokic is underrated defensively
• Why the loss of impact players won’t damage Denver’s repeat title hopes
• Has Denver’s risky offseason hurt their repeat title hopes?
• The Nuggets’ sneaky great draft bolsters their championship roster
• Despite a short series, the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat saved the NBA

In his rookie year, Harris was remarkably inefficient at the rim, shooting just 41 percent. Among wings, that was in the seventh percentile. To his credit, Harris improved over the next two years, but he still exhibited relative struggles, shooting 60 percent in his second year and 64 percent in his third.

What’s truly mystifying is the volume Harris has shot at the rim in his young career. In his rookie year, seemingly cognizant of his own limitations, Harris attempted just 29 percent of his shots at the rim. But in his second and third seasons, he upped those marks to 39 and 42 percent, respectively. Among wings, those frequencies fell in the 85th and 86th percentiles.

This year, Harris seems to have undergone a reversal. His attempts at the rim are comprising a career-low 20 percent of his field goal attempts, and he’s finally converting at an elite rate, shooting a blistering 83 percent.

His scoring numbers may be slightly down from 14.9 points per game last year to 14.5 per game this season, but the improvement is there, and not just in shooting a career-high 46.7 percent from 3-point range.

Aside from picking his spots better, Harris seems to have shown some genuine improvement in how he’s attacking the basket. Look at this clip from last year, in which Harris drives baseline, goes up, but does nothing to avoid the help defender, resulting in an easily blocked shot:

Contrast that with a finish from early this season, in which Harris evades not one but two help defenders with a pretty reverse:

In this 2016-17 possession, Harris gets a big switched on to him through a dribble hand-off. He fails to really turn the corner and get a step on Larry Nance Jr., and before he attempts the shot, he also fails to initiate contact (by jumping into a defender’s chest, you create space for yourself to finish):

Yet this year, he launches himself into Ersan Ilyasova’s chest with so much force that Ilyasova deems it suitable to flop (to no avail):

Or take this ugly transition attempt from last year. Harris has an easy bucket, but does absolutely nothing to evade Ricky Rubio in pursuit. Rubio affects his shot and forces a miss:

Meanwhile, this year, Harris gets a transition possession and breaks out a beautiful Euro step, creating an easy bucket:

Early returns from 2017-18 seem to indicate that Harris has once again turned a major weakness into a major strength. His ability to improve so rapidly and consistently is staggering. It’s the reason why I was so complimentary of the extension the Nuggets signed him to.

Next: 2017-18 Week 3 NBA Power Rankings

There are still flaws in Harris’ game (astute readers will have noticed that Harris goes left in exactly zero of the clips above), but he’s very quickly ironing out all the significant ones. Gary Harris is well on the road to being a complete player, and at the rate he’s improving, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen sooner rather than later.