Denver Nuggets: The unconventional efficiency of Gary Harris
By Max Carlin
Gary Harris is quietly efficient in all aspects of the game — not just scoring — and his ability to consistently make so much out of so little is a major boon for the Denver Nuggets.
Efficiency is the buzzword in today’s NBA. Typically, it serves as a proxy for scoring efficiency. Denver Nuggets wing Gary Harris boasts enviable efficiency in the scoring department, with a true shooting percentage just across the golden threshold of 60 percent.
Quietly, though, Harris is unexpectedly elite in another realm of efficiency: passing. Harris currently has an assist percentage to usage percentage ratio of 0.73, which measures, per Cleaning the Glass: “How often did a player get an assist given how much they had the ball?” For context, consider that Denver’s starting point guard, Jamal Murray, has an assist to usage ratio of just 0.59. Harris is eminently unselfish.
Harris manages this remarkable passing efficiency without being a volume passer. He is currently running an assist-to-pass percentage of 12.4 percent, meaning 12.4 percent of his passes result in assists. Just 11 players (minimum 900 passes) have posted higher marks, and that list is limited to ball-dominant guards like Houston Rockets guard Chris Paul and New Orleans Pelicans guard Rajon Rondo, or elite playmaking wings like Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jimmy Butler and Toronto Raptors wing DeMar DeRozan.
This is no fluke either. Last year, Harris’ assist to usage ratio was 0.74, and his assist-to-pass percentage was 11.7 percent.
Harris, however, should not be mistaken for a ball-mover, and I mean that in the best way possible. In terms of raw passes, he doesn’t throw a lot, but as he has in all other aspects of his game, Harris has stripped the superfluity from passing, transforming himself into the NBA’s minimalist assassin.
Harris has a relatively high average time per touch for a primarily off-ball player, coming in at 2.56 seconds per touch. It’s a similar story with his dribbles per touch of 2.07: relatively high. The pessimist — or rather, the pessimist who doesn’t watch the games — would label Harris a ball-stopper. In reality, Harris exhibits a patience that would make Le’Veon Bell proud.
The typical Harris possession goes something like this:
He takes his time, surveys the floor methodically, as if he has all the time in the world, yet calmly conscious of the incumbency upon him to do something in the intervening fractions of a second.
He understands that time is an ingredient as essential to basketball as the ball itself, always allowing the play the necessary moments to develop.
And when the pass—the right pass—presents itself, Harris obliges, delivering a strike directly into the shooter’s pocket.
Harris’ dedication to the right pass, his forsaking of basketball’s frills, has made him an exceptionally efficient passer. His penchant for simplicity in all facets of the game has made him a monster.
I have this inkling that adolescent Gary Harris had no interest in AND1 Mixtapes. Basketball: Its Origin and Development by James Naismith was probably more his speed. Harris’ game is purely and beautifully functional. He is a proficient scorer from every segment of the court — exceptional from some.
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His few weaknesses are quickly and seamlessly being ironed out. His passing will never land him on a SportsCenter Top 10, but it will regularly and invariably put his teammates in position to score, and the Denver Nuggets in position to win.