The Portland Trail Blazers have missed Maurice Harkless
By Ty Delbridge
The Portland Trail Blazers ended their final road trip of the season by going 0-4 and are in danger of losing home-court advantage for the playoffs. The Blazers have been without starter Maurice Harkless for a bit now and have missed him on the floor.
The Portland Trail Blazers have been without their starting small forward, Maurice Harkless, for two weeks. Harkless underwent knee surgery to remove a loose body in his knee. After the surgery, Harkless was going to be re-evaluated by the team in two weeks.
After a rough start to the season, Harkless lost his spot in the rotation and saw multiple games where he got no playing time. Coming off a career season the year before, a lot was expected out of Harkless coming into the 2017-18 season.
The Blazers needed him to be their 3-and-D wing. Harkless wasn’t shooting the ball poorly; he just seemed disinterested when he was on the floor. In fact, he even admitted he had to look himself in the mirror after seeing himself on tape not being a supportive teammate.
A few weeks before the All-Star break, Harkless came off the bench against the Boston Celtics. He scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 31 minutes, shooting 5-of-5 from the 3-point line. He was inserted into the starting lineup the next game and has been the starter in every game he’s played since.
The Blazers came back from the break and rattled off 12 straight wins. Harkless had been fantastic since the All-Star break and was a big reason for the Blazers’ recent success. He was averaging 10.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 59.5 percent from the field and 54.5 percent from the 3-point line
Harkless has been a knockdown shooter for the Blazers this season, as well as one of their better defenders. He uses his quickness and long arms to disrupt passing lanes and deflect balls.
The Blazers need Harkless on the floor
Without Harkless, the Blazers are a different team. In these last eight games, they have not been shooting good from the floor or 3-point line and are not defending well either. While he is recovering from his knee surgery, the Blazers have gone 3-5 in the eight games he’s missed.
They have been using Evan Turner as their starter. Turner has been good for Portland but using him as the starter is messing with the rotations. The Blazers have been playing Turner, Shabazz Napier, Wade Baldwin and Pat Connaughton more to try and fill Harkless’ minutes.
Turner was an excellent replacement off the bench because he is a bigger wing who can defend. Now that he is starting, the Blazers don’t have any big wings coming off the bench to replace him. If Aminu moves to the small forward, the Blazers have to use more of their big man to replace him at power forward and that messes the rotation up even more.
Turner is better for the Blazers when he is coming off the bench and playing next to either Damian Lillard or C.J. McCollum, but not both at the same time. Turner isn’t a great 3-point shooter, and other teams know this, so they don’t worry about him out on the wing. His defender can sag off him and play help defense. Turner is more effective with the ball in his hands and creating offense for himself and teammates.
Harkless doesn’t always have a great shooting night, but defenses have to respect him out there because of his ability to knock a shot down. Harkless being on the floor allows more space for the offense.
Harkless’ impact doesn’t always show up on the stat sheet. The Blazers are a different team when he is contesting shots, running the floor, setting good screens and being a willing passer and shooter.
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Rip City is going to have a tough matchup on its hands for the first round of the playoffs. It will need a healthy Harkless to slow down other teams’ explosive wing players and if it wants any chance of making it to the second round. There hasn’t been any news on Harkless and no date for his return, but the Blazers need him back sooner rather than later.