Portland Trail Blazers: 2017-18 player grades for Maurice Harkless

Strengths

Maurice Harkless is an athletic 3-and-D wing player. This skill-set has made him a good fit in the modern NBA, and he is slowly reaching his potential as he enters his mid-20s.

Harkless’ 3-point shooting has seen amazing growth since he arrived in Portland. Moe shot 27.9 percent from downtown in 2015-16, his first year in Rip City. In 2017-18, he knocked down a career-high 41.5 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.

As a result, Harkless is dangerous in spot-up situations. He logged 1.26 points per possession and had a 65.4 effective field goal percentage on spot-ups, putting him in the 95th percentile of the league.

Harkless’ athleticism also allowed him to do well when running the floor. His 1.18 points per possession in transition put him in the 65th percentile. It also allowed him to explode at the rim. 13.5 percent of Harkless’ field goal attempts were dunks, completing 30 of his 40 tries.

Defensively, he improved along with the team. His 104.9 points allowed per 100 possessions in 2017-18 was 3.4 points better than the season before. He did best defending spot-up opportunities. Moe’s 0.87 points allowed per 100 possessions put him in the 84th percentile.

Also, thanks to his seven-foot wingspan, Harkless managed to commit 2.5 pass deflections per 36 minutes. That was good for third-best in the Blazers’ rotation.