NBA: Ranking all 30 starting shooting guards for 2018-19
11. Gary Harris, Denver Nuggets
This feels disrespectful to one of the NBA’s best two-way guards, since Gary Harris is already a stifling defender, a consistent 3-point threat and a respectable scorer given how much talent he has around him. Approaching his 24th birthday, Harris could be ready for yet another “breakout year” in 2018-19.
However, that feels less likely than some of the other players on this list, and it’s because of the amount of offensive firepower around him on this Denver Nuggets team. Even as he increases his scoring and 3-point potency year after year, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are always going to command the brunt of the shot attempts, and Paul Millsap is somewhere in the equation too.
On a worse team, Harris would get his chance to shine on offense with more responsibility. As the second or third option last year, he still put up 17.5 points per game on 39.6 percent shooting from deep. Unfortunately, he’ll get fewer opportunities to expand his offensive game on this Denver team, he doesn’t contribute much elsewhere on the stat sheet, and until the Nuggets’ defensive rating reflects his reputation, it’s hard to argue his defensive impact is truly elite.