NBA Draft: Re-drafting the 2014 NBA Draft’s first round

2014 NBA Redraft: 18. Gary Harris, Phoenix Suns

The scouting department for the Denver Nuggets truly deserves a large raise. With Gary Harris going ninth in this re-draft, that puts two of the team’s current players — and one former — inside the top 10.

Harris has developed into one of the best young wings the NBA has today, a growing 3-and-D player who at times can create offense for himself. That wasn’t always the case, though. In fact, the former Michigan State alumni didn’t appear to be valued much on draft night, acquired by the Nuggets in a deal with Chicago that also netted them Nurkic.

His rookie season didn’t inspire much confidence about his future with just 3.4 points per game on 30.4 percent shooting from the field. In the three seasons that followed, however, Harris managed to increase his scoring average while bumping his 3-point efficiency to around 40.0 percent.

The emergence of Nikola Jokic coupled with so many talented players on Denver’s roster has complicated Harris’ role within the team. He saw a decrease in both minutes and shot attempts per game this past regular season, a figure unlikely to improve given the depth behind him.

He’s a terrific slasher — a must for teammates of Jokic –who at times can put together tremendous scoring outputs over the course of a few games. Yet he also has the tendency to go prolonged stretches throughout the season without cracking double-digits.

At just 24 years of age, Harris has the talent to be one of the better two-way players in the game, but it might be hard to play at his best without a consistent role. That could lead to his departure from Denver down the line, but now is not the time to think of the future. Today is when we marvel at the former 19th overall pick working his way up from a little-known guy off the bench into a starting spot for one of the best teams in the Western Conference.