Brooklyn Nets: Examining the stellar shooting of Joe Harris

The Brooklyn Nets have one of the NBA’s best shooters in Joe Harris. What explains his 3-point shooting prowess and how is he unique?

2018-19 was quite the memorable season for Joe Harris. The fifth-year Brooklyn Nets sharpshooter shot 47.4 percent from long range (1st in NBA) and won the 3-point competition at All-Star Weekend.

(Credit to NBA.com and KenPom for statistics, and Hoops Intellect for GIFS)

It’s worth examining the types of shots Harris took last season and how Brooklyn attempted to make the most of his shooting presence. NBA.com provides an abundance of data, and here are some of the more interesting takeaways.

1. 51.6 percent of Harris’ shot attempts came from behind the arc. This isn’t surprising given his reputation as a shooter, but there are plenty of NBA players that took an even greater percentage of their attempts from 3-point range.

Number one in this regard was Gary Clark of the Houston Rockets, who took a ridiculous 91.4 percent of his shots from downtown in 51 games. The rookie made 41-of-138 (29.7 percent).

2. Harris didn’t have to create 3-point attempts for himself, as 83.4 percent were catch-and-shoot looks. In comparison, 91.7 percent of James Harden’s long-range attempts came off the dribble. His 943 off-the-dribble shots were almost double that of anyone else in the NBA (Kemba Walker had 492).

3. Harris typically had a lot of room to work with when setting up for a shot. 47.9 percent of his long-range attempts came with the closest defender more than six feet away, classified as “wide open.” The sharpshooter hit 48.6 percent of these attempts.

36.2 percent of attempts came with the closest defender four-six feet away, classified as “open,” and Harris made 47.1 percent of these. Combined, 84.2 percent of Harris’s attempts came with the closest defender at least four feet away.

How has he gotten so open? Some credit has to go to the Nets coaching staff for their offensive schemes, and some definitely has to go to other players for drawing a lot of attention. At the same time, however, a lot of credit needs to go to Harris himself.

4. He works really hard to get open looks, constantly moving off-the-ball and running around screens. Per NBA.com’s tracking data, Harris ranked 5th in the league in average speed on offense at 5.17 mph.

Only Tyrone Wallace, Landry Shamet, Buddy Hield and Davis Bertans averaged higher speeds. It’s also worth noting that Nets rookie Rodions Kurucs was seventh at 5.13 mph.

Regardless of how free agency shakes up for the Nets this summer, there should always be a significant role for a shooter of Harris’ caliber. The only question is whether he’ll lead the league in 3-point percentage again this upcoming season.