Montrezl Harrell put up starter numbers off the bench for the LA Clippers last season. How did he do it and how does he fit on a team with championship aspirations?
Montrezl Harrell was an integral part of the LA Clippers’ surprising 48-34 season in 2018-19. Considered a throw-in as part of the Chris Paul trade from LA to Houston, Harrell finished third in the Sixth Man of the Year voting and seventh for Most Improved Player.
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It’s difficult to describe Harrell’s game without descending into cliches and lazy descriptions. Harrell is a wrecking ball. A workhorse. His game isn’t finesse, it’s power and rage.
In an era increasingly defined by terms like “load management” and regular season coasting, ‘Trez goes against the grain. As one of just 21 players to play in all 82 games last season, each one of Harrell’s minutes are exhausting.
His game is a never-ending series of picks, ducks to the rim and bruising banging in matchups where he’s almost always the smaller man.
Part of what made the Clippers special last season was the team’s collective shoulder chip and better-than-the-sum-of-our-parts mentality. Harrell personified the team’s approach. Speaking with SLAM:
"“I was never one of those guys who had the hype coming into the basketball game or had a big name,” he says. “Always playing with that chip on my shoulder and going about the game…being a hard worker and never letting anybody outwork me in general.”"
Perhaps it’s his status as a former second round pick (32nd to the Rockets in 2015). Or the fact that he was ranked 81st in his recruiting class coming out of high school. Or his time in Hargrave Military Academy.
Regardless, Harrell’s work-ethic and insecurity paid of handsomely for the Clippers in 2018-19.