Gary Harris
Orlando Magic

Player Facts

Height: 6'4"
Weight: 210lbs.

Wingspan: 6'6.75"

Date of Birth: Sep. 14, 1994
College Experience: Michigan State (2 years)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 9
Physical Strength: 7
Positional Size: 7
Positional Wingspan: 6
Paint Scoring: 7
Midrange Scoring: 5
Three-Point Scoring: 8
Dribbling: 5
Passing: 5
Perimeter Defense: 8
Interior Defense: 4
Rebounding: 4

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JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Range + Rover

> Scoring/Passing Via Screens

> Athletic Open Court Scoring

> Impact Multi-Positional Defense

> Masterful PoA Defense

> Off-Ball Defense

> Lack of Creation

> Interior D Events Creation

> Low-Output Rebounding

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

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*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

Gary Harris is a 6'4" guard out of Michigan State. The bulk of his value derives from the defensive end, predicated on his point-of-attack work. He adds some offensive value through active cutting and some range.

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Range + Rover

His two-man game with the ultra-talented point center Nikola Jokic was formidable. Their give-and-go actions proved problematic for the opposition time and again. Besides these, the Serbian pivot located Harris sneaking along the baseline as his defender went to double inside.

The bloated volume of Jokic-Harris connections helps illustrate the type of chemistry they had. The center's 628 deliveries to Gary was a larger sum than the totals from Jamal Murray and Will Barton combined (2019-2020). Beyond this pairing, Harris remains a timely cutter in general – 60th percentile in 2022-2023.

While his shooting can be streaky, Gary adds some value as a floor spacer (back up to career norms as of 2023). 2019-2020 had him can 36.7% of his catch-and-shoot three-balls. His 157 spot-up points outpaced Devin Booker, Lou Williams, and Eric Gordon. More recently, 2021-2022 saw him bang 41.3%, moving into the mid 40's in 2022-2023.

Scoring/Passing in Flow

He can do some additional things as a half-court scorer. Gary's not a consistently deadly threat in the screen-and-roll, but he's capable. A sizable chunk of his 3.7 drives/game in 2021-2022 were born out of P-n-R's.

Getting downhill via DHO's is another usable part of Harris' game. He struggles to break someone down off the bounce but if he has the angle he can be a potent slasher. He will attack closeouts hard and decisively.

Gary's 129 points on handoffs was eight-most leaguewide in 2019-2020. 2021-2022's figure of 1.6 nightly DHO points tied him with players like Gary Trent Jr. and Kyrie Irving.

Just like his scoring prowess, his facilitating opens up when he has a clear route to the cup. Gary is unselfish and has nice touch on interior shovels to the dunker's spot. His 2-3 assists per-36 in a given season is not horrible considering his usage rate.

Athletic Open Court Scoring

Gary is an athletic finisher in the open court. He speedily leaks out for outlet opportunities. With his quickness and bounce, Harris had 58 transition buckets in 2021-2022 – more than Julius Randle and De'Andre Hunter.

Impact Multi-Positional Defense

The 6'4" guard is a solid defender 1 through 3. His positioning is great and he looks to get into the other player's jersey. He can afford to play more riskily as his speed ensures the ability to recover.

The energetic and deceptively strong Harris was in the 75th percentile defending isolations in 2018-2019 then the 55th in 2019-2020. In that latter season, he showed he can be a multi-positional weapon.

He checked guards 68% of the time and held them to 40.9% shooting, and guarded forwards 28.3% of the time with just a 40% field goal clip.

2021-2022 saw him finish in the 66th percentile for isolation defense. This was during an Orlando Magic season that was otherwise quite uninspiring on the team level. He spent 82% of his time at the two and 15% of his possessions at small forward according to BBREF.

Masterful PoA Defense

Harris' shining defensive attribute is his incredible point-of-attack work. He doggedly scampers over top screens or will slide to reappear in his man's path on unders. His foot speed and determination play here.

The numbers support Harris and his point of attack work. 2019-2020 saw him land in the 83rd percentile defending pick-and-roll ball-handlers. He paired that with an 86th percentile spot guarding dribble handoffs.

Off-Ball Defense

Gary's quick hands, crisp footwork, and overall energetic defense result in some key deflections. The Michigan State product has a penchant for getting his hands on the ball as a defender. He offers up some insane ball denials as well with that supreme energy.

He is highly engaged as a team defender and often turns on the jets to intercept floating passes. The 2.6 deflections per game bested OG Anunoby, and Bam Adebayo (2019-2020).

His off-ball defense in general is valuable at his position. The speedy Gary is a good chaser against dynamic off-ball movers such as a Stephen Curry. He will often shoot the gap to ensure he arrives punctually for a three-point contest.

WEAKNESSES

Lack of Creation

As is the case with players of Gary's mould, he lacks one-on-one juice. He must attack a pre-made advantage rather than, as a shooting guard, being able to beat people off-the-bounce. He does not isolate much, and for good reason.

Interior D Events Creation

While Gary excels defending away from the basket, he struggles to make any plays around the painted area. As a two-guard, not much is excepted in this department but it would help Harris given that he's a defense-first player. Only 3 charges were drawn in 2019-2020.

The chief culprits of Gary's lackluster interior defense are a short wingspan and relatively low weight. His 6'6.75" reach is short for a perimeter player and it mitigates the effectiveness of his at-the-basket contests.

Additionally, he really struggles to check five-men in a pinch; centers shot 68% from the field against the 210-pound Harris in 2019-2020.

Low-Output Rebounding

Soft glass-crashing finishes out Gary's weaknesses. He averaged a tiny 0.6 box-outs per game in 2019-2020 (31.8 mpg). In terms of actual rebounding, his 3.3 per-36 minutes was also uninspiring. As a final note, he's been too injury prone to be considered a truly dependable part of the rotation.

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Beacon Bacon

Gary was one of a few solid picks in the teens of the 2014 NBA Draft, the others being – Zach LaVine, T.J. Warren, and Jusuf Nurkic