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Joe "Captain America" Harris

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I've said this already before, but my major problem with Harris is that the one thing he needs to be great at (3PT shooting) to stick in the league, he's only been just above average.

If you can't guard anyone, can't really dribble, don't give anything on the glass -- then you better be an elite 3PT shooter -- or close buddies with LeBron like James Jones.

Harris, to date, hasn't shown he's a good enough perimeter shooter to justify everything else he's bad at.
 
Joe Harris is 24 years old, the same age as Kyrie, and has played 1 full season with us, 2 preseasons, and in 2 summer leagues. Let's not pretend like people are giving up on some 19 year old rookie 20 games into the season. He's a 3 point specialist who hasn't even shown the ability to be just average at the one skill he's supposed to be good at. And unlike guys like Danny Green, Harris is physically and athletically limited, so I don't expect any significant improvement in any area outside of maybe his shooting, but will that be enough to keep him on the floor? He's likely to give up far more points on the defensive end than he'll provide on offense.

I guess I just don't see where his value is or why some people are so enamored with him. He's limited by his lack of length and athleticism, his vision is poor, he can't defend, he can't finish at the rim, and he has poor on-court instincts. Are we supposed to continue to develop him until he can become an above-average 3 point shooter? Is that the goal? Because that's not going to offset all his weaknesses. If you look at other 3 point shooters across the league (Korver, Green, Matthews, Redick, heck, even guys like Delly), most of them provide skills other than their shooting that help them see playing time. Whether it's defense or a high basketball IQ that allows them to just make the right plays, Joe Harris hasn't shown any similar abilities outside of his potential to be a decent 3 point marksman.
 
One interesting thing I saw was when Harris was matched up against his old college teammate in the DAL game (I think it was Justin Anderson) he looked much better. He was aggressive and even looked solid on a pull-up midrange jumper off the dribble which he rarely shows. For a few sequences it was like watching a different guy, probably how he looks in the D-league.

It's preseason against not the greatest competition but that tells me a large part of his issues could be confidence driven.
 
All4One1ForAll said:
Joe Harris is 24 years old, the same age as Kyrie, and has played 1 full season with us, 2 preseasons, and in 2 summer leagues. Let's not pretend like people are giving up on some 19 year old rookie 20 games into the season. He's a 3 point specialist who hasn't even shown the ability to be just average at the one skill he's supposed to be good at. And unlike guys like Danny Green, Harris is physically and athletically limited, so I don't expect any significant improvement in any area outside of maybe his shooting, but will that be enough to keep him on the floor? He's likely to give up far more points on the defensive end than he'll provide on offense.

I Gus's I just don't see where his value is or why some people are so enamored with him. He's limited by his lack of length and athleticism, his vision is poor, he can't defend, he can't finish at the rim, and he has poor on-court instincts. Are we supposed to continue to develop him until he can become an above-average 3 point shooter? Is that the goal? Because that's not going to offset all his weaknesses. If you look at other 3 point shooters across the league (Korver, Green, Matthews, Redick, heck, even guys like Delly), most of them provide skills other than their shooting that help them see playing time. Whether it's defense or a high basketball IQ that allows them to just make the right plays, Joe Harris hasn't shown any similar abilities outside of his potential to be a decent 3 point marksman.
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I totally agree with you, but just as a counterpoint. Danny Green's court awareness seemed terrible for several years. He looked lost out there and then became a steely very high role player with ice water in his veins.
 
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This guy has no excuse.

If Delly had his physical tools, he wouldn't be playing on a qualifying offer this coming year.

Maybe we could send him to play in Aussieland instead of the D-League.
 
Discussing tonights win and praising good efforts by KLove, RJ and JR, Andrew Schnitkey closed his article with these gems,

LeBron James finished this game with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. It wasn’t a bad game for LeBron. It’s not like he was doing things to hurt the team. But it was definitely strange watching the Cavaliers win in such a dominating fashion with LeBron having such a quiet game. It was strange, and it was a positive development. The Cavaliers needed an early season game like this to build confidence that they can win without Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert without having to rely on LeBron to do all of the heavy lifting. To demonstrate that point, here are some nice words for everyone who played in this game who hasn’t been mentioned yet:

Mo Williams – Decisive with the ball, got the offense flowing, took big shots when the team needed them.

Timofey Mozgov – Played great defense on Marc Gasol all night and frustrated Gasol all night.

Richard Jefferson – Knocked down big shots time and time again. Exactly what the Cavs needed out of the top bench scorer.

Tristan Thompson – Was active and did his usual rebounding thing.

Matthew Dellavedova – Aggressive and attacking while showing more control at the PG position.

Anderson Varejao – Maybe he can’t play the minutes he used to, but showed he can still be effective in shorter bursts of energetic play.

Jared Cunningham – Very explosive, an incredible athlete who can really get to the hole when he plays under control.

Sasha Kaun – He has really long arms. As he gets more comfortable with the NBA, has potential to be a somewhat disruptive force off the bench.

James Jones – The captain of the bench.

Joe Harris – Gave really nice high fives to everyone as they came out of the game.
 
gaitano said:
Discussing tonights win and praising good efforts by KLove, RJ and JR, Andrew Schnitkey closed his article with these gems,

LeBron James finished this game with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. It wasn’t a bad game for LeBron. It’s not like he was doing things to hurt the team. But it was definitely strange watching the Cavaliers win in such a dominating fashion with LeBron having such a quiet game. It was strange, and it was a positive development. The Cavaliers needed an early season game like this to build confidence that they can win without Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert without having to rely on LeBron to do all of the heavy lifting. To demonstrate that point, here are some nice words for everyone who played in this game who hasn’t been mentioned yet:

Mo Williams – Decisive with the ball, got the offense flowing, took big shots when the team needed them.

Timofey Mozgov – Played great defense on Marc Gasol all night and frustrated Gasol all night.

Richard Jefferson – Knocked down big shots time and time again. Exactly what the Cavs needed out of the top bench scorer.

Tristan Thompson – Was active and did his usual rebounding thing.

Matthew Dellavedova – Aggressive and attacking while showing more control at the PG position.

Anderson Varejao – Maybe he can’t play the minutes he used to, but showed he can still be effective in shorter bursts of energetic play.

Jared Cunningham – Very explosive, an incredible athlete who can really get to the hole when he plays under control.

Sasha Kaun – He has really long arms. As he gets more comfortable with the NBA, has potential to be a somewhat disruptive force off the bench.

James Jones – The captain of the bench.

Joe Harris – Gave really nice high fives to everyone as they came out of the game.
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Mike Miller did him well!
 
This guy is looking pretty awful, some horrific defense down the stretch.
 
Checking team salaries, and it looks like there are currently only 4 teams that can absorb Harris' $845K salary -- Philly, Portland, Utah, and Denver (Denver just barely). I don't believe all, or perhaps any, of them have an open roster spot though. In addition, a number of other teams have TPEs large enough to absorb his salary.

The math may turn out to be different, depending on what happens to Cunningham and other factors, but if you calculate the total amount (player salary plus luxury tax) the Cavs will owe to keep Harris based on the tax rate of 3.25%, you get roughly $3.6M ($845K base salary plus ~$2.7M). So the Cavs could use the entirety of the $3.4M they are permitted to send out in trades (none of it has been used yet) as a bribe to a team to take on Harris. Would this be enough? It would save the Cavs a couple hundred thousand, and more importantly free up a roster spot, allowing them to keep Cunningham and then add a player later in the season (either a bought-out free agent, or less probably via trade using one of their TPEs).

Roster spots are valuable, and I just don't see the value in having Harris occupy one of them given that Cunningham is better right now and a viable NBA player that fits a need could become available later on.
 
Try saying all that negativity to little Joey Spaghetteos from down the street.

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Go ahead, rob him of his dream.
 
Jared Cunningham is going to grab Captain America's roster spot when Kyrie and Shump come back, if he hasn't already. I'm in the camp where Harris gets traded for a 2nd just before Kyrie is activated.
 
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