Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[KillerLeft]

Isn't Harris's desirability almost entirely linked to his contract? It's not like he can't play.

I've hated the idea of him, on that awful max deal he's had forever. But he is a solid starter, so if he's paid like other solid starters (or even paid LESS than their typical price range) rather than at that bloated max level, it seems like he would be a plus.

I see him as the mirror opposite of PJW (and perhaps a case study in how NBA pricing works). The value in TH is that he gives you solid (but not great) scoring on a fairly consistent basis, and he's not awful on defense. So you get some fairly reliable help on one end, and hope he also makes plays on defense so that he's approaching two-way.

In comparison, I think I could fairly write a PJW evaluation with the same words I used for TH, but just switch ends of the floor. 
"The value in TH PJW is that he gives you solid (but not great) scoring defense on a fairly consistent basis, and he's not awful on defense offense. So you get some fairly reliable help on one end, and hope he also makes plays on defense offense so that he's approaching two-way." I think the value for them is about the same, just with different pluses and minuses.

I think that's a fair comp, and that it also demonstrates how salary skews greatly to offense. The point being, since anyone halfway decent on offense gets the max anyhow, you are better to pay about the same (the max) for someone like Luka and Kyrie, and then you can fill in around them with players whose price tag is modest because you don't need offense to be their strength.

That having been said, would love to have TH too, if he was priced like PJW or less (although I don't see any way to acquire him). But I think he'll go for way more money than I would want to pay, because teams like to pay big for players who can score.

I agree (to a point) with your point regarding contract and ensuing expectations. 

I don't agree with your assessment of the players you're comparing. I have been following both of them pretty closely for a while, and though I'll admit that Washington's early fit in this offense hasn't been the easiest of transitions, I have a much, much higher opinion of him, offensively, than Harris. 

For one thing, Washington was higher on his team's offensive food chain in Charlotte than Harris has even been. I've seen him have 30-40 games where he seemed unstoppable, and I feel he still qualifies as a young, improving player. In addition to that, he did an interview when he got here in which he basically said that Kidd's defenisve system and terminology was exactly the same as what he's used to from Charlotte, but that the offense was drastically different. Plus, it's obvious that he's having to play off the ball much more here (and will likely continue to need to do that) than he did in Charlotte, which, as we've learned, is more difficult of an adjustment for these guys than we realize. I expect that a full training camp with him on the team will result both in a greater comfort level from him with his off-ball responsibilities in the flow of the general offense, AND an increase in his actual, tangible involvement in certain actions.

Example: he's a GREAT passer (how that has escaped the masses around here, I don't get). Every game features 1-3 really impressive assists from situations where he is the outlet from a trap, moves the defense and finds the correct guy who has the advantage. This is something that no other Mavs "defensive role player" - not Kleber, not DFS, not Lively, not DJJ, none of them - showed up understanding right out of the jump. I honestly believe we'll see more from him (next year, after a training camp) as the screener/outlet on the short roll, and I'm expecting that to look GREAT. Heck, if Lively can be any sort of threat as a corner shooter (just enough to plausibly hold a defender), then we could see him (Lively) start to sneak into the dunker's spot, not unlike Aaron Gordon does right now for Denver. I'm not kidding, Washington is going to open new possibilities for this OFFENSE, if they let him. I also think he's going to shoot better as time goes on, personally. 

With Harris, there are just too many games (the majority of them, frankly) where you literally forget he's out there. I know watching Washington go 0/7 from 3 isn't fun, but he moves the ball in intelligent ways, gets offensive put backs, makes occasional smart back cuts, and has a general and obvious desire to impact the game on that end, despite not being part of the plan yet, or even fully comfortable with his role at times. To me, Harris has always seemed like he's hiding out there (similar to how Green feels here at times).

I take Washington over Harris 10/10 times without a moment's hesitation, and I honestly think a lot of folks around here are going to wish they didn't judge him (offensively) so harshly on a small sample size after an in-season deadline trade. Those almost never result in the best version of a team. If you think back to all the great TDL deals we've seen the Mavs make: Van Exel, Butler/Haywood, etc...it was always evident that the team was better off afterwards, but the NEXT SEASON is always when the team really, really improves.