The Portland Trail Blazers should experiment with placing Maurice Harkless in a faster-paced unit to maximize more of his skillset.
There have been grumblings from Rip City fans about Maurice Harkless all year. His in-and-out and up-and-down injury/performance situation, Evan Turner‘s role shift, Jake Layman‘s “breakout,” and Rodney Hood‘s recent acquisition all make him an easy target to criticize. If Turner captains the reserves, Layman appears to make the first-unit feel more cohesive, and Hood is a better shot-creator for a second-unit in the halfcourt, then where does a fourth winger like Moe fit in? Perhaps the Portland Trail Blazers should implement him into a faster-paced unit that could better maximize his skillset.
As of now, Harkless seems miscast as a three-and-D with the starters. His defense is clearly solid, as he can lockdown many of his matchups and provide help when needed. He currently holds the third-best defensive field goal percentage on the team.
But that side of the ball has never been the issue. The bulk of fans’ frustration with him is the way he, a .290 three-point shooter, is camped out beyond the arc masquerading as a threat from deep. There are games where Harkless becomes disengaged from being ignored on offense, and this can bleed over into his defensive effort too.
Recently, the Blazers have seemingly concocted a faster-paced second-unit group that plays mostly in second quarters. This group is often made up of Turner, Hood, Layman, Seth Curry, and Zach Collins.
My idea is that Harkless enters that group as an ultra switchable defender and someone who can run off a defensive rebound, drive hard to the rim and finish, and make well-timed cuts.
Throughout the season, there have been moments where Harkless has shown an ability to attack in transition. In one instance, he even displayed a shammgod dribble move that Trail Blazers announcer Lamar Hurd absolutely loved. That play resulted in an offensive foul, but the aggression and shot-creating ability were there. If there was more of an emphasis on him working like this in a transition-heavy offense, he may find a better rhythm and finish these attempts more consistently.
Of course, adding Harkless to this second quarter group is a little tricky. Someone has to go. And adding a poor shooter alongside an awful one in ET and a mediocre one in Collins could shrink the floor and make transition opportunities less advantageous.
Although Turner has looked fine in running this fast break group, Zach Harper of The Athletic pointed out that ET is in the 13th percentile of transition efficiency and turns the ball over 27.1 percent of the time. Therefore, he seems like an obvious candidate to scratch from this lineup to try and bolster it with Moe who may perform better.
This leads us to the next issue, though. Who will be the playmaker then? Harper goes on in his piece to say that the Blazers should look to use Damian Lillard more often in transition, and he may be a perfect substitute for Curry.
How would the rotations work if the Blazers wanted to go out with a fast-paced group of Lillard, Hood, Layman, Harkless, and Collins in the second? Well, first and foremost, Layman would become the starter. CJ McCollum would likely be tasked with playing most, if not all, of the first. Then, Curry and Turner would come in at the end of it for Layman and Lillard.
There would obviously be more to it than this, but there doesn’t appear to be any major rotational overhaul pending if Portland wanted to experiment with Lillard and Harkless together in a different context.
As for Harkless heading to the bench, this isn’t at all to say he is a bad NBA player. It is, however, to say that his current role feels limiting to a guy with his physicality and skillset. Rather than force Harkless to be something he’s not with the first-unit, the Blazers should weaponize him in a transition-focused second-unit.
The postseason is approaching, but Portland should be all for experimenting with different lineup combinations after the All-Star break – especially with their new acquisitions at the deadline.