Portland Trail Blazers: Harry Giles wasting no time proving he’s an impact player

It’s taken Harry Giles all of 51 minutes to show the Portland Trail Blazers what he’s capable of in 2020-21. Here’s a closer look at his production.

In two games as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers, new opportunities have allowed Harry Giles III to do something he hadn’t done in the first 104 regular season games of his career: produce back-to-back double-doubles.

And yes, the footnote will read that this is the exhibition season, and yes, these are the Sacramento Kings. But everything about Giles’ career to this point has boiled down to “if.”

If he stays healthy.

If he gets consistent playing time.

If you put him in the right positions to succeed.

The early returns suggest he’s putting it all together. When Giles signed the one-year, minimum deal, he essentially bet on himself.

In return, the Blazers could be beneficiaries of one of the great bargain deals of the 2020-21 season.

In rewatching some of his tape, the one thing that stands out thus far is just how multifaceted he’s been, particularly on offense. In the offseason press conference, he said his defining trait would be his passing ability. It could be that he simply didn’t want to tip off his hand on what else he added, or refined in his game this fall.

This feels important because there don’t appear to be any growing pains, or wrinkles to iron out as far as chemistry goes.

Giles has a knack for knowing where to be in Terry Stotts’ system already. He is making his presence felt as a cutter, exhibited pick-and-roll IQ when the Kings “showed” hard on hedging Anfernee Simons, and even made the most of his chances to pick-and-pop.

He’s also developed a penchant for using his 7-foot-3 wingspan to poke the ball away from anything from bigs to guards, and get out for fast break opportunities, something he’s done multiple times in his two-game Blazers stint.

Here’s one of the great examples we can show. In Sacramento, one of Giles’ calling cards was the dribble handoff, which he could use to fake and find cutters. He’s also shown that he can call his own number and beat slower bigs off the dribble.

Under the two-game sample size, he is, in a way, becoming what the Portland Trail Blazers hoped it would get from Noah Vonleh.

It’s always wise to take these games with a grain of salt; they hold such little long-term consequence that observers almost have to fish out statistics and details for themselves because they aren’t tracked. But what we’re seeing is a player creating through decisiveness and a motivation after a somewhat-slowed start to his career.

As of now, Giles leads the preseason in rebounding (13.5) and is No. 4 in scoring (18.5), while adding 2.0 assists, 2.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks on 58-50-80 percentage splits.

It’s far too early to say that those averages are a harbinger of what’s to come. But it does provide you with an idea of what Giles is capable of … if he’s healthy, if he gets consistent playing time, and if you put him in the right positions to succeed.

And based on how he’s approached the preseason, it’s becoming less a matter of if, and more of a matter of when.