Aaron Harrison is yet another player on whom Charlotte has chosen to take a chance during a transformational summer.
Aaron Harrison, the six-foot, six-inch guard from Kentucky, was among the top high-school recruits a couple of years ago before watching six of his teammates have their names called on draft-day.
Despite Harrison’s reputation for being a knock-down outside shooter, he shot only 33.5 percent from three in college. However, most scouts tend to agree his stroke is pretty sound. Assuming he can live up to his reputation as a deep threat, he still has much room for improvement. He showed some good signs in summer league play, but these days it’s what you can’t do that keeps you off the court as opposed to what you can do that keeps you on the court. As teams advance closer to the crown come Spring, each passing playoff round the winning team tends to feature more well-rounded, two-way players. Klay Thompson shot the lights out at Washington State in college, but his offensive effectiveness in the NBA would be severely limited if he weren’t also capable of playing pick and roll basketball and exploiting the right match-ups off the bounce.
During an off-season in which Charlotte acquired Spencer Hawes, Nicolas Batum, Jeremy Lamb, and Jeremy Lin, it’s hardly surprising that they’ve opted to give a training camp invitation to Harrison, another guy whose value has been on the downswing of late. Opting to rid themselves of Lance Stephenson, the Hornets took a chance on Hawes, who’d grown accustomed to Doc Rivers’ doghouse in L.A. Batum had a down year for the Blazers, who were looking to get younger during Alridge’s pending departure period. Lamb never got much of a chance under Scott Brooks, and Lin’s recent road has been rocky after bursting onto the scene years ago with the Knicks.
The 2014-15 Hornets were the worst three-point shooting team in the NBA, converting only 31.8 percent from downtown. Shout out to Stephenson, who had the third-worst true shooting percentage since the implementation of the three-pointer. In trading Stephenson and Gerald Henderson, drafting Frank Kaminsky, and acquiring Lamb, Hawes, and Batum, it’s clear that improving the team’s outside shooting was a huge focus of the off-season.
Signing Harrison to a two-year deal with a partial guarantee in the second year is a smart move for a team eagerly embracing the idea that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Harrison will have a hard time earning minutes even if he does make the team. Kemba Walker, Lin and Brian Roberts figure to eat up most of the time as the primary ball-handler. And on the wing, the Hornets have Lamb, P.J. Hairston, Troy Daniels, Batum, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Marvin Williams. Williams spends some time at the four, but that’s still quite a few guys Harrison has to leapfrog for playing time. If Harrison can prove he has the ability to defend, play the pick and roll, and consistently make his open shots, he should earn a spot on the team.
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