LA Clippers 2019-2020 player profiles: Moe Harkless may have major role

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DENVER, CO – MAY 12: Jamal Murray #27 of the Denver Nuggets defends Maurice Harkless #4 of the Portland Trail Blazers during Game Seven of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on May 12, 2019 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Offense

Offensively, Harkless needs to improve. First off, for his career he is just a 32.3% shooter from deep. Hopefully he spent the summer working on these numbers or he may struggle a bit in the offense.

In fact, he really doesn’t do well anywhere except outside of the paint. If you look at the heat map for Harkless’ shooting, it’s ALL at the rim.

Even worse, looking at his shot zones for 2018-19, his field goal percentage from deep was at least 10% worse than the league average everywhere except for to the left side of the court. There, he was only 8.5% worse. Yeah, not great.

Thankfully, if he’s playing with the bench unit, he won’t need to space the floor a ton. Montrezl has been working on his three ball. Lou can hit. Landry Shamet (who may be joining the second unit) can obviously space things out.

Even if Harkless hasn’t really improved his three ball, he should still be able to at minimum contribute some buckets every now and then. As a possible fourth or fifth option in the second unit, his career average of 7.3 points per game will be more than appreciated.

Don’t expect a lot from Harkless on this end, but any production he can provide will just be gravy.

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