PORTLAND — Moe Harkless, like many Blazers in the last year of their contract, is facing a make or break season.
Only 22, Harkless is coming off the worst season of his career. A season where he experienced a fall from regular contributor and promising young prospect in the previous two seasons to a statistical wasteland with questions about his confidence and future in the league.
Without Lillard and with Ed Davis hobbled, the Blazers found success with Harkless on the court.
The rehabilitation of Moe Harkless’ game has been a slow process and also the product of a group effort.
Head coach Terry Stotts pointed to the matchups for the Blazers as a reason why Harkless fit so well.
“He’s strong, he can rebound, and he can defend that position,” Stotts said. “First half he was guarding (Denver’s Kenneth) Faried. He held his own with Faried as a four. He can guard perimeter guys in the second half. He made some shots and he was active going to he basket and things like that.”
When asked about his comfort at power forward, Harkless specifically mentioned his comfort on the court and the versatility they have when he’s out there with Al-Farouq Aminu.
According to NBA.com, the Blazers outscore opponents by 2.3 points per 100 possessions. The numbers on defense are superb while the Blazers score at around an average rate with Harkless and Aminu on the court.
Aminu makes other lineups look good, having the best on-court net-rating among the team’s rotation players.
But Harkless’ play over the past week has been encouraging.
When asked about his play over the course of Portland’s three game win streak last week, Meyers Leonard took the opportunity to play journalist, if that journalist spoke like one in the speakeasy scene of a movie set in the 1920’s.
“You looked more aggressive, getting to the rim, blocking shots, wow you’ve just been,” he joked before tailing off.
But the first descriptor Leonard used for his play is usually the most important one regarding Harkless.
“It just gives me more opportunity to go out there and just play and do what I’m capable of doing and just keep it going, staying aggressive,” he said.
Harkless can sometimes lose focus and not be in the right place on plays. Or pass up an open shot or shy away from an aggressive drive. But last week, there was less of that and more production.
Overall, Harkless has improved after a career-worst 18 percent 3-point shooting but is still shooting just 27 percent from long-range.
But look a little bit deeper and you can see that his rebound rate is at a career-best 10.6.
His turnovers percentage is at a career-high but so are his assists. And his usage rate is higher than it was in the last two seasons in Orlando, statistical reflections of how the Blazers are allowing Harkless to test the limits of his game.
It’s helped that Harkless has connected with several coaches on the Blazers staff as Stotts’ staff of assistants again has proven to be a valuable resource for the Blazers.
In Orlando, he was close with assistant coach Laron Profit.
Here, he’ll have dinner with Dale Osbourne or Nate Tibbetts and he says that both coaches are constantly in his ear.
“Here it’s a couple of different coaches,” Harkless said. “They’re all really cool. David Vanterpool, he’s another guy I always talk to. These guys here they just help out a lot.”
His minutes per game aren’t much more than they were in Orlando last year as Stotts tries to juggle a 10-man rotation, something he usually doesn’t do but has done so much more this season.
And while the minutes have been scarce, that rotation has allowed Harkless to go the entire season without a DNP. He had 27 last season.
But ever so slowly, he’s developing more trust with Portland’s staff and is showing signs that he can be a productive player.
