Maurice “Moe” Harkless, is the latest addition to a young Portland Trail Blazers team built around the career of two-time All-Star point guard Damian Lillard.
Portland acquired him this week for a 2020 second round pick, protected from picks 31-55.
Harkless represents the type of player that Portland, by virtue of their roster and their position in the Western Conference pecking order, have to take a chance on.
The last few seasons — but especially this past one — were hard on Harkless, who was a borderline lottery pick, going 15th in the 2012 draft.
“It might have been one of the hardest years of my basketball life,” Harkless said about his last season in Orlando which saw his minutes fall off a cliff. “I’ve never been in that situation. But I think I did a pretty good job of being mentally strong all year and getting through it.”
Not knowing what to expect and not knowing why he didn’t play, Harkless said his last season in Orlando was draining.
The Magic were terrible. By almost all accounts Orlando underachieved in their third season since trading franchise center Dwight Howard.
They traded for Tobias Harris during Harkless’ rookie season and then drafted Aaron Gordon in the 2014 draft. Both players play the same position as Harkless, a hybrid forward who can cycle between multiple positions.
“Watching the team lose and knowing you could be out there helping them, I got through it,” Harkless said.
Harkless didn’t wait until the end of the season to do something about it.
During the All-Star break, while the rest of the NBA was either schmoozing at All-Star weekend in New York or nestled by an infinity pool at a beach resort, Harkless flew out to Los Angeles to work with his trainer, Cody Toppert, the Director of Basketball Development for ELEV8 in Florida.
“All-star break he really focused himself,” Toppert said. “He really found his love for the game.”
The situation in Orlando didn’t get much better for Harkless and the turmoil with the Magic continued. Head coach Jacque Vaughn was deposed and the team brought in interim coach James Borrego.
Harkless carried that work ethic — and the disappointment — into the summer.
“I’ve been down in Florida just training all summer,” he said. “I’m prepared, I’ve been preparing for any situation. I’m looking forward to being here. I’ve put in the work.”
For Harkless, the situation was a learning experience.
“I don’t ever want to be in a situation like that again,” Harkless said. “So I’m going to make sure whatever team I’m on, the coach won’t have a choice but to put me in there. That’s what, I work hard every day because I want to be a great player.”
“We felt he had a chance to be a rotation if not a starter in the NBA when he came out in the draft,” Blazers general manager Neil Olshey said. “His best days are a head of him and that’s what we’re looking for.”
The additions of Harkless, and Al-Farouq Aminu in particular, give the Blazers a lot of option, something Olshey said was on purpose.
“The way we play in terms ball movement, player movement, guys read and react,” Olshey said. “They’re going to find themselves in different situations on the floor. The more versatile they are, the more (head coach) Terry (Stotts) has resources to go to that he can be creative with.”
After a strong finish to his rookie year, chances for Harkless have been harder to come by.
In Portland, he’s going to get that chance. After he fulfills his international duties with the Puerto Rican National team in the summer, he’ll have his chance to make good on the potential that got him here in the first place.
