Just 11 games into his sophomore season, Dylan Harper is already flashing a trait that used to define Tony Parker: ruthless efficiency at the rim.
Parker built a Hall of Fame career on his ability to finish among the trees, and one of his best seasons came when he converted 70.5% of his shots at the rim. For a 6-2 point guard, that kind of production put him in rare company. Harper is now putting up numbers that belong in the same conversation.
Through 11 games, the San Antonio Spurs guard is hitting 83.7% of his attempts within three feet of the basket. That mark is almost certainly going to settle down, but if he can finish the season above 75% at the rim, he’d still be operating in elite territory.
That matters because guards who live that close to the basket and finish that well are a nightmare to contain. A rate around 66% within three feet is already considered very good.
Going north of 75% is another level entirely, especially for a player who gets to the rim as often as Harper does. In that sense, he’s already outpacing even Parker’s best season.
The challenge of doing that in the NBA is no small thing. Most of the players waiting at the rim are big men, often 6-11 or taller, and they’re trained to use their length without getting called for a foul.
Harper has made the jump from college to the league and, in just his second season, is leading all players in field goal percentage at the rim. That’s a serious statement.
His finishing is the headline, but it’s not the whole story. Harper’s three-point shot is trending in the right direction too. Since being drafted, he has steadily improved from deep, and right now he’s making 35% of his 3.3 attempts per game from beyond the arc.
That growth changes the geometry for defenses. If opponents can’t cheat off him, and if they have to close out hard on the perimeter, his driving lanes open up even more. That could make getting him off his spots at the basket even tougher than it already is.
For the Spurs, that combination is the real prize. Harper is averaging only 13.5 attempts per game, yet he’s already second on the team in scoring. The finishing is elite, the shooting is coming along, and the ceiling is starting to look very real.
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It also came in the middle of a game where he was already stuffing the stat sheet, with San Antonio ahead in the fourth quarter and Wembanyama sitting on 32 points, eight rebounds, two steals and four blocks. Given the way he has been playing all season, with elite production on both ends and a shooting touch to match, the only real debate left is how many more moments like this he can still create before the league runs out of ways to react. [Read more 🡒]
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Fox is averaging 13.9 points per game this season, a steep drop from the level he showed when the Spurs acquired him. The bigger concern is not just the number itself, but the way it has come about: he looks less aggressive hunting his own shot, and that shift has put his offensive role under the microscope while also raising questions about how the league will view his trade value if this version of him sticks around. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Hot Start Still Leaves One Big Tobias Harris Question
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Harris is the kind of addition that can change the shape of a lineup without forcing the Spurs to tear up what has gotten them off to such a strong start. The open question is where he fits once he is available, since his role could be determined by the coachs decisions and could land anywhere from the starting five to a more defined bench role. [Read more 🡒]