Maurice Harkless entered this year believing he would contribute. The season has fallen apart for him and Harkless finds himself completely on the outside.
Friday night set off something of a Twitter firestorm.
Jacque Vaughn partially set it off when he announced before the tip off that Maurice Harkless would be a healthy scratch. Things got crazier when Harkless was not with the team on the bench for a home game. The official word was that he was receiving treatment.
Soaring Down South
In any case, Harkless’ season has not gone according to plan. He has been played very little — 15.7 minutes per game in just 17 appearances — and he has struggled in those games with a career-worst 8.1 points per 36 minutes and 43.9 percent shooting.
It is not those tangible stats that has Harkless on the bench, according to Jacque Vaughn. It is his defense. The Magic have a similar defensive rating with Harkless on the floor as his first three years, but the public does not see him in practice and his stints in games so far this year have been too short to draw any rational conclusions.
The seemingly direct message from Vaughn when the media asked why Harkless was being deactivated was that he needed to increase his defensive intensity and show more on that end of the floor.
“Defensively, that is the premium for me and for our team,” Vaughn said. “It is to be able to guard and take pride in guarding and have that as a priority when you step on the floor.
“I have sat down with each individual and explained the roles and how their roles impact our team. Not everyone can score the basketball. Not everyone will have equal shots on this team. That’s just a part of it. We need guys who are dedicated to be able to do the little things that help us win whether that is running the floor unselfishly and I might not receive the basketball, whether that is boxing out because I am big and I can help us rebound the basketball or whether that is taking pride in having defense as a premium in my life. All those things I have talked about.”
As cryptic as that might sound, it would appear Harkless has not reached his defensive potential and the coaching staff does not trust him defensively to put him on the floor.
This is obviously not how this season was supposed to go for Harkless. Like for any young player, this season figured to be a big one as the Magic tried to figure out which of these young assets the team would move forward with. Harkless and fellow third-year player Andrew Nicholson would both be eligible for extensions this summer. Both have had their team options picked up but neither is likely to get it. Especially now that both are out of the rotation.
Harkless though had a legitimate chance. He started 59 of 76 games as a rookie and 41 of 80 games as a sophomore last season.
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The player teammates used to call Bambi, promised at media day he had grown into a full deer. He was no longer the wide-eyed 20 year old experiencing life for the first time. He seemed to grasp the big opportunity in front of him.
“It’s like night and day,” Harkless said at Media Day. “I was timid. It was my first time playing at this level. To come in and be hurt and not experience training camp that was tough just to go out there and be thrown in to the fire. I have a lot more experience under my belt. I’m definitely a lot more comfortable and feel a lot better out there.”
Considering how Harkless improved on his 3-point shooting alone — 27.4 percent his rookie year to 38.3 percent last year — it seemed he would continue his upward trajectory.
No one appeared ready to question his work ethic. Harkless said he was in the gym three times a day throughout the summer. He worked hard on tightening his dribble for drives and improving his jumper. He clearly had the athleticism to compete defensively.
Harkless figured his work throughout the offseason would help him get a comfort level for this important year.
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It does not seem anybody can question the work he put in.
“He worked on his game a lot this summer,” Tobias Harris said early in the season. “You can see it in training camp, he looks a lot more comfortable off the dribble. He’s more confident as a player out there. That’s helping us.
“Part of that confidence comes from the offense and how we’re playing this year. He’s not just standing in the corner, he is kind of moved up and coming off pick and roll and that expands that confidence.”
So what went wrong?
Did Harkless not make the necessary improvements offensively? Did he regress to the point where he no longer fit? Did his defense regress because of an over-emphasis on offensive improvement, a mistake a young player might be expected to make?
The answer is probably lost to the back rooms of Amway Center and the decision makers determining whether Harkless plays or not.
Maybe Vaughn’s statements after one of Harkless’ better game this season — his first appearance, a 7-point, 22-minute performance against Toronto — informs what the team is looking for from Harkless, and, maybe, what he has failed to do to this point:
“We talked about being a professional and doing your job and being ready on a nightly basis,” Vaughn said. “We needed everybody and we needed him tonight. I thought he did a good job on the floor.”
At that point of the season, it was more confusing that Harkless had not played to that point. And he has had his moments this season — 11 points, +9 in 20 minutes against Minnesota, for instance — but it has not come together in games or behind the scenes.
Harkless has not played consecutive games since mid-December and he got garbage time against Detroit on Tuesday.
Whatever the case may be this is more than a lost season for Harkless. This is a season that puts his entire NBA future in jeopardy. He has become nothing more than an interesting prospect to throw in to a trade. Not unless he can change that narrative in practice and then, eventually, in games.
Harkless’ season of promise has turned into a nightmare.