Orlando Magic Player Evaluations: Maurice Harkless

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Apr 13, 2015; Miami, FL, USA; Orlando Magic forward Maurice Harkless (21) dunks the ball against the Miami Heat during the first half at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

The Good and the Bad

It is hard to point to too much good with Harkless. All his numbers were down and he looked like a completely different player.

Season	Tm	G	MP	FG%	3P%	eFG%	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2014-15	ORL	45	15.0	.399	.179	.430	.537	0.8	1.5	2.4	0.6	0.7	0.2	0.6	1.5	3.5
Career		201	22.9	.454	.309	.496	.577	1.1	2.4	3.5	0.8	1.1	0.6	0.9	1.7	6.8

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/11/2015.

Harkless just feel off a cliff shooting-wise, already a weakness of his. Sure, the opportunities were few and far between. He was more or less a full-time starter his first two seasons in his career, but to shoot a 43.0 percent effective field goal percentage and 17.9 percent from beyond the arc was just a major step back.

There is no way around it. Harkless just failed to take any kind of positive step forward.

The biggest area he needed to improve was attacking off the dribble. That turned into a disaster, he would often lose the ball off the dribble and turn it over. In fairness to him, he scored 0.8 points per game on drives, driving just 1.3 times per game.

His spot-up shooting took a big hit, as he was once again relegated to standing in the corner as his primary offensive role. Harkless shot 19.0 percent on catch-and-shoot field goals this season.

Any way you cut it, Harkless was a disaster.

His rangy defensive potential was a major let down. He just did not provide very much positive.

And that is disappointing. Because Harkless had shown so much potential.

Next: Best Game of 2015