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A lot could be said about the game the other day between the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets: Jokic’s antics, the officiating, or the absolute battle we saw between Jamal Murray and Keyonte George. Something else entirely caught my eye, though. When I saw it at first I was beyond perplexed, but as I gave the situation time to breathe, I became less perplexed and more astonished.
Will Hardy, that beautiful genius that he his, throws Elijah Harkless into the game to guard the three time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. While at face value that decision could seem utterly insane, but let’s take it a step further and look at the Tale of the Tape:
Height
Harkless: 6’3” / Jokic: 6’11”
Weight
Harkless: 195 / Jokic: 284
Wingspan
Harkless: 6’7” / Jokic: 7’3”
NBA Games Logged
Harkless: 22 / Jokic: 791
Contract
Harkless: 2-Way / Jokic: A BIG one
By literally every single metric this should not have been a fair contest for our boy. I do understand the logic behind it; Jokic has struggled with being defended by smaller guards in the past so coaches could very easily try to gameplan for him that way. The smaller guards that he struggles against aren’t exactly scrubs, though. Alex Caruso, Jrue Holiday, and Lu Dort are All-Defensive caliber players. You can’t just throw anyone out there and expect them to slow Jokic down, but Hardy gave Elijah Harkless a shot. Did he deliver? You tell me.
After going undrafted in the 2023 NBA Draft he had to scratch and claw his way to the league. The growth was steady and game by game, minute by minute, it seemed like he was ready to take that next step. His first year (2023-2024) he averaged 11.6 PPG in 22 minutes for the Clippers G-League team. The next year he takes a HUGE jump to nearly 27 PPG in 31 minutes for the San Diego Clippers and our Salt Lake City Stars. Then this year he was poised to do the same and in just 5 regular season games for the Stars he averaged 25.8 PPG on 47/32/95 shooting splits in just 25 minutes. After finding his way in the G-League he proved that he had reached the zenith of his abilities that could be shown at that level.
According to Two-Way Talents (a great database to keep tabs on every 2-way contracted player in the NBA) Harkless is listed as a 5-Star prospect. Being a 5-Star anything is obviously very good but it is also a prime area to end up in No Man’s Land. For the longest time he was too good for the G-League (hasn’t played for the Stars in over 6 weeks) but not quite good enough to play for the Jazz on a consistent basis. That is, until the recent game against the Houston Rockets.
He didn’t score that game, and we did lose 125-105, but he picked up 2 steals and 4 assists in 14 minutes of play. The next game against the Pelicans he played 20 minutes, scored 11 points, 6 assists, and had a career high 4 steals. The next game, also against the Pelicans, he played 28 minutes, scored 14 points, picked up 5 assists, and 1 steal. That brings us to the game against the Nuggets, and while going 0/5 from the field isn’t ideal, continuing to show your playmaking chops (3 assists) and your defense is very encouraging.
When the team has a record of… well, let’s not talk about the record, actually. When your team is in the middle of a rebuilding phase I think that it’s vital to:
a) collect talent
b) give that talent reps
and c) see what roles that talent could fulfill in the future
Most championship level teams have guys who fall into certain categories and don’t stray too far from that categorization. Let’s take the Oklahoma City Thunder for example. The have their “guy” in SGA, a versatile wing in Jalen Williams, a defensive anchor in Chet Holmgren, a bruiser big in Isaiah Hartenstein, an older vet to help you win games in Alex Caruso, and then of course you have the defensive and three point role players to fill out the roster like Isaiah Joe, Lu Dort, Jaren McCain, and Cason Wallace.
Now let’s cross reference that with our team (assuming everyone is still on the roster next season).
The Guy: Keyonte George / our first round draft pick this year
Versatile wing: Ace Bailey (?), Brice Sensabaugh
Defensive anchor: Jaren Jackson Jr.
Bruiser Big: Walker Kessler
Older Vet: Lauri Markkanen
Role Players: Kyle Filipowski, Isaiah Collier, Cody Williams, and now potentially Elijah Harkless
Now, I am in no way saying that this team could replicate what the Thunder have done over the last couple of years. All I’m saying is that if we hope to replicate their success we need to start fulfilling roles with particular archetypes of players.
All of this is obviously predicated on if Elijah Harkless can keep this level of production up. We don’t have a huge sample size but I’d have to imagine that we’ll see pretty heavy rotational minutes from him for the remainder of the year. What we do have right now are some pretty impressive advanced stats to go off of. According to databallr we can already see that he’s a very active defender: he averages 21 shots contested per 100 possessions which is in the 80th percentile, 3.7 steals per 100 possessions which is in the 95th percentile, 8.1 deflections per 100 possessions which is in the 96th (!) percentile, and even more bonkers than that is that he has a 6.3% stop percentage (steals + offensive fouls drawn + blocked shots recovered by the defense) and a relative forced turnover amount (steals + offensive fouls drawn) of 4.1 per 100 possessions which is in the 99th and 100th percentile respectively.
Advanced stats are certainly not the be-all/end-all that a lot of people on NBA Twitter would have you believe. I think that they have their place, and that place is to give you a glimpse into what a player could be if given the opportunity. I, personally, am more concerned with the eye test and Elijah passes that test as well.
To borrow a phrase, he just has that dawg in him. Most guys in his situation do. People who don’t get drafted, have to play YEARS in the G-League, and also have to claw their way onto a losing team’s rotation aren’t guys who are just goofing off. They’re dedicated, they’re hungry, and they’re out to prove a point. His defensive tenacity is something that you can’t teach; it is very much something that has to be a part of your soul. I wouldn’t ever want to put these kinds of expectations on a player so young in their career, but these last couple of games have me believing in a very high ceiling for Harkless.
Do I think he’ll be a perineal All-Star? No. Do I think he’ll be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate? No. Do I think he could be one of the most effective defenders in the league, though? The limited game tape is kind of pointing me in that direction. If we’re choosing the believe in the future of this team (like we all should) then I think we should also believe in the future that Harkless could have for us. Every contending team needs a “willing to die on this floor” defender. Every contending team needs a guy who isn’t afraid to clamp up the best in the world. Every contending team needs a Jalen Suggs, a Jrue Holiday, an Alex Caruso, or a Lu Dort. I think there’s a chance that we very well may have found ours in Elijah Harkless.
Am I a prisoner of the moment? Did I actually underestimate Harkless and what he could be for this team? Or did I get it just right? Sound off in the comments and let me know what you think the ceiling and the floor could be for him and a player and the team as a whole next year.