Montrezl Harrell is producing in limited minutes
Drafted in the second round of the 2015 National Basketball Association Draft, a class littered with talent, Montrezl Harrell has been buried deep into and suffocated by veteran rotations. Harrell spent two seasons with the Houston Rockets, translated to 97 total games, where he averaged roughly fifteen minutes per game. In his first season, Harrell platooned between Rio Grande Valley and Houston, averaging less than ten minutes per game. With the departure of Dwight Howard in Harrell’s second season, the 6’8″ Center’s minute per game average nearly doubled, increasing by 8.6 minutes. However, Harrell spent his stint with Houston battling for minutes with seasoned role players such as Nenê, Ryan Anderson, and Donatas Motiejūnas. In the midst of his third professional season, Montrezl Harrell is fulfilling another bench role, yet a much more fruitful one.
Included in the multitude of players sent to Los Angeles within the Chris Paul package trade, Montrezl Harrell earned 15.4 minutes per game behind a crowded frontcourt with the Clippers. More recently, in an effort to jettison Blake Griffin‘s contract and commence a roster reconstruction, the Clippers parted ways with the All-Star Forward. Acquiring Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, and Boban Marjanovic the Clippers dealt away Blake Griffin, Willie Reed, and Brice Johnson. Although Tobias Harris will presumably obtain Griffin’s minutes, Harrell has an opportunity to assume Reed’s and Johnson’s combined 14.9 minutes.
Despite Marjanovic’s imposing stature, the poorly conditioned Center averaged 8.7 minutes and less than one block per game with Detriot. Harrell, the twenty-four-year-old Center, has played 679 minutes this season in which 28% were played at the Power Forward position and 73% at the Center position, typically behind DeAndre Jordan. In his rookie season, however, Harrell played 81% of his 379 minutes as a Power Forward, adding a touch of lineup flexibility.
Slowly expanding his offensive capabilities beyond the low blocks, Harrell utilizes immense strength, speed, and patience to contribute positively. Posting a true shooting percentage this season of 62.1% and a 60.3% effective field goal percentage, Harrell has attempted 262 shots. Although the average distance of Harrell’s field goal attempts is 3.4 feet, he has attempted 2.4 more shots from a distance between 3-10 feet and 2.5 more shots from a distance of 10-16 feet than a season prior. Additionally, Harrell’s 0.091 field goal percentage of shots from a distance of 10-16 feet from the basket last year has drastically improved to 0.333.
Statistically, Harrell is an incredibly efficient energizer and dominant athlete despite a “visually unappealing” 8.8 points per game with the addition of 4.0 total rebounds and 0.8 assists. Disregarding Harrell’s limited minutes, he is projected to average 20.6 points on almost fourteen shot attempts, 9.4 total rebounds, and 1.5 blocks on a per 36-minute basis. Draymond Green, an incredibly versatile athlete logging 32.5 minutes per game this season, is projected 8.1 fewer points than Harrell, 0.7 fewer rebounds, and the exact same amount of blocks on a per 36-minute basis. Likewise, Myles Turner, 6’11” Center averaging 28.5 minutes per game this season, is statistically projected to score 3.1 fewer points collect 1.4 fewer rebounds than Harrell per 36 minutes, while averaging just 1.2 more blocks. Adjusted per 100 possessions this season, Harrell is projected to haul in 12.7 total rebounds, 2.4 assists, block 2.0 shots, and score 27.9 points. Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and LaMarcus Aldridge all project to collect fewer rebounds than Harrell per 100 possessions this season. This season, Montrezl Harrell is even projected to score as much as six-time All-Star and former Scoring Champion, Carmelo Anthony, on a per 100 possessions basis. Harrell’s 4.5 projected offensive rebounds per 100 possessions fall just three rebounds shy of Andre Drummond‘s (second in Offensive Rebound Percentage) projected 7.5.
Montrezl Harrell’s contagious energy and everlasting motor lead to a pace of 101.5, which is only 5.1 points below the league leader Steph Curry. Harrell’s current offensive rebound percentage of 10.2 is better than that of Nikola Jokic, Karl Anthony Towns, and Julius Randle. Tied for seventeenth in the league based upon effective field goal percentage, a statistic dominated by offensively oriented big men, Harrell’s 60.3% is higher than Karl-Anthony Towns‘ 59.1%, Rudy Gobert‘s 58.4%, and Anthony Davis‘ 56.5%. Harrell’s 106.1 Offensive Rating is greater than those of Andre Drummond and Tyreke Evans, while Harrell’s Defensive Rating is far superior to Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s 105. Player Impact Estimate, measures a player’s, “overall statistical contribution against the total statistics in the games they play in,” (NBA.com/Stats). Harrell’s Player Impact Estimate of 13.5, otherwise known as PIE, is top 35 in the league. Harrell’s PIE is just a few points above ball dominant guards such as John Wall‘s 13.0 and Devin Booker‘s 12.9. More impressively, Harrell’s 22.3% usage percentage is at least 4.2% less than both John Wall and Devin Booker. Of the 2015 NBA Draft, according to Andy Bailey via Twitter, Harrell is tenth in career Wins Over Replacement, comfortably ahead of D’Angelo Russell.
In the Clippers’ first game following the Detroit trade, Harrell scored fifteen points in Tuesday’s loss to the Portland Trailblazers. However, Harrell has scored at least twenty points in five games this season and Tuesday marked his ninth game this season to score at least fifteen points. In the month of January, averaging only 21.0 minutes per game, Harrell is averaging 11.5 points and shooting 58.3% from the field. Los Angeles won six straight games from January 8th until the 17th, where Harrell added about fourteen points per game and almost six rebounds. Although the direction in which the Los Angeles Clippers intend to go with Harrell is undetermined, he is deserving of all of the minutes Clippers can offer and he has more than enough talent to thrive against any opponent.
