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Who's Your Sleeper Pick Article

Oct 20, 2003
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Andrew Harrison
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JOE ROBBINS/GETTY IMAGES

Ryan O’Hanlon: Did Andrew Harrison shoot just below 38 percent from 2 this season? Has no player who’s shot under 38 percent from 2 been drafted since the ’70s? WHO CARES. While you may look at the noted Frank Kaminsky skeptic and see an “enigma … [with] poor body language” who isn’t quick or creative enough to play the point and can’t shoot well enough to play the 2, squint hard enough and you’ll see the future of the NBA. Judged against the traditional designations of the sport, sure, you’ll find deficiencies across Harrison’s game based on wherever he’s slotted. But in the fully optimized NBA of, let’s say, 2020 — don’t fight it, Warriors skeptics — where midrange shots go totally extinct, positions don’t exist, everyone does a little bit of everything, and the whole league is tall enough but also short enough to reasonably guard all five positions, Twin A is the face of revolution.

Less idealistically and more immediately, though, Harrison’s a smooth, long-armed, versatile playmaker who can get to the rim, play the 1 through the 3, and shoot well enough to not be ignored. In other words, he’s the kind of guy whose flexibility gives already-good teams a boost come the postseason. After those 60 wins puttered into a third-round sweep, I’m looking at you, Hawks.
 
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