Nets: Joe Harris is starting to emerge as perfect tertiary shooter

The Brooklyn Nets were able to score at a near record-setting pace last season due to their three-headed monster of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving, but the performance of Joe Harris shouldn’t be discarded. After all, Harris led the league in 3-point percentage for the second time in a 3-year span.

Unfortunately, Harris hasn’t been in the good graces of Nets fans for a while, as his poor performance in the postseason against the Bucks was viewed as one of the main reasons that Brooklyn was unable to make it to the finals. After a slow start to the year, Harris is getting back on the right track. 

While he’s made strides on defense, harris is on this team because of his ability to shoot from deep, and he’s done just about everything he can to show that his top skill has not left him over the last few games. In the past four contests, three of which resulted in nets victories, Harris has come alive.

Harris is making 48% of his 3-point attempts in the last four games, and that’s included a game in which he went 1-6 in a victory against the Pacers. If the Nets are looking for someone to help replace Irving’s scoring production, Harris is certainly a strong choice given how he’s improved.

The Brooklyn Nets are getting production out of Joe Harris.

Harris has yet to be moved out of the starting lineup, but he’s seen the floor plenty alongside Sixth Man of the Year candidates in Patty Mills and LaMarcus Aldridge. The two have been Brooklyn’s best shooters from deep this season amid Harden’s roller-coaster start, which is exactly what the Nets needed.

Without Irving’s ability to get to the lane, the Nets are becoming more reliant on pulling up and becoming a jump-shooting team. If that is going to be the M.O. on how this team wins games, it’s better to have someone like Harris on the perimeter to knock down wide-open shots with some degree of regularity.

Harris clearly felt the pressure in the postseason, and another bad playoff performance might get him right back on top of the Most Wanted list, but Brooklyn’s style of play with no Kyrie and a struggling Harden is dependant upon players doing their part and knocking down wide-open shots.

Harris is still under contract for two seasons after this, and unless the Nets somehow want to change their rotation in shocking fashion, he’s probably not going anywhere. At least the production is starting to come around.

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