Strengths: Excels when rolling to the rim
Harrell’s ability to roll to the rim stacks up against any elite roll man or center. Among players to run the pick and roll 100 or more times, Harrell ranked second in points per play (1.40).
Putting Harrell in the 94.7 percentile. Moreover, Harrell’s field goal percentage was 71.1 percent the best in the NBA in the pick and roll set. Harrell shot better in the pick and roll than elite centers such as Clint Capela (third), DeAndre Jordan (fourth), Rudy Gobert (fifth), and Steven Adams (sixth). Shooting a higher percentage than arguably four of the top-five centers is quite impressive.
Pass and he shall score:
Harrell had the second-best field goal percentage (63.5) on the Clippers behind only DeAndre Jordan. In fact, Harrell produced the third most efficient field goal percent in the entire NBA.
*Minimum 500 attempts, 179 players qualified
Among the top-four players in field goal percent, Harrell shot the best from the foul line 62.6 percent. While shooting in the 60’s from the charity stripe is not great, it’s far better than shooting in the 50’s. Which is exactly what Adams, Capela, and Jordan shot.
Furthermore, one aspect that makes Harrell’s high field goal percentage so remarkable is the playmakers around him. 232 of Harrell’s 348 made field goals were assisted, none of the ball handlers playing with Harrell are in the same stratosphere as Russell Westbrook. The four players to assist Harrell the most were Lou Williams (88), Milos Teodosic (33), Jawun Evans (23,) and Austin Rivers (19).
Some of those players are quality role players, yet none of them should be the primary playmaker on any team. In the Clippers defense, the primary ball handler was going to be Patrick Beverley until he went down with a torn meniscus.
Weaknesses: Inconsistency
Full disclosure — once Griffin was off the team Harrell got more consistent. However, 33 games is not a large enough sample size to judge Harrell’s improved consistency.
Furthermore, Harrell had 17 games this past season where he scored 16 points or more. Harrell also had 12 games where he scored five points or less, although he only had two such games after January 29th.