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Joe Harris Subtle Defensive Fundamentals 101
- John-Paul Duphiney
- Feb 26, 2021
- 2 min read
Joe Harris is a terrific offensive player and an absolute sniper! He is a nightmare for opposing coaches who are faced with the task of attempting to design a defensive game plan that includes limiting to 6 inches of space on a catch. Joey Buckets started to gain some national recognition for his lights out shooting after out dueling Steph Curry and going on to win the 2019 three-point contest. His national recognition continues to gain momentum on the big stage as a perfect offensive complement to the Brooklyn Nets (freshly minted nickname) "Notorious BK3".
But Joe Harris will never be known for what he does the other 50% of the game. Defensively, he won’t impress you with highlight reel blocks, game changing steals or eye-popping athletic plays. I even hear him get criticized for his lack of defense. Does he get beat, make mistakes, get exposed in a bad matchup? 100%! But I want to familiarize NBA fans with the very understated impact he makes on the defensive end for the Brooklyn Nets.
He employs the same basic defensive principles coaches preach from kindergarten all the way to the NBA. Let’s dust off the surfacy takes about Joe's lack of defense and dive into some film breakdown to highlight, recognize & appreciate Joe Harris’s "Subtle Defensive Fundamentals 101"!
Those were a few clips of what Joe Harris does defensively to help his team win, but below is a running list of fundamental elements Joe brings to be on the lookout for:
- Always in stance, on balance, engaged & ready to anticipate the next play
- Communicating switches (in advance)
- Constantly pointing at matchups
- Always boxes out or at least checks his man
- Makes guys turn in half court
- High active hands
Body’s up / physical
- Ball you man always
- Bumps cutters
- Positioning is always on point
- Jumps to the ball on reversals
- Able to contain the dribble
- Contests shots without fouling
- Willing to take charges - give up body
- Transition defense is textbook.
- Hustles
- Fearless
- Tough – which is the secret to winning basketball
He's Joey, 'More Than Buckets', Harris.
Great article. This might sound crazy, but if you run the on-off numbers by possession, and filter out the drag or pull of teammates, you find that Joe Harris's impact on defense is second only to Rudy Gobert's. In other words, when Harris sits, Brooklyn's defensive efficiency takes a nose dive, and that nose dive is greater than for all but one player in the league. Does that mean that Harris is the second best defensive player in the league, in the sense that you would choose him to get a one-on-one stop? Of course not. But maybe it means he does his job defensively, in all the senses you talk about in this article, as well as just about…