By: Jonathan Huang
Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Chris Paul, Klay Thompson. That’s some exclusive company. G, as he’s known to Nuggets fans, was just one of seven players to average 12+ points, shoot 47% from the field, 35% from three, and 81% from the line. The talent’s always been there. This year, it all culminated in a career season.
There’s a reason why people refer to a “sophomore slump” in the NBA. Fortunately, that just wasn’t in Harris’ vocabulary. In just his second season, he poured in the points and shot the ball at a high clip. In one stretch from Feb. 24 to Mar. 28, he scored double figures in 18 straight games. G also scored 10+ points in 54 games this year.
For anyone who knows Gary’s basketball career, this isn’t out of the ordinary at all. He averaged 25.4 points per game as a senior at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Indiana and then followed that up with 14.9 points per game in two years at Michigan State.
Originally, the Nuggets weren’t running plays for Harris, so he created opportunities for himself with cuts to the basket, fast-break buckets, and other open shots.
“[I’m] just figuring out times when I need to be aggressive, and times when I can hunt for my shot.” Harris said. “I think we’re doing a good job of just looking for teammates to get me in spots where I can score.”
Later in the season, Harris was featured in quite a few of the Nuggets’ offensive sets. Going forward, his teammates will certainly look for him plenty more.
In the 2015-16 season, Harris averaged 12.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game with the Denver Nuggets.