Joe Harris Struggles from Deep

Joe Harris was entering Cream E. Biggums levels of accuracy during Brooklyn’s second round loss, shooting 32.7 percent from three on 49 attempts. There was significant frustration from Nets fans with Harris after he missed several open shots throughout the series, but realistically the Nets have no choice but to keep him.

When Harris entered free agency in 2020, he was operating from a position of strength. Brooklyn was over the cap and had no way of finding a shooter of Harris’ ilk on the market. Harris ended up signing a four-year, $75 million deal. At the end of the day, shooters get paid. Washington signed Davis Bertans to a five-year, $80 million deal last year. Since three-point shooting is his primary skill, Harris’ untimely cold-shooting stretch in the second round hurt even more in the loss.

Now as the fourth-highest paid player on the roster outside of the Big Three, Harris faces higher expectations. Still, even with that terrible stretch, Harris still managed to shoot 40.2 percent from behind the arc during the postseason.

Harris has generally underperformed in the postseason for the Nets in two of the past three years. He shot just 4-21 (19 percent) from three in Brooklyn’s 2018 first round series loss against the Philadelphia 76ers. Now with this performance, Harris’ value is probably as low as possible for a trade.

The respect Harris commands as a shooter is still a great complement to Brooklyn’s Big Three so it makes sense to keep the three-point marksman around for next season.

Free Agent Decisions

The Nets face a few interesting decisions during the offseason. Guard/forward/center/Swiss Army knife Bruce Brown will be a restricted free agent, while veterans Blake Griffin and Jeff Green will be unrestricted free agents. Though Brown was a great role player for the Nets, his market will be tough to figure out.

He became a unique fixture in Brooklyn’s offense as a roll man in the pick and roll, connecting on floaters and also finding open shooters. Originally a combo guard when he came into the league, Brown had his moments in the playoffs, with key offensive rebounds and clutch buckets at times. Though he fit the Nets well, Brown likely wouldn’t be playing that role for most teams. The 6-4 guard is just a career 29.8 percent three-point shooter for his career, making him an awkward fit around the league.

Griffin and Green both ended up playing significant roles throughout the season. Griffin started at center in the playoffs and played well, averaging 9.0 points while shooting 38.9 percent from three. In the final three games, he stepped up, averaging 15.3 points. Green’s positional versatility was also important. He played solid defense and shot well from the three (41.2 percent).

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