Something quietly happened last night amidst the Wemban-drama: Harper and Fox
Pretext: I am not a Fox hater. I’m fine with his contract, he deserves it and it mostly makes sense for our cap timeline and us acquiring him via a forced trade. I’m also fine with him, and anyone else on the team, having a bad shooting night. It’s (playoff) basketball, it happens. What I’m not fine with was his defensive effort last night. In fact, I’m furious. Without going back and looking at the tape, the most egregious moments I remember were Fox unnecessarily sagging off Shannon Jr for an open 3, and not boxing out Reid late in the 4th for a game changing putback. He was a turnstile with minimal effort.
The lead: Dylan Harper looked like the absolute better player last night compared to Fox, on offense and especially defense. He locked down whoever he was guarding, he shuffled his feet and stayed in front like a mad man. On offense, he got to the basket with handles, speed, and composure. He created for his teammates. He looked everything like Manu last night.
Disclaimers: Harper has had brilliant moments these playoffs, and had a great game last night. He will have shit games in the future, and Fox will have awesome games in the future.
But Harper is growing so quickly in these playoffs, it felt like a shift had happened last night - like a hill had been climbed, or a torch passed.
If he can maintain this level of play, which is A) hard! and B) must be proven over time, then he’s just a better player than Fox.
Prediction: I still think Fox will start all next season, including through the playoffs. But I think by year after, aka Dylan’s 3rd year, it’s going to be an open conversation on if Dylan should start and Fox runs the 2nd unit. Dylan’s growth will dictate all of this, as will Fox’s defense.