Can Shaq Harrison be our starting pg? He is not a good shooter, but he has done pretty well as a distributor (not great, but OK), but his defense is just stellar. The advantage of that defensive intensity is that it sets the tone on every possession for the entire team. I have always maintained that the defensive work of the pg is underrated. If you can apply defensive pressure on the opposing pg the entire game, it is very difficult for him to get into an offensive rhythm.
Right now, if I had to choose between a shooter or defender for our pg, I would choose a defender. This team needs a defensive presence. I am not trying to make the case, I am just doing a little speculating.
We're really going to go back to starting G-League PG's again? Harrison has been frustrating in Summer League with some of the plays he makes or fails to make offensively. His stats are better than how he's looked, as far as the assists he's gotten with few turnovers. I don't think most PG's would have trouble duplicating those numbers with an option like Ayton to throw the ball to inside. Harrison offers nothing offensively though. He can't shoot, he can't penetrate well, and other than some easy passes he's not very good at initiating the offense.
His defense has been good but you can't have a PG who can't play offensively in the NBA. If he were a wing it would be different but he's not. He's a good defender but he's also playing Summer League guys. Who have been the guards he's gone against? Sacramento didn't have Fox, the Magic don't have any good guards, and I can't recall who Dallas had out there. Did Dennis Smith Jr play? Point is, Harrison has been playing against other G-League players. That isn't enough to give him a starting job, it's not enough to guarantee his spot on the team either, IMO.
I know people are down on Knight but lets see Harrison do something against real competition before we think about starting him. Knight isn't great, we all know that, but he does have real NBA talent and if Igor has gotten through to him, I think he'll surprise a lot of people here. We already have Okobo to develop at PG also. Asking a new coach to develop 2 PG's could be tricky, especially with other young talent that needs coaching also. Both Okobo and Harrison need to be taught so we need to pick one or the other when you factor in all of our other young talent like Ayton, Bridges, Bender, Chriss, Jackson, and even Booker and Warren to a certain degree.
That's why I prefer Canaan to Harrison as a backup or 3rd string PG. He's been around the league and is a better shooter than Shaq. He won't need nearly the attention or direction that Shaq or Okobo will require. Okobo will be here next year, so Harrison is more expendable.
