Josh Hart Discussion: NEW YORK KNICK!

I don’t think it’s really fair to say Russ won’t reach his potential or Hart has a higher ceiling when they are at much different stages in their career path. Hart played 4 years of college at a top program, he had all that time to sharpen his game, he’s 22. He came in with an NBA body and a pretty high BBIQ from all that experience. Staying in college doesn’t work for every player, but it clearly made Hart ready right away as it did with Nance, and with Kuzma who played 3 years. Russ came in after 1 year of college, and to my knowledge not being a super high high school prospect or anything, without an NBA ready body. He’s still 21, his growth and path is totally different than Hart. I’m still good with the Russ trade, but I certainly see his ceiling as higher than Hart’s, his star potential being greater, even if neither is likely to be one. I mean he was scoring at will at the rim on our guys last time we played them, and the only thing that stopped it was his minutes restriction.

Hart to me seems more like he’ll be a super solid career backup on a good team, or starter on a mediocre team like we have now. That’s not a knock on Hart at all, he’s already one of my favorite Lakers, and he does the little things Russ doesn’t like defense and absolutely going after rebounds and making hustle plays, things that might be more valuable to us than what Russ provided in the long run. I just don’t see star potential there or anything, he’s a ready made NBA player with not as much room to really grow. We’ve already seen him improve his 3 point shooting, his defense is most times really good, with his skill set I don’t see a whole lot higher he can go. He’s an awesome role player, the kind every team hopes to draft with such a late 1st. All in all, could be worse, we could have drafted Okafor.

 

I didn’t mean to imply that doing the little things was negative. Doing the little things wins games, it’s the sort of stuff that may not show up in the box score, but it wins games. Fighting through screens, jumping in there trying to get offensive boards and extra possessions for your team, making the extra pass, etc. When I say I don’t see a ton of room for growth, it’s just my opinion, my eye test. He did a lot of his growing in college, he isn’t a great dribbler, he doesn’t really have that star smoothness to his game. To me he’s an Ariza type, and you need that, I’ll take that every day. Plays defense, forces steals, grabs hustle boards, hits the open 3, can get to the bucket for layups. Incredibly solid role player any team would love to have.

 

The discussion wasn’t “can he improve”, of course he can continue to get better. It was is his ceiling higher than Russell’s, who supposedly has star potential. I love Hart, but I don’t see star potential, I see long successful NBA career potential. I don’t think that’s a knock at all, only so many players can become stars. Even out of our group or Ingram, Ball, and Kuz, none is guaranteed to be a star. And again, I guess you and I don’t take “does the little things” to mean the same thing. That’s not a brushing off of his talents, that’s a compliment. For example, Randle often doesn’t do the little things like setting good screens, and making the pass out of the post when triple teamed, and his game is held back by that.

 

He’s not a big offensive threat though, he can’t even really create his own shot. He is a 2-way player in that he can score and defend, but he’s not Kawhi Leonard is all I’m saying. He’s really good at finishing at the hoop on the break, and hitting the open shot/3, but he’s not out there creating his own shots. That’s pretty much required to be a star. No, defense isn’t a little thing, it’s his main strength. I see now I shouldn’t have used the statement “defense” as a little thing, I should have been more specific like “gets a lot of deflections”. That’s a little thing that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet, but helps the defense overall. Honestly I don’t even know what we’re arguing anymore, we both seem to love the dude.

 

Another double double for Josh. So nice to see this high level rebounding from a guard!

 

Luke teased him, said he didn't earn it because he went rebound hunting at the end of the game.

But yes, I like the way Josh plays. Steady, defensive minded, just makes the right plays.

 

I can't say enough about Hart's ability to finish at the cup... He sees angles and has that ability to twist to protect the ball from shot blockers. I do see Hart's funky release of his J but he doesn't chuck so that negates it somewhat. Matthews got hot in the third but most of the time Hart made him work for his points. I chuckle how he makes it difficult for opponents to back him down on the low block.

Agree with @lakerjones that the rebounding is a big bonus on the floor.

 

Josh Hart since being put into the starting lineup 9 games ago:

12 points
8 rebounds
2.4 assists
1.1 steals
0.3 blocks
1.2 turnovers
51.3 FG% (4.3/8.4)
48.7 3PT% (2.1/4.3)
73.3 FT% (1.2/1.7)
32.7 minutes

6-3 in that time frame.

Literally half the shots he's taking are threes and he's making them at an astounding rate. He's the ultimate role player. He's a solid starter right now. As the 30th pick in the draft. The last draft that just happened less than a year ago... That's amazing.

I also seem to remember a Fox vs. Hart conversation.

Fox's line: 13/1/6/1. 5/13 from the field. 1/3 from deep.
Hart's line: 10/6/5/1. 3/10 from the field. 2/4 from deep.

Hart: Ortg 121 Drtg 118
Fox: Ortg 121 Drtg 125

 

A couple other posters here have mentioned it and I have to agree. There is something Derek-esque about Hart's solid play.