UNC Basketball: Scouting report of Tar Heel guard Anthony Harris

Defensive Concerns

Let’s be blunt here: Anthony Harris is not good at defense. He just isn’t. Although some recruiting websites try to peg him as a two-way guard who brings it on both ends of the floor, that just isn’t the case. While he’s a productive complementary piece who can drive and shoot on offense, he’s at best a below-average player on the defensive end due to his shortcomings both on and off of the ball.

There are some positives. Although he posted low steal numbers (1.0 per game) in EYBL play, he has shown the ability to make timely rotations to intercept long passes (first clip) and he’s swiped plenty of drivers on digs thanks to his quick hands (second and third clip).

His speed also aids him when keeping up with faster guards (and he can truly be a pest at times), but that’s about where the positives end with his defense. The root of his poor defense isn’t his effort — he clearly gives a damn whenever he’s on the court, as he’ll hound ball-handlers and hustle for 50-50 balls.

But the technical and mental aspects of defense are where he’s severely lacking.

He gets beat on-ball routinely due to poor positioning and inadequate lateral agility/footwork, either giving advantageous angles to drivers or getting far too close to the ball-handler, giving himself minimal space to get back in front of his man. It would be one thing if he had a long wingspan to compensate, but he simply doesn’t. He also lacks the strength to stop stronger guards, too and has even gotten beat off the dribble from some forwards/bigs. His on-ball resistance is minimal, which is concerning.

And, many a time, possessions where he does manage to limit his man with hounding on-ball defense somehow fall apart as soon as the ball-handler gives up the ball. On several occasions, Harris would immediately lose his man, resulting in a backdoor cut or open look for the defense. Losing his man around screens or on out-of-bounds plays were common occurrences, too. He’s still rather undisciplined when closing out on shooters, as he can be a bit jumpy, falling for subtle head fakes and allowing his man to blow past him.

Anthony Harris isn’t a complete lost cause on defense due to how correctable many of these issues are. High school players are rarely positive defenders since it’s rare for coaches to properly teach all the nuances and minutiae involved with playing defense. Technical aspects (i.e., closeouts, angles, etc.) can also be improved with teaching and reps, so Harris should get better. How much better is unknown, but Harris currently projects to be a below-average defender as a freshman. Whether or not he turns into a neutral or positive defender later in his college career is yet to be seen.