Former Cardinal Montrezl Harrell Ready to Cash In
By Jacob Lane
In a season filled with talk about former Louisville basketball stars Donovan Mitchell and Terry Rozier, there was another former Card who had a breakout season. Montrezl Harrell could be ready to cash in this summer when he enters into free agency.
Last June the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets made a trade that sent shock waves through the NBA. While everyone was focused on the impact Chris Paul would have on his new team, an impact we are seeing in the NBA playoffs currently, there was a player involved that deal who no one ever saw doing much of anything. In fact, many believed he was just a “throw in” to make the salary cap work.
That player, former Louisville Cardinal Montrezl Harrell, wound up turning a lot of heads in 2018. After playing just two seasons with the Rockets, there was always the thought that Harrell could develop into a serviceable role player, but him ever landing a big deal in the NBA was unlikely. When Harrell was shipped to the Clippers in an eight player trade, significant minutes opened up after the trade of all star Blake Griffin to the Pistons and backup center Willie Reed to the Bulls.
Enter Harrell.
Many people who followed Montrezl Harrell’s career at Louisville understand what he brings to the table. He is powerful, explosive, jumps out of the gym, brings enough size to be a dominating power forward, or even an undersized center, and plays with enough enthusiasm (and craziness) to strike fear into any opponent’s heart.
But, as exciting as he was to watch in his three years at Louisville, when he shattered the single season UofL dunk record (and tried to shatter every backboard), he was seen as a nothing more than a clean up bench player in Houston.
However, that changed when Harrell finally got to see some clock as a Clipper. In the beginning, Harrell provided a lot of energy off of the bench, playing sparingly behind big Willie Reed. But, as the season wore on, Harrell grew into an important part of the rotation for the Clippers. He ate up the majority of Reed’s minutes, and ultimately became an integral part of the rotation, assuming the primary back up behind All-Star DeAndre Jordan, and after Blake Griffin and Reed were traded away.
He is powerful, explosive, jumps out of the gym, brings enough size to be a dominating power forward, or even an undersized center, and plays with enough enthusiasm (and craziness) to strike fear into any opponent’s heart.
Harrell became one of the fan favorites, providing the viewers with highlight dunks, and showing an improved low post game, and an impressive outside shot. He finished the season with 11.0 points per game, 4.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.7 blocks in 17.0 minutes per game, and he shot a gaudy 63.5% from the field, which was third overall in the NBA this past season.
Now, going into 2018-19, Harrell becomes a restricted free agent. There are basically two options in this situation: the Clippers think Harrell is worth it, and he gets paid, or he goes somewhere else, and he gets paid. Either way, Harrell is going to be making it rain when he signs his new (well-deserved) contract this season.
In my opinion, I think that the Clippers are going to try to shop Harrell (to the demise of much of the fan base). Whether they get rid of him or not depends on what dominoes begin to fall first. DeAndre Jordan has the option to play elsewhere next season, so he may very well do so. The Clippers also have two lottery picks that they could choose to use on a big in a class that has some decent 4/5 players to choose from.
Presley’s Prediction: I think that DeAndre Jordan sees greener pastures, and uses his player option to go elsewhere in the off season. In 2015, Jordan wanted out, but was convinced to stay with the Clippers at the very last second. This time, I think Jordan leaves, and the Clippers fill the void with a budding Montrezl Harrell, and pair him with a talented young big.
Jacob’s Prediction: The way I see it, Los Angeles has no reason to pay Montrezl Harrell. Although he had a breakout season, and continued to improve and put up nice numbers as his minutes increased, the Clippers are about to begin a rebuild. Typically in a rebuild, teams don’t overpay players. I think the PERFECT fit for Harrell is join up with another former Cardinal, Donovan Mitchell, and become another young piece for the Jazz. This offseason veteran forward Derrick Favors is a free agent, and very likely could walk away. Enter Harrell. Though he’s a bit smaller than Favors, and is still developing his game away from the basket, Harrell is the type of tenacious rebounder, and finisher inside that would pair well with soon to be defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert.
Next: Potential Trade Scenarios for the Celtics and Terry Rozier
Either way, Harrell will be one of the small number of players who gets a nice pay increase this offseason.