Spurs rookie Dylan Harper’s confidence continues to grow after ‘iffy’ start to year

With 14.4 seconds left in a game they trailed by a point and with a Clutch Player of the Year in De’Aaron Fox and steady veteran Harrison Barnes, who’s hit several big shots for the San Antonio Spurs, on the floor, 19-year-old rookie Dylan Harper displayed the talent – and attitude – that made him a preseason dark horse to win Rookie of the Year.

Harper took respectable New Orleans Pelicans wing Saddiq Bey into the paint off the dribble from the top of the key, controlling the ball with his off hand before finishing with that same right hand.

San Antonio didn’t trail again.

“Just having that attack mindset,” Harper said.

The second overall draft pick of this past summer, Harper admitted it’s a mindset he didn’t have just a couple of months ago.

“I think in the beginning of the year, I was a little iffy, a little, like, hesitant. Like, ‘Yeah, I’m the new guy, I’m going to try to figure it out.'”

“But as the season kept on going, all my teammates and coaches, everyone just encouraged me just to be me,” the son of former NBA great Ron Harper continued. “So, I think plays like that just show that I’m going attack the rim no matter what. I’m going to get to the line, even if I get there and they foul me. Just having that mindset, getting to the paint.”

Dylan Harper’s team impressed with the young rookie

Two factors made Harper’s performance vs. New Orleans even more impressive. He scored a career-high 22 in that 135-132 victory. And he was coming off the worst game of his young career.

“No surprises in terms of him bouncing back and being aggressive and then just continuing to impact the game when the basketball is not in his hands,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said.

“You know, those little things, off-ball defense, offensive spacing awareness, those things,” Johnson continued. “But he’s obviously dynamic.”

Harper, who scored a career-worst three points vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers the game before, missed three and a half weeks in November because of a calf strain. That he’s quickly found a groove to the tune of a career night was not lost on fellow Spurs guard Stephon Castle.

“Just fearless. Touching the paint, whenever (he wants). Finding his shot at will. And then going on the other end and causing havoc. I thought he was great, and I think he gonna be great the rest of the year,” the Spurs’ third leading scorer this season shared.

Like with Harper, there was some preseason buzz around Castle before he’d even played a game. The reigning Rookie of the Year, Castle isn’t far removed from where the former Rutgers star is now.

“It just comes with it as the season goes along. You start to see how teams are guarding you, kind of take what the defense is giving you, and then, just the work that he puts in with the confidence he has is all going to come together.”

For the season, Harper is averaging 13.5 points through the 13 games he’s played thus far. All indications are that those numbers, like his game, will continue to improve.

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