Spurs rookie Dylan Harper’s confidence continues to grow after an “unfortunate” start to the year

With 14.4 seconds left in the game, they trailed by a point and with a Clutch Player of the Year in De’Aaron Fox and resident veteran Harrison Barneswho hit several big hits for San Antonio Spurson the floor, a 19-year-old rookie Dylan Harper showed the talent – ​​and attitude – that made him a preseason dark horse to win Rookie of the Year.

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

San Antonio was not far behind again.

“I just have that mindset on offense,” Harper said.

The second pick in last summer’s draftHarper admitted it’s a mindset he didn’t have just a few months ago.

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

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

Dylan Harper’s team impressed the young rookie

Two factors made Harper’s performance against 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.

“There’s no surprise in terms of him coming back and being aggressive and then just continuing to impact the game when the basketball isn’t 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 against the Cleveland Cavaliers the previous game, missed three and a half weeks in November with a calf strain. It wasn’t lost on him that he quickly found a groove to the tune of a career night fellow Spurs guard Stephon Castle.

“Just fearless. Touching the paint, whenever (he wants). Finds his shot at will. And then he goes the other way and wreaks havoc. I thought he was great, and I think he’s going to be great the rest of the year,” said the Spurs’ third-leading scorer this season.

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

“It just comes with as the season goes on. You start to see teams guard you, you kind of take what the defense gives you, and then just the work that he puts in with the confidence that he has will all come together.”

For the season, Harper is averaging 13.5 points in the 13 games he has played so far. All indications are that those numbers, as well as his game, will continue to improve.