Three rounds into the EuroCup, no player has been more productive than the Jerusalem guard
Jared Harper’s hot start and ability to get to foul line
Stats
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 4 of 18
Group B
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Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem has got off to a 2-1 start on its return to the BKT EuroCup, having won its last two games by a combined margin of 35 points. And the team has done it behind guard Jared Harper, who has had a stellar start to the season – the best of anyone in the competition, in fact.
Entering Round 4, with Jerusalem visiting Aris Midea Thessaloniki on Wednesday night, Harper leads the EuroCup with 23.0 points per game and is the only player averaging more than 20 points, while he also tops the charts with an average PIR of 26.0.
Harper is posting 4.3 assists per game, second best on the team heading into Round 4, but where he has stood out head and shoulders above any other player in the competition is with his ability to get to the free-throw line.
The former Valencia Basket guard attempts 13.7 foul shots per game and makes 12.7 per contest. To understand how much that stands out, the next best player averages 8.3 free-throw attempts, with no player making more than 5.3 free throws per game.
Through three rounds, Harper alone has made 38 free throws, which is more than six entire teams, including Wednesday night’s opponent, Aris. Just for comparison, last season saw just 31 players make more free throws during the entire regular season than what Harper has made so far, with 15 games still to go.
He has done it by marveling at not just drawing personal fouls, but drawing free throws. His 26 drawn fouls, while the most in the competition, are not that much more than what some other players have drawn. Notably, the majority of the fouls Harper has drawn have sent him to the free-throw line.
It all puts Harper in a rare category of players who have attempted more free throws (38) than field goals (37) so far this season, but none of the other eight players have averaged better than 10.0 points through the first three rounds.
Having scored 27 points in Jerusalemn’s season-opening loss against Valencia, he then followed up that performance with 23 points and 5 assists in a 74-94 win at 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys before scoring 19 points and dishing 6 assists in a win over Veolia Hamburg Towers last week.
Harper will now be looking to continue his high-scoring, highly productive season-opening run on Wednesday night in Thessaloniki.