What if Dylan Harper is available at the third overall pick?

The first prospect we scouted at On Pattison was Ace Bailey, one half of a star-studded pairing at Rutgers this past season. The other half was Dylan Harper, a 6-foot-4.5 left-handed guard who fell from the tree of Ron Harper. He's widely regarded as the second best prospect in this draft class. If he falls into Philadelphia's lap, should the Sixers select the New Jersey native?

Here's what you need to know about the 19-year-old.

Strengths

• Footwork and balance is consistent between his jumper and his drives. Harper doesn't typically pick up his dribble in bad spots, which is paramount for someone with visions of being a lead guard. He will leverage his feet on the move to change directions and paces, finding spaces to advance the ball into the paint and put pressure on the defense. That all makes for an efficient scorer in the paint with craftiness in finishing at the rim. His shooting mechanics remain steady and repeatable, supported by a strong base of power from his lower body. He shot nearly 37 percent on catch-and-shoot looks at Rutgers, per Kevin O'Connor's draft guide.
• Doesn't complicate the game by going for home run plays. Understands the value in making simple reads against defensive coverages and letting the possession develop from there. Breeds trust in his decision-making and reliability.
• Defensive effort is clear and has 6-foot-10.5 wingspan to go along with adequate guard height. Should be able to guard across positions formidably.
• Willing and aware off-ball mover. Can govern a possession to shift the defense and then space to the corner the next time down the floor. Makes it easy to envision effective partnerships with other ball-handlers.

Opportunities

• Only shot 75 percent from the foul line and 33.3 percent from three at Rutgers. I trust that his mechanical consistency will lead to development at the next level, but the shooting results are not good enough right now.
• Tends to settle for pull-up jumpers early in the shot clock, which is an indictment of his decision-making because he shot below 30 percent on dribble jumpers at Rutgers, per O'Connor.
• Overly reliant on his left hand. It didn't lead to problems at the collegiate level because he was so advanced, but it will be used against him in the NBA. He will have to make passes with his right hand and not be resistant to driving with and finishing with his right. Has a bad habit of forcing lefty layups from the right side of the rim.

The film

Let's start with the thing that catapults Harper into his own tier of prospect below Cooper Flagg and ahead of everyone else. He can navigate obstacle courses to manufacture driving angles and pockets of space to put pressure on the defense seamlessly:

He's neither the best vertical athlete nor the quickest on his feet. But Harper is extremely balanced on his feet and poised with the ball in his hands. Defenses don't speed him up. He plays at his pace and gets to where he wants to go by changing speeds, hands and directions. He has prepared counter moves to get around looming defenders. Harper doesn't allow physicality to dissuade him at the hoop. He attacks and embraces contact well. Misses are baked into complex shots. But Harper doesn't let complexity turn him away. He keeps moving forward with his dribble until he has somewhere to go.

In some ways, Harper's game is mature beyond its years. He will showcase his elite playmaking chops by making exquisite passes from time to time, but Harper can be trusted to take the defensive coverage and make the simple read against it. He can get fancy, but he's satisfied with just making the right play, too:

One play, he's leveraging a blitz against the defense to make the pass to the roller over the top. The next play, he's chewing up space to get deep into the paint and force two to the ball before placing a ball softly in a lurking teammate's hands for an uncontested shot at the rim. Harper shifts defenses with his force and punishes them for their decisions. The best true point guards do that.

It is very clear the jumper needs work. But I think that's more about repetitions than it is about breaking down and rebuilding what's already in place. Let's look at some of his catch-and-shoot opportunities:

If you watch his body instead of the ball, you'll come away with confidence about his shot. The mechanics are consistent from shot to shot. He has balance and power from his lower body, but doesn't dip his knees too much. There is a follow-through after the release. His rise and fall are on a vertical plane. It's not the prettiest jumper, but it checks off a lot of the fundamental boxes.

The same can typically be said of his mechanics off the dribble:

One of my biggest gripes with Harper is that he sometimes settles for pull-up jumpers early in the shot clock. There's a balance to strike between confident and ill-advised. But Harper is very good at gathering his feet to get lift under his pull-up jumper. That's key to the balance he has on those shots. The results were not sufficient at Rutgers, to be clear. But he demonstrates the lower-body power and confidence to make you believe in that shot.

Even with team-leading usage and an honest effort on defense, it was impressive to see Harper's knack for reading defenses off the ball. Not many lead ball-handlers feel a responsibility to cut the way Harper did at times in his lone season at Rutgers. This was heady stuff:

In an ecosystem that would ostensibly include Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and Quentin Grimes, not only is it important to have a playmaking guard who reaches 6-foot-5 in shoes, but it's incredibly important that you have guards who know how and are willing to play off the basketball. Harper demonstrated diversity in usage by spoon-feeding a teammate an easy bucket on one possession and then serving as a floor spacer the very next time down the court. Over-play him high or look away in help, he'll cut backdoor. Attempt to stay connected by face-guarding or playing his low side, he'll front-cut.

Speaking of that honest effort on defense, it was admirable to see him not shirk responsibilities in favor of saving juice for offense. Harper provided plenty of footage:

Whether it was smart off-ball rotations or walling off his man to keep him away from the rim, Harper refused to be viewed as an isolation target or switch mismatch. At his size, that's an asset. He's not perfect on that end, to be clear:

He has moments of being upright in his stance. There are times Harper takes bad routes around screens and loses his man. He'll occasionally lose track of his assignment off the ball or get preoccupied waiting for the screen and surrender a driving lane. He'll make some risky gambles going for home run plays. But you don't feel like he's playing a cheap brand on that end of the floor.

Questions

I thought Harper played off the ball enough to where I wasn't sure what Rutgers envisioned for his position on the floor. Were they using him as a shooting guard, point guard or combo guard? If he was a point guard, why was he off the ball so much?

Gray area

This will be a positive gray area. I wonder how much NBA spacing will help his driving game. There were times I thought his leverage was negatively affected by opposing defenses pinching lanes in an effort to help on him. So, maybe there's another level of isolation creativity lying in wait that he couldn't unlock at Rutgers.

Shades of

Hear me out. I see James Harden in the way he relies on skill more than athleticism to attack the basket. There's some Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the way he pinballs off defenders in the paint and still maintains control and balance. I see some Cade Cunningham in his ability to make plays and handle the ball at his size. None of these are perfectly square comparisons. They're meant to be bits and pieces of various players.

Fit with Sixers

While suspect shooting out of a lead guard will always be a concerning fit as long as Joel Embiid is here, Harper is a damn-near-perfect fit in a backcourt that will toggle between Maxey, McCain and Grimes. He can defend the opposing shooting guard while slotting Maxey in his more natural off-ball role. He and McCain can toggle between ball-handling duties. Harper can leverage his rim pressure to set up Grimes. Introducing a player with his combination of size and court vision to that environment is a no-brainer.