Suns select Andrew Harrison, reportedly will trade him to Grizzlies

Kentucky guard Andrew Harrison was selected by the Suns with the No. 44 pick in the 2015 NBA draft on Thursday night at the Barclays Center.

Kentucky guard Andrew Harrison was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the No. 44 pick in the 2015 NBA draft on Thursday but will be sent to the Memphis Grizzlies in a trade, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. 

The Suns reportedly will receive Jon Leuer in return. 

Harrison entered Kentucky as a top-10 recruit, part of a class touted as one the best ever. He averaged 10.9 points and 4 assists per game, despite 2.7 turnovers per contest.

His minutes dropped during his sophomore season (from 31.7 per game to 25.5 per game) due to the Wildcats’ depth, but Harrison continued to start for a team that entered the NCAA tournament undefeated and won its first 38 games of the season.

Kentucky eventually lost to Wisconsin in the Final Four, with Harrison scoring 13 points but missing several key shots down the stretch.

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Strengths: Physically, Harrison represents several ideals of the point guard position, with a firm 6-foot-6 build and a 6-foot-9 wingspan. Harrison’s size and strength help him see over defenders on offense and muscle smaller defenders inside. Those physical attributes also made him a key cog in Kentucky’s historically great defense. Despite his size, he possesses solid speed and can handle himself in pick-and-rolls. He flashed scoring ability in college but also demonstrated the ability to pick his spots and find open teammates. After reaching two Final Fours at Kentucky, he has experience sharing the ball with talented teammates and quarterbacking great teams.

Weaknesses: Inconsistency plagued Harrison throughout his college career. Take one two-game stretch in February, when he scored a season-high 23 points against Georgia, then only 1 point four days later at Florida. He shot worse than 38% from the field in both of his college seasons, thanks largely to poor decision-making and shot-selection. He sometimes tried to do too much on offense, relying heavily on isolation drives and an inefficient floater. He’s not particularly quick off the dribble and hoists a lot of threes for a player who is respectable but unspectacular from long-range. He committed far fewer turnovers during his sophomore season than his freshman one but still needs to take better care of the ball. His body language on the court has raised questions about his attitude.