Root cause of Dylan Harper's struggles are painfully obvious

Dylan Harper has hit his rookie wall, but the cause of it is a little deeper than just your run-of-the-mill midseason struggles. The season is long, and it's the first time he's had to play more than 40 games in a season, but the way defenses are playing him is the root cause of the majority of the inconsistency we've seen from the former Rutgers star.

This has been a constant issue for all three of our guards. It's the counter to the relentless rim pressure they were applying to start the season. The NBA is full of smart coaches. They're going to make you adjust and play to your weaknesses. The result here is that Harper averaged eight points, three rebounds, and three assists on 36% from the field over his last 15 games.

It wasn't as much of a problem before because everyone was knocking down outside shots at a respectable rate. Now that their shooting has slid, the paint-packing strategy is working. The solution to the issue actually has less to do with them than you'd think, though.

The others have to step up for their guards

I don't want to dismiss De'Aaron Fox's sentiment to Harper about rookie walls. There's an element to that at play. He's rushing his attempts at times or is a split second late on one of his reads. But those things won't punish the defense for playing off of him as they have been.

If you put him on the weak-side wing and Victor Wembanyama on the opposite block in isolation, Harper can slash to the basket when defenses double-team Vic. Let him make reaction reads on the move.

You can run his pick-and-rolls a little closer inside, too. There's no rule that says all PNRs have to start high. If you're running that with Wemby, he can pop out to the midrange for that shot he's been killing this year. Harper could also just turn the corner and already be in floater range. You'd force defenses to fully commit to packing the paint, leaving shooters open. Of course, they'd have to make those shots.

Julian Champagnie has found his way out of his slump, and Harrison Barnes' last game gives me hope that he's done the same. They just need Devin Vassell back to be the everything scorer. Dev's three-level scoring ability gives the offense a threat the defenses have to respect more because he can do it from anywhere on the floor. San Antonio's offense has missed him terribly.

The first thing I want to see more of is clearing out a side of the floor to iso Wemby in the midrange. Force defenses to come from far away to double-team, making the reads easier for everyone. These ideas all work in theory, but everything relies on the player's execution, and they've all been struggling to do that lately. It's not just Dylan.

That should give everyone confidence that they'll shake off this spell. It's not often that an entire team develops a midseason inability to make shots that lasts the whole season. So, never fear; expect this team and coaching staff to figure it out and get back to wreaking havoc.