Hardnett was 3rd on the team in minutes per game, behind Yoeli and Haws. He was third on the team in shooting frequency, with one FG attempt every 3.0 minutes, behind Yoeli (one attempt every 2.1 minutes), and Haws (2.8). Emery attempted a shot every 4.1 minutes. So Hardnett was clearly a central part of the offense. So he certainly had a fair shot to demonstrate what he can do.

For the season, Hardnett played 475 minutes and Emery played 485. So we can directly compare their output:

Shot attempts
JH: 157
NE: 118

2-pt FG%
JH: 51%
NE: 45%

3-pt FG%
JH: 22%
NE: 36%

FT%
JH: 82%
NE: 67%

Rebounds
JH: 40
NE: 39

Assists
JH: 34
NE: 41

Asst/TO ratio
JH: 1.4
NE: 1.8

Steals
JH: 19
NE: 25

Hardnett was a better free throw shooter, and had a slightly higher 2-pt FG%. Emery was a better 3-point shooter, better at handling the ball (assist to turnover ratio), and had more steals defensively.

JH had a fair shot. He just didn’t demonstrate that he was better than the next option as a shooter or distributor.