Prospect Profile: Joe Harris
The Virginia Cavaliers didn’t get as far as they hoped in the NCAA Tourney, but they still turned in one of their best seasons in campaign history. Their success was in no small part due to the play of senior Joe Harris, who helped keep defenses honest with his dangerous outside shooting. The senior terrorized the ACC in his final season and he’s anxious to try and do the same at the next level.
“I can shoot the ball and defend at a high level and I think that’s a pretty good combination for any NBA team. You can never enough shooters on any team. i’m fortunate enough to bring that ability to the table,” Harris told HoopsRumors.com. 
Harris, who averaged 12.0 PPG and shot 40% from beyond the arc this season, stands apart from a lot of the other 2014 draft hopefuls. While this year’s class is deep overall and chock full of intriguing athletes, the general feeling is that there aren’t a ton of great shooters in the first round. If you want to come away with a jumper you can count on, you’ll likely have to scour the second round for players like the Virginia star.
Harris arrived on campus with an automatic shot but his play on the other side of the floor left much to be desired. He was tasked with upping his D and, with time, he morphed into a stout defender.
“I think the system that I played in taught defensive principals and the defensive mindset that you need to have. Of course, defense is more than a mindset, you have to have the lateral quickness too, but the principals and that mindset and helped me become a much better defender. Coach [Tony Bennett‘s] program made me better and I’ll carry that with me to the NBA,” said the small forward.
The 22-year-old is confident but knows that there is still a lot of work ahead of him. Harris says he’ll be working to improve his ball handling and overall athleticism, two of his commonly cited weaknesses. He’s currently training alongside fellow Mark Bartelstein clients Doug McDermott, Nik Stauskas, and Sean Kilpatrick in an effort to improve in not just those areas but “all areas.”
As a wing with range, some have been quick to compare Harris to Kyle Korver. Harris, who called the Hawks forward an “unbelievable shooter,” doesn’t see it, but he stressed that they are similar in that both can bring much more to the table than three-point shooting. In the coming weeks, Harris will be traveling to the West Coast for individual workouts with the Suns and at least one of the Los Angeles teams before heading to the Lone Star State for auditions with the Mavs and Spurs. Between those sessions and the combines, Harris is hopeful that he’ll find not only an NBA opportunity, but the “right fit” to help make his transition to the Association a seamless one.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Clippers Rumors: Free Agency, Rivers, Sterling
A prominent agent told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News that he has clients who don’t intend to sign with the Clippers this summer unless Donald Sterling is “gone completely.” That indicates the Sterling saga will indeed have an effect on free agency, as there’s almost no chance the situation will be resolved by July, as Deveney points out.
“I don’t think the whole thing winds up with Sterling back in charge, that is just hard to imagine,” another agent told Deveney. “There’s the chance, though. There’s a chance you wind up working for Sterling. That’s the problem.”
Here’s more from a team that fought off the Thunder and a media circus to overcome a 22-point deficit in Sunday’s win:
- People around the league feel as though Doc Rivers won’t leave the Clippers even if the league hasn’t completely severed its ties with Sterling by this summer, Deveney writes in the same piece. Rivers hasn’t said definitively that he’ll return to the team for next season after raising questions about his future shortly after the Sterling fiasco began.
- The league believes it can strip Shelly Sterling’s ownership of the team when it does so with her husband, as we passed along last night, though Shelly Sterling intends to fight that interpretation, as she told ABC’s Barbara Walters. “To be honest with you, I’m wondering if a wife of one of the owners, and there’s 30 owners, did something like that, said those racial slurs, would they oust the husband?” Shelly Sterling said. “Or would they leave the husband in?”
- Pierce O’Donnell, the attorney for Shelly Sterling, cited the U.S. Constitution in his rebuttal to the league’s contention that it can take the team from her. Legal experts have emphasized to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News that the Constitution doesn’t apply to businesses like the NBA, and lawyers make it clear that such a defense is flimsy, Medina adds (Twitter links).
- Shelly Sterling also told Walters that she’s been speaking to attorneys for the last 20 years about a divorce, which could further complicate the league’s efforts to remove the Sterlings.
- Donald Sterling attempted to explain his racially charged remarks and asked the league’s forgiveness in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
And-Ones: Sterling, Cavs, Brown, Rockets
Donald Sterling’s sit down with Anderson Cooper airs on CNN tomorrow night, but Charles Barkley won’t be among those watching. “We got to work tomorrow night so we don’t have to watch that junk,” the Hall of Famer told his Inside The NBA cohorts as they came back from commercial, as noted by Nina Mandell of USA Today. Here’s tonight’s look around the league..
- LeBron James and other NBA players are concerned about Shelly Sterling taking control of the Clippers, but a statement released this evening by NBA spokesman Mike Bass could put those worries to bed. “Under the NBA Constitution, if a controlling owner’s interest is terminated by a 3/4 vote, all other team owners’ interests are automatically terminated as well. It doesn’t matter whether the owners are related as is the case here. These are the rules to which all NBA owners agreed to as a condition of owning their team,” the statement read (Howard Beck of Bleacher Report on Twitter).
- Shelly Sterling’s attorney released a statement of his own to reporters, including Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter).
- Sources tell Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio that Cavs owner Dan Gilbert will support whatever decision the team’s next GM makes regarding Mike Brown. So, it appears the coach’s fate is in the hands of David Griffin, who’s expected to have the interim tag removed from his GM title soon. People around the league are split on whether Griffin would retain Brown, according to Amico.
- Kostas Papanikolaou, whose NBA rights are owned by the Rockets, says he’s in no rush to make the leap over. “Nothing changed in my thoughts about the NBA. If I get a good chance, I will go. However, I am new in this team [FC Barcelona Regal], they have treated me with respect and I only think about Barcelona. A team that helps me evolve my game and be better. So, I don’t know what will happen, if I will end up in the NBA this summer or the next one,” the Euroleague standout told Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Pacific Rumors: Van Gundy, Lakers, Clippers
It wasn’t long ago that the Kings appeared to be Seattle-bound, but owner Vivek Ranadive‘s group brought that talk to a definitive end. This weekend it was reported that the Kings finalized a 35-year lease agreement to build a new arena in Sacramento. The measure still needs to be approved by the city council, but there’s no indication that it won’t go through. Here’s tonight’s glance at the Pacific Division..
- Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News feels that Stan Van Gundy is the current frontrunner for the Warriors‘ head coaching job among the known candidates out there. However, he adds that there could be under-the-radar names who are currently employed and therefore cannot publicly discuss their interest in the gig.
- Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com rounds up the Lakers‘ quest for a new coach, and surmises that the candidate they decide to pursue will be heavily affected by their position in the lottery.
- Shelly Sterling‘s resistance to surrender ownership of the Clippers means she’ll likely be in control of the team for the foreseeable future, opines Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Any ousting process could take over a year, says Mannix, who also adds the NBA isn’t buying her claimed outrage at her husband’s comments (all Twitter links).
- LeBron James, meanwhile, doesn’t want to see anyone with the Sterling surname involved in the Clippers, writes Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press.
- At this point, the over/under on the number of years it will take the NBA to excise the Sterlings from the Clippers is around two, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.
- Yesterday, we rounded up news on the Lakers and Clippers.
Charlie Adams contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Hollins, Nuggets, Butler
Lionel Hollins will interview with the Warriors for their head coaching position, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post. The interview will take place at the Chicago pre-draft combine that starts Thursday, according to the article. This confirms an earlier report made by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
More from the west:
- Nuggets GM Tim Connelly wants the team to pick up an “impactful piece” in this year’s NBA Draft, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. The Nuggets are currently slotted with the 11th pick in June’s draft.
- In the same article, Dempsey notes that Nate Robinson and Darrell Arthur plan to return to the Nuggets next season. Both have player options for 2014/15 they plan on exercising.
- Billy Witz of The New York Times looks at the effect that Caron Butler is having on the Thunder‘s playoff run, as well as a look back on his time with the Clippers.
LA Notes: Rivers, Parsons, Lakers
Clippers coach Doc Rivers spoke with Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman and discussed, among other topics, the appointment of Dick Parsons as the team’s interim CEO. “I don’t know Dick very well,” said Rivers. “But from what I heard from everyone who knows him and from talking to him today, I think it’s a very good hire for us.” We’ll cover more from Tramel’s discussion with Rivers as well as the Lakers coaching search:
- Rivers said that the league has done a great job of keeping him involved in the search for a replacement for Donald Sterling. Their involvement has helped him focus on basketball rather than the scandal, admits Rivers.
- The league never went as far as to ask Rivers to run the Clippers, and Rivers said he wouldn’t have been interested even if they had since he has a limited understanding of the business side of running an NBA team.
- Although the Lakers don’t appear to be in the running for Steve Kerr, they’re still likely to hire someone who makes a splash. Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News passes along the the opinions of experts from around the league about which candidates would be best suited for the job.
And-Ones: Kerr, Sterling, Hawks, Griffin
Although Steve Kerr has never coached before, Keith Schlosser of Knicks Journal opines he possesses the necessary traits to effectively run an NBA club. Still, it remains to be seen whether those traits can translate into effective results, says Schlosser. Here’s this afternoon’s look around the Association:
- The Heat‘s James Jones, an executive for the NBA Player’s Association, says that it wouldn’t be acceptable for Shelly Sterling to retain ownership of the Clippers, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. “That’s our stance, and it hasn’t changed, and it won’t,” said Jones.
- John Branch of the New York Times examines the scenario that led to Donald Sterling purchasing the Clippers and chronicles the now banned owner’s tenure as boss in Los Angeles.
- Some soon-to-be free agents have shown fondness for the Hawks roster and are intrigued at the prospect of playing with Jeff Teague, Al Horford, and Paul Millsap, making Atlanta an appealing destination, tweets Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio.
- The Cavs named David Griffin “acting” GM on Februrary 6th, and Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer thinks it’s time the team officially offers him the role of full-time general manager.
Pacific Notes: Sterlings, Kings, Young
The Kings finalized a 35-year lease agreement to build a new arena in Sacramento, according to a report from Dale Kasler, Tony Bizjak and Ryan Lillis of The Sacramento Bee. The agreement still has to be voted on by city council, but there are no signs at this point that the measure would fail. Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The NBA is not worried about Shelly Sterling’s long term involvement with the Clippers, sources with knowledge of the league’s legal strategy tell Michael McCann of SI.com. There is no danger of Shelly becoming a controlling owner of the team by default, and the only way she could be named a controlling owner would be with league approval.
- McCann has also learned that Sterling is likely to lose her share along with Donald Sterling if the league is successful in their push to oust him. California property law views the team as a single property shared by the Sterlings, not two distinct 50/50 pieces that the league could strip in part.
- League officials are not worried about a “slippery slope” precedent being set with the ouster, per McCann. Private comments made by other owners in the past or future will not be subject to these measures, except for egregious cases that create exceptional outrage like Sterling’s comments did.
- In anticipating the likelihood of a Sterling lawsuit, the SI.com scribe shares that the league is more concerned with the legal process becoming dragged out and embarrassing than it is with the strength of its case, which it expects to hold up in court.
- Mike Trudell of Lakers.com takes a look at Nick Young‘s season with the Lakers, asking the pending free agent about his future with the team. “Hopefully I could be back but we’ll see what [the Lakers] plans are after the draft and settle in to what they want to do,” said Young. “I appreciate everything they said to me and being able to do what I do here.” The Lakers are rumored to be interested in bringing the shooting guard back next year.
Clippers Notes: Sterling, Rivers, Magic
Doc Rivers says the Clippers’ situation is still “murky” following the hire of interim CEO Dick Parsons, and he wishes he could have a “do-over” on his initial conversation with Shelly Sterling, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Presumably, Rivers was as unaware of Sterling’s drive to maintain her entire stake in the team at the time. Here’s more from L.A.:
- Shelly Sterling’s lawyer made an appearance on CNN, vowing to fight any attempt to strip the team from her “to the death” (quote via Rachel Nichols of ESPN.com).
- Magic Johnson told reporters including Eric Prisbell of USA Today that Clippers players wouldn’t play for the team if Sterling retains her 50% share in the team, as she intends to do. “Those guys are not going to play for anybody [named] Sterling,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be hard for them to sell that to the fans and definitely to the players.”
- Johnson won’t say how interested he is in purchasing the team, telling Prisbell that he is hesitant to comment on what will likely be a long process leading up to a sale. “Donald Sterling is going to fight it. You know that. It is going to be a long time,” said Johnson. “I have other things to do before I just say my level of interest. The team has to be up for sale. And I think that is going to be eight months to a year. Once it’s official, that it’s really up for sale, we’ll take a look at it.”
Latest On Dick Parsons
We found out earlier today that Dick Parsons will be running the Clippers as their interim CEO as the league moves forward with its effort to strip banned owner Donald Sterling of the team. More details on the nature of his role are streaming in, mostly from the man himself. Here’s a roundup of the latest:
- Parsons told Shelburne that he hopes his tenure is completed within months. “It’s interim and my hope would be that it’s months. How many, I can’t say,” said Parsons. “Because the longer this thing stays unresolved… this is not a pleasant story. We’ve got to get this behind us. But I can’t say anymore than anybody else can say how long it’s going to take.
- While still pledging to cede control to Doc Rivers for basketball matters including the draft, Parsons again told Shelburne that he is the ultimate authority in L.A. For example, Parsons said that he would give the final yes or no for free agent signings.
- Rivers told reporters including Medina that he is on board with the installation of Parsons (Twitter link). “I trust the league in this so well,” said Rivers. “They’re smarter than me.”
- Rivers called Parsons a “very good hire” for the Clippers, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
Earlier updates:
- Magic Johnson offered warm praise of Parsons, taking to Twitter to call the interim CEO an “idol” of his. Johnson has interest in purchasing the Clippers.
- Parsons told Aldridge that Adam Silver first approached him about the position on Monday.
- While Parsons left Rivers in charge of basketball decisions, he maintains that he will still be the ultimate decision maker. “Every organization needs an ultimate leader. That doesn’t mean the ultimate leader has to make all the calls,” Parsons told Aldridge. “What I’ve said to [Rivers] is in my early background in law, I love and embrace the partnership approach to management. But at the end of the day, the CEO has to sign off on all the decisions.”
- That lines up with his description of himself to Shelburne (Twitter link) as “proxy owner” for all team matters other than the “sale or alienation of the team.”
- Parsons tells Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today that he has no plans to stay with the team beyond this time of transition, and characterized his job as a temporary, emergency fix for a “headless” organization. “It’s hurting the players, it’s hurting the team, it’s hurting the game, it’s hurting the fans, it’s hurting advertising and it’s hurting, frankly, the league. It’s blown up beyond that,” said Parsons. “It’s an issue that’s more important than the Clippers and even the NBA. … How we handle it in this country is going to be noted not just by people who live here but by people around the world. I’m happy to try and help.”
- Parsons told Zillgitt that he will step down from his position on the board of governors for Madison Square Garden, which controls the Knicks, but he will not move to Los Angeles.
- Parsons reiterated to Zillgitt that Doc Rivers will still be very much in charge of basketball decisions in L.A. “I told [Rivers], ‘You run the basketball side. I’ll run the business side and we’ll get this done together.'”
- Parsons revealed to Mark Medina of Los Angeles Daily News that his role will fill those of both banned owner Donald Sterling and inactive team president Andy Roeser. “My job is to build those two roles and provide leadership and stability to the team and to be the voice of ownership on [matters] that come before the NBA other than the sale of the team,” Parsons said.
- Parsons told Medina that he doesn’t see Shelly Sterling having any managing say for the Clippers moving forward. “She is a beneficial owner of the team and has an ownership interest,” Parsons said. “But she doesn’t have a current role with the team and I don’t believe that will change.”
- Parsons would not speculate to Medina on whether or not Shelly Sterling will be forced to give up her share in the team. “In terms of sale and who owns what and who’s going to own what as we go forward, that’s still in the court of the NBA,” said Parsons.
- Parsons tells the Los Angeles Daily News scribe that it’s “very hard to tell” how long this transition will take to resolve. “The league is hopeful that we can get through this transition period before the beginning of the next season,” Parsons said. “I hope they are right. But we will have to wait and see.
- The 66-year-old Parsons told David Aldridge of NBA.com he is not interested in owning the Clippers (Twitter link). “I’m an old guy now. I’d rather be with my grandkids.”
- Parsons told Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times he won’t be involved in any resolution between Shelly Sterling and the league. “That is really between the Sterlings and the NBA,” said Parsons. “My job is to really be a conservator of the assets, to manage the assets so it runs properly, we keep the momentum, we build the value while that question of ownership is being bought out in another arena, an arena in which I’m not standing.”
- Sterling repeated her assertion that she consulted with the NBA on its search for a Clippers CEO, and says she approves of the league’s choice of Parsons, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (Twitter links).
- Parsons told Shelburne that he will be reaching out to Sterling soon, because she is a stakeholder and she, unlike her husband, has not been banned (Twitter links).
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.