Pooh
06-30-2004, 11:19 PM
By Mark Montieth
[email protected]
June 29, 2004
The questions about David Harrison's work ethic and demeanor seem destined to keep coming up for awhile. For the uninformed, the answers will be easy to find.
Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle went to the trouble of printing out and blowing up some of the quotes from Harrison's draft night pledge to prove his critics wrong. He plans to post them in Harrison's locker stall.
"He's gone on record with a lot of things and we're going to keep reminding him of that," Carlisle said during Harrison's news conference at Conseco Fieldhouse on Monday.
The Pacers believe they got a steal in Harrison, a 7-foot center from the University of Colorado, whom they plucked with the 29th pick in Thursday's NBA draft. Harrison's size, intelligence and skills are givens. His maturity and passion are not, which explains the freefall that would have dropped him into the land of non-guaranteed second-round contracts if not for the Pacers' saving grab.
Harrison can only guess at the origin of the doubts.
"I have a demeanor about me that I always look sleepy for some reason," he said. "When I play on the basketball court it's the same way. People look at me and say, 'Oh, he's exhausted.' "
Harrison's demeanor was calm, almost sheepish, Monday. Sitting between Carlisle and team president Larry Bird, bundled up in a beige suit with a Pacers hat pulled down tightly over his head, he seemed a bit dazed by the sudden shift in his life's direction.
Asked what it was like sitting next to Hall of Fame player Bird, he laughed nervously.
"I'm still kind of shocked about that," he said.
Harrison, one of 12 children, comes from a privileged background. His father, Dennis, played in the NFL for 10 seasons as a defensive lineman, making the Pro Bowl out of Philadelphia in 1983. He has since coached football in high school and at his alma mater, Vanderbilt. His mother, Ida, graduated in the top 10 in her class at Vanderbilt, and continues to work in nursing.
David, an honors student who attended a private high school, promised his mother he would graduate from college when he was in fifth grade. He still plans to follow through, but he made the practical move of dropping out of his classes after his junior season at Colorado to focus on preparing for the NBA draft.
Harrison said he worked nearly 12 hours a day in Los Angeles with a personal trainer and a former NBA player, Jim Brewer, to improve his conditioning, strength and post moves. Brewer's job was to refine his moves around the basket and delete some of the "herky-jerky" elements of Harrison's game.
"I want to be like a well-oiled machine," Harrison said.
That doesn't mean he wants to be a finesse player, however. He grew up enjoying football best, and planned to follow his father's path to professional sports.
"Just to be able to crush somebody, you know?" Harrison explained. "And it's legal. You don't get thrown out of the game for it."
Harrison grew out of football, though. Literally. Before his junior season in high school, when he was 6-9, his father told him to concentrate on basketball.
Even in the NBA, however, Harrison still should have opportunities to inflict punishment. Last season, only one starting center in the Eastern Conference, Chicago's Eddy Curry, weighed as much as Harrison at 285. Only two players in Pacers franchise history have been as big -- John Williams (300) and Dwayne Schintzius (285).
"We don't have a guy like David," Carlisle said. "We don't have a guy of his size and strength."
Carlisle planned to test Harrison's work ethic immediately, putting him through some drills shortly after the news conference. Harrison will stay in Indianapolis today and Wednesday for more indoctrination, go home to Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday, then return for the start of rookie/free agent camp on July 12 before participating in summer league play in Salt Lake City.
By then his response to the doubters can begin taking more meaningful form than quotes taped to his locker.
"I want to prove all these people wrong that have these thoughts and opinions of me," he said. "Maybe in a couple of years I can look back on the situation and laugh."
Link (http://www.indystar.com/articles/5/158505-3755-179.html)
[email protected]
June 29, 2004
The questions about David Harrison's work ethic and demeanor seem destined to keep coming up for awhile. For the uninformed, the answers will be easy to find.
Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle went to the trouble of printing out and blowing up some of the quotes from Harrison's draft night pledge to prove his critics wrong. He plans to post them in Harrison's locker stall.
"He's gone on record with a lot of things and we're going to keep reminding him of that," Carlisle said during Harrison's news conference at Conseco Fieldhouse on Monday.
The Pacers believe they got a steal in Harrison, a 7-foot center from the University of Colorado, whom they plucked with the 29th pick in Thursday's NBA draft. Harrison's size, intelligence and skills are givens. His maturity and passion are not, which explains the freefall that would have dropped him into the land of non-guaranteed second-round contracts if not for the Pacers' saving grab.
Harrison can only guess at the origin of the doubts.
"I have a demeanor about me that I always look sleepy for some reason," he said. "When I play on the basketball court it's the same way. People look at me and say, 'Oh, he's exhausted.' "
Harrison's demeanor was calm, almost sheepish, Monday. Sitting between Carlisle and team president Larry Bird, bundled up in a beige suit with a Pacers hat pulled down tightly over his head, he seemed a bit dazed by the sudden shift in his life's direction.
Asked what it was like sitting next to Hall of Fame player Bird, he laughed nervously.
"I'm still kind of shocked about that," he said.
Harrison, one of 12 children, comes from a privileged background. His father, Dennis, played in the NFL for 10 seasons as a defensive lineman, making the Pro Bowl out of Philadelphia in 1983. He has since coached football in high school and at his alma mater, Vanderbilt. His mother, Ida, graduated in the top 10 in her class at Vanderbilt, and continues to work in nursing.
David, an honors student who attended a private high school, promised his mother he would graduate from college when he was in fifth grade. He still plans to follow through, but he made the practical move of dropping out of his classes after his junior season at Colorado to focus on preparing for the NBA draft.
Harrison said he worked nearly 12 hours a day in Los Angeles with a personal trainer and a former NBA player, Jim Brewer, to improve his conditioning, strength and post moves. Brewer's job was to refine his moves around the basket and delete some of the "herky-jerky" elements of Harrison's game.
"I want to be like a well-oiled machine," Harrison said.
That doesn't mean he wants to be a finesse player, however. He grew up enjoying football best, and planned to follow his father's path to professional sports.
"Just to be able to crush somebody, you know?" Harrison explained. "And it's legal. You don't get thrown out of the game for it."
Harrison grew out of football, though. Literally. Before his junior season in high school, when he was 6-9, his father told him to concentrate on basketball.
Even in the NBA, however, Harrison still should have opportunities to inflict punishment. Last season, only one starting center in the Eastern Conference, Chicago's Eddy Curry, weighed as much as Harrison at 285. Only two players in Pacers franchise history have been as big -- John Williams (300) and Dwayne Schintzius (285).
"We don't have a guy like David," Carlisle said. "We don't have a guy of his size and strength."
Carlisle planned to test Harrison's work ethic immediately, putting him through some drills shortly after the news conference. Harrison will stay in Indianapolis today and Wednesday for more indoctrination, go home to Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday, then return for the start of rookie/free agent camp on July 12 before participating in summer league play in Salt Lake City.
By then his response to the doubters can begin taking more meaningful form than quotes taped to his locker.
"I want to prove all these people wrong that have these thoughts and opinions of me," he said. "Maybe in a couple of years I can look back on the situation and laugh."
Link (http://www.indystar.com/articles/5/158505-3755-179.html)