September 28, 2008
At 25, Harris Takes Charge of Youthful Nets Team
By JONATHAN ABRAMS
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Arriving at the crossroads of default and destiny, Devin Harris is set to begin his first full Nets season as an undisputed vocal leader.
He is here by default because the Nets opted for youth in trading for him when they sent the aging Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks last season. Then they became even younger during the off-season when they added three rookies to their roster.
Harris is here by destiny because it is a challenge he has prepared for. Even though the former Mavericks coach Avery Johnson held restraints on Harris, the leash was starting to lengthen near the end of their Dallas tenures.
On a team that has a whopping seven players with less than two years of N.B.A. experience, Harris, a floor-burning point guard all of 25 years old, is the atypical, game-tested veteran.
“Next to never,” Harris said of the last time he had been in this setting. “This is a new kind of situation for me, only being five years in, but probably being one of the most experienced guys out there.”
That experience showed Saturday, as it did through most of early September as nearly all of the Nets convened to get a jump start on the season. Harris, with Vince Carter, encouraged their teammates throughout practice, pushing them here, pulling them there.
It will have to continue in the coming months if the Nets are to show promise and deny the dismal forecast skeptics have cast on their season.
“Being a leader is very, very hard for this reason: you have to be the same guy virtually every single day,” Nets Coach Lawrence Frank said. “When things are not going well for the team, when things aren’t going well for you, when there’s a heap of criticism upon you. So leading is tough. It’s hard, but he’s up for the challenge.”
Things did not go as planned last season when Harris joined the team in February. An ankle injury hobbled him, and learning a new offense midseason hindered him. By his own account, Harris labeled his defense lackluster.
“There’s no question about that,” said Harris, who averaged 15.4 points and 6.5 assists in 25 games as a Net last season. “Whether it’s injuries or not, I’m not making excuses.
“I’ve got to keep guys in front of me like I know I can and like they know I can. And I’ve got to be better at that.”
Once the season ended, Frank and Harris kept in touch, talking throughout the playoffs.
Frank offered Harris the keys to a revamped offense based on using Harris’s quickness, and they met in Chicago to diagram the best route for the pair to return to the postseason together.
With the infusion of youth, it may be hard to notice, but the Nets did add serviceable veterans, players who can teach and have been there, done that, in Keyon Dooling, Jarvis Hayes and Eduardo Najera.
But all have peaked in their professional careers. With Harris, the Nets will rely on a point guard who may be one playmaking step from ascending to the elite level, joining the likes of the Utah Jazz’s Deron Williams and the New Orleans Hornets’ Chris Paul.
“He is definitely capable and he’s ready for it,” Carter said. “You can just tell from his approach. Just talking to him and him wanting to step into that leadership role and be a part of it.”
Carter added: “And then just talking to him this summer and yesterday, he’s ready. That’s what he wants to do, and we’re all going to help each other to get to the next level.”
REBOUNDS
The Nets have 15 guaranteed contracts, the most allowed on a roster once the season starts. They have also signed Eddie Gill, Brian Hamilton, Julius Hodge and Awvee Storey to round out their training camp roster. ... Forward Yi Jianlian (sprained ankle) rode a stationary bike during the Nets’ morning practice. ... Vance Wahlberg, the Massachusetts assistant who designed the dribble-drive offense the Nets are installing, attended practice.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
Interesting. This seems to be catching on at all levels of b-ball. Is it groundbreaking, or the basketball equivalent of the run and shoot, an offense that works at lower levels, but fails at the professional league?Vance Wahlberg, the Massachusetts assistant who designed the dribble-drive offense the Nets are installing, attended practice.
If Devin Harris really does become an elite guard, then that adds more fuel to the fire that the Mavericks Management is a group of mush for brain loggerheads.
Yes...its that Jason Kidd Trade rearing it's ugly head again
This is exactly what I want to see from Devin and the Nets. I think that team has so much potential
I wish Harris well,we shouldnt have traded his ass.
and you shut the up bandwagonning pussy.
I fear Devin Harris more than Dirk when they were together playing against the Rockets. Hes underrated because hes playing on a loser team now.
i hope things go well for Devin Harris. he was the only valuable player that didnt about being traded. he's a great talent.
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