I love a story about a former Rice stalwart getting a real shot with the local pro team, as is the case with Michael Harris and the Rockets.
[Harris] completed the Rockets' summer league on Sunday as one of the top players on their team and with a non-guaranteed, two-year contract to bring him back for training camp."He just outworked everybody," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "He wanted it more than other guys did. Being around gives him some experience, but his attitude is such he's going to keep playing hard. That's going to really help him."
In five games, Harris made 21 of 31 shots, averaging 13.4 points and seven rebounds. It turned out that all that time working on his interior game did anything but hold him back.
"I used to think it did," said Harris, 24. "I thought that would always be the knock on me when given an opportunity. But now, I look at it as everything I did at Rice was a positive. If they need me to play the 3 (small forward), I can use my rebounding to my advantage, which a lot of guys don't do. I use that as a positive.
"With the offense Coach Adelman likes to run, there's more posting up with the 3s. So I think the post-up thing helps a lot, too. And at the 4 (power forward), I can do that too. It's working out for me."
Beyond all that, his most obvious quality -- an unusually high-revving engine -- has served him well. He offers a work ethic and intensity Adelman wants around.
"Especially for guys trying to make the team, you want in camp a guy that will compete with the other guys," Adelman said. "He's also a multi-position player. He's a little undersized for 4, but his attitude is crucial, the way he plays and the way he competes. He's probably better right now, because of all the people we have, to play him there (at power forward). He actually matched up with the kid with the Clippers, (Al) Thornton, and did a real nice job on him.
"He's very physical. As a 3 that's physical, he'll really compete with those people."