Joe Harris has been writing a blog for cavs.com.
Here are the first two entries:
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What’s up, Cavalier fans. It’s Joe Harris – Cleveland’s second-round pick in this year’s Draft. My 2014 Draft classmate – Andrew Wiggins – along with the rest of the squad are out here in Las Vegas, getting ready for 2014 Summer League. And this is the first installment of my Rookie Blog that I hope to continue through our stay out West.
Some of you probably don’t know much about me – other than this video that NBA.com posted the night I was drafted by the Cavs. That was an incredible night.
I was really excited. I didn’t know that everybody was going to be shooting off confetti and all that stuff. That was a surprise. But I just wanted it to be fairly low-key. I was just hanging out with my family and my friends and my girlfriend. Obviously everyone was very excited and happy – it’s a very cool moment.
And I have to admit, I had known about it before all that. I knew because they actually went to commercial after my agent called me. He was really excited, saying that we were going to Cleveland. And obviously I was extremely excited. But then they went to commercial and I really didn’t tell anybody. Then, it came back and they showed the pick and I was really happy. It was a really cool moment.
I had an idea the Cavs were going to take me. I kind of knew a general range of teams that were interested in me. And before the Draft, my agent said: ‘We have this team, here. We have this team, here.’ So I had like an idea that if I didn’t get picked by one team, there was the next.
So we kind of went down the line and I knew the Cavs were interested with the 33rd pick. So it was really cool, I was extremely happy and grateful that they’d given me this opportunity.
I come from a town in Washington state that might not be too familiar to Clevelanders called Chelan. It’s really beautiful. It’s about two-and-a-half hours east of Seattle and two-and-a-half hours west of Spokane. It’s right in the middle of the state.
And yes, I’m a huge Seahawks fan. Actually, some of the Legion of Boom was just out in my hometown over the 4th of July. I grew up in kind of a resort community. I lived on a big lake. It was really cool growing up there. But a lot of people come there in the summertime, especially Seahawks guys.
Some people have asked how a guy from Washington ended up playing in Virginia.
Tony Bennett was the coach at Washington State before he took the job at Virginia. And Washington State was probably three or four hours from me – it’s the main school in the eastern part of Washington. And I was going to go play for him at WSU, but he left and took the job at Virginia in my junior year of high school. And I just followed him out to Virginia.
Out here in Vegas, we’ve been practicing – two-a-days – all week getting ready for Friday’s opener. Coach Blatt has been awesome! I was out in Cleveland and I got a chance to meet him there after the Draft and kind of see what he’s like. We ran through some drills there, but this is the first time in a natural practice setting. And he’s been great.
Coach Blatt is very, very knowledgeable about the game. And it just goes to show you that no matter where you’re at, he knows as much about basketball as anyone. You learn a lot from him. And he’s a very charming guy, very personable. He’s pretty funny, too. He likes to mess with the guys – and he’s been messing with me quite a bit, because I haven’t been able to do as much as I would’ve liked because I tweaked my ankle here a little bit. So he always asks me before practice if I need a cappuccino and croissant while I’m sitting over here.
But he’s great, definitely a player’s coach; everybody really likes to play for him. And I think guys are going to work really hard for him because everybody respects him a lot.
It’s been a whirlwind since Draft night. Andrew (Wiggins) and I went out to Cleveland for about a week right after the Draft. And then went home for the 4th of July. Then we came right back to Vegas.
It’s been pretty much all business out here. I’ve been to Vegas quite a few times. But this is the first time since I’ve been 21.
I still haven’t gambled or ventured out. My dad, one of his best friends from school – he’s a really close family friend – he lives down here and so I’ve been able to catch up with him quite a bit, which has been good. So I’ve been able to catch up with him quite a bit and hang out, which has been good.
It’s a different world out here sometimes and I asked him about it and he was saying, if you’re local and you’re from Las Vegas, you rarely head down to the Strip. If you hang out with a group of friends of have people visiting, maybe. But it’s two separate worlds, really.
Right now, I’m just ready to get after it on the court. It’s been a while since most of us played against another squad and I’m looking forward to it. I’ll make sure to keep you posted on the team and my progress as Summer League unfolds over the next couple weeks.
In the meantime: Go Cavs!
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Hey, Cavalier fans. It’s Joe Harris, checking in with my second Summer League blog from Vegas.
It’s been a great week-and-a-half out here with the guys, and obviously the team’s been successful both on and off the court. Before we ever played a game out here, we got some great news when we heard about LeBron. I’m still trying to process it.
It was pretty funny, because we were in shootaround when it happened. And Coach Blatt didn’t really tell us – he just kind of made a little comment at the end that we had some good news. And we were like: ‘OK, he’s just trying to mess with us.’ But after practice, when you get back to your phone, it’s like bigger than Draft night. I had 200-some messages and everybody’s just blowing you up!
It’s pretty cool, though. Obviously, it’s very exciting and it’s unbelievable for the organization. And it’s a complete turnaround just to add one guy like that – it makes you a Championship contender.
And we really lucked out – Andrew (Wiggins), Dwight (Powell) and I – the rookie guys who got brought in here, and now we’re a Championship-contending team. Obviously, we’re very accepting of all of our roles and everything that will come with it, but the opportunity to play with the best player in the world is beyond exciting.
Coming to Cleveland at a time like this with the Class of 2014 has been really cool. Of course, Andrew has gotten a lot of attention and deservedly so.
Everybody’s always asking me: ‘How’s Andrew? What’s he like?’ He’s a little bit more reserved and he’s just a real down-to-earth kind of guy. I think the guy’s got more hype, from a basketball standpoint, since maybe LeBron. But he’s the most down-to-earth person you can imagine, and he’s really fun to be around.
I was fortunate – I went out to Cleveland right after the Draft and Andrew and I were out there together and we were just working out a lot. And he’s just really low-key; he likes to keep to himself. But he’s a really, really good guy. I feel like we formed a little bit of a bond – just being the two guys that the Cavs brought in on Draft night.
Individually, I’m just trying to get in a good rhythm out here – in practice and games. I’m in no rush to try to get in a ton of shots or anything like that. The team’s having a lot of success; we’re playing really well together. It’s a fun group of guys to play with. And obviously, it’s a lot more fun when you’re winning. But more importantly, I feel like we’re playing the right way. We’ve been sharing the basketball, playing together well defensively. And that’s the way I like to play, regardless of whether you’re scoring points or whatever it is.
I don’t ever force anything. I feel like I take a lot of pride in the patience that I play with. I feel like I play with good poise and I know when to take my shot – and when I do, I have a lot of confidence. But I’m not going to try to force anything or disrupt anything in the offense, especially with Coach Blatt and the offense that we run.
We value every single possession very similarly to how I played at Virginia. So I take my opportunities when they’re there, but I don’t ever try to force anything or rush.
Right now, the whole team is having success because we’ve been playing really well together and because we’ve been playing great defense – great team defense.
I think we’ve really bought in to what Coach Blatt and his staff have tried to instill in us. It’s been a little tough because we’ve had limited practices, but we’ve gotten a good grasp on everything that he’s been asking us to do. And I think we’ve done a really good job of executing. We’ve done a really good job of sharing the basketball – having a very balanced scoring attack.
And again, it all comes down to the fact that you’re not going to win many games if you don’t play defense. And I think we’ve done a solid job on that end.
Between practices and games, there hasn’t been a ton of free time out here in Vegas.
I briefly caught a little bit of the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night. I wish I had watched more, just because I wanted to see Jeter’s last All-Star Game. I missed the beginning, but I heard that the recognition that he got was pretty cool. And then he went 2-for-2, so he did well.
And as a Washington state guy, I was pulling for the American League and they got the win. I think ever since the game has started meaning something, they’re 9-3 or something like that.
I did get to have an interesting dinner on Tuesday night, and that was cool.
When I tweaked my ankle last week, I worked with (Physical Trainer) George Sibel quite a bit. And he’s a total “foodie.” And so, he was pretty excited when I told him where I’ve been eating the last few days.
So we went to one of the spots on the TV show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” called Bachi Burger. It’s a burger place, obviously, but it’s like Asian-fusion. It’s all these original types of burgers, but they have a lot of other stuff on the menu, too. We had these shishito peppers and it was really good. It’s a really cool spot. Next time you’re in Vegas, you should check it out.
And now it’s time for me to check out and get some rest for the weekend. The tournament starts for us on Thursday night – and we want to win the whole thing. We came this far, let’s finish it off.
