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Mike Harris of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers has been called-up to the Houston Rockets. The 6'6", 235 pound Harris averaged 25.3 points and 7.1 rebounds while shooting 57% from the field, including 10-of-30 from beyond the arc.
Essentially, Harris got the call-up because Von Wafer reportedly failed his physical, according to Mark Berman of MyFoxHouston. Though Berman mentions "sources told FOX 26 the Rockets may re-visit Wafer's situation soon," I don't really see the point in bringing Wafer back if he's not healthy enough to pass a physical as of right now. I mean, if Budinger's out for just two and a half more weeks, is it really worth cutting into his minutes with Wafer when they can just release Harris back to the Vipers until they need him again?
Whoa! Speaking of Budinger's injury, I'd like to kindly point out that this is exactly what I suggested Sunday afternoon, though was rejected rather handily by the Rockets faithful. To re-visit that article, I said of Harris:
I know, I know; He doesn't play the same position as Chase Budinger, this would be stupid! Well, actually, oddly, he's learning to play more to his size( a big 6-foot-6) while biding his time in the D-League. Spending a considerable amount of his time out on the perimeter, Harris is averaging 26 points, seven boards and shooting 9 of-26 from beyond the arc. I know that's not astounding, but it does show that he's playing on the perimeter, and playing quite a bit out there. If Morey was willing to call him up in place of Landry, why not give Harris a shot at some of Budinger's minutes for a few weeks to see if he's really developing as more than a 6'6" power forward or if the D-League is just that bad.
In my Tweet of that story, I mentioned Daryl Morey and BOOM! It worked. Since Daryl seemingly listened to me, let's give him some praise on why this was such a great idea:
- Harris is a hustle player, the Rockets are a hustle team. Why not?
- He's played for the Rockets before and now plays for the Rockets D-League team. If you're unfamiliar (and you shouldn't be), the RGV Vipers are running the Rockets system, and running it well.
- This gives the Rockets a chance to see how the farm team is working. Is Harris, who has worked on developing more perimeter skills, ready to play at the 3 in the NBA? At least for the Rockets, who start 6'6" Chuck Hayes at center?
Overall, as you may have noticed in my recent series of posts, I love this move. The question is, do you? (If not, don't say anything. I think we saw the last time that happened, when everyone hated the D-League in this poll except me. Look what happened then!)
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