The Curious Case of Jerome Harrison
October 14, 2010Browns Miss Out on C.J. Spillman
October 14, 2010One of last year’s feel-good stories officially came to an end on Wednesday as the Cavaliers have waived former Cleveland State point guard Cedric Jackson along with forward Tasmin Mitchell.
The two players combined for six minutes during the preseason, signaling that the end was near as the team creeps towards their October 27th opener against the Boston Celtics. The roster, however, currently stands at 17 players – a number that has to be reduced to 15 by 6 PM on October 25th.
As of now, it appears that the two likely candidates for dismissal will be center Loren Woods and whomever loses out between second-year swingman Danny Green and recent contributor (and former Michigan Wolverine) Manny Harris.
An undrafted rookie, Harris has recently impressed head coach Byron Scott with his defense as well as his ability to score, tallying 14 points against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday evening. Looking to make a name for himself among a relatively crowded backcourt, Harris’s work on the defensive end earned him considerable praise.
“[Harris] did a heck of a job, made some plays for us down the stretch,” Scott said postgame. “He did a really good job defensively of just locking people down and doing some things we talked about doing, getting some big-time steals, very active and aggressive on that end of the floor.”
Harris, at 6-feet-5-inches, would provide the Cavaliers with their tallest and longest guard given that Mo Williams, Ramon Sessions and Daniel Gibson are all under 6-feet-2-inches. Green, on the other hand, has shot a mere 20 percent from the floor through the preaseason and has turned the ball over four times in 41 minutes of play. While there was obvious hopes that Green would progress into a solid role player during his second season, it appears that his time could be running out.
While the team could opt to part ways with undrafted rookie power forward Samardo Samuels, a portion of his contract his guaranteed where Woods, Green and Harris all have team commitments of the fully unguaranteed variety. If Green makes the opening day roster, he is then due at least $125,000 of his $760,000 salary for the season.
8 Comments
I really like what Harris brings to the table. Disappointing that we may have to cut Green, but if he’s not going to contribute, then do it. He doesn’t have the talent and upside that would allow him leeway like JJ had a couple years ago.
From Michigan? CUT HIM IMMEDIATELY OR I WILL TREAT HIM LIKE WE TREATED BRAYLON EDWARDS.
L’Adorable is making this team for sure. Kind of a waste to have to part ways with Green, but if he’s not shooting well, and isn’t fitting into the new system, then I guess we just have to live it.
If we want someone good as basketball we keep harris.
I am with sam… I like players who are good at the game of basketball, and Manny Harris seems to be one of them.
I always loved Harris’ game at Michigan and he was probably the opposing Big Ten player I was most scared of last season. In fact, he VASTLY out performed Evan Turner when OSU and UM squared off in the Big Ten Tournament this year. I will be extremely disappointed if the Cavaliers let Manny go because I have no doubt he’ll catch on somewhere else and will eventually make an NBA team. He looks like an NBA talent to my eyes and I was kind of surprised when he went undrafted.
Manny had his share of maturity and consistency issues in AA. My hope is that going undrafted humbled him some, and it appears he has that proverbial chip on his shoulder to prove all the other teams “wrong” for passing on him.
He is immensely talented, so let’s just hope he keeps his head screwed on straight. He can score, thats for sure. If he can maintain a commitment to defense, I think Coach Scott will really like him. I would love to see his talents shine on Euclid Beach
[…] appreciates Harris’ willingness to drive to the rim – most notably seen in his crunch-time barrage of scoring against Dallas last […]