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Manny Harris

Manny Harris profile
RCSI: 43 (2007)
Height: 6'5" (196 cm)
Weight: 185 lbs (84 kg)
Position: SG/SF
High School: Redford High School (Michigan)
Hometown: Detroit, MI
AAU: The Family
College: Michigan
Current Team: Al Riyadi
Win - Loss: 12 - 2

Articles

NCAA Weekly Performers, 2/3/10

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Matt Williams
Matt Williams
Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Joey Whelan
Joey Whelan
Feb 03, 2010, 02:44 am
Matthew Williams

After two very solid seasons in Ann Arbor, Manny Harris has continued to progress as a scorer as a junior. While Harris has been highly productive, the Wolverines have been a major disappointment. Sporting an 11-10 record after starting the season in the top-15, Jim Beilein’s team needs strong play out of Harris down the stretch to salvage their bleak tournament outlook. After a recent (and brief) suspension for “unsportsmanlike conduct,” Harris could certainly use a string of strong performances to bolster his draft stock moving into this summer.

A known commodity at this point, Harris still displays very good quickness and leaping ability but lacks a degree of physical strength. Considering how capably he gets to the line, that lack of bulk doesn’t manifest itself very thoroughly in his offensive game on the college level. Harris isn’t afraid to throw himself into traffic, and proves more than capable of finishing at the basket. A gifted scorer, Harris has the athletic tools of an NBA player, but will need to continue to add strength to his skinny frame to translate his slashing game to NBA caliber defenses.

Just as Harris’s athleticism has been thoroughly analyzed on this site over the years, so too has his lack of jump shooting ability. Despite averaging over 4 three-point attempts per-game, Harris is having his worst season from beyond the arc, connecting on a meager 27.8% of his tries from deep.

Long considered an NBA caliber talent, Harris’s struggles from the outside continue to limit perceptions of his NBA potential. According to Synergy Sports Technology, Harris is connecting on just 31.5% of his jump shots this season. Considering that 58% of Harris’s shots are jumpers, it is fairly obvious that perimeter scoring is his biggest weakness. Though he’s improved his shooting off the dribble to an extent, he is still too inconsistent with his footwork, and subsequently, struggles with his effectiveness from the outside.

Though he isn’t an efficient jump shooter, Harris proves to be an outstanding finisher in transition and is effective when given the opportunity to impose his athleticism on his matchup off the dribble. A creative one-on-one player, Harris remains a bit limited going left, but he’s incredibly difficult for most college defenders to stay in front of when he rips through and lowers his shoulder.

Capable of stopping on a dime an elevating over defenders on the college level, one of the biggest questions Harris will have to answer whenever he declares is whether or not he is athletic enough to make comparable plays on the NBA level, without having the ball in his hands anywhere near as much. His limited jump shooting ability makes that an integral aspect of his NBA potential.

Defensively, Harris has continued to show the improved effort level that he did last season, but is still not the most fundamentally sound defender. He gets caught watching the ball at times and doesn’t always make crisp rotations to recover, staying a bit too high and getting beat off the dribble because of it. On the next level, Harris will need to improve his ability to close out shooters and learn to exploit his lateral quickness on the defensive end, as his slight frame will make him a target for teams looking to create mismatches in the post.

Harris has proven to be one of the more talented guards in the Big 10; his blend of passing ability, slashing, and pure scoring ability makes him a difficult matchup. However, his role in the NBA isn’t quite as clear. Against longer, more athletic defenders, Harris’s lack of shooting ability will be more problematic, making this summer a very important one for the Detroit native. Whether he’s preparing for the draft or polishing his game for another year in Ann Arbor, he needs to finish the season off strong.

Top NBA Draft Prospects in the Big Ten, Part One (#1-5)

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Kyle Nelson
Kyle Nelson
Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Aug 28, 2009, 04:34 am
Kyle Nelson

Coach John Beilein is in the process of engineering one of the more remarkable turnarounds in college basketball, leading the Michigan Wolverines back to the NCAA Tournament after years of mediocrity. While Beilein is a spectacular coach, he is not doing it alone. Junior swingman Manny Harris emerged as a team leader, improving on a breakout freshman season to the tune of 16.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg, and 4.4 apg, and an All-Big 10 First Team selection. This season, Harris has the opportunity to build on his success and NBA scouts will be watching to see if he can lead Michigan back to the top of the Big 10 and to a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

Standing 6’5 with a very slight frame and an average wingspan, Harris does not look like the prototypical NBA wing. Watching him play, however, reveals that he is extremely athlete, with solid leaping ability and, as we have said before, “a lightning quick first step.”

Offensively, Harris has improved significantly during his two years at Michigan, but still has some serious work to do before cracking a rotation at the next level. Though he still is responsible for a quarter of his team’s offensive possessions, he has become a more efficient player, improving his two-point percentages considerably, while increasing his assist-rate dramatically and reducing his turnovers. His scoring rate improved, despite the fact that he took less shots, which is impressive for a player who attempts and makes over a fifth of his team’s field goals.

One area where Harris has not improved is his perimeter shooting, which has stayed fairly consistent jumping slightly to 32.7% last season. His shooting form is still a work in progress, though he is a far better set shooter than he was last season. He still shows far too much excess motion, particularly in his lower body, when he is shooting off of the dribble or off balance. Working on his form and getting stronger could help him expand his range, but improving his shot selection certainly would not hurt either.

Watching his film, he does rely far too much on his streaky and inconsistent perimeter jumper, but he has made strides in diversifying his offensive game. He has gotten better at utilizing his athleticism to attack the basket more frequently, though improving his ball handling, particularly with his left hand, would help to establish himself as a slashing threat. As is, Harris already gets to the free throw line at an exceptional rate, which is something NBA scouts probably love to see. On top of that, he converts his free throws at an excellent 86% rate.

Similarly, better ball handling would help him to expand his mid-range game, where he shows potential to eventually develop into a solid shot creator if he improves accordingly. While he is never going to be a point guard, he could also be a solid facilitator from the wing, especially off of the dribble, though he sometimes gets tunnel vision and is still fairly turnover prone. Despite averaging 5.6 assists per 40 minutes pace adjusted, which was 25th in our database last season, he was the 13th most turnover prone player per 40 minutes pace adjusted as well.

On the defensive end, Harris is tougher to evaluate considering the fact that he plays small forward in John Beilein’s unorthodox 1-3-1 zone defense. He lacks the size and strength to be a standout defender on this level or the next level, but last season he showed more effort on a consistent basis, harassing jump shooters and getting in passing lanes. He must get better fundamentally, though, if he does not want to be considered a liability at the next level.

Increasing his defensive awareness, doing a better job of closing out perimeter shooters and working on getting in better position, in particular, would help his standing in scouts’ eyes tremendously. One area in which Harris is a true standout, though, is on the defensive rebounds. He is the fifth best rebounding guard in our database, to the tune of 8.6 rebounds per 40 minutes pace adjusted, which, considering his lack of size and length, is truly impressive.

Harris is a legitimate NBA prospect, but that is not to say that he does have his share of question marks. Next season, he must prove to scouts that he has improved as a basketball player, and that he is capable of excelling without an entire offense being built around him, which will not be the case in the NBA. He must show vastly improved shot selection and cut down on his turnovers, which would help prove that he can succeed in a smaller role. On the defensive end, it is essential that he continue to work hard and improve his awareness. His poor frame does not leave a lot of room for optimism in this regard at the next level, so he must do what he can to show that he will not be a liability on this end in the NBA. Being the star of one of the nation’s hottest team’s, Harris is going to have many opportunities to prove himself and convince scouts that he can be a factor at the next level.

LeBron James Skills Academy Player Profiles

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Jul 13, 2009, 10:59 pm
-Manny Harris-One of the most athletic players in attendance, Manny Harris showed a lightning quick first step and terrific leaping ability. While Harris’ narrow frame and poor wingspan aren’t going to help him out much on the defensive side of the ball, he did show the ability to make tough shots, which he seems to settle for quite often. An extremely talented scorer regardless, Harris is likely to emerge as one of the top players in the Big 10 this year, even if his NBA potential is still a matter of debate.

Top NBA Draft Prospects in the Big 10 (Part One: #1-5)

Rodger Bohn
Rodger Bohn
Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Kyle Nelson
Kyle Nelson
Joseph Treutlein
Joseph Treutlein
Joey Whelan
Joey Whelan
Sep 10, 2008, 06:55 pm
While Manny Harris is definitely a fine NBA prospect, we should point out right off the bat that the weakness of the Big 10 can be seen right here at the top of the list.

Although he’s the leading returning scorer in the Big 10 at over 16 points per game, you can’t help but get the feeling when watching him that we’re talking a player that still looks very far from being a finished product at this point—as evidenced by the 38% he shot from the field combined with his extremely high turnover rate. Harris was the best/lone shot-creator on an otherwise extremely weak squad (10-22 overall, 5-13 in the Big 10) and thus garnered an absurdly high 26% of his team’s offensive possessions, good for 22nd in the NCAA in that category. It’s safe to say that if Michigan is going to be any good next season, and Harris will be able to iron out the many wrinkles in his game, that number will have to come down to a more normal rate (20-22% or so).

Harris has fairly average size for the shooting guard position, standing somewhere between 6-4 and 6-5, without a great deal of meat on his bones. His main virtue lies in his outstanding scoring instincts, which are extremely advanced for a player who won’t turn 19 for another few weeks, making him younger than many members of this year’s incoming freshman class. Harris is an extremely tough, confident, aggressive player who gets to the free throw line at a superb rate. He has a good first step, excellent body control in the lane, and a knack for making his way to the rim, even if his ball-handling skills are improvable. He doesn’t finish particularly well once there (due to his average size and strength) but manages to draw 6.2 free throws per-40 minutes pace adjusted, good for 19th in the entire country last year. As he gets older, he should be able to get stronger and craftier and capitalize better on his shot-creating tools, for example his floater, which shows promise.

Harris is a very tough matchup with his right hand, but is far weaker with his left hand, both finishing around the basket and dribbling the ball. His mid-range game still isn’t very developed at this point, partially due to the excessive amount of wasted motion we find in his shooting mechanics. He tends to kick his feet out violently or spread his legs out while releasing his pull-ups, and seems to jump forward quite a bit on his catch and shoot jumper.

He’s able to make shots at a solid rate when he’s open with his feet set, displaying a nice follow through, a slow release and range that extends out to NBA range, but tends to rely on his 3-point shot far too heavily, which combined with his improvable technique led him to shoot just 32% from this range, on a large number of attempts.

His shot-selection and decision making looked very poor at times in his freshman season, but that might be partially due to the quality of teammates that surrounded him. Regardless, Harris was one of the more turnover players in the country last season, indeed ranking 2nd in that category, which is not a great distinction to have by any means.

Defensively, Harris is a bit difficult to evaluate at times, as his team played quite a bit of 1-3-1 zone, a very bizarre style of defense that traps ball-handlers near mid-court and relies a great deal on switching and rotating depending on which matchup is in a player’s part of the zone at any given moment. Harris played at the top of this zone, and got in the passing lanes at a very nice rate, usually showing good effort and solid lateral quickness, but looking a bit questionable at times with his lack of size, strength and fundamentals in others, giving us mostly a mixed bag on this end of the floor.

All in all, there is a lot to like about the raw tools Harris is showing early on in his career, even if he’s obviously very far from being a finished product at this point. It would be nice to see how he’s able to function in the context of a normal team where he isn’t asked to take so many responsibilities offensively before he decides to jump to the NBA, as it’s very hard to project his role until then. Putting up huge scoring numbers in a losing effort on terrible shooting percentages isn’t going to impress that many scouts, which is why it will be important for Harris to go out and develop the rest of his game as well, even if he has to do that on his own.

NCAA Weekly Performers, 12/27/07-- Part Two

Rodger Bohn
Rodger Bohn
Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Dec 28, 2007, 03:16 am
The main bright spot in Michigan’s disappointing season thus far has been the play of Manny Harris, a heralded freshman hailing from Detroit. He was one of the more prized recruits that Tommy Amaker brought in during his tenure in Ann Arbor, and made the decision to stick with UM after Amaker was dismissed, one that is looking like a wise one given John Belein’s open style of play. This brand of basketball caters well to Harris’ style of play, shown by the intriguing statistics that he’s put up thus far in his debut campaign.

The strengths of Manny’s game begin with his excellent athleticism. He does a great job of applying his gifts to his offensive game, particularly in the shape of his excellent first step. Getting past defenders is not a problem for him at all, nor is finishing at the rim despite his slender frame. Harris’ quickness allows him to slice in and out of traffic at difficult angles, giving him opportunities to finish at the basket uncommon for most freshman guards. Harris has also shown very nice court vision for a player his size, able to frequently find the open man in situations where the defense collapses on him. Michigan’s new up and down offense gives him the opportunity to handle the ball more then he would have at most other programs, something that will benefit him greatly down the line in the eyes of NBA scouts.

Just as impressive as Harris’ ability to get to the rim is his potential as a defender. Not only having the physical gifts to shut opponents down with his size, length, and foot speed, he has actually proven to already be an adept defensive player in his young collegiate career. In the games that we watch, Harris was able to keep some of the nation’s better guards in front of him in the possessions he matched up with them. His quick hands and long arms allow him to get plenty of deflections and place great pressure on the ball, something that the stat sheet doesn’t always reflect. Manny is still a work in progress on the defensive end due to the fact that he is still young and gambles a bit too much at times, but all of the pieces are there for him to be a lockdown defender down the road.

Despite the many intriguing areas of Harris games that have been on display this season, he still has a great deal of work to do before considering making the jump to the next level. His outside jumper is very erratic and lacks consistency, while he can be very out of control at times when going into the lane. Manny’s wild style of play is exhibited in his assist to turnover ratio, where he is averaging .86 assists for every turnover, which is completely unacceptable for a player who is billed as being able to play some point guard down the road.

The physical gifts are all there for Harris to eventually become an NBA player, but he needs to gain discipline and develop a better feel for running and operating within a team. Michigan has a relatively marginal recruiting class for 2008, but is very much in the running for top-25 recruit Terrelle Pryor, who also serves as the nation’s finest football recruit. With or without Pryor, Manny will have the opportunity to put up big numbers throughout his tenure as a Wolverine and will have plenty of opportunities to showcase himself in front of NBA personnel.

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