{Mike Harris}

As you probably know, the Wizards today signed Mike Harris of the NBA D-League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers to a 10-day contract. Had a brief chat with him before tonight’s game …

“It’s basketball, so it’s always better up than it is down.” -Mike Harris

  • Mike has never been to D.C. before, said he’s most definitely not used to the weather.
  • Said he’s a “basketball guru” so he already knew a good deal about the current Wizards … played against Al Thornton and the Clippers when he was in Houston, also knows a little about Nick Young and Andray Blatche when he played against them in the 2008 Vegas Summer League as a Rocket.
  • Harris said Flip Saunders told him to just come in and “do what you do” and to not try so much to fit in with the team, but to let the team fit to him … just play hard, have a good time, and try not to think to much.
  • There is some familiarity, as Mike said the Wizards run similar plays to what they ran down in Rio Grande, just with different calls.
  • Mike said he found out about the call-up about five minutes after getting out of tuesday’s practice with the Vipers when his coach informed him. It was about 12:30-1:00 pm when he found out that he had a 4:45 flight to Washington. Harris said he was lucky that he already had a rental car, so getting to the airport wasn’t a problem. His flight was a bit delayed in Houston, so he didn’t get into D.C. until 1:30-1:45 on Wednesday morning.

Here are some more bullets on Harris:

  • He turned 26 last June 15th and shares a birthday with Mary Carey (the porn star who ran for governor in California and who once was “courted” by Dwight Howard), Neil Patrick Harris, Andy Pettitte, Ice Cube, Courtney Cox, Wade Boggs, Dr. Jerry Buss, D.J. Strawberry, and Zan Tabak … yes, “the” Zan Tabak, who won a ring in Houston with Hakeem Olajuwon. Take that Barkley!
  • Harris went to Hillsboro High School in Hillsboro, Texas and averaged 27 points and 19 rebounds his senior year. He was recruited by Baylor, Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin and Tulsa, but ended up choosing Rice.
  • After four seasons at Rice, Harris left as both the Owls’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder. He was named the WAC freshman of the year in 2002 and made the all-WAC first team in ’04 and ’05.
  • The last, and only other, Rice alum to suit up for the franchise was Mike Wilks, who briefly played for the Wizards in December 2007.
  • Harris previously suited up in the NBA for the Houston Rockets, but has also played in the Ukraine, China (where he won the all-star game dunk contest and was named to the All-Chinese CBA 1st team), and Kuwait, among other domestic stops.
  • Harris will wear #33.

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