CLEVELAND: The phenomenon of Jeremy Lin has finally reached the Cavaliers.
The Cavs signed Manny Harris to a 10-day contract on Tuesday in part because the New York Knicks passed — and the Knicks passed because of Linsanity.
Harris was averaging 21.4 points and 7.9 rebounds with the Cavs’ Development League affiliate in Canton, but he was a free agent by NBA standards and available to any team.
The Cavs were keeping close tabs on Harris, who confirmed Tuesday the Knicks scouted him heavily in the days leading up to Feb. 10, when all NBA contracts became guaranteed for the rest of the season.
It is well documented the Knicks were on the verge of releasing Lin before his contract became guaranteed and were presumably looking at Harris to fill the roster spot.
Then Lin burst on the scene when given an opportunity and Harris remained in the D-League for a couple more weeks, averaging 41 points and nine rebounds in the Charge’s two most recent games to become the first player this season to earn two D-League Player of the Week awards.
After the Cavs informed point guard Ben Uzoh on Sunday they weren’t going to renew his contract for another 10 days, it created a roster spot for Harris.
Harris ranks third in the D-League in scoring, but had to watch 26 players get called up from the D-League to the NBA before him. He wondered if and when his time would come, but prepared himself by bracing for a worst-case scenario.
“I was trying to think like maybe it won’t happen, so I could continue to play good and not think too much about it,” he said. “It had kind of affected me a little bit.”
Harris spent all of last season with the Cavs, averaging 5.9 points and 2.6 rebounds. He suffered a severe burn on his right foot while training at Nike’s facilities in Oregon when he failed to follow proper protocol when using a cooling chamber and stepped inside while wearing wet socks.
The burn took nearly two months to heal, and Harris was released toward the end of training camp, in part because he wasn’t healthy enough to play.
Now Cavs coach Byron Scott is eager to see if Harris worked on his ball-handling and mid-range game — which was Harris’ homework assignment after the conclusion of last season.
“I want to see if he has matured as a basketball player and worked on some of the things we talked about after the season last year,” Scott said. “Last year he either shot a 3 or he put it on the floor and tried to get all the way to the basket.”
The timing of Harris’ 10-day contract is unusual because of the All-Star break. The Cavs will be off four of the 10 days he’s under contract for the All-Star break, but he’ll be active for four games and Scott said he won’t hesitate to use him because of his familiarity with the system.
Daniel Gibson returned from an ankle injury and started Tuesday at shooting guard, but Anthony Parker remains sidelined with a bad back. That motivated the Cavs to sign Harris, even though they’re down a big man with Anderson Varejao’s fractured wrist.
“We came into camp saying we had enough bigs, we had to watch our perimeter guys,” Scott said. “When you lose AP and Boobie, it puts a strain on you.”
Casspi has career high
Omri Casspi set a career high with 12 rebounds Sunday against the Sacramento Kings, which was ironic because he had the reputation of a rebounder when he entered the league with the Kings.
His rebounding numbers have steadily decreased during his three years in the league, however, and he’s averaging just 3.5 per game this season. Casspi agreed he has gotten away from rebounding this season.
“I don’t think there’s really a reason why, it’s just me trying to fit in offensively and defensively, so you have to focus on that sometimes,” he said. “One of the things I have to get back to focusing on is rebounding.”
Shots not falling for Gee
Alonzo Gee has hit a cold stretch shooting the ball as his minutes have increased. Gee averaged 36 minutes in the two games Gibson missed with the ankle injury, but he entered Tuesday shooting 9-of-35 in his past three games.
“They’re good looks, they’re just not falling,” he said. “The good thing is I’m shooting the ball.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at http://cavs.ohio.com Follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
