Does Rookie Guard Manny Harris Have What It Takes To Be Great?

Detroit born and raised, Cleveland Cavaliers’ guard Corperryale “Manny” Harris did not just come out of nowhere as he started 15 games in the 2010 season. As a player at Redford High School, he led the high school team to the MHSAA Class A championship game.

The squad may have lost, but Harris did not fail to impress his peers as well as those he had defeated months before to get to that position. I am pretty sure scoring 52 points in a single game caught all the right people’s attention.

The most impressive thing about Harris was that he never seemed too cocky in his game. He kept his teammates involved as if he was not as elite a guard as he was. Athletes that understand their worth, but never take their talents and ability for granted are the most memorable. This is why Harris took the persona of a star to the University of Michigan’s basketball team along with him.

Then there was Big Ten domination.

Michigan may never have won a title game under his tenure, but Harris was one of the main faces in the program that kept the Wolverines’ relevant.

When he was undrafted, there was a slight shake of the head, by myself personally, because growing up in Detroit, Michigan, I continuously saw the potential he had and the difference he could make with any team in the NBA. That difference may not have been as immediate Harris’ supporters may have hoped, but seeing him score at least 20 points on four different occasions was that boost in aura that everyone needed to determine that he could actually be of some help to restructuring Cleveland’s offense.

In comparison to other rookie guards in the league like John Wall and Landry Fields, Harris’ accomplishments may seem very few and far in between, but everyone has to follow their own path. Those players struggled as well and with Manny being a part of an organization that felt the brush of irrelevance the most out of any in the league, he is dealing with the situation he has landed in pretty well.

Two key performances he had in the 2010 season that I would like to observe first and foremost are the two games against the franchises in Florida.

Harris scored two of his 20-point games against the likes of Miami and Orlando, teams with hammering defenses from players like LeBron James and Dwight Howard. He was 100% from the line in the Miami game, which counts for a lot because the Heat team eats off of being able to get to the line more than their opponents. Not to mention he averaged 52.9 percent field goal shooting in the game against the Magic.

Cleveland went on to lose both games, which further proves the saying that one player cannot win a game. However, the promise that people saw from the recently signed rookie was more than what people expected.

Corperryale Harris has the ability to reach levels unknown in the league, but it will take monstrous efforts in coaching and his own offseason workouts to elevate to that level of potential. Cleveland seems to believe. Do you?