Nets' Harris Out Up to 2 Weeks

[Jack.Kerr]

Nets' Harris Out Up to 2 Weeks

By DAVID PORTER – 19 minutes ago

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Nets will likely have to wait at least two weeks before they can begin to gauge how well they made out in Tuesday's eight-player deal with Dallas.

Point guard Devin Harris, who will take Jason Kidd's place in the Nets' lineup, said Wednesday the ankle injury that has kept him out for the last three weeks will sideline him for up to two weeks more.

"It looks like it's going to be another week or two before I can get on the court," Harris said at the Nets' practice facility as he, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager and Trenton Hassell went through their first workout with their new team.

The four players, plus Keith Van Horn, were acquired Tuesday in a deal that sent Kidd, Antoine Wright and Malik Allen to Dallas. The Nets also received a first-round draft pick this year and in 2010 plus $3 million.

Harris didn't specify whether his time frame meant he would be able to play in a game or just participate in a full practice. Comments by the Mavericks and Nets over the last few days seemed to indicate he would be able to play sooner.

"It wasn't so much a setback, it just doesn't feel as great as it once did," Harris said. "I haven't really done anything since the All-Star break, it's just not really responding."

Harris' absence will give second-year pro Marcus Williams, who had been Kidd's backup, a chance to start beginning with Wednesday night's game against Chicago, Nets coach Lawrence Frank said.

It will also force Frank to make other moves, including putting Vince Carter at point guard.

"Vince will have to play some 1, and that's going to entail Trenton or Mo Ager giving us some minutes at the 2," Frank said. "That's the challenge any time you make a midseason trade. In the short term we'll need to be a little more creative, and then when Devin gets back we look forward to giving him the keys."

Harris, in his fourth year, is averaging career highs of 14.4 points and 5.3 assists this season. Two seasons ago he started 15 of Dallas' 23 games in the playoffs when the team reached the NBA Finals.

Still, it was no secret that the Mavericks saw Kidd as the player who could take the franchise one step further — and help them keep pace with Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers, who made blockbuster deals for Shaquille O'Neal and Pau Gasol, respectively.

Harris seemed to take it in stride Wednesday.

"I know what kind of player I am," he said. "We've been to the Finals with me starting before. They were in a situation where they had to respond with what's going on with the West right now. So you just have to look at it and take it for what it is."

Van Horn, who has not played in 1 1/2 seasons though the Mavericks still owned his rights, was scheduled to work out for the Nets on Wednesday. Van Horn played for the Nets for five seasons, including 2001-02 when the team reached the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

[foglemann]

Wish Devin well, but I won't miss the random injury the guy got. He's a wildass with the ball going to basket, it will happen again with the Nets. Not wishing ill will, but the guy was injured quite a bit.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

LOL

Good luck New Jersey, with Carter at point guard and Ager as shooting guard.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

I think his injury was worse then reported.

[ghazi]

Makes me like the Kidd trade even more. Two more weeks watching the Mavs' offensive ineptitude without Harris woulda made me sick!

[rabbitproof]

His first game back may be against us. Would like to see him in action.

[Jack.Kerr]

For me, this is the one thing, indepedent of any Mavs' spin, that mitigates the immediate necessity of the trade.

[horse900703]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

I think his injury was worse then reported.

ya, hope harris can be back soon..

[cinemablend]

Yeah, I'm really going to miss Devin... but this is also what you get with him. A guy who isn't on the court a lot of the time.

[nashtymavsfan13]

I really hate seeing the words "Nets' Harris"

Damnit.

[Jack.Kerr]

Originally Posted by nashtymavsfan13

I really hate seeing the words "Nets' Harris"

Damnit.

And I really, REALLY hate seeing the words "Harris out".

[Windmill360]

Lucious Harris?

[FINtastic]

All the more reason I like the trade. Who knows what type of hole we would have dug ourselves by the time he got back? With how tight things are in the West right now, it's not inconceivable to say that we wouldn't have been in the top 8 spots by the time he was finally ready to make his return.

[fluid.forty.one]

Originally Posted by nashtymavsfan13

I really hate seeing the words "Nets' Harris"

Damnit.

yeah I was going to say the same thing

[Dirkenstien]

Originally Posted by nashtymavsfan13

I really hate seeing the words "Nets' Harris"

Damnit.

Just say "Dallas' Jason Kidd" to yourself a couple times and it'll make it all better.

[fluid.forty.one]

Dallas' Jason Kidd, Dallas' Jason Kidd, Dallas' Jason Kidd, Dallas' Jason Kidd


ah, wonderful

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by Devin Harris

"It wasn't so much a setback, it just doesn't feel as great as it once did," Harris said. .

Dude - you are a New Jersey Net now, instead of a Dallas Maverick. Nothing will ever feel as great as it once did. Buck it up and play.

[fluid.forty.one]

harsh

[jthig32]

I have my tentacles out trying to nab the company tickets for March 8th when NJ comes to town.

I really hope Devin is back by then.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

This tells me a lot about the trade though. If the Mavs had kept Harris, they probably wouldn't have survived two more weeks without him in the crowded west.

[Dirkenstien]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

This tells me a lot about the trade though. If the Mavs had kept Harris, they probably wouldn't have survived two more weeks without him in the crowded west.

Your name is on the verge of haunting.


Edit: I love the sig, though

[AxdemxO]

Vince can actually run a team pretty well for a guy his size. He averages like 25 5 and 5. Not many people do that...and If you look around everyone is saying that hes not having such a good year...They will be OK

Ager is going for 30 points tonite...lol..

[Jack.Kerr]

Meet Devin Harris

By Matthew McQueeny, NJNets.com
February 20, 2008

East Rutherford, N.J. -- New Nets point guard Devin Harris has this thing about succeeding great point guards in his short career. In Dallas in 2004, the then-rookie entered the picture after Steve Nash departed for Phoenix and now in New Jersey, he follows Jason Kidd.

While it may seem a rather daunting task to do just once – forget twice, as he has done – Harris has improved in every year of his career and was always on winning Maverick teams.

“I just try to be myself,” said the soon-to-be-25 year old.

“I don’t worry about the guys, trying to fill those shoes. I’m a different person, I’m a different player. I just play as hard as I can and try to get the players to accept me for the person I am, and the player that I am.”

That player was good enough to be the starting point guard in 61 games for last year’s Dallas squad, one that notched a league-best 67 wins. After primarily being a reserve in his first two seasons – though he started 15 of 23 games in Dallas’ march to the 2006 NBA Finals – Harris had been the main man at the point over the last season and a half.

And the operative word to describe the University of Wisconsin product, no matter who you talk to, is “speed.” It was even the word he first used to describe what he will bring to the Nets.

“He’s a young point guard, 24 years old,” said Kiki Vandeweghe, Nets Special Assistant to the President.

“He’s been a starter on a 60-plus win team. He’s been to the Finals, so he has experience. Very, very fast; he’s a very good defender and I think he’s got upside. I think he’s going to get better, and he’s a great kid. I think he’s a leader. It’s obviously a very difficult trade to make but I think that he’s going to continue to get better for a long time and he’s going to be with us for quite a while.”

Devin said he looks forward to the opportunity in New Jersey and is not taking the trade as a negative or a knock against his abilities.

“It’s not like I was traded for guys who are role players,” affirmed Harris.

“I mean, Jason (Kidd) is a Hall-of-Famer and it’s just going to be hard to fill those shoes that he left. But I’m just trying to be my own person and I’m looking forward to the freedom I’m going to get here to do what I look to do, like score and do the things that I’m capable of doing.”

“I’ve worked hard the last four years, just trying to get better every year in the system I was in. It was a controlled system but hopefully with the freedom now, I can expand on that and really do the things that I can do well.”

Through 39 games this season Harris was averaging career-highs in points (14.4), steals (1.4), and assists (5.3). He believes - at the outset - that the change from a more controlled Dallas system to New Jersey’s should see at least the assists go up.

“With the stuff that we ran in Dallas, we were more of an isolation team. So we pretty much got the guys into the spots where they were going to be successful and then you pretty much wait on a double-team to get on the other side. It’s hard to get 10 or 11 assists, especially if guys have an off night jump shot wise, but with the offense I looked at (here) yesterday there’s more of a chance for me to have more assists.”

“He’s a great push point guard in terms of transition,” said Nets Head Coach Lawrence Frank.

“He can get up and down the court in four seconds. We want to maximize that. He’s a good pick-and-roll player but the thing is so is Jason Kidd. It’s not like we’re bringing in a guy and he’s replacing a guy who didn’t play the position. They're different types of players but I think both can thrive in similar formats.”

That is what the Nets hope for. They also expect to stay in the playoff hunt and make it to the post-season for a seventh consecutive year. That goal is certainly shared by Harris.

“I’m looking forward to honing in with these guys and really try to lead them and get them where we want to go.”

“We definitely want to make the playoffs,” he asserted. “Teams are a little bit more evenly matched here – in the West, you pretty much have your top four teams who are expected to go late into the playoffs – but here - after Boston, Detroit, and Orlando - everyone else is evenly matched. So hopefully we can just make some noise in the playoffs and get on a roll.”

Harris May Not Play for “Another Week or Two”

Devin Harris has been out this season since January 27th with a left ankle sprain. Don’t expect him to get into his first action with the Nets tonight and it maybe actually be a little more time before he suits up with his new team.

“Still not ready to play,” he said. “Obviously doing some stuff on the court but it looks like it’s going to be another week or two.”

“We’ll call it an ankle sprain – grade 2.”