Winning Culture Wins Over Harris

By Dan Woods - NBL Media

Michael Harris’ exceptional performances in NBL1 made him a wanted man this off-season, and it was the Perth Wildcats who struck to sign the sharp-shooter as a development player.

Formerly on the books of the Adelaide 36ers, Harris has been shooting the lights out for Mt Gambier in NBL1 Central, where he’s been averaging almost 25 points and 7 rebounds a game.

Forming an exciting one-two punch with Adelaide forward Nick Marshall for the Pioneers, Harris says there were a number of teams interested in him before he signed on with Perth.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a> already have the 4-point play master in Bryce Cotton and it looks like they might have found themselves a pretty good apprentice in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> development player Michael Harris ?<br><br>Harris has been lighting it up all season for the Mount Gambier Pioneers in <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBL1</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/f1uJnvt26R">pic.twitter.com/f1uJnvt26R</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1558707595179081728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“There were a few clubs interested. Adelaide and CJ Bruton, who I’ve got a good relationship with,” Harris revealed on SEN.

“Ultimately it wasa no-brainer in the end because of the culture and opportunity (Perth coach) John (Rillie) presented to me … I feel pretty confident in my decision to come to Perth.

“In the end what pushed me over the line and made me choose Perth was the club’s winning culture, how interested John was in having me and how much he was putting Perth’s name forward.”

An offensively-minded guard, Harris will be competing directly with star import Bryce Cotton for minutes on the court – a player NBL legend and former Perth captain Damian Martin has labelled “the greatest Wildcat ever”.

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overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BnfxyGPHRqm/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Michael Harris (@michael_harris10)</a></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>

The incoming guard sees Cotton’s influence on the side not as competition, but rather an incredible opportunity to learn from one of the all-time greats.

“I’m just keen to learn from him (Cotton), being such a good scorer that he is. He’ll have a wealth of knowledge about how to put the ball in the basket,” Harris said.

“That’s something I pride myself on so that’ll only help me, and then also on the other end playing defence on him will be tough day in day out so that’ll be so good for my game.

“Learning from him offensively and then trying to guard him, that’ll be the best thing for my basketball that I can think of right now.”

This season won’t be Harris’ first crack at NBL basketball. Back in 2019/20 he was a development player for the Adelaide 36ers, but appeared in just two games for the season.

Adelaide finished in seventh that year, but spent the majority of the time floating around the finals places. It was a tough team for a young and emerging scorer to break into.

Harris says the lessons he picked up in his time in the NBL so far will be integral as he looks to make his mark this season.

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“There’s just another level of professionalism there. Everyone takes their business very seriously and does what they can to perform day in, day out. ‘DJ’ (Daniel Johnson) especially is a true professional, and Sunday (Dech) as well,” he said.

“Just the work they put in, it’s completely different in the NBL than NBL1, just the amount they spend timewise on their craft, what they’re doing in recovery, taking it seriously in weights.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been a DP and I just had to get through a few seasons and keep working on my game. Eventually I got the chance with Perth.”