Even though John Akognon dropped out of the NBA draft (see a couple entries below), there may be another Big West Conference sharpshooter with a chance of being chosen Thursday.
UC Santa Barbara guard Alex Harris worked out for the Portland Trail Blazers on June 20, and has slight odds of being a second-round pick.
It wouldn’t be the first time an Oakland native who went to UCSB went on to have an NBA career; even NBADraft.net compares Harris to former Gaucho Brian Shaw.
In addition to the Blazers workout, Harris has gotten opportunities to showcase his talents after the season. At the DiGiorno College All-Star Game on April 4, among several bona fide prospects, he went 2 for 3 from the floor, scoring six points in eight minutes.
About a week later, at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament featuring plenty of big names, in three losses the AP All-American honorable mention shot just 34.5 percent from the floor (10 for 29 total), averaging 8.3 points per game in an average of 24.7 minutes per outing.
His reported agent, Herb Rudoy, also represents San Antonio Spurs star guard Manu Ginobili, who was taken well into round two himself, 57th overall in 1999.
In all likelihood, though, Harris, who comes in nearly atop the “best of the rest” for Most Valuable Network’s Jon Burkett, will just miss being drafted. NBA Draft Press slots him as the No. 18 shooting guard prospect while Draft Express ranks him as only the 73rd-best senior prospect.
Were he to be selected, it would figure to be a recruiting tool for Big West schools (including Cal Poly), which haven’t had a player chosen since CSF center Pape Sow went 47th in 2004.