Published: November 04, 2009 10:40 pm      

BASKETBALL: Harris likely to be drafted by D-League

Niagara Falls native Paul Harris will get another chance to be drafted into a professional basketball league tonight.

And this time he has a good shot at being a high pick.

Harris, who wasn’t selected in the two-round NBA draft in June after forgoing his senior season at Syracuse, is one of 200 prospects eligible for tonight’s NBA Development League draft.

Each of the 16 D-League teams will make 10 selections, who will join a group of returning and allocated players in training camps later this month.

The first round of the draft will be shown live on NBA TV, and streamed online at NBA.com.

Friends of Harris, including former Niagara Falls High School basketball assistant Sal Constantino, and former Syracuse basketball player John Wallace, have fielded calls this week from D-League coaches who have said Harris will likely be a first-round pick.

Constantino said Harris has been classified as an A player, meaning he’ll get the highest possible salary for a D-League rookie.

Harris told the Gazette last month he would rather play in the D-League this season than accept a more lucrative offer to go overseas.

“Right now, I wouldn’t go play in Europe if they paid me a million dollars,” he said. “It’s never been about the money. I want to be closer to the NBA.”

Harris was invited to the Utah Jazz training camp but sprained his ankle in a pickup game Sept. 22, a few days before camp opened. He spent the entire preseason rehabilitating the injury, and was the final player to be cut from the Jazz roster. He’s been working out in Niagara Falls since then.

Considered an NBA prospect since he led Niagara Falls to a state championship and national prominence in 2005, Harris had a productive but unspectacular three-year career at Syracuse. He averaged 12 points and 8.1 rebounds as a junior.

Playing alongside former Niagara Falls and Syracuse teammate Jonny Flynn with the Minnesota Timberwolves summer league team, Harris appeared in four of five games and averaged 4.5 points in 12 minutes.

At 6-foot-4 with long arms, quick feet and a powerful body, Harris projects to be a defensive specialist at the professional level, playing either shooting guard or small forward.

Last year, NBA teams called up 24 players from the D-League and 49 D-League alumni were on playoff rosters, including Rafer Alston, Chris Andersen, Dahntay Jones and Jamario Moon.

Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at 282-2311, ext. 2258.