http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/169692.html </p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>LAS VEGAS -- After midnight, fresh off a flight from Milwaukee where he finished his first free youth <font color="#0000ff" style="font-weight: 400; color: blue! important; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; position: static"><span class="kLink" style="font-weight: 400; color: blue! important; border-bottom: blue 1px solid; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; position: relative; background-color: transparent">basketball</span></font> camp at his old high school, Devin Harris checked into a suite at Caesars Palace, some 10 hours to spare before the General, Mavericks coach Avery Johnson, would commence with his own summer camp.</p> Wheeling an oversized duffel behind him and cradling a sleek, new iPhone to his ear, Harris' discernibly brawnier physique -- a widened chest, thickened biceps, even rounder forearms -- revealed his approach to the past 2 1/2 , mostly introspective, months.</p> "I've been hitting the weights," Harris said. "Hard."</div></p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I've been hitting the weights," Harris said. "Hard." Training in Chicago with Tim Grover, Michael Jordan's former personal fitness guru, Harris is powering through an extreme off-season in which the insufferable fog of playoff reflection finally gave way to the overwhelming optimism of new opportunity.</p> "I've been waiting for this since I came into the league," Harris said. "This is my opportunity to do what I do."</p> Johnson's fervent and often irascible charge to shape the 24-year-old Harris at the position the General played and conquered is setting a new course for the Mavs this season. Harris, 6-foot-3 and 187 pounds -- 15 sculpted pounds stronger than last season -- will take over as the starting point guard, an extension of the head coach in every sense.</div></p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><span class="subhead">earning to lead</span></p> Harris, as "floor general," is learning to speak his mind, too.</p> Johnson's primary frustration with Harris has been his inability to instinctively run the offense, instead turning to the bench for direction.</p> "At one time he'd look at me 25 times in the course of a game," Johnson said. "Now it's down to 10."</p> Harris said he's tended to look back "too much," but he said that sometimes he's expressing his own frustration and seeking greater freedom from Johnson to run things the way he sees it.</p> "Sometimes we have disagreements on what play we should run," Harris said. "Sometimes I have to remind him that after we just scored on a play, I'll be like, 'Hey, let's run that again.' He'll call something else, and we'll get into an argument.</p> "But he is the General. I don't think at any point in time he's not going to stand there and point and bark orders because that's what he does. But we still have to do a better job of taking responsibility over the game."</p> <span class="subhead">Style of play</span></p> At least now Harris can do that by concentrating on his strengths and blending them into Johnson's system.</p> "The experiment with me trying to make him Jason Kidd, that's not his game, that's not his game," Johnson said. "We have an idea now exactly who he is and I think we can maximize him being a certain type of point guard.</p> "He has a chance to be in that mold of a [Tony] Parker or even a Kevin Johnson."</p> New Mavs assistant Paul Westphal coached <font color="blue" style="color: blue ! important; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: 400; font-size: 13.2px; position: static"><span class="kLink" style="color: blue ! important; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: 400; font-size: 13.2px; position: static">Kevin </span><span class="kLink" style="color: blue ! important; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: 400; font-size: 13.2px; position: static">Johnson</span></font>, a slender, lightning-quick slasher like Harris, to the NBA Finals with the Phoenix Suns in 1993.</p> Westphal, himself a former All-Star point guard, could become integral in Harris' maturation. A Southern California native, Westphal's cool demeanor is a distinct, perhaps even desirous, alternative to Johnson's militaristic drum beat.</p> Westphal and Harris met for the first time Friday.</p> "Avery is looking for him to take another step in his development, to be more assertive, more consistent offensively so that teams will be afraid of his penetration, just like they were afraid of Kevin Johnson and are afraid of Tony Parker now," Westphal said.</p> "When a guy is that fast, that quick, he can pretty much go [to the basket] whenever he wants to. It's just a matter of him monitoring himself to do it at the right times."</p> Harris, who hopes to see his game minutes jump from 26 to between 35 and 38, said the key is improving his jumper the way Parker, the NBA Finals MVP, has the past two seasons.</p> "If I can get that 15- to 18-foot pull-up coming over the screen, it will open up so much," said Harris, who averaged 10.2 points and 3.7 assists per game last season. "I've been watching Tony all playoffs long, and when you hit that at a high rate, he got to the <font color="blue" style="color: blue ! important; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: 400; font-size: 13.2px; position: static"><span class="kLink" style="color: blue ! important; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: 400; font-size: 13.2px; position: static">rim</span></font> so easily. That's the main focus right there."</div></p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> <span class="subhead">What's holding Harris back?</span></p> Shooting: Because of Devin Harris' lightning first step, getting to the basket isn't a problem. That's why teams have adjusted by playing off him and daring him to take jump shots. If Harris can turn his jumper into a legitimate weapon, the floor will open, the game will become easier, and he could blossom into an All-Star.</p> Playmaking: Harris would be the first to admit that he was a scoring guard at Wisconsin, so setting up teammates doesn't come naturally to him. Harris can get his teammates involved off impromptu drives to the basket, but for him to take the next step he needs to find shots for others more consistently in half-court sets.</p> Leadership: On a team with MVP Dirk Nowitzki and a veteran presence such as Jerry Stackhouse, emerging as a leader isn't easy. But that's what a point guard does, so Harris will have to find a way to be heard and take the reins on offense.</p> Experience: Despite three seasons of playing on a contending team, Harris, 24, doesn't have as much experience as you'd think. Because the Mavs are seemingly always playing for something, Harris hasn't had the chance to learn and make mistakes on the job, but he has improved each season. And let's not forget: Tony Parker, the 25-year-old All-Star point guard Harris is most often compared to, just wrapped up his sixth NBA season.</div></p> </p> I think if Harris can develop a reliable jumpshot and put on some muslce he's well on his way to becoming Dallas' next star - I think Paul Westphal's coaching will prove to be invaluable as KJ was someone I think Devin should model his game after. </p> He needs</p> a) confidence to do his own thing</p> a shooting touch so teams dont just lay-back</p> And I'd like him to get a contract extension this summer, would be significantly cheaper than waiting until next year when he is a RFA and (hopefully) a breakout season under his belt.</p>
