# Devin Harris Honored by Tosa East



## narek

Okay, enough of these Milwaukee schools honoring their former players when their teams come into town!

Devin Harris, along with Tony Smith, had his number retired at his old high school. Nice for him and Avery Johnson showed up for the event, too.



> Harris finally got No. 34 at Wisconsin and still wears it . . . on a much bigger stage with the NBA's Mavericks.
> 
> He is currently playing for the NBA's best team (record wise), played for a championship at the highest level last season and has a smooth game to go with that huge smile. Because of those things, Harris is this community's pride. With Wade being from Chicago, people from Milwaukee have kept Harris close, remembering him fondly as a wiry kid not above being screamed at by Haas.
> 
> From pool halls to bistros, any time Mavericks highlights come on SportsCenter, activity stops and people watch intently.
> 
> Harris is pop culture in Milwaukee, Madison and Wauwatosa. From his diamond earrings and black velvet blazer to his designer jeans and stylish loafers, Harris was the picture of cool.
> 
> People care about him, his game, his personal life, his family. They just want to make sure their adopted son is doing well.
> 
> "I can see it with Devin," Smith said. "People connect with him. Just that he is around here like this, people like that."
> 
> Between the teenage girls screaming out "I love you, Devin!" during the ceremony, Harris did manage to tell the students he was happy to represent Wauwatosa East.
> 
> "And I'll continue to make you proud in the future," he said.
> 
> And we'll be watching.


More at http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=564643

Harris lived in the same student apartment complex as my niece, and the first time I saw him in the neighborhood I thought he was a high school kid hanging around campus. He still looks too young to be a three year vet in the NBA.


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## smimon

*Re: Devon Harris Honored bo Tosa East*

im happy to say that i saw the ceremony today, defintely a cool feeling knowing that two NBA players have come out of your school.


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## smimon

*Re: Devon Harris Honored bo Tosa East*

im happy to say that i saw the ceremony today, definitely a cool feeling knowing that two NBA players have come out of my school.


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## roux

*Re: Devon Harris Honored bo Tosa East*

I went to School with Devin, I graduated a year before him. He was the Best High School player i ever saw in person. Milwaukee doesnt have a huge history of sending players to the NBA. Tony Smith, Devin Harris and Latrell Sprewell are the 3 big ones from recent years. Caron Butler is from Racine and Nick Van Exel is from Kenosha. The fact that two came from Tosa East is actually pretty damn cool, and Jerry Smith could be joining them in the next few years (also Scott Merritt currently plays in the NBDL). Milwaukee doesn't have a huge tradition of sending guys to the NBA so this is actually a big deal to me. Devin is my favorite non Buck in the NBA and I hope he has a long successfull career. Honestly anytime I ever talk about going to Tosa East Devin usually creeps into the conversation. Keep it up D-Ha you are making alot of people proud.


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## narek

*Re: Devon Harris Honored bo Tosa East*

The Wisconsin State JOurnal sent their Milwaukee sports reporter to cover the Tosa Event:



> MILWAUKEE - When Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson watched the Devin Harris highlight tape Monday during a ceremony at Wauwatosa East High School to retire Harris' No. 20, Johnson didn't see anything he hadn't seen before.
> 
> "He can't dance," Johnson declared.
> 
> One more thing.
> 
> "I saw highlights of him dunking," Johnson said. "I wanted to see highlights of him playing defense."
> 
> Several hours later, after the Mavericks had completed practice at the Al McGuire Center on the Marquette campus in preparation for tonight's game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the former University of Wisconsin star feigned indignity at his coach's comments.
> 
> "Highlight tapes don't show defense, you know that," Harris said.
> 
> As for his dancing?
> 
> Harris was just happy that his teammates opted to stay in bed and not join Johnson at the morning ceremony that also honored the No. 34 worn by Tony Smith, the former Marquette standout who also played in the NBA.
> 
> "I'm getting enough grief from him," Harris said of Johnson, thankful that any grief he was to take from his teammates would be second hand.
> 
> One reason Johnson was so willing to verbally spar with his third-year point guard is that he knows Harris can take it.
> 
> That is abundantly clear by how Harris has taken Johnson's recent decision to take him out of the starting lineup in favor of veteran Devean George. Johnson made the move to improve the Mavs' defense against bigger guards than the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Harris.
> 
> "We're looking to feed our strengths and starve our weaknesses," Johnson said.
> 
> In a league where "I" is often the most popular word, Harris thinks in terms of "we."
> 
> "It's critical that guys put team before self and team before I. This is a very unselfish team," Johnson said. "It's good to have that flexibility as a coach, but it's good to have players who will accept it."
> 
> That's nothing new for Harris.
> 
> He's been both a starter and a reserve during his three seasons with the Mavs. Last year in the playoffs, he went back and forth from starter to reserve from series to series, game to game.
> 
> Making the NBA finals helped Harris ease any strain from that arrangement. Now, with the Mavs carrying the best record in the league at 42-9 and headed in the same direction as last season, Harris doesn't even let "I" compute.
> 
> "If it's better for the team, why not?" Harris said of being a reserve. "We're trying to get to the ultimate goal. Ego isn't a problem."
> 
> Harris has started 45 of 50 games this season, though he has come off the bench in the Mavs' past two games - victories number six and seven in Dallas' current seven-game winning streak.
> 
> He's averaging 10.1 points per game and hitting better than 50 percent of his shots from inside the 3-point arc. His 22.6 percent rate from beyond the arc has lowered his overall shooting mark to 48.5 percent, but he's also contributing 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
> 
> "We've been here before. It's not any different," Harris said. "I've come off the bench, I've started. It's all what you do on the court."


 http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/index.php?ntid=118687&ntpid=1


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## Nimreitz

*Re: Devon Harris Honored bo Tosa East*



roux2dope said:


> I went to School with Devin, I graduated a year before him. He was the Best High School player i ever saw in person. Milwaukee doesnt have a huge history of sending players to the NBA. Tony Smith, Devin Harris and Latrell Sprewell are the 3 big ones from recent years. Caron Butler is from Racine and Nick Van Exel is from Kenosha. The fact that two came from Tosa East is actually pretty damn cool, and Jerry Smith could be joining them in the next few years (also Scott Merritt currently plays in the NBDL). Milwaukee doesn't have a huge tradition of sending guys to the NBA so this is actually a big deal to me. Devin is my favorite non Buck in the NBA and I hope he has a long successfull career. Honestly anytime I ever talk about going to Tosa East Devin usually creeps into the conversation. Keep it up D-Ha you are making alot of people proud.


A little late to the thread, but....

Steve Novak is from Brown Deer and Travis Diener is from Fon du Lac. Both are in the NBA.

Anyway, Devin Harris is a great player, and regardless of how well Alando has played this season Devin is the best Badger basketball player in my memory.


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## narek

*Re: Devon Harris Honored bo Tosa East*



Nimreitz said:


> A little late to the thread, but....
> 
> Steve Novak is from Brown Deer and Travis Diener is from Fon du Lac. Both are in the NBA.
> 
> Anyway, Devin Harris is a great player, and regardless of how well Alando has played this season Devin is the best Badger basketball player in my memory.


Nothing's too late around here.

And I guess you're too young to remember Michael Finley. :biggrin:


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## Dornado

*Re: Devon Harris Honored bo Tosa East*

A random old thread bump - just noticed Devin is wearing #20 this year for the first time since high school. Maybe he'll recapture some Red Raider magic.


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## EpicFailGuy

One of SLU's starters is from that same school. So there's my connection to it.


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## Dornado

EpicFailGuy said:


> One of SLU's starters is from that same school. So there's my connection to it.


Nice... I didn't even realize Jake Barnett was starting for SLU. He won a state championship with Tosa East back in '08. @roux and I went there back in the day, as he mentioned, so for a high school it gets an inordinate amount of bbf hype.


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## EpicFailGuy

Dornado said:


> Nice... I didn't even realize Jake Barnett was starting for SLU. He won a state championship with Tosa East back in '08. @roux and I went there back in the day, as he mentioned, so for a high school it gets an inordinate amount of bbf hype.


Majerus loved the kid. He's a gamer. Doesn't score much, but he gets good minutes. Very much a "glue guy" type. I'll take more guys from Tosa East if they bring it like Jake effort-wise.


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## roux

D-Ha!!!


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