UVa Insider, the column: Whom does Joe Harris most resemble?
Sitting down with Jim Hobgood, both a former Virginia basketball captain and ex-radio analyst, I asked him prior to Tuesday night’s UVa-Virginia Tech game if there was a past Cavaliers’ player to whom he would compare current star Joe Harris.
“Wally Walker told me once that [Harris] reminded him of Jeff Lamp,” Hobgood said.
There are many readers of this column who never saw Lamp play during a career that lasted from 1977-81 and are only vaguely familiar with his name. So, it’s probably dangerous for me to compare Harris to a Virginia icon from 40 years ago, Barry Parkhill.
“Joe’s not a point guard,” Parkhill said Thursday from Los Angeles, where he was fresh off a golf round at Riviera with Jim Furyk. “I was a point guard, but I’m the president of the Joe Harris fan club. If anybody wants to compare Joe Harris to me, I’m honored.”
At 6-7, Lamp was a small forward with a good shooting range who practically lived at the free-throw line. He scored 2,317 points during his career and would have had more than 2,500 if there had been a 3-point line at the time, although high-school and college teammate Lee Raker actually had greater range.
Good friend Dennis Wolff, the head women’s coach at Virginia Tech who was a UVa men’s assistant during the 1990s, told me this week that Harris reminded him of Bryant Stith. Stith finished his career with a school-record 2,516 points, including 114 3-pointers.
Actually, Stith (875 career free-throw attempts) and Lamp (748 career free throws) were very similar. Stith was a little shorter, somewhere between 6-5 and 6-6, but shared Lamp’s inside-outside combination.
Lamp was a four-time All-ACC selection (two years on the first team; two years on the second). Stith was a three-time first-team selection., as well as the 1989 ACC Rookie of the Year.
Harris, on the other hand, has received no accolades. He’s never made first-, second- or third-team All-ACC. He wasn’t on the ACC All-Freshman team. He was never ACC Freshman of the Week and he hasn’t been the ACC player of the week.
I’ll tell you who had a similar career: Roger Mason.
Cory Alexander, a former UVa standout of a more recent vintage than Hobgood, said I was off base, that Mason was much more of a ball-handler.
I was just going by the stats. In a three-year, 89-game career, Mason, who turned pro after his junior year in 2002, scored 1,269 points (13.8 points per game). Harris, through 86 games, has scored 1,076 points (12.4).
Alexander was right. Mason, who is 6-4, was more of a combo guard and had 230 assists during his career, compared to 148 for Harris. Mason was also a better free-throw shooter (86.9 percent to 76.4).
Harris is a slightly better shooter from the floor, but the big difference is from 3-point range. Mason was 137-of-365 (37.5 percent) on 3-pointers over the course of his career; Harris is 173-of-407 (42.5) and has the best percentage in school history.
I’ll admit, when I see Harris, Mason doesn’t immediately come to mind, but he was another guy who didn’t get a lot of recognition. Mason was a third-team All-ACC choice as a sophomore in 2001 before jumping up the second team in 2002.
Chances are, Harris will make one of the All-ACC teams this year – he’d probably be on the second team at the moment – and there could be worse fates than Mason had. A second-round NBA draft pick, he’s currently with the New Orleans Hornets in his ninth NBA season.
Truth be known, Mason would probably say he made a mistake turning pro after his junior year; indeed, one story I heard was that he considered going back on that decision shortly after he made it, but Harris is almost certainly a four-year player whose best may be yet to come.
February 14, 2013 - 3:49 PM
RSS feed 
Sean Hannity look alike but can fill up the 3′s.
You can’t try to compare him to a former UVa player. It limits it too much. His game reminds me of Wally Szczerbiak. Big, strong guard who is deadly from outside.
Joe Harris reminds me of Lee Raker as far as toughness and hustle. Like Raker, he’s fearless mixing it up in the lane with bigger guys and he’s got Raker’s shooting range. He’s a worthy successor to “The Marine”.
Harris is a first team all ACC selection at this point!! Who else is playing better than him? He can make the team at three different positions. The light bulb went off for Mason his junior year and he was oustanding hitting big shots in big games for UVA. With Harris size and shooting after his senior year he should be a first round pick.
He looks like his coach!
Reminds me most of Lamp. He would remind of Raker if he were a lefty.
Harris is a unique player. You can find a little of a lot of Cav greats in him, including, but not limited to, Raker, Lamp, JJ, Morgan, Staples and Crotty. But his willingness to put the ball on the ground and go to the hole is more than those guys had, and enters in in the Hall, Stith and Courtney Alexander categories also. I think he has the chance to set a standard and I hope he does that. He’ll just be “Harris”, with no peer.
All that said, tomorrow’s dance will be a team showing, with contributions from several players. The prime candidate for a star turn is Anderson, who took the night off against Virginia Tech in what looks like a forward focus moment for him. The hope here is that Harris, Anderson and Mitchell combine for 50+ and 23 rebounds. If that happens, we can expect to win the game, even in the Dean Dome.
Wow — lots of great names — and memories — thanks! Did you get any help from Ells at the SEC Roundtable?
89hoo, Lee Raker was not a lefty. You may be thinking of Tim Mullen who was a good lefty shooter who played with Lamp and Raker.
All around, got to be Jeff Lamp.
If Harris played for UNC or Duke he’d be first team all-ACC with votes for all-American. Playing for UVA, even his in-state papers rate him an ACC second teamer. That’s just life in the All Carolina Conference.
Joe reminds me of Drew Barry from Ga. Tech in the mid 90′s…similar build and both can fill it up as well as drive to the basket. The tandem of Marberry and Barry carried Ga. Tech to the ACC Finals in Greensboro where they eventually lost to Wake Forest, led by Tim Duncan.
9 – danny – you are right…don’t know why I remembered Raker as a lefty. Great player…loved watching him play.
Good article. Joe deserves first team all-acc. Don’t count him out yet!
UVA is a good team and plays really well, but this is the story we get from the alledeged “uva insider” ? How about finding out if or when Tobey can play again and is Atkins playing at 100% now ? Also uva is playing several of the nations topped ranked teams right now; any thoughts ???
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Tobey get some minutes Sunday against Georgia Tech. Atkins has been playing of late but looks gimpy to me (and almost everyone else). Regarding upcoming opponents, I’m thinking Cavs need a split of road games at BC and FSU. I wouldn’t rule out UVa beating Duke in Charlottesville.
Robert Lineburg, the Radford athletic director and a former college head coach at SMU, says Harris reminds him of Randy Wittman, who played at Indiana and now coaches the Wizards.
His string of 20-point games ended, but 16 in a 54-50 game is right up there.
thanks for the update, doug. ok, back on topic, joe harris looks like wally cleaver from mayfield high. and a certain newspaper guy looks like abe simpson, homer simpson’s dad.
Joe Harris reminds me most of Larry Miller. Hate to bring up Carolina, but I did love the way Larry Miller played–just as I love the way Joe Harris plays. Soccer is known as “the beautiful game” but basketball, when played the way Joe Harris plays, is by far the most beautiful.
I’m just seeing this column. I’ve found myself comparing Joe Harris to another non-UVa great. Joe is a shorter version of Larry Bird… his inside outside game, his savvy, his clutchness, etc.