Harris looks to give Sea Bears massive offensive boost
One of the top scorers in CEBL history is joining the Winnipeg Sea Bears.
The club announced Thursday that Jalen Harris, a two-time All-CEBL guard and former Toronto Raptor, has officially signed with the Sea Bears and is expected to join them on the road and play in Friday night's game against the Brampton Honey Badgers (0-5).
It's a massive boost to a Winnipeg side that has lost four straight games by double digits and fallen to 1-4 on the season.
Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES
Jalen Harris made his CEBL debut with the Scarborough Shooting Stars in 2022.
'We tried to build a team that would play a little bit better team basketball, and we got a great group of guys… (But) we got off to a slow start,' said Sea Bears head coach and general manager Mike Taylor at the Sport for Life Centre on Thursday.
'We felt we needed a little bit of offensive production and offensive playmaking in the back court. So, from our standpoint, we're really excited to add Jalen. We think he'll bring a lot to the team.'
The six-foot-five Dallas, Tex., product averaged 24.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 11 games with the Saskatchewan Rattlers last summer. In 2022, he made his CEBL debut with the Scarborough Shooting Stars and led the team to the championship final.
Harris, 26, was most recently in China with the Nanjing Monkey Kings where he averaged 12.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and two assists in 32 games. He was drafted in the second round, 59th overall, by the Raptors in 2020, and appeared in 13 games as a rookie, highlighted by a career-high 31-point performance against the Dallas Mavericks on May 14, 2021.
On July 1, 2021, the NBA dealt Harris a one-year suspension after he tested positive for a prohibited substance and he hasn't played in the league since.
The Sea Bears have had some accomplished scorers in the past in Teddy Allen and Justin Wright-Foreman, but Taylor believes Harris is a different type of player than those two. Harris set the CEBL's scoring record last year with a 45-point performance against Brampton.
'I think Jalen can play with the ball or without the ball efficiently. I think Jalen is a willing passer, and he's a guy we can use in different situations to play as a point guard, at the point of attack, controlling the tempo, and force defences to play defensive coverage because of his ability to shoot,' said Taylor.
'And I think he's also a guy we can move off the ball, so I think he's got a chance to connect well with every type of teammate we have.'
Also joining the Sea Bears this weekend is star Canadian centre Simi Shittu who was finishing up his season in the Greek Basketball League. Shittu isn't expected to play in Brampton on Friday or in Scarborough on Saturday.
Tony Gutierrez / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES
Jalen Harris (front) was drafted in the second round, 59th overall, by the Toronto Raptors in 2020.
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Once Harris and Shittu start to gel with their teammates, this Sea Bears team should look a whole lot different than the one that underwhelmed in the first five games. Shooting has been the biggest issue, as they're dead last in in both field goal (36.7) and three-point percentage (25.7).
'The goal stays the same. We've always been aiming to play our best basketball at the championship weekend and so adding those two talents definitely help our odds and we're happy about it,' said veteran Canadian guard Alex Campbell.
'I think them joining us on the road actually helps us build camaraderie. Between the games, travelling, being at the airport, stuff like that, those types of things do go a long way so I think camaraderie and chemistry will happen quickly.'
The Sea Bears will return to downtown Winnipeg on June 11 to square off against the Montreal Alliance.
taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca
Taylor AllenReporter
Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.
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