Harper sold ruggedness

Justin Harper failed to make his middle school basketball team. But he kept shooting on the half-court concrete pad next to his family's Chesterfield County home.

Harper wasn't a starter at Meadowbrook High until his senior year.

At the University of Richmond, Harper was not a notable Atlantic 10 Conference player until his senior season.

This classic late-bloomer is projected to be selected in Thursday's two-round NBA draft, in part because talent evaluators believe more improvement is coming for Harper, a 6-foot-10, 228-pounder with a 7-foot wingspan.

He didn't need to prove he could shoot through a 10-workout tour with NBA teams. Harper did that during 37 games as a UR senior, making 45.2 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Harper was out to establish something else.

"The more physical, aggressive part of my game, being able to get to the basket, that's what I've been trying to showcase more than ever," he said. "People are questioning that, me being able to do that on the next level."

Among the organizations for which Harper worked out was Philadelphia. The 76ers' director of player personnel, Courtney Witte, and other team officials spent 30 minutes with Harper in an interview setting. He also met with the Philadelphia team psychologist, as did the other players involved in the workout.

Witte said Harper, 21, came off as "a very sincere, a very well-rounded, a very feet-on-the-ground young man. He's a high-character guy."

Harper played saxophone in marching and jazz bands at Meadowbrook High, where he earned a 3.35 grade point average. He was the school's male scholar-athlete of the year. He was named the school's homecoming king. He graduated from UR with a marketing degree.

According to Witte, the 76ers' front-office members evaluated skill sets and wanted to see how the players competed during the workouts, and how well they retained and implement instruction. Witte gave Harper high marks in those categories.

Witte acknowledged the 76ers' brass kept a close eye on how physical Harper was against other big men. Playing a rugged brand of basketball wasn't his role at Richmond. Harper stretched defenses in a spread offense. He averaged a team-leading 17.3 points, helped UR to a 29-8 record, the program's first A-10 championship, and a slot in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

In terms of physical play, "I think (Harper) realizes that's something he needs to continue to work on during the summer, and he will," said Witte, whose organization has the 16th pick Thursday.

Harper was a match-up problem in the college game, a big man with ballhandling skills and that jumper he acquired on the outdoor court adjacent to his home. He could pose similar problems for defenses in the NBA. But scouts during those predraft workouts wanted to see if Harper could do another dance, the bump-and-grind.

That meant "going in there for rebounds, playing good, solid defense, finishing through contact while going to the basket," Harper said. "I've been able to do that, especially in my latest workouts. I've been able to show them that that's part of my game."

Witte said that in Harper's visit with the 76ers, "he did nothing but help himself."

Harper continued to develop, which is no surprise to Chris Mooney. The UR coach has fielded several calls from NBA front-office members wanting to learn more about Harper.

"They have their set of questions that they know they want to ask. What I really emphasize is how hard he works, how much he has improved, how coachable he is," Mooney said. "These are things they wouldn't necessarily know from just a quick background check."

Apart from Harper's gradually upgraded stats as a Spider, Mooney noted the substantial progress Harper made in the weight room.

Only periodically during his first three seasons at UR did Harper play as if he had NBA potential. He seemed content allowing older Spiders to lead. Heading into his senior year, Harper was not among 15 A-10 players chosen for the preseason all-conference team selected by coaches and selected media members.

But as a senior, he ramped up his rebounding (6.7 rpg compared to 5.4 as a junior), went to the basket more frequently, took over some games, and made first team all-league.

Harper's major jump became evident during the Spiders' first four A-10 dates. In each, he scored 25 or more points, and he didn't have to hog to get those points. In successive games, he scored 27 against Charlotte on 12 shots, 25 vs. La Salle on 17 shots, 25 against Rhode Island on 15 shots, and 30 against George Washington on 15 shots.

"Whether it's with us or some other team, he has a chance to have a very nice NBA career," the 76ers' Witte said.