harris portland

SoCalHoops Tournament News

Nike National Championships:
Dave Harris' Thoughts On Portland Legends--(July 31, 1998)

The Portland Legends dropped two games yesterday in the tournament, one to Seattle Rotary, 41-37, and the first game to Bray Center 85-71. We don't have the stats for the Bray game, but we do for the Seattle game.

In the Seattle game, Tim Tiante and Larry Brazzle led the scoring, with 7 each, not a big scoring game for anyone. Andre Lawrence had 6. For Seattle, Jimmy Haywood had 10, Aziz Yusef had 9, Ed Roy had 8, and Aaron Anderson had 5. Neither team took a lot o shots: Seattle only attempted 29 field goals, making 14 (.483), while Portland only attempted 26, making 13 (.500). Portland only attempted 4 three pointers in the whole game, making only 1; Seattle attempted 11, making 5. The real difference was free-throw shooting: Seattle shot 72% (8 for 11) while Portland was 10 for 18 (56.6%).

We also got some e-mail from Dave Harris with his take on some of the Portland Legends:

Larry "Boomer" Brazzle (6'-7" Sr. F) Benson-- Very athletic kid trying to make transition from 4 to 3. Excellent rebounder and defender with emerging offensive skills.

Andre Lawrence (6'-1" Sr. G) Jefferson-- Probably my favorite player. One of the best defenders I have seen at the high school level. No one matches his work ethic. Average shot and point skills.

Brandon Brooks (6'-0" Jr. G) Grant-- Very quick and tremendously skilled player. A pure point that was mentioned in one publication as a top 20 player in his class.

Tiante Tims (5'-11" Sr. G) Wilson-- Journyman point with average shot but great point skills, i.e. leads a break and pushes the ball. Can be out of control, but generally is a great fastbreak point.

John Peete (5'-11" Sr. G) Roosevelt--Excellent high school scorer adjusts to supporting role nicely. Can play the "1" but is a better "2".

Elliot Alexander (6'-3" Sr. G) North Salem--Beautiful shot, but sometimes makes some bad plays, i.e. bad passes, over and back. Very athletic player hasn't grown since 8th grade.

Elijah Jackson (6'-4" Sr. G/F) Wilson--Great defender but does everything well. David's brother doesn't stick out but works hard and wins at all costs.

Colin Oriard (6'-6' Sr. F) Crescent Valley-- Well-built (father was NFL lineman) with good post skills and tough "d".

Ben Coffee (6'-7" Sr. F) Benson-- Low-key game sometimes gets lost, but is extremely athletic and works very hard.

Nick Gibbs (6'-9" Sr. F/C) Centennial-- Didn't play hardly at all for his school, a project.

Josh Atkins (6'-6" Sr. F) Barlow-- Large tight end will be very good hs player, actually played bb before football and was an excellent 8th grader.

Jon Tinnon (6'-7" Jr. F) Benson-- Somewhat slow, but he has potential to develop. Good passer and improving defender.

Just one man's thoughts.

Dave Harris

Thanks Dave. We appreciate the thought, and we're sure others will too.