Newest guards have something to prove
Flynn is just six-foot-one, Harris was overlooked after breaking his back
The Raptors were impressed by the mental toughness of firstround draft pick Malachi Flynn, taken aback by his determination, his work ethic, his willingness to fight and scrap and claw for whatever he needed to become an NBA player.
It probably shouldn’t have been a surprise, given the young man’s upbringing.
The 22-year-old point guard, taken 29th overall in Wednesday’s draft, grew up the youngest of seven children in his family and if that doesn’t instill a competitive nature in a young man, little else will.
“There was always something going on in the house, going to a brother’s track meet, going to a sister’s basketball game,” the native of Tacoma, Wash., said in a Zoom meeting with Toronto reporters Thursday. “Just seeing that, and definitely just being competitive, all the kids, you’ve got to fight for whatever you want.
“So it was fun growing up in the house, always something going on. Definitely has a huge role in who I am today.”
Flynn’s nurturing environment stretched beyond the walls of the family home. The basketball community in the Seattle-Tacoma area is tight, filled with greats like Jamal Crawford who are always challenging and also always supporting those who come after them. Crawford runs a highly regarded summer semi-pro league and the games are intense but they are also filled with important lessons for kids like Flynn to learn.
“The guys who have already made it are looking out for the guys trying to make it,” he said. “It’s definitely nothing friendly when we play on the court: We’re competing and I think that’s what makes guys be able to get to the level they’re at.
“But off the court, everybody’s enjoying each other and just kind of learning and taking things from people.”
The backgrounds of Flynn and Jalen Harris, the Texasraised guard the Raptors took with the 59th selection on Wednesday, are not dissimilar and they fit a Toronto mould of taking players with something to prove.
Flynn is small for a guard, just six-foot-one, and Harris suffered a broken back in high school and switched schools from Louisiana Tech to Nevada midway through his college career. Flynn went from Washington State to San Diego State.
Harris, a six-foot-five guard known for his astonishing athleticism, said his desire never wavered, even though he was hardly the most sought-after recruit following his broken back in high school in the Dallas area.
“What kept me going was honestly just my faith, I’m big on that,” he said. “It’s a big thing for me. Just sticking to it and my love for the game. I love the game, I love to play and I love the competition part, so for me it was just keep overcoming obstacles, keep pushing. That was my goal.”
Flynn and Harris are expected to meet their new teammates for an informal workout camp in the Los Angeles area next week to start their on-court path to the NBA. They might stick close to each other, seeing how they played against each a couple of times in college and then worked out together in the pre-draft process in Las Vegas.
There’s a familiarity there. “Malachi is another competitor,” Harris said. “That’s one of the things I really like about him. He tries to do whatever he can to win so he’s going to bring that to the team as well as his IQ and the natural ability he has to score the ball and distribute the ball and do those things.”
Said Flynn of Harris: “I enjoyed playing against him. Well, I didn’t enjoy it, ’cause he was killing us. But he’s a good competitor, good player, so I think that’ll be a good fit, too, someone who’s skilled, shoot it, super athletic. So I think that was a great pickup.”
Flynn’s resemblance to Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet is undeniable, three undersized, hard-playing guards who think the game as much as they play it.
And Harris’s path is a familiar one around these parts, too.
“Super excited especially to be joining (an organization) as good as Toronto’s is,” he said. “You can see it in their guys. You can see it in Pascal and VanVleet, all these different guys who have taken a similar path to the one I did and it just makes me excited.”
And makes them both good fits.