Ron Harper Jr. could be the first Rutgers player chosen in the NBA Draft since 2010, and head coach Steve Pikiell can’t wait to see what’s ahead for his former star.
“We’re excited, we’ve been getting some really good feedback,” Pikiell said by phone ahead of Thursday’s NBA Draft at Barclays Center. “We’re excited for him and we’re looking for him to have a great day on Thursday. It would be great for him and his family.”
The 6-foot-5 Harper, the son of five-time NBA champion Ron Harper, is projected to go No. 54 to the Washington Wizards in the latest ESPN.com mock draft, while Yahoo has him at 58 to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“It would mean a lot because it would show people that you can go to the NBA out of Rutgers and you can go to the NBA after four years at Rutgers,” Harper said. “I feel like it would mean a lot to New Jersey to see a Rutgers guy go back to the NBA and I feel like it would show a lot of these New Jersey kids that Rutgers is a place that can send you to the next level.”
Before Harper committed to Rutgers, the basketball program hadn’t appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 1991 when George H. W. Bush was President.
By the time he left, the Scarlet Knights had been to two straight Big Dances and are now a nationally-relevant program after a long time in the wilderness.
“We brought Rutgers back from a really dark place,” Harper said.
Pikiell gushed about Harper’s character.
“I want him to get drafted because he’s one of the greatest kids I’ve coached, and his family is awesome,” Pikiell said.
“He’s one of the few kids, one high school [Don Bosco Prep], one AAU program [Ring City], one college. He needs to get drafted just because of that.”
Even if Harper isn’t drafted, he is still likely to land with a team via a Two-Way Contract or a Summer League invitation.
Pikiell has coached pros before. He coached New Brunswick native Jameel Warney at Stony Brook before Warney spent time in the NBA G League and ultimately landed in the Seoul SK Knights of the Korean Basketball League.
But now Harper could become his first Rutgers player drafted, and first since Hamady N’Diaye in 2010.
“What it will prove more than anything is you can go from being under-recruited to being an NBA player,” Pikeill said. “If you work hard and you got those great qualities that he had. It’s more about him, I think our program’s always been about the players.
He added: “He’s worked out for a million teams and he’s an NBA player. I think one of these teams is going to be real smart.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.
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