Name: Justin Harper
Height/weight (per Basketball-Reference.com): 6-10, 225 pounds
Career stats (all with Magic in 2011-12 season): 14 G, .290 FG%/.154 3FG%/.000 FT%, 1.4 PPG, 0.9 RPG, 63 offensive rating, 104 defensive rating
2014-15 stats (with Sidigas Avellino in Italy): 29 G, 26.9 MPG, .483 FG%/.375 3FG%/.781 FT%, 12.4 PPG, 4.9 RPG,
How he was acquired: Signed as free agent by the Nets on September 18th, 2015
2014-15 season recap: Harper, who played in his only NBA games to date in the 2011-12 with the Magic, spent last season in Italy’s Serie A with Sidigas Avellino after playing in the D-League and Israel following his time in Orlando. He put up decent numbers in Sidigas, which led him to play in Summer League with the Pistons and Suns. The Nets picked him up after that.
Expected role: Harper is a long shot to make the Nets and it’s a safer assumption to say he’ll play this season either in the D-League or overseas. He’s in camp so Brooklyn can judge whether his long frame is possibly playable in the NBA.
Best-case scenario: He’s the last guy to make the team and spends much of the season on the bench, learning from guys like Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young.
Worst-case scenario: He gets cut and winds up with another team, in the D-League or on a lucrative deal with a team overseas.
General thoughts: Justin Harper, who played his college ball at Richmond, was good enough in school to be an early second round pick of the Cavaliers in 2011, before a trade sent him to the Magic. Outside of a handful of NBA games in the 2011-12 season, Harper has played around the globe in an attempt to end up back in the league and the Nets might be his last chance unless he’s able to distinguish himself.
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