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Harkless didn’t even start to play organized basketball until he was in high school, competing only at the junior-varsity level then. But the goal he had set in his head, even back then, was set. His path went in only one direction — straight to the best basketball league in the world.
That goal became a real possibility during his only season at St. John’s, where Harkless was named the Big East Rookie of the Year after posting averages of 15.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocks. Much of the time the 6-9, 208-pounder was playing the power forward position, a spot the Sixers eventually see him growing into at the NBA level, once his body matures and he puts on weight and perhaps adds another inch or two.
“I see myself on the wing, but whatever it takes, or whatever coach [Doug] Collins asks me to do,” Harkless said. “I’m just excited to be here. In college I was just really focused on doing whatever the team needed me to do. I wasn’t complaining or anything, I was just doing what I had to do. I was playing against a lot of guys who were about 60 pounds heavier than me. But that was OK. Whatever they needed me to do.”
— Reported by Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News
