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Cleveland Cavaliers take Joe Harris in NBA Draft

Former standout Virginia guard picked 33rd overall

	<p>Joe Harris, shown shooting a free throw against Maryland, will join Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins in Cleveland. </p>

Joe Harris, shown shooting a free throw against Maryland, will join Kyrie Irving and Andrew Wiggins in Cleveland.

The Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday night selected Joe Harris as the 33rd pick of the 2014 NBA Draft. League commissioner Adam Silver announced the selection on-stage at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.

The standout guard becomes Virginia’s highest-picked player since Roger Mason, Jr., who went 31st overall to the Chicago Bulls in 2001. Former Cavaliers Mike Scott and Sean Singletary have also entered the league via the draft in the past decade, joining the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings in 2012 and 2008, respectively.

Harris averaged 12 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in his senior collegiate season, starting all 37 games for a Virginia team that claimed the ACC’s regular season and conference tournament crowns. He led the Cavaliers with 72 made 3-pointers, sinking 40 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.

The two-time All-ACC selection and 2014 ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player will join a reloading Cleveland team headlined by two-time NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving and hyper-athletic guard Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 overall pick out of Kansas. Harris and his new teammates will follow the direction of recently hired coach David Blatt, formerly of the Israeli Super League’s Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Harris came to Virginia from Chelan, Wash., where he played high school basketball for his father and was named his home state’s 2010 Mr. Basketball. He delivered on his promise in Charlottesville, ending his Virginia career first in program history in games played, second in three-point percentage and 11th in scoring.

Harris graduated in May with a degree in sociology, along with a minor in religious studies. He and forward Akil Mitchell, who is currently exploring his options for a career in the NBA, received the Class of 2014’s Louis A. Onesty Memorial Scholar-Athlete Award at this year’s Valediction.

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