You make two good points. First, he was a product of a tough environment and I believe that if the rumors were true, it certainly would have manifested itself at some point over the rest of his career spent during the NBA’s 80s/90s drug culture and in LA for a good portion of that time.
Second, Wilkins and Embry knew and understood him and didn’t believe it. I believe Gund had other reasons and used the drug rumors to force Wayne Embry’s hand.
IMO, the late 80’s Cavs were still the best overall team in franchise history and would have won a title if Harper had not been traded. Before the trade, Magic declared them to be the team of the 90’s. They were very much like the Showtime Lakers with Price running the show and Harper flying down on breaks with Larry Nance, Hot Rod Williams and Brad Daugherty. Games were over by half time. They were never the same team after the trade.
Ron Harper grew up in an urban area in Dayton but had a very strong role model in his mother who was very supportive. The issue Ron had growing up was his tremendous stutter. This caused many programs to back off as there was a perception that he wasn’t intelligent. However, Miami embraced him and provided him extraordinary assistance. STUTTER
The reason Ron didn’t go to a “bigger” school wasn’t based on him getting in trouble or hanging with the wrong people it was his struggle academically most likely caused by his stutter. The allegation of him hanging with the wrong people when he was in Cleveland.
BTW..Ron played high school basketball during a time when the Dayton City League was producing amazing players.
Continuing what Nick said, Miami was one of the only schools that told Ron come here and we will help you with the academics and the stutter issue holding you back. Ron has talked about this.
Extraordinary people all around. Think of how much crap the coach and AD must have gotten from the academic side of the house. “Wait, you’re letting a kid in with these grades?” And back then, before these school rankings got totally cooked, Miami was one of the top academic schools in the country. Public Ivy ect. That took big risk.
Now, think of it from Ron’s pov. Prolly had bad experiences with school growing up because they didn’t have the right tools to help him so there must have been a lot of anxiety on his part about coming. I feel like people all around were better and braver back in the day.
Ps The honorary degree is fantastic news.
As a diehard Cavs fan, I’ve always maintained that the Cavs would’ve won at least one NBA Championship in the Harper era.
My reasoning… Harper was a good enough offensive player to make Jordan work harder on the defensive end. And, he was an exceptional defensive player, enough to slow Jordan down just enough.
Much better on both ends of the court than what the Cavs had after the trade, anyways.
I just consider it the greatest irony that a Miami GM and a Miami player together fell short of winning an NBA Championship, when it was well within reach.
I can’t say for certain, but when honorary degrees are given, they may be degrees in letters or something like that. Personally, I think it should be in Physics with all the gravity defying plays Harper made on the court while at Miami