July 3, 2007

The Rice Owls basketball program currently sports four players associated with NBA teams. Everybody knows that recent graduate Morris Almond was the Utah Jazz's first round pick and that Mike Wilks just completed his sixth NBA season and second with the Seattle SuperSonics, but there are two other Rice graduates that are playing on NBA teams this summer.

Michael Harris (Rice, '05), the Owls' all-time leading scorer and rebounder, is on the Houston Rockets' summer league team competing in Las Vegas, Nev., while Brock Gillespie (Rice, '05) is on the Charlotte Bobcats' summer league team competing in Orlando, Fla.

Harris and Gillespie just completed their first season in the NBA-Developmental League.

Playing for the Colorado 14ers, Harris played in 48 games and shot 61 percent from the field in averaging 11.8 points per game and 6.8 rebounds. Harris also scored 15 points in the D-League championship game vs. the Dakota Wizards. Meanwhile, Gillespie played in 41 games for the Austin Toros and averaged 7.3 ppg and 1.7 assists per game. He shot 44 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point range.

Fans may follow former Owls in the NBA Summer League at: http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007