How family shaped development of new Raptors Malachi Flynn, Jalen Harris

For many teams, the 2020 NBA Draft was a flurry of activity with deals flying non-stop in a maelstrom of swapped picks and established players on the move.

Resting in the eye of the storm, however, were the Toronto Raptors who very calmly and quietly went about their business. They made use of the two selections they had on the evening to take San Diego State point guard Malachi Flynn and Nevada combo guard Jalen Harris at No. 29 and 59, respectively.

Now, unless you’re a hardcore fan of Mountain West hoops, there likely wasn’t a ton you knew about either of these two young men. And while we’ve already taken a look at what they can bring to the Raptors from a purely basketball perspective, who they actually are as people still remained a bit of a mystery.

Thankfully, on Thursday afternoon, some of that veil was lifted as both Flynn and Harris got their first real chance to speak with Toronto’s press corps where they both revealed themselves to be pretty interesting, affable guys.

From our brief time with the two new Raptors, here’s a few interesting facts about Flynn and Harris.

[snippet id=3360195]

They each come from unique family backgrounds

Everyone has unique family circumstances, but Flynn and Harris appear to have circumstances more unique than most.

Starting with Flynn, he’s the youngest of seven siblings, an environment that partially helped mould his naturally competitive spirit.

“I think it’s played a huge role, just in being where I am today, just in being the youngest and always being around them growing up, going to sporting events,” said Flynn of how growing up in such a large family shaped him. “There was always something going on in the house: Going to a brother’s track meet, going to a sister’s basketball game. Just seeing that and definitely just being competitive, all the kids. You’ve gotta fight for whatever you want. So it was fun growing up in the house, always something going on. Definitely has a huge role in who I am today.”

And for Harris, he comes from a family with some rich basketball history as both of his parents played college hoops at SMU, with his mother, Karlin Kennedy, leaving the school as the program’s all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks and field-goal percentage.

Despite, the pedigree running in his veins, Harris said he never grew up with the expectation of being a basketball player and actually played baseball and football as well before he decided to make the switch and fully dedicate himself to basketball in high school as it was the sport that he ultimately had the most passion for.

“Their impact has been phenomenal, honestly,” said Harris of his parents’ influence on his game. “Growing up, I was born with a basketball in my hand. It was never forced on me, though. It was always an option. I played the other sports so I had the chance to do other things.

“Especially with my Dad, I mean my mom has the reputation for being a good basketball player, which she was, and my Dad does all my on-court work, my training, my workouts and stuff. They have literally done everything they can to get me here.”

By the sounds of things, Harris’ father is quite the basketball junkie — “he watches the game like none other,” he said – but between everyone in his family, himself included, prized hooper remains his mother.

“I’ll give it to my mom. Until I get a jersey hung up somewhere, she has it won,” he said.

They played against each other in college

Though it’s not shocking as they came from the same conference, a neat fact about Flynn and Harris is that they played against each other in college twice last season.

They went toe-to-toe with one another, first on Jan. 18 in a contest that saw Flynn’s Aztecs get the better of Harris’ Wolf Pack, 68-55.

In that game, though his team lost, Harris outperformed Flynn a little, scoring 19 points and collecting seven rebounds on 7-of-16 shooting, including a 5-for-10 mark from three-point range. Flynn finished that contest with a 14-point, seven-assist, five-rebound line, but was a little off from the field, going 4-for-13.

The pair’s second encounter with each other was on Feb. 29 that once again saw San Diego State come out on top, 83-76.

Both Flynn and Harris had much stronger games in this affair with Flynn erupting for 36 points on 13-of-20 shooting to go along with five boards and five dimes, while Harris went for 24 points mainly on the strength of his outside shot, as he went 4-for-8 from deep in that contest.

Flynn and Harris were asked about each other Thursday and had nice things to say about one another both as competitors and later as workout buddies when they got to know each other better while attending a pre-draft camp in Las Vegas.

“I think it’s a great pickup,” said Flynn of the Harris draft choice. “I enjoyed playing against him. Well, I didn’t enjoy it, ’cause he was killing us, but he’s a good competitor, good player, so I think that’ll be a good fit, too. Someone who’s skilled, can shoot it, is super athletic. So I think that was a great pickup.”

Added Harris of his fellow Raptors rookie: “Malachi is another competitor. That’s one of the things I really like about him. He tries to do whatever he can to win so he’s going to bring that to the team as well as his IQ and the natural ability he has to score the ball and distribute the ball and do those things. So I’m excited to get there and play with him.”

Neither have ever been to Toronto but are eager to see the city

Though not all that surprising, it was revealed Thursday that neither Flynn nor Harris had ever visited Canada, let alone the city of Toronto.

“I’ve never been up there,” Harris said. “I’ve heard it’s pretty cold. I spent time in Reno, so I’m a little used to the winter, but I’ll bring some jackets, that’s definitely in my preparation.”

Harris is a Texas native and has a good excuse for never visiting the Great White North, but Flynn has less of an excuse.

Hailing from Tacoma, Wash., which is only about a 3.5-hour drive from Vancouver and is, essentially, a larger suburb of Seattle, Flynn jokingly acknowledged the error of his ways in missing out on visiting.

“I’ve never been to Canada at all and I’m only a [few] hours from the other side where you guys are at,” said Flynn. “From what I’ve heard, everybody likes Toronto. One person just told me it’s like Seattle in a way. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’ve only heard good things about Toronto so I’m excited to finally get out there.”

And when he does eventually come to Toronto, Flynn should probably look to be as ready for the city’s climate as Harris appears to be.

Flynn is a fan of Wingstop

And for some highly-relatable content, it’s very important that you know that Flynn appears to be a big fan of chicken wings.

After getting drafted, Flynn said he celebrated with a mix of barbecue, Louisiana rub and lemon pepper.

Fine choices, for sure.

[relatedlinks]