NEW Illawarra import Tyler Harvey is a rare breed of baller, one who can seemingly drop points in his sleep. It was on show this week when he put up his first shots at the Snakepit after arriving via quarantine, the slick leftie barely missing from deep.
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You wouldn't expect a whole lot different from a guy with a 58-point G League game to his name. That too, was no real surprise for the Eastern Washington alum who was the NCAA Division 1 scoring leader in 2015 - a list including current NBA stars Steph Curry and Trae Young.
It saw him picked up at No 51 by Orlando in the 2015 Draft, ironically the exact same number Golden State drafted his new teammate and NBL Next Star Justinian Jessup.
He has since lit up the G League and had three stints in Europe, most recent with German club ratiopharm Ulm. While he inevitably takes a swag of points wherever he goes, the 27-year-old feels his broad experience has made him more than a just a pure scorer.
"Whenever I play I try to just take what the game gives me," Harvey said.
"If that's scoring, or whatever, I never try to rush the game. The game will always tell you what you need to do. That's how I try to play the game, not get caught up in numbers. I've never really got caught up in numbers and stats.
"I just had my third year in Europe and the game's obviously different, you pick up different things in different countries that you play in. I say it's like chess, you kind of pick apart the game. I've been around the game a while now and I feel like nothing really catches me by surprise.
"I know what my abilities are and, with what we've put together, we're going to be good this year. I'm just looking forward to the season tipping off and showcasing what our team can do."
The sharpshooter feels his thirst for knowledge can be satiated by master coach Brian Goorjian, but says the NBL first came on his radar while still in college where Aussies Felix von Hofe, Venky Jois and Jordan Hickert were teammates.
"I always knew of the NBL, I had Australian teammates in college and they were always talking about it, so I've been following it for a lot of years," he said.
"The opportunity presented itself and of course I jumped at that opportunity to play for the best coach [ever]. He's done amazing things here and I've heard nothing but great things about him.
"He knows the game so well, he's been around the game for a while, so picking up that knowledge from him has been special to me already. The team he's put together is great. I'm really looking forward to the season tipping off."
The Hawks will have a number of scrimmages ahead of their first pre-season hit-out against the Kings in just over a fortnight and Harvey is looking to pump the accelerator after a long quarantine process.
"It was definitely a unique experience to get here but, with everything going on in the world right now, you've got to take precautions," he said.
"I haven't played a full game since June. You practice with each other every day and any team gets sick and tired of practicing against each other. You want to play against competition that doesn't exactly know what you're going to do.
"Everyone here knows what we're trying to do within the offense and defensive schemes but when you play other teams, I think that all comes a little bit quicker. I'm really looking forward to these games coming up."