Raptors' Ron Harper Jr. wants to be the next undrafted star

Ron Harper Jr. sits down to talk about becoming a Toronto Raptor, his welcome to the NBA moment and what it's like meeting Masai Ujiri and Scottie Barnes.

Video Transcript

RON HARPER JR: On draft night, a lot of people passed up on me. I want to make those people pay.

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I just want to be a part of a great culture. And I'm just here to learn. And I'm just here to get better every single day.

Yeah, just, I mean, the hashtag is just-- that's how I felt after the draft. I got 58 reasons to be great. On draft night, a lot a lot of people passed up on me. I want to make those people pay. I feel like I'm in the right spot, a place that's going to develop my body, my game, and just help me overall as a person. So I'm just carrying that mindset every day with me.

Fred, Cam, Chris, all those guys, those are three undrafted guys with the Raptors now that have made a great name for themselves in the organization. I kind of want to be the next undrafted guy that gives the next wave of them hope. You know what I'm saying? Because we look up to guys like those on draft night when we don't hear our name called. And we're like, all right, just because we didn't hear our name called doesn't mean we can't still make it. So I look up to guys like that. And I hopefully want to be a spokesperson for people that go undrafted in the future.

You're going out there, and you're guarding somebody new every day. All these NBA players are elite. And I had the privilege of matching up with some great ones at Rico. I guarded a Pascal a fair share. And then I guarded Paul George. I got a couple other guys. And just being able to guard them, being able to learn, being able to just take little things back from those runs, it goes a long way.

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Yeah, I feel like when we were in Toronto playing pickup, I was guarding Pascal a lot. And I just have a tendency of putting my hand in there, trying to disrupt him. And every time I'd do it, he just gets right by me. And he kind of just broke it down for me, taught me how to-- told me why not to put it in there because Pascal was just going to grab my hand and get by me. So I feel like that was my welcome to the NBA moment so far, just being able to know what not to do, especially when guarding him and learning from him.

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