The Harper U
Sons of 15 year NBA veteran and five-time NBA Champion Ron Harper, Ron Jr., and Dylan Harper co-founded The Harper U. In addition to the sons, their mother Maria, also has a role in The Harper U. The Harper U is a Nike junior EYBL program for middle school boys and girls that reside in New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.
Ron Jr. and Dylan wanted to create this team and program to give back to the community of their home state of New Jersey. As well as provide support and opportunity for young basketball players throughout middle school, in addition to helping the players grow and develop their game.
The Harper family, overall, is definitely one of the better and better-known families in basketball. Ron as mention ed earlier was a 15 year veteran, won five NBA Championships, mother Maria, was a Division I basketball player and has been coaching basketball for over 30 years. Now their two kids Ron Jr., who have NBA regular season and playoff experience, but is mostly in the G-League. As well as, Dylan who was drafted second overall by the San Antonio Spurs coming off an unbelievable rookie year.
The Harper U ProCamps
Harper U partnered with ProCamps for a two-day basketball camp on August 18 and 19. This was The Harper U’s third camp/clinic. The camp was at Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, New Jersey where both Ron Jr. and Dylan attended high school and were superstars.
The camp was open in two different sessions with Session 1 being from 9 am-12 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday and Session 2 from 1 pm to 4 pm Tuesday and Wednesday. Each session cost $275 and sold out fast. Unlike the last camp, this one was co-ed and offered a wider age range of ages from 6-15 were allowed to participate.
Each camper received a souvenir 8×10 autographed photo of Ron Jr. and Dylan, a camp team photo, a limited edition Harper U t-shirt, and other fun opportunities. In addition, they got to be working hard both inside and outside working on every possible aspect of basketball in front of two great players.
Fun Itinerary planned
The camp featured a variety of drills, including layup lines, ball handling, mid-range and three-point shooting, offense and defense, and passing. The coaches were from Harper U. In addition, Ron Jr. and Dylan got in on the fun and would get involved with the kids running pick & rolls, passing to the kids, dunking, and Ron Jr. and Dylan even going head-to-head a few times. At the camp was Ron Jr. and Dylan’s mother Maria, sister, and Ron Jr.’s head coach Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics.
Giving Back To The Community
Both Dylan and Ron Jr. care a lot about the community that gave them so much growing up. Dylan mentioned the reason behind the camps and The Harper U when he says “The biggest thing was giving back to the community. We both understand how important it was for the both of us growing up around the right people, right system, and right community. We just want to give back to the community and show that if we can do it anyone else can do it.”
Ron did a Rutgers camp as a kid and he thought it was going to be a kids camp but it was very hard and real competitive and told his mom he was never going to go back to Rutgers ever again.
Don Bosco did a lot for the two young men and started their path to where they are now. Ron Jr. added “Bosco showed me the morals to be the man. I feel like going to Bosco, you meet a lot of good alumni, a lot of good people and good mentors. I always tell people my four years at Don Bosco was a big stepping stone for me becoming a man.”
Greatest Strengths & Mindset
Both Dylan and Ron Jr. have had a lot of different coaches in their lifetime and will continue to have numerous of different coaches. However, each of them have been given one piece of advice that they would remember for the rest of their lives.
“Grass ain’t greener” Dylan
“Comparison is the thief of joy” in other words “comparing what you are to somebody else is useless and to get where you are at the end of the day you’ll be happy.” Ron Jr.
In addition to the wise words of wisdom they received, they each shared their biggest strengths of their game.
“Probably my IQ, I think just understanding the game, understanding what’s needed at different times.” Dylan
“I would say the same thing but I would also add my shooting in there. After that my shooting ability definitely helps me open my game up.” Ron
Ron Harper Jr.
Ron Jr. had one of the better high school resumes out of Don Bosco Prep. He was a four-star recruit that averaged 20.8 points per game. As a Junior, he helped Don Bosco win their first title in 47 years.
After a successful four-year high school career at Don Bosco, Harper Jr. attended Rutgers University. At Rutgers, he was a two-time All-Big Ten member, where he averaged 12.6 points in four years. However, after college, he went undrafted. But he still worked hard to get to the next level. Ron Jr. worked his tail off at every level he was on.
He mentioned as a four-star he was under recruited after his biggest offers being from Rutgers, Nebraska, and Miami Ohio. After four seasons at Rutgers, he was in the G-League and balled out there while recovering from a torn labrum. Even after all of that, he saw himself starting playoff games this past season for the Boston Celtics.
“I went somewhere I felt like I was going to play and somewhere I felt like I was needed and I felt like I could repay them by bringing them as many wins as possible.” Ron Jr. talked more about how he was under recruited and how he ended up at Rutgers in the first place.
Two-Way Impact
He is now in his fourth season with the Maine Celtics in the G-League. Even though the season just started, he is still playing the best basketball of his young career. Harper is averaging a career-high 29.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and four assists per game. In a G-League game back in November, with the Celtics, he erupted for a career high 46 points and also demonstrated the clutch gene in that game with a game-winner. He was also named to All-NBA G-League Third team which is another impressive addition to the resume.
However, he still does have some NBA experience. In his young career, he played 29 regular season games in the NBA, where he averaged 4.2 points per game. But, Harper got to play in six of his team’s seven playoff games in the first round against the Philadelphia 76ers. In that playoff series, he averaged 4.2 minutes per game where he averaged 4.2 minutes per game and 1.8 points per game.
With the loss of star Jaylen Brown, there could be an improved and more permanent role for Ron Jr. Be on the lookout if he can earn that role through stellar play throughout the summer.
Dylan Harper
One of the few Ironmen alumni if only, to have a better career than his older brother, Dylan averaged 23 points per game and had a 38 point per game (career high) against their biggest rival the Bergen Catholic Crusaders and a 36 point performance against former and now current Arkansas Razorback DJ Wagner. He was also Max Preps National High School Player of the Year, New Jersey Gatorade High School Player of the Year and McDonald’s All-American MVP just to name a few accolades.
The younger brother, Dylan, has been a bit more successful than his older brother. Similar to his older brother, Dylan also attended Don Bosco Prep and had a successful four years there, including being named NJ Gatorade Player Of The Year. Also, just like his older brother, he committed to play his college ball at Rutgers. Another similarity the two brothers share is that they were both All-Big Ten members.
At Rutgers, he was a superstar where he averaged 19.4 points on 48.4%. He led his team in scoring and assists playing alongside another lottery draft pick in Ace Bailey. Harper also set the freshman scoring record with 564 points. However, the similarities stop there.
This past summer, Harper was drafted second overall by the Spurs. Harper had a very impressive rookie year where he made the All-Rookie team averaging 11.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. In addition to playing with one of the best players in the league in Victor Wembanyama, Harper was a large part of why the Spurs made it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014. Unfortunately for him and the Spurs, they lost to the New York Knicks in five games.
Future Is Bright
However by no means did they lose because of Harper, in the playoffs as a rookie and at just 20 years old, Harper was great in the playoffs. In matter of fact, Harper in the playoffs played his best in the Finals. He averaged 18 points 6.4 rebounds, and three assists.
In addition to the stats, Harper did the gritty work that does not show up on the stat sheet such as using his strong 6’5, 215 pound frame playing solid defense and making life difficult for the NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson. If Harper played more and started, the series could have went the other way or at least gone deeper than five games. One thing we do know is if he can keep up this stellar level of play, Harper is looking like a future perennial all-star and one of the bright future’s of the NBA.
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