Serena Winters: Here with Elias Harris, the rookie, out of Gonzaga – you played with Robert Sacre, are you and Sack pretty good friends?
Elias Harris: Ya we are really good friends. I played together with Rob for three years and so I know him really well and he knows me really well, so it’s good to have him on the team and helping me out.
SW: For those that don’t know, Elias actually has dual citizenship. You were actually playing basketball in Germany. How is basketball different in Germany than it is here in the US?
EH: That’s a really good question. Yeah, I grew up over there and played club basketball over there for my hometown. It was not as high a level as college basketball over here, but it’s just European style of basketball, there’s a lot of pick and rolls – a lot of smarts over there, less athleticism but still good basketball.
SW: When you were playing for Gonzaga, it seemed like you were playing more with your back to the basket, weren’t creating not too much of your own shot, that’s something you’ve got to do on this team – how have you been working on that this summer?
EH: I’ve been hear pretty much all summer working with the coaches trying to get my wing game right. Like you said, at Gonzaga, I was the four/five for the most part with my back to the basket and didn’t have too many opportunities creating my own shot, but it’s a new kind of basketball style for me now and I think I’m just really rolling getting better from day to day.
SW: There’s two rookies on this Lakers roster, yourself and there’s also Ryan Kelly are you guys budding up right now since you’re the two rookies on the team?
EH: We got to! We got to buddy up, like you said he’s a rookie, I’m a rookie, so the best thing to do is just to stick together at all times
SW: What has been the most surreal experience — wearing the purple and gold wearing this jersey and being around some of the best players to ever play the game?
EH: I think my first couple weeks here when Kobe’s in the locker room, Steve Nash, Pau, all of a sudden, it’s such a huge difference compared to Gonzaga and college basketball. I think that was the most surreal experience that I could think of.
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