Tobias helping kids take care of business

Tobias Harris calls his Dix Hills-based summer basketball camp the "School of Business." This week's camp for above-average players consists of three 41/2-hour skill and workout sessions and is, apparently, no joke.

"These kids haven't really scratched the surface of what hard work is," Harris said -- fondly though firmly -- Monday after Day 1. "That's what we're really establishing. A lot of them were tired today and really exhausted, but I was telling them we haven't even gotten to the hard stuff yet."

Mastering the hard stuff, Harris implied, is how you get to where he is now.

The Half Hollow Hills West alum, who left the University of Tennessee after his freshman year to enter the NBA draft, is on the cusp of a pro career after the Charlotte Bobcats made him the 19th overall pick in June and traded him to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Now, with his future in flux because of the NBA lockout, Harris has returned home. It's where all his trainers are, he said, and where he wants to be.

"I just continue to work out," he said at Hills West, where his camp attracted about 20 players Monday. "Continue to get better -- be patient and stay ready."

Though Hills West has held a summer basketball camp since 1995, according to Tobias' father, Torrel, this is the first year Tobias is running it, and it's something he plans to continue doing for the foreseeable future.

SEE PHOTOSTobias Harris

"Seeing them ask questions and learn is the best thing," Tobias said. "I didn't want this to be this huge camp. I just wanted to select a few kids that I can work with and I can give all my attention to."

Torrel added that it's "important to see your kids, when they make it to the highest level, give back."

It was this type of camp -- along with heavy sibling one-upsmanship that comes from having four of six children with pro basketball aspirations -- that helped mold Tobias, he said.

"They want it," Torrel said of his daughter Tesia (who plays for St. John's and has a chance to reach the WNBA), and Tobias' younger brothers, Tyler and Terry, both trying to follow in their siblings' footsteps. "They're focused. Their work habit is habit. Like you get up and wash your face and brush your teeth. I think it's a blessing from God."

As for the future, Torrel and Tobias seem perfectly content.

"With the Bucks, he'll get to play there," Torrel said. "It's not a big city. It's a small city. It's great. It'll give him a chance to develop as an NBA player."

Tobias thinks he'll be ready. "I'm prepared really well [for the NBA] because we faced a lot during the year in college and I faced a lot,'' he said. "I'm a mature kid, so I'm going to continue to get mature and do the right things on and off the floor.''