Luke Harangody leads D-League Charge against Fort Wayne Mad Ants

It’s temporary, sure. But for now, Luke Harangody has a home. And because of that, so do the Canton Charge: the top spot in the East.

In the five games since Harangody, the former Notre Dame star, came to the NBA Development League’s Charge on assignment from the Cleveland Cavaliers, the surging Charge haven’t lost once. While the rest of the East has beaten each other up, the Charge have leap-frogged three teams to slide into the No. 1 position in the conference—and second overall seed in the Playoffs—with the postseason a little more than two weeks away.

And on Wednesday night, when the Charge meet the Fort Wayne Mad Ants—and Harangody takes on fellow assignee Vernon Macklin—you can watch live on SportingNews.com.

From the minute Harangody touched the floor for Canton on Mar. 8, he showed exactly why the Cavaliers traded for him in February 2011. The player that had struggled to translate the skills that made him Big East Player of the Year into the NBA for two years dominated from the start, racking up 24 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks in the Charge’s 106-101 win over then-East-leading Springfield.

He came back with 19 points and 18 boards two nights later, against Maine. And 30 points and nine boards (with five assists) against Reno the night after that. And by the time Harangody had wrapped up the first five days of his assignment—the second of his 2011-12 season—he’d wrapped up NBA D-League co-Performer of the Week honors.

But numbers can’t tell the whole story. Harangody’s with the Charge to work on everything he can control—his mid-range to perimeter game, his defensive ability, his rebounding position—so he can offset everything he can’t.

Harangody scored at will with the Irish, but against bigger, more athletic players in the NBA, he hasn’t been able to find a way to contribute with any regularity. He’s had flashes of greatness, but more often than not, he’s found his 6-foot-7, 240-pound frame a few inches too short and a step too slow. So, under the tutelage of Canton coach Alex Jensen, he’s working on getting around those limitations, from a jump shot to moving more efficiently on the inside.

On Monday, he’ll face the toughest test of his assignment, when he clashes with Fort Wayne’s Macklin. Macklin has averaged 15.5 points and 17 rebounds in his two games with the Mad Ants, since coming down from the Detroit Pistons on Mar. 11.

The former Florida center cuts more of an NBA frame, at 6-10, 225-lbs, so pay attention to the battle inside, as Harangody looks to transform himself into more of a force on the boards and Macklin looks to show that he can take over a game against an NBA big man.