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SURREY, B.C. -- Wally Buono is glad he was wrong about Andrew Harris. Then the B.C. Lions head coach and general manager, Buono had a different vision for the Winnipeg native than the one that has played out since he became the clubs feature running back midway through the 2011 season. "Smart as I was, I wanted to make a safety out of him," said Buono, now the Lions GM and vice-president of operations. "I think it just shows you the kind of athlete Andrew is. Football has never been too big for him. Its just finding a place for him." That place is in Vancouver for at least the next two seasons after the Lions signed Harris to a contract extension witha guaranteed base salary of $145,000 on Wednesday that will keep him with the team through 2015. With incentives, the deal could be worth as much as $175,000. Harris was a junior football star in the province before signing with the Lions, first making the practice roster and then special teams. "My career has been a bit of journey and I wouldnt want to have it any other way," Harris said as he met the media at the Lions practice facility. "Its been ups and downs and thats part of a career. The one nice thing about this is its another step to another chapter." The soon-to-be 27-year-old Harris decided to move to Vancouver full-time this off-season despite a trying 2013 campaign that saw B.C.s running game struggle for long stretches. "For me its a very good day, and I think for the province and the organization its a good day," said Buono. "For an individual to call this place home after going back and forth I think speaks volumes for what Andrew wants to be a part of. In the organization, you want to keep your assets and hes been a tremendous asset for us." The five-foot-11, 213-pound Harris has rushed for 2,568 yards on 481 carries (5.3-yard average) with 15 TDs during his career, quickly making him one of the premier Canadian running backs in the game. "Hes an elite player," said Lions head coach Mike Benevides. "Hes dynamic, and the combination of he and the other guys weve got on our roster will bode well for us." Harris rushed for 998 yards and seven touchdowns last season, while leading all CFL backs with 61 receptions for 513 yards. His 1,511 yards from scrimmage in 2013 not only led his team, it was more than 400 yards ahead of the next player. But the Lions ground attack lost its way last season, going 10 games without a 100-yard rusher. Harris totalled just 10 yards on two separate occasions during that dry spell, but he never let the adversity affect him, at least in public. "It was tremendously frustrating for all of us, not just Andrew," said Benevides. "He was the byproduct of everything around him. The biggest thing that I think people discredit is the teammate that he is, the pro that hes matured into." The addition of running back Stefan Logan, who started his career with the Lions back in 2008 before jumping to the NFL, and new blocking schemes on the leaky offensive line helped get the ground game back on track by October. "At the end of the day there was still a solid nucleus. I had faith in the coaches, I had a feeling the coaches still had faith in me and it was just a matter of getting everything put together," said Harris, who has never missed a game in his four CFL seasons. "Sometimes it takes a while to get things on the right course and get things going. "Thats what makes a team and makes a brotherhood and a family. I really think that more than ever the nucleus of this team is really close and were building towards a championship team." Now the diminutive Logan and the power-running Harris are set to spend an entire season together sharing the workload for new offensive co-ordinator Khari Jones. "Its one of those things where someone makes a play, you want to make a play as well and we feed off each other," said Harris. "Thats one side of it, and then staying healthy. Were both going to be very fresh. Its going to be a great season and Im very excited about it." The pressure will be on to produce title-calibre results in 2014, with the Lions set to host the Grey Cup at B.C. Place Stadium in November. Harris is one of the constants on a team that has seen a huge exodus of both assistant coaches and players this off-season following an 11-7 campaign that ended with a loss to the eventual Grey Cup-champion Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West Division semifinal. "Ive always been part of championship teams and this organization is looked on as a championship team. Any time you dont get to the championship its unsuccessful," said Harris. "Thats the goal. Thats the mindset. This 2014 season with the Grey Cup here is absolutely a redemption year. 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Here is an open letter from Steven Stamkos to his fans: When I shot this final Moment Zero film last August, it was a fun few days on set with Coke Zero and Jordan Eberle in my hometown of Markham.Former Toronto Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo addressed his tanking comments made at the MIT Sports Analytics Conference in Toronto on Friday and admitted it was merely a poor choice of words. Speaking on TSN Radio 1050s TSN Drive with Dave Naylor on Monday, Colangelo said he had no intention of tanking the shortened 2011-12 season, but definitely wanted a high pick in the draft. "I wish that word wasnt used for headline reasons," said Colangelo, "but the story behind it was: how can we fix the system? How can we tweak the system to make it less likely that teams are rewarded for losing records? "I do believe that if youre as transparent as we were at the time - with our season seat holders, our fans, the market place and the media - everybody knew what the plan was and what we were going through. It didnt make it easy to lose games but there was anticipation that games would be lost. With that comes curtain rewards and in the system that we currently play under, the team with the worst record gets the greatest odds and a non-playoff team is in a lottery that can ultimately lead to them getting top-notch talent coming to their team." Colangelo said the team was happy getting Terrence Ross in the first round (8th overall) of the 2012 draft and would never tell a coach to lose games since it can only have negative long-term effects. "Coach was doing such a fabulous job with the group that there certainly was no intentional losing going on because we won far too many games than anyone anticipated and it put us in a position to still get a nice draft pick in Terrance Ross," said Colangelo. "But it certainly decreased our odds of getting the top choice, which was a franchise centre in Anthony Davis." Colangelo talked about when the team faced heavy scrutiny when they picked Jonas Valanciunas, who was selected in the first round (5th overall) in 2011. ";We got booed off the stage when the announcement was made but that was the right pick for this organization.ddddddddddddIt was not an easy one to make knowing that Jonas would not be made available for at least a year and maybe more if the buyout hadnt been successfully negotiated. We knew it was going to be a tough scenario going into a new year without the inclusion of a top draft pick but the following season we also knew that not only would Jonas be coming but another fairly high-value draft selection - unknown at the time - would be helping us as well. Not to mention we would have cap space and greater developed players at that point." The Raptors finished the 2011-12 season with a 23-43 record, good for 11th in the Eastern Conference, 12 games behind the Philadelphia 76ers for the final playoff spot in the East, and the eighth-worst record in the NBA. The team neither rose nor fell in the lottery, receiving the eighth-overall pick in the 2012 draft where they selected Ross out of the University of Washington. The 2007 NBA Executive of the Year (with the Phoenix Suns) was speaking at the MIT Sports Analytics Conference on a proposal currently in front of the NBA Board of Governors which would see the draft lottery and any incentive to bottom out eliminated. "Admittedly, I will say, I tried to tank a couple years ago," said Colangelo to the conference. "And I didnt come out and say, Coach (Dwane Casey), youve got to lose games. I never said that. I wanted to have him establish a winning tradition and a culture and all of that, but I wanted to do it in the framework of playing and developing young players, and with that comes losing. Theres just no way to avoid that, but I never once said, Youve got to lose this game." Colangelo was relieved of his general manager position last May in favour of Masai Ujiri and eventually resigned his post as Raptors president the following month. ' ' '