My thoughts on Al Harrington

[Vol4ever]

I know all hawks fans enjoy their favorite players. I was thinking about Al Harrington driving down the road. What kind of player is Al? What is his value in this league? How does he fit into the future plans of the Hawks? Who would want him?

IMO Al is a 6th man type of player. He does not rebound, block shots or play defense, and is somewhat inconsistent. He does go off occassionaly and can get to the stripe.

Al is kinda of like Reef when it comes to value. He is not a go to player and not a leader. He is definitely not going to bring two first round picks unless some idiot like Isiah Thomas gets involved. I would really like to move him for Nene or Duhon, don't know if it would happen or not. I can't see us drafting another player that is a swing man like Rudy Gay or Brewer, I would trade the pick for a veteran. Bottom line is we need bigs and a point. I do think our GM is too hard headed to listen to anyone and based on his won/loss as a GM I believe he does need to listen to someone.

I think Al is stunting the development of Marvin. Marvin needs to be on the court and a go to player. Al needs to be moved or come off the bench, heck we are not going anywhere with Al anyway.

I think there are a handful of teams out there that would take Al if they didin't have to give up the kitchen sink. i think of course NY - they want everybody, and Chicago might be the main suitors. Chicago wants Al but doens't want to give Gordon up in the deal. I think that is why we are seeing BK wait this thing out with Chicago because we are not going anywhere anyway, so the summer doesn't matter.

just my thoughts................

[TheDude]

i agree and one thing that i keep emphasizing that some may disagree with is Marvin's playing time. I think Al needs to go and we need to throw Marvin into the fire. I think that it can only help him. If his confidence is that shakey where if he doesn't do well at first, he plummets, then honestly his confidence would have be problematic anyway.

[DrReality]

Harrington heading on?

By Sekou Smith | Tuesday, February 14, 2006, 03:50 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Well, the games have officially begun. Expect the rumors and speculation about Al Harrington’s future with the Hawks to heat up considerably in the next week. Harrington, who is struggling with a nasty case of plantar fasciitis in his right foot, had an MRI on his knee and ankle here in LA Monday. He said he’s fine and that there is no cause for concern. But already the drama has kicked into high gear. Another NBA writer emailed me to let me know that he heard Harrington has a knee problem and that’s why he had it checked out. Not true.

If a team is asking a guy to have his knee checked out, and he was asked by the Hawks to have the tests, I’d imagine that’s a precautionary measure to make sure he’ll pass a physical if they’re intending to move him. This of course, is just me doing my part to contribute to the rumor and speculation. And Hawks coach Mike Woodson would say only that Harrington was having the tests, not why. But it’s a logical assumption at this stage of the game.

Harrington, however, assured me late Monday night that he’s fine. Stay tuned because with the Feb. 23 trade deadline fast approaching and all the NBA brass that’ll be in Houston this weekend for the All-Star festivities, I’d expect the real chatter between decision makers to heat up. That doesn’t mean anything will get done, but wait and see.

[DJlaysitup]

Quote:

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i agree and one thing that i keep emphasizing that some may disagree with is Marvin's playing time. I think Al needs to go and we need to throw Marvin into the fire. I think that it can only help him. If his confidence is that shakey where if he doesn't do well at first, he plummets, then honestly his confidence would have be problematic anyway.

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DocHawk...I agree with throwing Marvin into the mix now. If he has troubles that might be a good wake-up call to get him to work harder in the off-season and come in stronger and more ready next year. If he doesn't get pushed this year, and things don't work out well next year, he may basically be a year delayed in development. I don't imagine this can happen with AL still on the team.

[Traceman]

Al's foot is bothering him but the Hawks ask him to have an MRI on his knee and ankle? Sounds like they may be checking him out to see if he will pass a physical if a trade is made.

[DJlaysitup]

We can only hope and pray Traceman

[Plainview1981]

That;s what I thought... Al had it great in Indiana.. But he couldn't be happy and I would hope by now he sees now that he isn't a franchise guy.

[exodus]

Quote:

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Harrington, who is struggling with a nasty case of plantar fasciitis in his right foot,

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Plantar fascitis can be a major problem because it doesn't heal quickly. That could explain why Al's offense has tailed off so badly recently.

JJ sat out a couple of games in preseason with plantar fascitis and I remember thinking that it could bother him all year. If it has bothered him at all he sure has hidden it well, playing 40 minutes a game and showing no signs of injury.

[Plainview1981]

That's the same injury that Duncan currently has.

[HawksFan87]

I certainly hope a trade is in the works because I am ready to see him go he sure has been playing like he does'nt want to be here the last couple of games I think BK would rather but the frachsie in the hands of our younger players anyway with the core being JOHNSON, J-SMOOVE and MARVIN and J-CHILL we really cant say the young guys have been given much of a chance to show that they can lead this team as they have had to waibehind AL but with the trade of AL it gives them the chance to play more minutes and work on their games I expect namely SMOOVE and MARVIN to just take off

[Dakin]

Im out of breath after reading that.

[exodus]

She is the queen of run on sentences. That one may have been an all-time best.

[Nicholasp27]

oh wow

i'm gonna go with sekou and think this could forecast a trade

one can hope

[TheDude]

i appreciate the one apostrophe that you used and praise Allah for the one comma, but could we get at least one period. just one period. that's all i ask. heck you can put it wherever you want in that paragraph, even if it didn't make sense. you might as well be reading a list of words rather than a sentence/paragraph if you don't have punctuation.(by the way, the little dot that preceds this sentence you are now reading, is a period)....(look, there's 3 more)

[joannes3000]

Here's an idea I just thought of after reading your post. What if we were to put Al back into a 6th man position and start Marvelous at the 3?

Clearly we've been divided between wanting to trade Al and not wanting to, but this proposition could accomplish the pros of both arguments without the permanent effect of trading Al.

Is Marvin ready at this point to be a starting SF? I doubt it. But it will definitely give him the playing time to get adjusted to the speed and nuances of the NBA game that you can only practice in theory during film sessions, training camp, etc. Instead of speculating on what the future holds, why not get the future started now?

Is Al enough of a defensive liability that we can trade away his offensive contributions? I doubt it. Could you imagine having him AND Salim coming off the bench as instant offense? In a way this would somewhat remove Al's lack of defense and not trade away his 18 ppg average.

[Wurider05]

You are right!