Hawks should keep Baby Al.

[Diesel]

All About Al

By NBA TV's Rick Kamla

Jan 13 -- The Player Formerly Known As Baby Al is worth the max, and the Hawks need to ante up as soon as possible.

Atlanta’s Al Harrington is having the best season of his life—in a contract year—and he needs to be given the max by the Hawks for a few reasons.

One, Michael Redd got the max last year and he was not coming off a career season.

Two, you have to overpay these days to keep studs in your uniform over the long term. At some point, it’s like, he’s close enough to a max-level player where we might as well go all the way to the max to make sure we keep him. I mean, what’s 5-10 more million between friends?

Three, why would the rebuilding Hawks want to trade Harrington or choose not to re-sign him in the offseason? Don’t answer that…and stop laughing. Yes, we are talking about the bumbling Hawks, I’ll give you that, but the hope is that they wise up and realize what you have is sometimes better than what you might have.

In Harrington, the Hawks have a durable, talented, hard-working versa-forward who can play the three or four, score with his back to the basket, and stroke the three.

In second-overall pick Marvin Williams, the Hawks think they might have the seed of a better player than Harrington, but that seed is at least a couple years away from growing to Harrington’s level.

So why keep waiting on the future, and putting off success, when you already have your four of the present…and future? It’s not like Harrington is on the wrong side of 30. He’s only 25! 25!!!

Yes, Williams and Harrington are ostensibly the same player—six years apart, but you can’t let a bad draft pick force you into moving on without a borderline All-Star. I say “bad” only because I dislike the position addressed by the Hawks in the draft—not the player. The 19-year-old Williams will evolve into, at the very least, a solid NBA player and at most, a Hall of Famer.

However, it’s obvious now as it was on draft night that the Hawks needed to draft superstar point guard Chris Paul. You know…the cross between Isiah Thomas and Allen Iverson who would have the Hawks in the playoff race right now. Paul wouldn’t be scoring as much with Harrington and Joe Johnson as his primary targets, but he’d probably be right there with Steve Nash and Baron Davis in the assist race with all those finishers in Atlanta.

Finally, when you consider the Bucks signed the mercurial Tim Thomas to a max contract several years back, it should not be hard for the Hawks to commit to Harrington long-term. Seriously, think back on some of the max-contracts that have been signed in recent years (Antoine Walker, Latrell Sprewell, Glenn Robinson, to name a few) and realize that Harrington doesn’t have anything to worry about. He’s gonna get paid by some lucky team.

GM Billy Knight recently told reporters that Harrington isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but there has been no talk of extending his contract. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you can sign contract extensions during the season. So instead of fielding trade offers for Harrington, the Hawks should be seeking ways to get his name on the dotted line.

What more does the Hawks’ brass need to see before making a long-term commitment to Harrington?

Through Thursday’s work, his averages of 18.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.9 threes, and 47 percent from the floor are not only max-worthy, they have him ranked 50th for the season based on eight-cat rankings. Bet you didn’t know Harrington was a six-cat player, minus the blocks (0.2) and free-throw percentage (.719).

Why wouldn’t the Hawks want to keep such a valuable performer around?

Whether you’re a member of the Hawks Nation or a fantasy owner, you want Harrington to stay with the Hawks. If he’s traded at the deadline or not re-signed this summer, the Hawks would take yet another step back. More importantly, the prospects of Harrington balling for another team, in another system, with 11 new players, is not appealing in light of his perpetual green light from Atlanta head coach Mike Woodson.

Bottom line: I have Harrington on my NBA.com expert’s league team and he’s helping me win a title. (The combos of Harrington and Johnson, and Baron and J-Rich have had me chilling in first place most of the year. Yeah, Straight Cash Homey.). And in a few years, if the Hawks come to their senses and keep Harrington, they could be playing for at least division titles.

Where’s Steve Belkin when you really need him?

[tmac13]

If we give Al a max or near max deal, we still have the glaring holes of a defensive big and a real point guard..If we spent 10 or 11 million on Al that only leaves us about 4 or 5 million under the cap by the time we pay another top 5 pick also..

It is obvious that we can't go through another year with the Al/Zaza combination at the 4 and 5..We have NO interior defense with that combo..We hopefully will either get a big or a point in the draft, but rookies can't be depended upon for quick results..This team needs to compete for the playoffs next year..

All this leads me to the conclusion that if we keep Al, either Smoove or Marvin might be dealt for needs..If we sign Al for 6 years there is little need to have forwards stacked up lacking playing time while having holes at the 1 and 5..I would include Chilz in the likely to be traded group except I simply don't think he has much value in comparison with Smoove and Marvin..

How about Marvin and Delk for Livingston and Wilcox?..Fills our needs and gives the Clips a replacement for Maggert..The Clips are doing well with Cassell running the team and may want to continue the success..We are simply trading potential for potential..We end up with...

Livingston/Lue

JJ/Salim

Smoove/Chilz

Al/Aldridge?

Wilcox/Zaza

That would be a fun team to watch...Thoughts?

[SmooveTheFuture]

Quote:

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If we give Al a max or near max deal, we still have the garing holes of a defensive big and a real point guard..If we spent 10 or 11 million on Al that only leaves us about 4 or 5 million under the cap by the time we pay another top 5 pick also..

It is obvious that we can't go through another year with the Al/Zaza combination at the 4 and 5..We have NO interior defense with that combo..We hopefully will either get a big or a point in the draft, but rookies can't be depended upon for quick results..This team needs to compete for the playoffs next year..

All this leads me to the conclusion that if we keep Al, either Smoove or Marvin might be dealt for needs..If we sign Al for 6 years there is little need to have forwards stacked up lacking playing time while having holes at the 1 and 5..I would include Chilz in the likely to be traded group except I simply don't think he has much value in comparison with Smoove and Marvin..

How about Marvin and Delk for Livingston and Wilcox?..Fills our needs and gives the Clips a replacement for Maggert..The Clips are doing well with Cassell running the team and may want to continue the success..We are simply trading potential for potential..We end up with...

Livingston/Lue

JJ/Salim

Smoove/Chilz

Al/Aldridge?

Wilcox/Zaza

That would be a fun team to watch...Thoughts?

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Id do that trade in a heart beat frees up the Log Jam At SF and gives up a PG with true PG skills

[uga2006]

Al has no where near the skillset Marvin has. This guy isnt worth close to max.

[HawksFan87]

obviously the man does'nt know how many turnovers or fouls he's committed to cause us to lose a game to many to count I think the HAWKS would much rather put the franchise on WILLIAMS back than HARRINGTON, there's no way i'll put it in his hands when he has bad knees at 25 and that is a great trade but hopefully we wont pick another small forward in the draft this year just becasue he's the next best thing

[Diesel]

I don't advocate giving Al the Max. What I do say is that we should give him a very fair deal... I think a 6 yr 56 million dollar deal is very fair...

Some of you here are willing to give Nene a 10 million dollar deal and Nene hasn't played and when he was playing he didn't show to be 1/4 of the worth of Al.

Moreover, I say that we should make an effort to plug up the Holes. I would try to get Cato or Battie. I would look for Aldridge in the draft. I would also look at Speedy Claxton in FAcy.

I think it can all work.

[Diesel]

I would say first we try to develop all of our players before we consider trading. Potential does trade as good as it drafts.

I don't see a real hurry to do all this trading.. I think it's just a means for doing something..

BUT..

We're progressing. We have 10 wins now and we only mustered 14 all last yr.

[gsuteke]

that was a stupid read.

defense isn't a category in fantasy basketball. there is no way Al is worth over 9 mil a season.

[Diesel]

I would say it's just the opposite.

Kalma watches players for a LIving... Unlike us Fans, he watches the games and he knows the statistics... He has more information than a handicapper.

[Diesel]

Tell me teke...

Why trade a player just to get rid of him??

Is JJ worth the 14 million he's making?

Hell, is Marvin worth the 3 million he's getting?

What is worth to you?

If we pay Al that 6 yr 55 million dollar contract, we would have over 10 million left in the cap to spend...

So again I ask...what's that to you?

We keep a player who increases our chances of winning.

You see.. at some point, you have to consider that we can't pay JJ all this money just to sit around and Baby Sit Marvin and the Joshes... Somewhere, winning has to be on the agenda. And for all of you who say that Marvin will replace Al, you know in your heart that Marvin won't be ready for another 2 or 3 yrs to produce the way that Al does.

[gsuteke]

well allow me to retort......... Jules in Pulp Fiction is my favorite movie charachter.

I do not see value in trading Al just to be trading him. I see value in getting a missing piece of the Hawks puzzle in return. The Hawks need a defensive presence in the paint and a point guard. the point guard has been talked about in a thousand different posts on this board but for the wrong reasons. the hawks do not need a PG to distrubute the ball, rather they need a PG to shut down the opponents PG from scoring. The Hawks do not have an offensive problem, they have a defensive problem.

back to trading Al. unfortunately the only offers the Hawks have received that fit a need are Nene and Watson. Nene will have to be payed regardless this offseason so it would be stupid for the Hawks to move on him right now. take a wait and see approach to how he returns from his injury. Watson doesn't deserve mention.

Al is a defensive liability. does he need to be traded to open up a spot for Marvin or Josh, no. there are enough minutes for everyone.

If the Hawks cannot receive equal value in return for Al then no he should not be traded. However, players that compliment Al need to be brought in around him to help cover up his weakness on the defensive side. it's all about matchups and player rotations. unfortunately Al is their only bargaining chip right now to ironically obtain the players that would ultimately serve as compliments to Al's talent.

addressing the money issue, you have to pay a player based upon their long term value is to your team. Al has significant long term value to the Hawks, however he isn't a 'franchise' type player. he is a complimentary player. therefore he should be payed like one. if the market runs up the price on a player beyond his value (see Kenyon Martin, Sam Dalembert, Eric Dampier) you have to do the smart thing and let someone else make the mistake on that particular player. giving Al franchise type money in giving him a max dealwhen he is not a franchise type player would be a pretty stupid move in my estimation.

[DominiqueWilkins]

We would be stupid as a team to give Al Harrington a max contract and he's only holding back our promising players (Josh Smith/Marvin Williams). It just wouldn't be a wise thing to even attempt to resign Al Harrington, because how I see it he doesn't play steelier defense, and doesn't fully represent a power forward like one should be. We really don't need Al Harrington, so why can't you see this?

[gsuteke]

i wouldn't got that far. i believe the Hawks should be stockpiling talent at this stage, and Harrington obviously brings good things to the table.

i had this argument with KB in the chatroom during the last Boston game. i believe the hawks only have 6 or so serviceable NBA players.

the plus with trading Al would be getting a defensive big or defensive PG. the negative would be losing a talented but flawed player.

the hawks are far from a finished product.

[bralin1]

If the hawks give Al the max then I'm through with my season tickets and support. Its real simple...Al Harrington doesn't play defense. Defense wins championships...I thought that the goal here was to build a champion. AL COULD play defense but he chooses not to do it. He is fools gold...when you examine him closely he is a fraud. Can he score? Yes. But even his offense is hot and cold. But the constant is his lack of defense.

Granted, as long as Mike Woodson coaches here we will never win a thing. But eventually he will be fired even if its over the dead body of his buddy BK. When you give a guy like AL the max you sell-out on the ultimate goal. A guy like AL just doesn't have the heart to do the tough stuff that wins ballgames...play good defense. He is a one way tease. I realize that BK probably doesn't know how to build a champion but it starts with guys who give their all and who play hard on both ends of the floor.

Wake up, Billy, and trade Al for a PG. A PG that distrubutes the ball and plays defense. AL Harrington is a sucker bet. Lets trade him now.

[pathway23]

Well put, I couldn't agree more.

Al is too limited a player for us to pay him the max or even close to it. We need to use that money on a player that can help us on both ends of the court, preferably a big man or pg

[TheDude]

stockpiling talent at positions filled is a thing that teams at a high level do, like the pistons...depth...a team such as ourselves who have glaring holes need to do what we can to fix those holes...depth is easier to get than starting caliber center and pg help...

so as much as i like harrington, i think we're best served letting smith play powerforward and marvin williams play sf and get that playing time...lets say we get a point out of it, then jj plays sg and we've got chill playing backup to two positions...and i think that zaza can backup center and power forward positions.

[gsuteke]

Diesel. Diesel? Deeeezuhl.... where for art thou Diesel?

[Diesel]

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I do not see value in trading Al just to be trading him. I see value in getting a missing piece of the Hawks puzzle in return.

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Let's look at this structure piece by piece.

My first question...

Why do you think we have to move Al to get that piece of the puzzle?? Let's deal in some reality here... We have a lot of capspace. We have enough capspace to sign Al to an extension right now and then to offer Nene' a 10 million dollar contract. To Sign Al to an extension right now, to sign Battie to a 5 million dollar deal and Wilcox to a 6 million dollar deal. So why does one have to inhibit the other?

My Second question

What makes you think that a team would do a trade for Al of their defenses pieces that are not going to be FAs?

Think about it. Do you honestly think that we can trade Al for Dwight Howard or Al for Chris Bosh... I will give you a list of who we can get for Al:

Artest (maybe), Boozer, or Kmart. We'd be fools to do either of those deals because of the consequence it would have on our team.

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However, players that compliment Al need to be brought in around him to help cover up his weakness on the defensive side.

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Ok, we agree here. Whenever you have a player who is lacking in one skill, you find a compliment. At one point, San Antonio had Dennis Rodman. They failed with Rodman in his prime because they didn't know how to compliment his game. Rodman went to the Bulls and Phil Jackson could care less that Rodman couldn't average more than 7 ppg... He had MJ and Pip todo the scoring. Rodman had a role.

Al too has a role. He scores. He's not the best defender on the team. However, we should have somebody to help in that capacity. That why I say that we ought to get Battie as our C in FAcy and draft Aldridge. Both guys are defensive. For as much as people rag Al's defense, nobody has said anything about Zaza's defense. Nobody has said enough about our overall team defense. But you don't destroy offense (especially good chemistry) for the sake of something that you can get elsewhere.

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Al has significant long term value to the Hawks, however he isn't a 'franchise' type player. he is a complimentary player. therefore he should be payed like one.

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I think what BK is looking at is the Pistons. All of their players fit nicely into a team mold. None are really superstars but all are important to the fit of the team. We need that same thing here. We have a great chemistry with JJ and Al. Even the Joshes and Marvin seem to be finding their spot in the game. We just need some success. And a frontcourt defender.

I don't believe AL should get maxed out either. I believe however, that you have to do better than he's been getting.

Look, we almost gave Kmart Max money and he's not as good as Al. I say 6 yrs 55 million is Fair and it's a good tradable contract if it ever came to that.

[Diesel]

Stockpiling talent (especially when we are still unsure of the others) is the best thing to do period.

A bird in the hand Doc.

Everybody who is a Hawks fan have HOPE that Marvin will turn out. They have hope that Smoove and Chillz can become consistent. However, we know how consistent Al is right now. While we have him, why not re-sign him.

About the other things...

By the calculations, we should have 19-21 million in cap space.

If we spent a little more than 8 million on Al's contract... What's stopping us from signing others?

Moreover, if we get a good spot in the lottery, what's stopping us from getting Aldridge??

The point is why can't we have it all?

You guys have gotten so used to giving up Talent for picks and giving up talent for capspace that you don't know what to do when you're past the starting over period.

Well, here's your hint..

We're past the starting over period... That ended when we signed JJ.

[exodus]

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Everybody who is a Hawks fan have HOPE that Marvin will turn out. They have hope that Smoove and Chillz can become consistent. However, we know how consistent Al is right now.

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That's right we do have hope that Marvin and Smoove will get better. We have no hope that Al will improve his lousy defense, which is the most consistent thing about his game.