I Like Harrington's Attitude

[Traceman]

http://www.nba.com/hawks/news/Harrington_quotes_071504.html

I think this kid is coming in with the right mindset and he just might blow up this year. I like the fact that he is preaching defense first, just as Coach Woodson has already been doing with the rookies.

[jezmund]

Yeah, very mature sounding kid. I wish he would have went to Georgia Tech but this is just as good. He just needs some guys to run with. I could definitely see him being a 17-18 ppg 7-8 reb type.

[Shorti5514]

He might be bring an additude and another ego to add to the bunch. On espn he's quoted as saying "start me or trade me" i quess the hawks are lucky because otherwise we wouldn't have acquired him.

[Pacers]

First time poster, but just wanted to let you know that you will like Al Harington.

Al just simply was not as good as Jermaine or Artest. Therefore Al was a sixth man. He was clearly the third best player on a 61 win team that got to game 6 of the ECF.

He does play hard at all times, he is very well liked by his teammates. he is a "great guy" he'll never embarrass the Hawks or Hawks fans.

I'll leave it at that for now if you have any questions about AL I'll be glad to answer them, I'll be very balanced in my replies, because there are some downsides about Al.

[Packfill]

Is he better at PF or SF?

[cyman3]

my only question is...

is HE SELFISH w/ the ball?

if u pass him the ball, will he pass it back out at times or always look to take it to the hole?

[Pacers]

Quote:

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my only question is...

is HE SELFISH w/ the ball?

if u pass him the ball, will he pass it back out at times or always look to take it to the hole?

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You have touched on the issue that bothers and troubles most Pacers fans.

Al is a very good passer, he can see the court and can make excellent passes. When he gets it he tends to shoot it. Of course it is possible that with the Hawks he will get the ball a lot more often and might be more willing to pass the ball.

Is he a ebtter small forward or power forward. Pacers fans have been arguing that for a few years now. I believe he is a better power forward and as he ages he will be IMO a power forward. But he can play SF

[Pacers]

Hope this does not bore anyone here, but here is a short post on Al that I wrote last weekend.

"If I had the time and energy I would love to write a long article about Al Harrington, but since I have neither right now, let me make this short.

Before I get into this though, I spoke with my brother about an hour ago and he saw Al today at a northside health club and he said to him sorry to see that you are leaving, according to my brother Al said yeh it looks that way. Al must have thought he said something else. I asked my brother if AL looked happy, sad, relieved or what, my brother said niether just very matter of fact.

Now my brother is not a huge Pacer fan at all, so he was not intuned to what Al's reaction was.

I have a cousin who lives two houses down from Al up in Carmel, same subdivision where Foster lives, she is friends with Al's girlfriend, has met Al a few times and says he is a super nice guy.

OK, let me get into what I want to say about AL.

I have liked AL ever since we drafted him. We have seen him grow from Baby Al to the third best player on a 61 win ECF team.

I'll never forget the start of his second season when he was getting regular minutes off the bench and scored in double figures in something like 8 out of the first 9 games. He was aggressive, a bit gangly, out of control, but he played all aspects of the game. I loved his enthusiasm, energy, defense, passing, yes I said passing, and his overall game. he had speed, quickness, strength, he could do it all.

He was coming along very nicely to the point where he was finishing games as the small forward instead of Jalen Rose. He was the Pacers best defender, and perhaps their best all around player.

Then on a mid January night in Boston he tore his ACL. That really hit me hard, not because I knew the Pacers were in trouble, but because I had come to really like AL, as a player but also as a person. He had chrisma. I'll admit when he tore his ACL I remember being on the Rats forum and we were debating how bad it was, there was a report that the players on the bench could hear a pop, well I knew that was bad, and I felt sick to my stomach and was depressed for a day or two after. I felt really bad for Harrington.

Pacers tanked after AL went down, every defensive weaknes was exposed, and the team was falling apart, I have kept a thread when we were discussing a game at Charlotte. The Pacers gave up 120 points and many of us were saying the Pacer swere the worst defensive team in the league. Of course the coach had a little to do with that.

Then the Pacers traded Rose from Brad and Artest, and that gave the team a huge shot in the arm, got them into the playoffs and we all saw how they almost beat the Nets.

I was so excited to see AL and Ron on the court at the same time, I figured that would be the best defensive tandem since Pippen and Michael.

But then something happened along the way to my dream of seeing AL and Ron together. Al changed his game, maybe because he lost some quickness or some explosiveness, or perhaps more than anything the team had changed and AL was not needed like he was before Ron and Brad.

Brad and Ron took some of AL's minutes, and Ron made Al's defense seem average.

Then last summer Brad was "traded". I theorized that the Pacers choose Al over Brad, that was a theory that I think had some validity to it. Brad always finished games, but now with him gone AL would finish games. But it never worked out like I thought it would.

I think a lineup with Jeff, J.O and Ron was better than when AL repalced Jeff. Sure AL is better than Jeff, but Al was much less effective when he was on the floor with J.O and Ron, it was almost like they were all fighting for the ball. Perhaps because AL had become too one-dimentional.

The death knell might have been when Croshere started over AL in game 5 and 6 of the Pistons series. Carlisle loves to space the floor and AL just does not do that as a small forward. As Bird said after the draft Al is not going to start over J.O or Ron. And we have Cro and Bender sitting there ready to play. So AL was the one to go.

So the bottom line is either AL or Ron had to be traded. I won't debate which one should have been traded, but I am 100% convinced that one had to go, and wheover was left should be the starting small forward.

I do hope nothign but success for AL, I will follow his career closely, and I hope he does well but of coure I hope the Hawks never amount to anything.

My next comment is not to start a side debate, I hope this thread is all about AL's time as a Pacer. But generally I don't miss former pacers players, but AL I will miss, as I missed Dale for several seasons, and Travis also. Please don't take this thread off on a Dale or Travis tangent, I don't want to go there.

From everything I know AL is a very popular player in the locker room, he just has the type of personality that draws people to him.

Good luck AL in Atlanta, here is one Pacers fan who will miss you"

[Traceman]

[Derek]

UncleBuck... do you think he could "explode" in ATL?

[Plainview1981]

Even though he was a 6th man he STILL played over 30MPG

and he'll probably play closer to 35MPG and he will probably

be a 18/8 player. I think saying he will be a 20/10 is

overdoing it abit.

[Derek]

I think he could easily be a 20/10 player here. He's not competing with J. O'Neal for those types of numbers and will see his minutes increase.

And you have to believe that a starting role will allow him to flourish. You can bet your tail that he works his tail off this offseason.

It's also a pretty safe bet to say that he hasn't peaked as a player yet. He came into the NBA as a high-schooler.

[Plainview1981]

I just don't think he's that type of rebounder. I don't

see him averaging 20PPG unless he shoots way too much.

[Lascar78]

Quote:

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I hope he does well but of coure I hope the Hawks never amount to anything.

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wait a minute now...

*puts a curse on the pacers*

[pathway23]

Dominique came on 680 the fan and in an interview with Buck Balou said that he thinks Al will bring 20-25 ppg in a starting role for this team. He says Al has the best postup game in the league for a SF, and that his game is a mixture of his own and Mark Aguirre's.....Pretty high accolades from 'Nique, I'd say.

[Ragnar]

I dont know about Al being like Nique. He will do very well for you guys next year. One of the problems with his time in Indiana was that he played better when Jermaine was not on the floor. Of course Jermaine was on the floor with him a lot.

The good news is that Jermaine will never be on the floor with him (other than against him) in Atlanta.

Man I am going to miss little Al. He always seems giddy to be playing and that is a lot of fun to watch.

P.S. Hi UB I see you made your way over here too.

[pathway23]

Well I don't see how he could be like Nique either, but consider the source. Nique himself said that, not me. I think Al can very well score 20 ppg for us. He will definitely have the opportunities, but I would be satisfied with 18ppg just as long as he continues to play great D like he did in Indy.

[DominiqueWilkins]

Al Harrington defently has the attitude the Hawks need.

This is Al Harringtons time to start, and show he can become a star in the NBA. I expect him to put up some very good numbers for the Hawks.

[Pacers]

I don't think Al will explode, but then I have been watching him for 6 seasons, so I have a good idea what he can do. If you are a Hawks fan maybe you have only seen him play a few games every season, although you likely saw him score 41 points on your team a year and a half ago.

Most Pacers fans wanted him to be an all around player, because he is fully capable of being just that. But a couple of season ago he got it into his head that he wants to score and score a lot.

If the Hawks don't make any other major additions or changes, I see Al averaging 20 points per and 9 rebs.

Beware of the fade away jumpers. He is very streaky with those as he is with all of his shots from outside of 12 feet.

Hi Ragnar.

P.S. I read this forum for the first time a few days ago, and I must say I am impresed with the overall civility and basketball IQ of the members here.

[Packfill]

I would be plenty happy with 18/8 from Al.