The Warriors Finally Trade Al Harrington

The big news out of Warriors land is that Al Harrington is no longer a member of the Golden State Warriors. It is well known around the Bay Area that Harrington isn't really a Don Nelson guy and he knows it. He made it public that he didn't want to be on the team. Nellie was quoted as saying that he thinks he's better than he is.

He thinks he's a superstar. I think he's a very good player. If he wants to be traded, we'll try to accommodate him.

ESPN.com reported that the Warriors and the New York Knicks have agreed in principle to a deal in which the Warriors would send Harrington in return for Jamal Crawford.

According to Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don't Lie, this deal helps the Knicks get all their contracts set up to clear by 2010, when they are expected to make a huge push to get LeBron James. GM Donnie Walsh also drafted and then later traded for Harrington, so he seems to be high on him.

I have mixed feelings about the deal. Crawford is more of a shooting guard in my mind, and the Warriors are waiting to get their star shooting guard back from injury in another couple months. Crawford is scoring nearly 20 points a game this season, which will definitely help the Warriors in the scoring department. The Warriors have had to turn to undrafted rookie Anthony Morrow for offense of late because of the lack of scoring from the back court. But what happens when Monta comes back? Crawford and Ellis play the same position and are both better shooting guards who will be asked to play point guard. Crawford likes to shoot the long ball more, while Monta likes the shoot the mid range jumper and go to the hole more. I'm not sure they can really co-exist on the court at the same time, but if Crawford was a 6th man, I could see Don Nelson putting together some interesting lineups. Also, Crawford can shoot the three, which the Warriors don't do very well outside of Morrow.

Right now, it looks like a good fit for the Warriors. I just worry about what happens when Monta comes back.

Photo by ssshupe and shared via creative commons

Last Night's Run - I See Promise

Can the Warriors get Gerald Wallace?
Before I get to last night's game, there was an article written yesterday that put a twinkle in Warriors fans' eyes.

The Sporting Blog talked about a potential trade which would net the Warriors Gerald Wallace and get rid of Al Harrington. Too good to be true? Probably.

Wallace would thrive in Oakland and give me a national holiday, while opening up PT for Brandan Wright. Al Harrington is kind of a bum, but he's also a 6'9" jump-shooter, which means on some basic level he'd fit with D'Antoni. And that buzz has been there for a minute.

But then not too soon thereafter, Tim Kawakami broke my heart worse than Hulk Hogan.

There’s a temporary–and perhaps serious–wrench in Al Harrington trade speculation:

His agent, Dan Fegan, says that Harrington has been nursing a back injury since late last month and that Harrington is scheduled for an MRI later today.

I'm still slobbering myself at the idea that we could get Gerald Wallace. But I won't believe it until I see it.

Warriors lose to the Grizzlies again
Rarely would I ever be in a good mood after the Warriors lost twice to the Memphis Grizzlies in one week. But after last night's ball game, while I was disappointed that they couldn't pull it out, I liked what I saw. They are still a Monta Ellis away from really competing at any decent level, but there was some young talent on that court last night. Brandan Wright, Anthony Randolph, and Andris Biedrins give the Warriors a long set of legs and arms to seemingly challenge any shot on defense, and dunk back any miss on offense. And though I've stated before that I'm not the biggest Jack fan when it comes to him controlling the offense and being the money guy, no one plays harder. While you cringe when he takes the "I have a dream" three pointer, you give him the benefit of the doubt because he plays so hard, guards the best perimeter player, and owns up to his mistakes.

We didn't play hard enough. Down the stretch I am the leader of the team, so I've got to be smarter and can't give up a wide open three to their best player at the end of the game.

They still have this logjam of odd guards trying to find time on the court. DeMarcus Nelson fits much better as a swingman coming off the bench for defensive purposes. CJ Watson looks like a decent back up point guard who can come in and spot up for jumpers. I'm not sure what Marcus Williams is quite yet, but at least Nellie let him on the floor.

If we can't get someone like Wallace, I'm not opposed to trying to bring in a starting point guard in a trade for Harrington. I actually like Ellis better as a two guard and it would allow Corey Maggette to come off the bench, where I think he'd excel.

More from last night
Devin Harris spoils AI's Detroit debut.
But Chauncey's homecoming goes a lot better.
The Hawks are 4-0. Where's Dominique Wilkins?
The Bobcats upset the Hornets. J-Rich and Raymond Felton each go for 20.

Last Night's Run - Is Jack Really The Guy?

Warriors beat the Nets in New Jersey and I couldn't find it on TV
I was only able to listen to about half of the third quarter last night on KNBR. But my question is why, in this day and age, are there still radio only games? With all the cable channels in the world, why can't I get a Warriors game on TV? Even though New Jersey isn't a sexy pick, I'm sure some Bay Area fans would've wanted to see Brook Lopez and Ryan Anderson play with their new team. Lopez had 10 points and 8 rebounds, though fouled out in only 19 minutes of action. Anderson had 12 and 4 in 18 minutes. Compare that to Yi Jianlian who started and didn't even score. After watching two heart breakers, it would've been nice to see what was a fairly easy victory.

Is Jack the guy?
The Merc had a Stephen Jackson quote that I'm struggling with.

I just know I've got to make plays. I've got to be more demanding of the ball to get myself going. I'm 30 years old. I can't just stand there and break a sweat.

Stephen Jackson is really good in his role of being the third option on offense. But the guy? I'm not so sure. He has terrible shot selection, can't really create his own shot, and is much better without the basketball. His role today without Baron Davis and Monta Ellis is that of more importance, but in no way is the type of player who can be the guy on a winning team. I'm all for Jack's attitude and I'm glad that he wants the ball. But he's going to have to change his style of shooting without responsibility in order to lead this team.

Nellie says Al is on the block
Chris Sheridan of ESPN says that Al wants to be traded and he's definitely on the block.

He thinks he's a superstar. I think he's a very good player. If he wants to be traded, we'll try to accommodate him.

That quote came from Big Don.

Other news
Joe Johnson has the Hawks 2-0 in the early season.

The Celtics get their first loss while the Lakers are still undefeated.

Derrick Rose had a big game to lead the Bulls over the Grizzlies. Rudy Gay now leads OJ Mayo 67-46 in shot attempts.

Last Night's Run - Warriors Give It Away Again

Warriors give it away
Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now
Give it away give it away give it away now



The Warriors might've been listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers before the first two games of the season. If that's the case, I have one request for them. Please stop.

Hornets and Raptors fan could argue that their teams won the games rather than that the Warriors lost them and that's a valid argument. However, it doesn't go with the theme of this post, so I'll stick with my argument.

Nellie went with a much different type of lineup Friday night. It was actually bizarro-Nellie, and on Halloween Night. Rather than go small against Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, and Jermaine O'Neal, he went large to take advantage of Jose Calderon, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, and Jason Kapono. Nellie's best line-up consisted of Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Al Harrington, Ronny Turiaf, and Andris Biedrins. Defensively, they were tremendous, especially Turiaf. It made me think that he needs to start at the 4 spot, even if they don't go big.

Much like teams without great point guards do, the Warriors turned the ball over in the clutch. Late in the 4th quarter with the lead, they took terrible shots, threw the ball away, fell down with the ball in their hands, and things like that. It seemed that Corey Maggette was the designated go to guy in the 4th, but he didn't work out. Kapono was guarding him and rather than take Kapono to the hole and go to the free throw line, he was setting for jump shots and fade aways. And then when he finally decided to go to the hole, he wasn't getting the calls.

Al Harrington seems to believe that the heavy minutes that the starters are playing is causing them to be tired by the game's end, in what I think seems to be a shot at Nellie.

In the preseason, we weren't playing 40 minutes. Right now we are, so it's something we've got to get used to, get adjusted to, and quick.

The preseason is usually a time where you're resting. It seems like we should have been playing a little bit more so we'd be prepared for now. It's going to take us a couple of games to get adjusted to and then we'll start knocking our shots down in the fourth.

It's a logical statement, but anything he says might seem a little tainted because of this now public feud with Nellie.

New Jack City brings people together
Truehoop has a great story about Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge and how there was a tiff between them and they were brought back together because of a trip to Oregon for Nike. During the trip, they watched New Jack City (Odom was also on the trip, but he's a sleeper) together and found out that they were each huge fans of the movie. And then, because they didn't have cell phone reception, they just started talking and worked things out.

With Rodney King's resurgence (he's on Dr. Drew's second season of Celebrity Rehab), I was reminded of this quote. "Can't we just all get along?"

Gay/Mayo Update
Rudy Gay hit a buzzer beater to help his Grizzlies beat the Magic last night. But more importantly, he opened up a huge lead over OJ Mayo in the shots category. He took 26 shots last night to Mayo's 11. He now leads 48-31.

Last Night's Run - Baron Davis Needs The Warriors

Baron Davis needs the Warriors and the Warriors need Baron Davis.
After watching my poor Warriors lose their home opener last night and at the same time seeing that the Clippers were blasted by the Lakers, I came to the conclusion that Baron Davis leaving the Warriors doesn't just hurt the Warriors, it also hurts Baron Davis.

(At least it hurts him on the court. Jay Jay just posted that Baron is now dating Kate Hudson.)

The Warriors some how hung tight with New Orleans last night and did it without having a point guard on the court for most of the night. Rookie DeMarcus Nelson, who isn't even a point guard, started at point guard for the Warriors, but for most of the night Stephen Jackson played the point, and we're not talking point forward. The Warriors played like Mike Martz was coaching them. They were frenetic, crazed, and at times, Stephen Jackson was playing like he took 4 shots of vodka at halftime. With Baron, they would've won the game, and probably easily. Even though Corey Maggette was better than expected, putting up 27 and 8, without anyone to direct that team, they looked like a 33 win team. They desperately need Monta, but it's not like he's a point guard either.

As for Baron, it might be worse. I took one look at the starting lineup that the Clippers rolled out there against the Lakers and man for man, the Warriors were better. I'm not sure how you can win with Tim Thomas starting and Ricky Davis coming off the bench and playing 24 minutes. Baron might've bit off more than he can chew. Marcus Camby was injured, but he's not going to help them put the ball in the hole. Who is going to score for the Clippers other than Baron? Cuttino Mobley is a career 16 ppg scorer, but that's on shooting 43% compared to Monta shooting over 50% last year. Maybe Al Thornton improves on his 16 ppg from his rookie year and maybe Eric Gordon finds a way to get some playing time. But that's a lot of maybes and when your best player is a guy who is oft injured, that's not a good look.

Photo by luzer shared via creative commons

Baron, you and the Warriors need each other. On the Warriors, you regained your status as one of the best point guards in the league. Without them, I'm not sure you can be.

Al Harrington vs. Don Nelson
The Warriors do have more pressing worries though. This won't be like the Chris Webber deal because Al Harrington isn't as good of a player, but it looks pretty ugly.

Geoff Lepper has some quotes from both guys.

From Nellie:

He better play his ass off, don't you think? For us to make a trade for him and get a good player in return, he's going to have to play well. Otherwise, if he doesn't play well, he doesn't get his wish, and I don't get mine by having a good player... You're going to play all you want. You're going to be begging to come out of the game.

From Harrington:

I've heard that before. So I'm just at the point where I want it to be shown to me... I've been the gunslinger before and the guy that could do whatever I wanted to on the floor. And that didn't happen (here). That's why, when he tells me that, I can't jump for joy, because I've heard it before. We'll start tonight and we'll see if that's the truth.

Nellie wins round one. Harrington shot 5-17 in 42 minutes with only 13 points and 7 boards.

Mayo vs. Gay
I stated in my preview that one of the most exciting battles this season would be to see who has the most shot attempts between chuckers OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay. After one game, Rudy leads 22-20. Come on OJ, I got money on you.

Al Harrington Wants Out?

According to Tim Kawakami's blog, Al Harrington wants to be traded, and as soon as possible.

What's odd to me is that Harrington's value is in being able to play multiple front line positions in the Warriors' uptempo offense. He's probably far more valuable to a team like the Warriors, than most other teams in the league. But he's also one of those players who people continue to think is going to turn into a breakout star, even though they've been thinking about him like that for years.

I like Al in the Warriors system because he's fairly athletic and can shoot, but he's not the difference in turning a team around.

Also, Bay Area fans have seen this before. Don Nelson can wear on players.

Edit

Geoff Lepper has a story that quotes Harrington and Nelson as saying things are ok.