The Problem with Al Harrington

We interrupt our regular Season Previews with something that's kind of been rolling around in my mind. I've been really stoked to get some of my trade proposals looked at by the NBA blogosphere via Gregory Boome, author of the NBA blog Peninsula is Mightier, through his new blog The Trade Journal. At least one of them has merit I suppose, I can understand the reservations about the Odom-Wallace trade, but at least some legit NBA people think that some of my ideas make sense. With that, I've been thinking about various ways to make various teams better, some teams don't really need it, like Portland, and some teams have a lot of various constraints of a more financial nature, like the Lakers. Being that the closest team I can go watch would be the Warriors, I decided that I'd take a look at how we might get this team better, and so I've been throwing people and names and ideas around to see what would work short of simply adding salary by trying to sign some free agent (like Ruben Patterson).

In short, nothing works. I blame Al Harrington.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Al Harrington, except that his skill sets are somewhat redundant, everywhere. He's also got a pretty hefty price tag on him, $9M next year. That makes him a little hard to trade. It's not really much of a secret that Don Nelson really doesn't like Harrington. He was supposed to be their answer in the post next to Biedrins, he's a pretty proficient scorer in the post, when he's actually in the paint, he's got some nice moves, but he likes the 3 ball too much, and like everyone that has the range to do so on the Warriors, is content to settle in a corner and jack up shots whenever he touches the ball. He's like a PF with SF skills or an SF with PF size, kind of like Lamar Odom, except, he can shoot, and Lamar Odom rebounds better. I don't know if the crazy fluctuations in playing time have anything to do with it, but he is only averaging 5.4 rebounds per game. Not horrible, but not exactly the kind of numbers that I'd want my PF to be putting up. He's a SF/PF that I'd personally rather play as a small forward, something of a poor man's Rashard Lewis. Ok, so I'm not ragging on Harrington all day, the guy's got game, he could thrive in the Warriors system if he weren't a SF/PF/C, meaning that he plays mostly PF and C. I mean, the Warriors have a system for shutting down big men like Yao, utilizing Harrington, but still, I think he'd thrive more in the SF position. In short, he's rather redundant next to Corey Maggette and Stephen Jackson, he's just not doing what he's supposed on the team.

So what's the problem? Harrington's not bad as trade bait right? You'd think so, but it's actually fairly hard to find someone who needs someone like Harrington who'd be willing to part with someone that would fit the Warriors. There's no real point in trading Harrington to dump salary, he's got an expiring contract, so you could just wait the year. Let's think about the Warriors' needs first and foremost, a big man that can play the post (ok Harrington can do that, kind of, so maybe we should say a big man that will play the post) and rebound or a point guard that can handle the ball.

Let me explain the PG part a little, the legit PF portion is pretty straight-forward, with Monta Ellis out, ideally people would like for someone a little more reliable than Marcus Williams, maybe Williams proves us wrong. With Monta healthy, front office expressed interest in Monta being the PG of the future, I think that'd be as big of a mistake as Denver playing Allen Iverson or Miami playing Dwayne Wade as a PG, which they've done before. Monta needs to focus on what Monta does best, that is, score. Not to say he'd make a bad PG, if you recall, Iverson and Wade both had fairly good stints as PGs, but playing at the 1 and running the team took away from their biggest contribution to the team, scoring. The reason Warriors have been so successful the last two seasons has been because Baron Davis is the idea PG next to Monta, he's big enough to guard the 2 and he shoots enough to warrant himself a perimeter threat. The only other big name guards that might play well next to Monta would be like Brandon Roy, Deron Williams, or Chauncey Billups, if he took the ball up faster. I think Detroit would be pretty stupid to do a straight up Billups for Harrington swap, as I don't think Stuckey is ready to take over the team quite yet. A healthy Shaun Livingston may have been another option, but I don't know that the Clippers would've given up a healthy Shaun Livingston, though arguably if the Clippers still had a healthy Shaun Livingston the Warriors would still have Baron.

Ok, so back to Al Harrington. So I'm looking around for teams that need something of an SF/PF that can shoot the three, drive to the rim, and sort of post up, in short, a poor-man's Rashard Lewis. Surprisingly, there aren't that many out there, and those that do have somewhere slide Harrington into the roster don't really have the pieces that the Warriors need.

The first thought that came to mind was some kind of package for Lamar Odom. As I've said many times before, I don't really think that Odom has much of a future with the Lakers, perhaps I'm a little more optimistic about Bynum getting back to 100% and staying healthy, and the Lakers have a need at the SF position. However, they already have Vladamir Radmanovic, and they need something of a defensive specialist that can shoot, not just a shooter. There's a certain amount of irony in bringing on an ex-Don Nelson Warrior to be a defensive specailist (ahem, Mickael Pietrus, ahem). Additionally, for salaries to work, the Warriors would also have to give up someone like Brandan Wright, a promising prospect that the Warriors might be a little leery of giving up. Finally, the Lakers probably aren't going to trade Odom to anyone in the Western Conference, let alone a division rival.

Well, what about Chicago? There are a couple of options there. First, you could try to convince Chicago to sign-and-trade Ben Gordon, who's actually more efficient as a PG than he is as an SG. Problem, I think Gordon is asking for a lot more money than Harrington is worth, so a straight up might not work out very well, and again, we run into the possibility of having to throw Brandan Wright or something into the trade. Another potential deal breaker. Another possibility would be to try to get a better rebounder, like bringing Drew Gooden back to Oakland. Ok, Drew Gooden is not a a name you'd want to really hear as the missing piece, but he's decent on the low block and rebounds decently. However, to match salaries the Bulls would have to throw in another player, and the Warriors would more likely get Cedric Simmons than Thabo Sefolosha. Fortunately, Simmons has an expiring contract. However, this doesn't really do much for the Bulls, who are also looking for something of a low-post scoring threat, something we've already discussed that Al Harrington is not, he becomes pretty redundant with Kirk Hinrich, Larry Hughes, and Luol Deng.

A more realistic option might be the Oklahoma City Thunder, as Sam Presti in the previous couple of seasons has taken to collecting expiring contracts and turning them somehow into trade exceptions and first round picks. A potential might be Chris Wilcox and Damien Wilkins for Al Harrington. It could be a major salary dump if the Thunder try Collison instead, but we'll stick with Wilcox. Essentially what OKC does is turn all of Damien Wilkins's 3 year contract into an expiring one. The Warriors, while adding an interior threat of Chris Wilcox, would also have to eat Damien Wilkins's $3 million 3 year contract, while not expensive, given that it's Damien Wilkins, is something I'd hesitate about as well. Especially as they already have so many GFs that take too many shots already. In throwing this idea around I've also heard of the potential problems of coexistence of Chris Wilcox and Ronny Turiaf, it'd be like the Zach Randolph/Eddy Curry problem, potentially, and knowing Nelson, the two of them will be on the floor at the same time at some point in time, though that might be secondary.

The W's could send Harrington back to Atlanta, but the prospect of getting some package featuring Speedy Claxton in return isn't very appealing. Indiana is another possibility, but the potential of having to package someone else (like Brandan Wright or a Bellinelli and CJ Watson package) with Harrington for a Jamaal Tinsley and Rasho Nesterovic package isn't much more appealing. Memphis seems to always be a good place to stage a heist, regardless of whether or not you want to try to yank away either Javaris Crittenton or Kyle Lowry (I don't think Memphis will trade Conley, I wouldn't if I were them) or you think Hakim Warrick is an improvement, you'd likely have to eat the ugly contract of either Antoine Walker or Marko Jaric, yeah, there's a reason they're so hard to get rid of. Same problem with Minnesota, though the only guy that you might feasibly get that's worth anything would be like Corey Brewer or something, and more likely than not you'd probably have some kind of Mark Madsen/Brian Cardinal package thrown at you, ooohhh (shudder, cringe).

The list just goes on and on:

Cleveland: Ben Wallace is not worth the extra players you'd have to package

New York: Uh... Zach Randolph? Eddy Curry? Heck no

New Jersey: Who the heck is worth getting on this team? Trenton Hassell? Stromile Swift? I don't think Sean Williams or Maurice Ager are worth the extra contract.

Orlando: Hedo is potentially tradeable since he's opting out next season, but one Rashard Lewis clone for another doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Sacramento: Probably something with Kenny Thomas, which means you have to package Harrington or settle for Ouby Douby.

Toronto: Andrea Bargnani and Joey Graham are not the answer and I don't know that Bargnani is tradeable. Oh yeah, I heard that he doesn't get along with Jermaine O'Neal very well either.

LA Clippers: Tim Thomas is also not the answer.

San Antonio: Uh... who do they have available to trade? Sign-and-trade package of Ime Udoka, Robert Horry, and Mighty Mouse? No thanks.

Miami: I don't know that they're quite that willing to give away Haslem (in which case Ws get Daequan Cook or something as well) and I'm pretty sure Mark Blount is not the answer.

Milwaukee: Somewhere along the line Dan Gadzuric's name is going to pop up, and that is not's something Ws want happening.

Portland: They don't want anyone and Ws don't want Raef LaFrentz.

New Orleans: Hilton Armstrong is not an upgrade, Mike James... that's also questionable

Philadelphia: Like San Antonio and Portland they don't have anyone they can really trade and they don't really want to trade for anyone

Utah: Matt Harpring and Jarron Collins are also not the answer.

Washington: Doesn't need Harrington on the roster and the Ws don't need Darius Songaila.

Charlotte: Sean May and Nazr Mohammed? Maybe, not a very convincing maybe, but a maybe nonetheless. Raymond Felton and Adam Morrison? No.

Phoenix: I doubt they can convince a trade for Barbosa and I don't know that a trade for Diaw would be that much better, and potentially, you get Grant Hill, not a horrible prospect I guess, but definitely not the answer.

Indiana: They don't want him back and Ws don't want Troy Murphy back.

Ok, ok, I'm done, I have to admit that was really fun though. Anyways, so maybe I left off a team here and there, but I think you pretty much get the idea as to what the problem that lies therein to be. Al Harrington is almost impossible to trade for equal value. No one really needs his skill sets and to trade him for a salary dump is just pointless as half the teams would trade for him to make a salary dump. It's possible the Ws just have to wait out until his contract expires. I'd like to see Harrington be able to flourish somewhere. Maybe he should find a bunch of players and restart the Sonics franchise in Seattle. As I said, nothing against Al Harrington, I want to see him succeed, he's just not standout enough though. I'd actually love to see him play on Phoenix as an SF or find a spot on D'Antoni's roster if the Knicks can shed the dead weight of Randolph and/or Curry (preferrably both), but c'est la vie. So, yeah, sorry Al.