someone please post,thanks!

Of course he does; he wants to get overpaid.

Harrington has eye on ticket home
Monday, February 27, 2006
BY DAVID WALDSTEIN

ATLANTA -- Al Harrington was practically built to play Broadway.

There's the contagious smile, the warm, outgoing personality, and an intellect that would flourish under the big lights on Seventh Avenue and 33rd Street, if not West Madison Street in Chicago, or perhaps even the Meadowlands.

And he has the voice.

We already know Harrington can make sweet music with a basketball. But did you know he can really sing? In a high school production of "Annie Get Your Gun," he played cowboy Frank Butler and sang five solos. When he was a McDonald's All-American coming out of St. Patrick's of Elizabeth, he sang a duet version of "Anything You Can Do" with Rosie O'Donnell on her old show.

Now that's a one-on-one mismatch.

Everywhere he goes, whether coming off the team bus or driving to a shoot-around, he can been seen wearing a Yankees hat, even when he's decked out in a suit that would make David Stern proud. Unless the game is under way or GM Billy King tells him to take it off, that Yankees cap sits proudly on his head.

Even though he moved to Indiana when he played there, Harrington is still a Jersey guy at his core. He grew up in Orange and Roselle, and obviously still has those strong Jersey ties, with cousins sprinkled throughout Elizabeth, Irvington and Orange -- "all over there," he says. And, like him, they're all Knicks fans.

Harrington even interned for state Senator Richard Codey in 1997 when he was still in high school.

"He's my boy," Harrington said recently with that resonant voice and infectious smile, making you laugh out loud.

Who else calls a former governor "my boy?"

A guy who is about to be served the NBA world on a platinum platter, that's who.

Free agency. Talk about music to Al's ears.

Come the end of the season, Harrington will be free to talk to anyone, anywhere. He wasn't traded before last week's deadline, so he will finish the year with the Hawks, and could eventually re-sign a megabucks deal with them. But he could (and likely will) also play the field, and let teams such as the Knicks, Bulls, Nuggets and maybe the hometown Nets make offers.

Harrington's mother, Mona Lawton, moved out to Indiana to be with her son, and after he signs his next contract, she'll move again. So, naturally, her vote is to come home.

"Of course. Who wouldn't want to come home?" she said. "Technically I'm a Hawks fan right now, but I'm a Knicks fan at heart. So it would be great if he ends up there. But it's not my choice."

When the Pacers selected Harrington with the 25th pick in the summer of 1998, he was the first high school kid taken in that draft. Eight years later, he gets the chance to relive that feeling of excitement and anticipation about what his future holds.

"It's all come back to me," he said in a recent interview in Atlanta. "I do feel that way. It could be the best thing for me because at the end of the year I can go play wherever I want without anyone saying, 'No, you can't do that.' I'm looking forward to that because it will be a good thing. And I should have some fun with it."

In '98 Harrington skipped some leafy college campus and instead went to study in the real world. He played a couple of minutes, became the apple of Isiah Thomas' eye along with Jermaine O'Neal, and eventually blossomed into a very good NBA player, if not an All-Star.

To this day he doesn't care about missing out on Sociology 101, the keg parties and rivalry week. He does have one regret about going pro right away, but it's a regret that can be remedied this summer when he will head the '06 class of NBA free agents.

"Sometimes I think maybe if I went to college, I might have been the top pick," he said, "maybe top two or three coming in from college, instead of coming from high school and having to sit three years before you play.

"But as far as the college experience, I don't think I really missed anything. I'm very happy with the decision, and I'm also happy I was with a veteran team (In Indiana) because those guys taught me everything I know. I was very fortunate to play on a great team like that with such a solid group of professionals."

After the three years of watching in Indiana, Harrington really began to develop his game, and averaged double figures the final three years there. Since being traded to Atlanta for Stephen Jackson in the summer of 2004, he has shown what he can do as a soloist, averaging 17.5 points and 69 rebounds per game last year.

Harrington takes averages of 18.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game into tonight's game against the Nets in Atlanta.

Thomas will likely investigate trying to trade for Harrington if the Hawks re-sign him in the summer. And even though Harrington is focused on the Hawks now, he never has been able to hide his desire to be a Knick and finally take his act to Broadway.

"I'm a Hawk right now," he said. "But to play at home in front of family would be a great thing. I know Tim (Thomas) was able to do it and he enjoyed it, Stephon (Marbury) loves it. It would be a great opportunity if it could ever happen.

"And I wouldn't mind playing for the Nets either," he added. "I just want to win. If it's the Nets, some new team on Mars, I just want to win."

i don't give up Frye for him, but he's a player that can help this franchise... ideally we could trade Marbury in a bigger package, unless ATL would take Crawford & 1 of our picks instead (which i doubt)

he'll fit in perfectly.... another swing man scorer that cant play D

Why would the Hawks want an expiring contract for Harrington? He is free agent anyway. That makes no sense whatsoever.

Posted by CrashDMB237:

Because its another almost 10 million off their books at the end of next season. Instead of letting Al walk they can get a decent player in return, 10 mil off the cap, and a late first rounder. Sounds like the smarter move to me.

actually, it would cost atlanta $10 mil for that late #1 instead of just letting al walk for free. to them, that's not worth it. it will be a deal for some players. i think if we want harrington, we would have to give them nate to sell some tickets.

Taylor and some combination of Nate/Lee/Nuggets pick/Spurs pick - toss in any of the two and that should be enough. Harrington is no superstar and has his flaws, but he would definitely make this crappy team better.

[Edited by - edsonline on 02-27-2006 1:11 PM]

Al Harrington Kenyon Martin????--I swear really not much in terms of fans knowledge of the game. Maybe Isiah is the right guy.

Right now the ONLY focus should be clearing out players who have turned this into a litter box. You don't throw money at bad money, and we've continued to do that.

Right now we need a mass cleansing, including Mr Isiah Thomas and Steve Mills. I'll let the new GM-President of Basketball operations evaluate and deal with Larry, because no matter what anyone says, LB has more credibility than anyone employed by the Knicks. Now I didnt think he was the right choice, and IF a new GM comes in and believes Larry is not the right person OR that they want Larry to play certain guys and he wont, then they can deal with that. But right now the hit-list should be


#1 Isiah
#2 Steve Mills
#3 Marbury
#4 Crawford
#5 Q-Rich
#6 Curry


these 6 cats must go--i outlined a plausible scenario in which they can all go--nothing will be perfect, but you must start by getting rid of the termites to assess and reclimate the damage.
We don't need to throw anything over this disaster, we need to clean it up.

al harrington is a tweener that's not fast enough to guard SF's. he'll need to spend most of his time at PF, so where does that leave frye?

harrington + toine, now harrington + joe - nice #'s on putrid teams. have we not learned our lessons already of bringing in good number guys from losing situations?

no to al harrington.
no to kmart (injury).
no to kg (30 years old).
no to jermaine o'neal (injury prone).

no to STARPHUCKING!!!

blue collar is the way to go. time to get some steak to go with all that bullsh t sizzle.

you're not going to "cleanse" those players off your cap w/o taking on others w/question marks of their own... be realistic... the best thing to do is to try & form a better chemistry on this team... getting rid of the #1 source of team unrest is vital... get rid of Marbury... Craw is next... then go from there.