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Oct29
Harrington, Nelson stuck with each other — for now
By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.netOAKLAND — Which comes first, the production or the playing time?
Warriors forward Al Harrington and coach Don Nelson are about to find out.
Forced into continued coexistence after Harrington’s trade demand yielded no short-term results, both sides in the Warriors’ latest drama put the onus on the other Wednesday to solve the forward’s fervent desire for consistent playing time — either here or elsewhere.
“He better play his ass off, don’t you think?” Nelson said at the Warriors’ morning shootaround prior to the season-opener against New Orleans. “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. . . .
“I just told him, ‘You’re going to play all you want. You’re going to be begging to come out of the game.’”
After seeing only 27.0 minutes per game last season — his lowest total since 2000-01 — Harrington remained skeptical.
“I’ve heard that before,” Harrington said. “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.”
Harrington’s biting comments to beat writers late Tuesday night pushed the stirring story of Vallejo native-turned-undrafted-rookie-turned-starting-point-guard DeMarcus Nelson to the far recesses of the stage and focused the spotlight firmly on the 10-year veteran who seethed last season at his inconsistent usage by Nelson.
“I’m ready for that,” Harrington said of the attention. “I feel like I’m at this point in my career, I’m ready for that type of pressure. I just want to do whatever it takes for this team to win. Obviously, without Monta and losing Baron, more responsibility is going to be on (the rest of) us. I’m ready for it.”
He was not ready for another three seasons playing under Nelson, however, something that became an official possibility Wednesday when Nelson signed off on a two-year extension worth an eventual $12 million. The announcement of that deal over the weekend, combined with only 17 minutes of play in an exhibition contest against Lietuvos Rytas, were the final straws in Harrington’s patience.
So, given that the fragile peace barely lasted a month, and didn’t even to make it to the games that count, why didn’t Harrington make this move back in June or July, when the possibilities for a deal were much more prevalent?
“I didn’t pick the time,” Harrington said. “It just came out now. During the summer, I spoke to Chris. I told him how I felt, and I told him my stance. And nothing was done. Just because the media knows still doesn’t mean I’m going to get traded.”
In the absence of any immediate deal, both sides rushed to say that the demand would pose no problem to Harrington and Nelson’s working relationship.
And they tried to float the highly improbable idea that Harrington will eventually rescind his request.
What, exactly, would it take for that?
“Me being out on the court, helping my team win. A lot,” Harrington said. “I think if I play those (large) amount of minutes, I can find ways to make things happen. I can find points and stuff like that. But I have to be out there to make that happen.”
In the meantime, it will be up to Harrington’s agent, Dan Fegan, to drum up interest and make something happen on the trade front. The Warriors were decidedly unmoved when Mickael Pietrus unleashed a carefully calibrated rant meant to force Golden State’s hand last season. And, publicly, at least, they were sticking to their guns in this instance as well.
“There’s no pressure on me to all of sudden tell Mully, ‘Get rid of the guy.’” Nelson said. “No, I’m not going to do that. He’s a good player. If we get a good player for him, it’s somebody that works, we would consider a trade for he or anybody else on the team. If not, he’s here and he’s going to have a good year is how I’m looking at it.”
And now it’s just a matter of production. Or playing time.
Contact: geofflepper@48minutes.net
16 Responses to “Harrington, Nelson stuck with each other — for now”
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Son of Ahmed October 29th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Great stuff, Geoff. Al doesn’t come across looking very good here, and he doesn’t advance his cause (being traded) very well by demanding “a lot” of playing time. He overrates himself and comes across as self-centered and immature.
If Nelson is going to play him all he wants, it will come at the expense of minutes for Wright and Randolph. Not a good thing. I hope Al plays well over the next couple of weeks so a decent trade can materialize.
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Lucky I’m not a GM, I would trade AL for a bag of cheetos right now.
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If Al wants to be traded perhaps he should not be completely worthless inside the elbow area of the court.
5 of 17 on the night. Eric snow’s expiring contract looks mighty good.
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AL stunk up the joint as expected tonight. Nellie is right about him he is just a role player.
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Well there you go Al you got your minutes and you are now officially 0-1 in . . “Me being out on the court, helping my team win. A lot,” Harrington said. “I think if I play those (large) amount of minutes, I can find ways to make things happen. I can find points and stuff like that. But I have to be out there to make that happen.”
Now Nelly is stuck keeping Al out on the court even when he is stinking it up. I saw the same old Warriors out there tonight. Seven man rotation . . . what happened to rotating the younger guys in so everyone doesn’t get so tired? I thought that was the difference with this deeper team, a deeper rotation. Instead I saw a tired Al and Jax at the end of the game forcing up desperate crappy shots instead of taking advantage of being in the bonus and finding a way to get the ball to Maggette and Azibuke to draw fouls driving to the basket. No, that would have been smart basketball and the Warriors don’t do smart basketball.
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Al Harrington was 5-17 in 42 minutes on the floor for the Warriors in a game decided by a grand total of 5 points. Al Harrington needs to either put up or shut up!!!
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AH sucks ! STFU already. AH failed in ATL, Indiana and now Oaktown. He sucks and I am hoping that he reads this blog/my comment. You suck AL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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AL lost this game for us I mean come on man can’t you follow through on your shot on the game tying shot thats ridiculous to me thats BBALL 101 you learn that as a fourth grader… N I don’t even want to get started on the rest of his performance we saw the stat line it was in his head the whole trade thing he is an idiot for going public with that the day before the season starts… SJAX can not play 48 minutes a game did not see what happened to him at the end of last year not mention the end of this game where I think he missed his last 6 shots. I know he played pretty good D on CP3 but u cannot pressure him 28 feet from the basket which led to that easy layup for him cmon SJAX you are 6″8 he is 6 feet or so he is gonna blow by you every time that far away from the rim. I would of liked to seen Nelson take a crack at Paul and how many times did Biedrins or Turiaf end up guarding Paul on switches that is so foolish u gotta fight through those screens… On a good note Maggette and Azubuike looked great and we played with the #2 team in the West last all game long. I think the Warriors are going to be alot better than people expect.
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TheCity October 29th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
7-man rotation,ugh.
48 minutes for Jackson, ugh.
Coach: a five minute rest is practically as good as 1-for-6 at game end, with the added bonus that the person spelling Jackson for 5 minutes might even make some points.
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Seymour B. October 30th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
How many of u can get out there and make something happen on the court???? ……………That’s what I thought, rock on AH and HATERS EAT A DI*K
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Joe.Sez October 30th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
I SUX on the court but I’d cost Mully the league minimum.
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