Don Nelson has settled on his third captain for the 2008-09 season: Al Harrington.

“He’s a veteran, been with me now for a year, and stepped up his leadership in this training camp,” Nelson said.

Harrington, who was told the news Tuesday morning at shootaround, joins Stephen Jackson and Andris Biedrins as captains for this year’s club. Jackson is the only holdover in the role; last season, he shared the duties with Baron Davis and Matt Barnes, both of whom left this summer via free agency.

“I’m excited about it. Regardless of the status or not, I always felt that I was in a position to talk to the guys on the team,” said Harrington, who has now been a captain in all three of his NBA stops. “We’ll do what captains do, make sure the guys are ready to play, stuff like that. We’ve got to make sure we govern ourselves . . . just lead everybody else to do what they can in the interim, until we get Monta (Ellis) back.”

The move is one more signal of a rapprochement between Nelson and Harrington, a 10-year veteran who was dissatisfied for much of last season with his role and the many criticisms leveled by his coach.

“One thing Al had to understand is that it wasn’t personal. I think Al was taking it personal,” Jackson said. “The last two (training) camps we’ve had, this year and last year, Al came in in the best shape, looking the best. He’s worked the hardest. And I think coach respects that from Al. He wanted Al to drop weight, he dropped the weight.

“I’m glad that they fixed that because in order for us to be successful, Al has to get the ball. Al has to give us 20 points a game. And I think he will do that, and I think coach knows that now.”

Last season, Davis was considered “The Godfather” among the captains, with Jackson and Barnes as the lieutenants. What’s the setup for this year?

“Coach is Vito (Corleone),” Jackson said. “I’m Michael. Al is probably Sonny. And Goose is probably Tom Hagen.”

Said Harrington: “Jack is the Godfather, because of his age.”

– Geoff

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — The running joke about Warriors forward Al Harrington concerns his resemblance to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This summer, however, he felt like a different green character of cartoon fame:

The Incredible Hulk.

“I had a lot of anger built up over different situations,” Harrington said. “And it’s hard to come to work that way.”

Instead of going the Bruce Banner route, Harrington took a page from the Dr. Phil handbook and confronted the source of his enmity: Namely, his boss, Golden State coach Don Nelson.

“We spoke this summer, very openly,” said Harrington, a 10-year NBA veteran who was clearly stung by the way his playing time yo-yoed last season. “I told him how I felt about everything, and he told me how he felt about everything. As men, we talked about it and squashed it. . . . It was definitely necessary.”

Almost as necessary as Harrington is to the Warriors’ plans. If Golden State is to salvage any chance of moving up in a stacked Western Conference field where 48 wins fell short of the playoffs last season, a large part of the push will have to come from Harrington, who averaged 13.6 points per game last season and shot only 43.4 percent from the floor, his second-lowest figure since his rookie season.

“I can’t see us having much of a chance to win unless he plays at a high level this year. So he’ll have every opportunity to do that,” said Nelson, who last season often switched up Harrington with now-departed Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes in an attempt to goose production at power forward. “I’m not as deep as I was a year ago, so if he has an off game or two, we’re going to play through it this year. I’m not going to beat around the bush: He’s going to have to be productive.”

So far, he has been. Harrington, who is on a quest to earn 35 solid minutes each game, has had arguably the best camp of any Warrior. It reached the point Friday where Nelson came out for his meeting with the media and launched into an unprompted soliloquy regarding Harrington.

“Mentally, he’s sharp,” Nelson said. “From opening day, he’s been ready to roll. . . . I’m really happy to see that he’s approaching the season the right way.”

Harrington hasn’t been a primary offensive option since he co-headlined two terrible Atlanta Hawks teams,…