Harrington: I wasn’t one of D’Antoni’s Guys

I can’t blame D’Antoni for not having Al as one of his “guys”. Watching him play was some of the most annoying moments of the season last year…everytime he got the ball he’d just put his head down and dribble into a triple team…or hoist up a terrible shot no matter how hot or cold he was…

Al Harrington is a ball hog and chucker. I don’t think he even averaged an assist while he played in New York. Ball movement completely stops with him so I don’t see how anyone would really want him other than for some bench scoring – which is probably what Denver will use him for.

Dantoni is definitely on notice and with this team anything less than a playoff spot is grounds for him to be fired barring injuries or catastrophe.

As for Harrington, he just was not a good fit for Dantoni. Harrington is a guy that clashes big time with the Dantoni style. He’s an isolation drag down the clock type of guy who was playing for a coach who likes ball movement. Dantoni played him because he didn’t really have too many alternatives. What are you gonna do? Dantoni definitely needs to learn to better use what’s around him though instead of trying to forcefeed his style. I think it’s a major weakness of his…

I thought if anything Dantoni played Harrington too much…

I’m surprised that Al even wanted to come back. He is a TERRIBLE fit in this system. D’Antoni wants a quick strike offense, which pretty much involves ball movement and knocking down open shots. Harrington only plays well in isolation. He doesn’t pass, can’t run anymore, and doesn’t have any explosion left. Why would the Knicks want him back?

Totally agree. Harrington was one reason for the losing record.

Welcome back from vaca Tommy.

Al just needs to keep quiet. How many bad shots did this guy put up? How many passes did he actually complete? I have a hard time believing what Al Harrington has to say will influence Carmelo. Melo is an All-Star and plays like one and Al thinks he is an All-Star when he needed to stop trying to act like one and stick to his role.

In reality, D’Antoni’s job was do his best to develop the young players and keep the Knicks product as entertaining as possible. Harrington, Hughes, Robinson, Curry, Milicic or Rodriquez are not core players for D’Antoni or any other coach. I wish all the former Knicks well but for any of them to think they were part of the Knicks future makes no sense to me with or without D’Antoni.

Al Just Doesnt Pass The ball at all, hes a ballhog. we will be much better off without hm and hughes 2 chuckers and big mouths. we have young guys on this team now and we will be better off, i am excited about this team, and welcome back Tommy, i hope you had a great vacation we all missed you on the blog. “Lets Go Knicks”

So Tommy,what exactly did you know about Lebron comming here that we didnt know?For 2 years you acted as if you knew an inside secret that you overheard and werent allowed to say.For one. year,you and DVJ were practically winking at each other as if you both knew something that nobody else did.For 2 years ,Donny Walsh was making moves as if he had a promise,or a note signed by LBJ that he was 100% sure that he would play here.Its over,howz about spilling it now.And can we get just ONE season in,before you start with that”MELO IS COMMING TO NY” crap

The Fact That These Are Guys We Wanted Gone (Marbury,Q Rich,Al,Harrington) Complaining about Mike I won’t claim its an issue until one of our good guys
(Gallo, Ant, Amar’e, etc) complain about it.

wow. Just ridiculous. I saw this coming yesterday when he actually was interviewed by the NBA tv announcers during the Denver Summer League game. While he didn’t mention Dantoni, he took a few shots at him by saying he was looking forward to Denver where he could be used the “right way”. Of course, he then talked about how he would be a low or mid-post presence but somehow at the same time be used to stretch the floor as a 3 pt shooter, so Im not sure he even knows what the best way for him to be used on the floor is.

Anyway, just completely ridiculous. Dantoni gave this guy every chance in the book, and he kept doing the same bad things over and over again. He was the antithesis of winning, team basketball.

Not to try and defend Dantoni because he surely should be on notice, but is anyone beginning to notice a pattern here? Harrington, Hughes, Marbury, Curry…It’s like a dream team of malcontent veterans with a very over-inflated sense of their value to a team.

At the very least, I am so, so glad that Harrington is gone for good and he can now be Denver’s problem. Like David Lee and Nate Robinson, he will need to make serious changes to his game if he wants to be part of a winning team. He certainly didn’t do that while he was here. And while I would have wished him good luck and rooted for him before even though I hated watching him on the Knicks, there now is no way I will do that. I hope he flops in Denver like he flopped here.

He’s a true “veteran leader”, what a joke.

1. We Had To Get Under The Cap we had an average team that wasn’t going anywhere, thats what donnie was working for not Lebron James, now we have a good young team under the cap.
2. Melo To NY Isn’t crap we are just waiting to see if he’s coming via trade or free agency.

take it down a notch.
You know how some people are obnoxiously pessimistic. well, tommy is an obnoxiously optimistic person.
There’s nothign wrong with that.
If we are forced to read overly pessimistic views on D’antoni. Walsh, the Knicks, _avi_ Lee and all that garbage. I think it’s only that we have other viewpoints to balance it out.

I read the blog religously, and i do not agree with your opinion that Tommy led us to believe he had insider knowledge that Lebron was coming. He was just being optimistic. You should try it sometime. its kinda nice.

I see a lots of guys do hate MDA here.. but I think we must give him his last chance this year.. cuz I believe the year he comes in NY is where do we start to slashing cap space.. and also I think the Knicks can’t play defense cuz player are not good in defense, now we have some good defensive player let us wait and see if our coach can do something about it.. let us be positive for the upcoming season.. please no more bashing of our coach and players that will make this team come the regular season…

Go Knicks!!

I think Al was right, he was not one of D’Antoni’s guys.

Just like he was not one of Don Nelson’s “guys”.

Al has not spent more than a few seasons with a team at any time. (2 stints with Pacers, but still) To my point, maybe he is a player that is just not coachable.

He shoots A LOT of shots, and needs the ball in his hands to be effective on the court.

This is the perfect case of a guy that went from High School straight into the Pros, and has a its all about me attitude. College teaches you how to play in the system and how to be coached.

Al is a talented scorer, but this isnt a D’Antoni problem (we have enough of those) this seems to be an Al Harrington problem.

Ps. Welcome back Tommy.

PPS. That video was awesome!

First of all ,where do you get this knowledge that Melo is def comming to NY,were just waiting to see if its by trade or free agency? christ youre a pisser.and 2,there were defenatly a couple of times a while back ,that TOMMY infered he had some some inside knowledge but couldnt say . Obviously i cant remember exactly which post it was.But it was in a post

Yea, Tommy gets a pass most definitely. He just really wanted it to happen and was being optimistic, but DVJ? Now that dude was “obnoxious” with his Stay Patient My Friends lol. He’s a good guy too though, just wrong all the time. His last “prediction” was that John Wall wouldn’t be an impact player in his rookie year. We’ll see, but do we really have to wait lol?

My man DVJ is cool though, kinda miss the guy.

In the other i really support Coach D’antoni. I look at his track record, This guys won 61 games with the following players on his roster, you tell me how many of this players would you like to be in the Knicks team:

Marcus banks, barbosa, Raja Bell, pat burke, diaw, james jones, jumaine jones, Shawn marion, sean Marks, eric piatkowski, kurt Thomas, jalen Rose, STEVE NASH and AMAR’E.

YES, i know two players and we already have one…
This is the problem that i have we knicks fans talking about D’antoni. The knicks had a roster of washed out bums that were decent players in bad teams, selfish players and uncoachable players. This bums were upset because the Coach would not take sh*t from them…
I give it to D’antoni, he has the balls to stick to his guns eventouhg that all knicks fans, the media and people around the team would boo him and try to get him fired.

You all should look at this coach and think lets hope the current players will buy into his system, play hard, fast and smart.
Basketball is about winning games and that could be accomplished in two ways, have the other team score less points than you or you scoring more points than the opossition.
In the NBA is easier put the ball in the basket than to stop a gifted athletes with really good skills from scoring.
You all say that Defense wins champioships but a 120-119 game only need one stop by the team that is winning. 80-79 and 120-119 is the same sh*t when your team is up 1 point all you need is one stop.
Finally as a fan of basketball I enjoy more a game that finish 110-109 than a boring game that ends 80-79 with one thousend missing shots…it is really boring.

In the other i really support Coach D’antoni. I look at his track record, This guys won 61 games with the following players on his roster, you tell me how many of this players would you like to be in the Knicks team:

Marcus banks, barbosa, Raja Bell, pat burke, diaw, james jones, jumaine jones, Shawn marion, sean Marks, eric piatkowski, kurt Thomas, jalen Rose, STEVE NASH and AMAR’E.

YES, i know two players and we already have one…
This is the problem that i have we knicks fans talking about D’antoni. The knicks had a roster of washed out bums that were decent players in bad teams, selfish players and uncoachable players. This bums were upset because the Coach would not take sh*t from them…
I give it to D’antoni, he has the balls to stick to his guns eventouhg that all knicks fans, the media and people around the team would boo him and try to get him fired.

You all should look at this coach and think lets hope the current players will buy into his system, play hard, fast and smart.
Basketball is about winning games and that could be accomplished in two ways, have the other team score less points than you or you scoring more points than the opossition.
In the NBA is easier put the ball in the basket than to stop a gifted athletes with really good skills from scoring.
You all say that Defense wins champioships but a 120-119 game only need one stop by the team that is winning. 80-79 and 120-119 is the same sh*t when your team is up 1 point all you need is one stop.
Finally as a fan of basketball I enjoy more a game that finish 110-109 than a boring game that ends 80-79 with one thousend missing shots…it is really boring.

Oh yeah Welcome Back Tommy D!!

I always liked Baby Al but I knew this system or should I say Mike D wasnt for him. Karl has told him he will use him in different ways, so good for Al. Also bringing Al in mayb a failsafe for Denver he Melo comes to us?

Mike we gotta beleive worked with Donnie to get the kind of personnel he wanted once LeCon moved on, so lets see what happens now that only Ill Will and Eddy are left from Zeke’s reign? One noteable which I think is HUGE NO DEFENSIVE ASSISTANT HAS BEEN HIRED!! Hire Lawrence Frank or Mike Brown, cmon Donnie show a committment to defense, Mikes crew just dont have it in them as evidenced in this year’s summer league play and previous NBA years

Well i support a Mike Brown or Lawrence in a switch from Herb Williams, i dont really see why he is still on bench…

This seems to me like Al was upset he wasn’t asked back this year, he was probably waiting on LBJ’s decision and thought he’d be paid if LBJ wasn’t.

On that note, this is D’Antoni’s year to earn his money. This is more or less his roster, he has a good amount of talent, an All Star he has suceeded with in the past, there are no more excuses. Playoffs or bust, but I think we make the playoffs.

I feel bad for Al, with the Knicks being his favorite team growing up.

BUt of course, another NY athlete bashing the team on the way out the door.

But all of boston’s athletes lick their heinies clean on the way out, even after boston throws them to the wolves and makes them out to be the bad guys.

Sickening.

Yeah, if we don’t make the playoffs this year Dantoni should be fired imo. We have gone through a lot and retooled the roster with a lot of players that Dantoni likes and that he actually has a chance to succeed with. We now have decent talent for him to work with…if he is anything above an average coach I imagine we will be an 8th seed at worse.

And what kind of coach just makes up his mind that a guy – in this case, Harrington – isnt his guy?

Even if the guy efforts all the time and actually produces?

Because Melo wants to be here, he said it. If you want more proof why else hasn’t he signed his extension?
And I Think Tommy was being optimistic as well if he wrote a post everytime he got a little bit of information on where Prince James was going Tommy would look very bipolar.

At times Harrington carried the team, and was the only offense we had. At times, he kept us in games. But he always seemed to run out of steam, and then would disappear for long stretches. He has stretches of great individual play, but simply isn’t consistent enough to lead a team, and his lack of team play can hurt the team.

I like Harrington’s heart and desire to play in NY, but he’s best suited to come off the bench for a boost of scoring. Would have fit best with the Mavs, is an ok fits with the Nuggets. Not a fit with the Knicks.

i’m sorry but we have to go to this place.
when you see jr smith show up at sl…………
don’t you have to ask where is eddy curry?
what exactly does he have to lose by showing up?
what does he have to gain?
i think the gain beats the lose BY A LOT!

Al Harrington needs to shut the hell up.

The Knicks never called you after July 1st? Maybe you didn’t play well enough with the Knicks genius! What you can’t understand that we needed a point guard more than a chucker?

And Mike D’Antoni didn’t want you back? Guess what, most Knicks fans didn’t want you back either!

I don’t even hate Buckets but his comments are ridiculous. I guess he’s been asked to trash the Knicks so Carmelo Anthony feels better about staying in Denver.

“If you want more proof why else hasn’t he signed his extension?”

Be careful, that sounds very familiar.

Al Harrington played hard everynight.

But I’ve never seen him pass the ball. He’s definitely not a good team player, he actually hurts his team more than anything when he’s not shooting the ball well.

Tommy dee, Dantoni is on notice for what? not getting rid Al havington sooner? YOu see al havington has not met a shot he has never liked and al havinington has never passed the ball to a open man. mike dantoni will never be on notice for getting rid of these canerous tumors such as harrington, larry the bum hughes and big mouth nate slobinson. The nba has turned into 1 big silly reality show by these desperate for a controversey story media. this story should not even make the news. good luck riding the bench in denver. once karl see’s how you really thats where you will be just like in golden state and new york.

al benchington

I think he’ll play well in Denver (like he did in Indiana) because he’ll not believe that he’s the savior and the best player on the floor with Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups.

Al wanted to be a knick but just didn’t fit our system. He didn’t like to move the ball and would go on long scoring droughts.

I would have liked to have him in NY under different circumstances. He would have been a good second unit scoring option

That’s the best part. He makes it sound like it was just Dantoni who didn’t want him. I’d imagine that at least 75% of Knicks fans who watched Chucketts the past 2 years wanted nothing more to do with him.

He’s just like all these other egomaniac veterans who are childish with their lack of self-accountability and respect for others. Him and Larry Hughes are like the same person. They can’t ever recognize their own faults and are constantly blaming others instead. Its kind of sickening, especially coming from someone who seems like a nice person in Al Harrington.

Hey guys that was my first post. I have been a long time knicks fan and I am glad to find a site with smart LOYAL Knicks fans to bounce ideas and opinions off of

Coachable? He was too busy chewing on that rancid pacifier…err, mouthpiece to listen to someone trying to teach him.

Al Harrington has an extremely low IQ. it’s not his fault. But I’m really glad he’s gone.

Theres just no way Al was getting the full MLE here.

Agreed

And it is sad because I loved Harrington when he played with the Pacers and he’s a nice person. I’d love to love him! I can’t obviously!

There are a lot of negative things to say about Al Harrington but at least he wanted to play here. It is not easy to play for a big city that is knowledgeable and passionate about basketball. You have to give him credit for that. He wanted to be the star of the team but his skills are limited to being a role player. If you want to blame someone you should blame the coach who played him all those minutes.

I cant believe all this hate for Al! This dude is not a star player but had to fill the roll because we did not have one. He played hurt flaws and all he left it on the floor every night!! He took so much pride in having New York on his chest, there where nights that if Al was not on the team we would have been blown by 40!! _antonie has all these defenders but who was the jack ass who ran duhon in to the ground and way to much? who was the dumb ass coach who did not know when to call a time out? Who is the worst defensive coach in the league?

There where nights that if Al would not take a shot it seems nobody would! He is a flawed player and no star but he gave his all in a bad situation with a bad team and a crap coach but through it all he left it all out there and banged out for our colors!

Thanks for the heart & hard play Al!!

I wrote to Al on his twitter page saying I thought it was a bit unclassy of him to bash Mike D on his way out the door and that MDA has never publicly criticized one of his former Knicks after they have left…this was Al’s testy response: RT @a7harrington @NYsportsFan11 if u can read I didn’t take any shots at him. I did wHat REAL MEN DO…. Tell the truth! Thanks PAL

hell where do i sign then i would love to play for the knicks too, give him credit for what? shooting it every time he got it? dribbling into double teams with no ressemblance of having anything remotely close to a brain on the floor?

Harrington only plays well on his ps3

and with regards to the twitter comment…c’mon al thats what “real men do”? enough said lol

LOL at your name.. very clever.

“MDA has never publicly criticized one of his former Knicks after they have left”

Really?

“Bad rookie” ring a bell?

it was created after the lecon sweepstakes…..HENCE THE NAME LOL

BUT thanx dan

To be fair, that was after Hill bashed the MAD. MAD didn’t start it.

Hill didn’t even say anything bad. Marc Berman took what Hill said out of context(which is what unfortunately passes for reporting in the post) and relayed that Hill said Dantoni was a bad coach or whatever, even though Hill didn’t say that.

SO it was really Berman’s fault who started it, but Dantoni as a grown man needs to know better than that. Very classless move by him.

Hopefully Al will drive Melo away from the Nuggets. Maybe we can get them to sign Larry Hughes while we’re at it.

Did Nate already re-sign with Boston.