| Still Waiting On Harrington Authored by Payam Jahromi - July 24, 2006 - 12:36 pm
For weeks, the talk has been that Al Harrington is either going to the Pacers or Warriors. And for weeks, nothing has happened. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of waiting for this thing to get resolved.
I don’t know if Chris Mullin has any other plans for the off-season, or if he’s putting all his faith into acquiring Harrington.
Either way, it hasn’t been a very inspiring summer. The way Mullin talked about changes at the end of last season, it sounded as if there would be one or two big trades.
Unless you consider sending Derek Fisher for a lot of nothing a big trade, that hasn’t happened yet.
In all fairness, I’m intrigued with a couple of the players the Warriors got back from Utah, particularly Keith McLeod, who is currently one of two pure point guards on the roster. He may end up getting a lot more playing time than anyone expects.
The Fisher trade does one important thing: It creates more playing time for Monta Ellis. I don’t think anyone is complaining about that.
But the longer we wait, the more likely it seems that the entire off-season falls on what happens with Harrington. If the Warriors get Harrington, the fans have something to be excited about.
Bringing in Harrington would give the Warriors more athleticism and toughness at the small forward position. It also puts Mike Dunleavy on the bench, somewhere most Warriors fans would like to see him.
But let’s be realistic here. We’re talking about Al Harrington, not Michael Jordan. At best he would be the third-best player on the team, and he could come at a price over $10+ million a year.
But what if they don’t get Harrington? Then what? Then all these “changes” that Mullin was talking about is one minor Fisher trade?
At this point, the Harrington situation will go one of three ways, and two of them are bad for the Warriors:
1) They make a good trade for Harrington (eg. Troy Murphy) and sign him to a decent contract.
2) They get Harrington but give up too much talent (like Ellis, Ike Diogu or Andris Biedrins). Or they just give him too much money (we’re talking about Mullin, the same guy who gave Dunleavy $9 million a year).
3) They don’t get Harrington at all.
Only #1 looks good for the Warriors. But something tells me that #3 is the most likely, with #2 being second.
Maybe I’m being pessimistic.
Or maybe I’m just being a Warriors fan.
If you have any questions or comments, email me at pjahromi@sbcglobal.net |
