Will Harrington Still Be Here in 2010?

2010 speculation within the New York media is almost as popular as the leather jacket Stephon Marbury wore courtside at the recent Lakers-Knicks matchup.  I stress 'almost'.  But there are legitimate questions that are raised by the over-zealous beat writers and bloggers that are worth deliberating over. None more so than: who will the Knicks keep for 2010?

Knicks writers have made it clear who is apparently coming, but there are murky waters surrounding who from the current roster will still be here.  According to the media, the Knicks rotation in 2010 will look something like this: Steve Nash's 48 year old body running the point (I don't care how old he is...I'd love to see him in a Knicks uniform), Joe Johnson at the 2, LeBron James manning the small forward position, Chris Bosh popping mid range jumpers from power forward, and Amar'e Stoudemire trying to fill David Lee's shoes at the 5 spot.  The bench might include Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, and maybe Wilson Chandler, David Lee, and Nate Robinson.

"Wow," I hear you say, and I say it too.  A 10 man rotation along those lines would probably win you a title in its first year.  Heck, they'd win you 3 straight.  But I have tried to consider the speculation with my head rather than my heart, and I just can't see this happening.

Regardless of who is coming, I am positive that Al Harrington will be staying.  To go off track a little bit, I also think that, even if Steve Nash is added, Chris Duhon is about as good an insurance policy as there is, going by his play right now, and the Knicks would be foolish not to keep him around.  David Lee should still be here - hopefully as the first big off the bench, as I'd love to see an inside rotation of Harrington and Bosh starting and Lee as the third big.  Nate Robinson may end up playing himself into a huge contract, which Donnie Walsh probably can't afford to give him.  If LeBron decides to join the Knicks, and that is not a foregone conclusion, we may see Wilson Chandler start at the 2 spot - assuming that he has improved his ball handling by then.  He definitely has the shooting ability, athleticism, and defensive prowess to handle the position.  But I digress.  Back to Harrington.

I had fallen into the trap of viewing Al Harrington as a mediocre, middle of the road NBA player.  A guy with an automatic stroke and untapped athleticism who could be as dominant as any of the versatile inside-out power forwards in our game.  But along with these attributes, I could see a guy who had been in the league for a long time, approaching 30 years of age, who was unlikely to reach the lofty standards set for him by others.  I also heard him whining a hell of a lot, claiming that Don Nelson didn't know how to use him.  I doubted this.  I thought that Stephen Jackson, Monta Ellis, and even Andris Biedrins had flourished in Nelson's system, which is actually less structured than Mike D'Antoni's.  I thought, "why can't you flourish Al Harrington?"

But Al Harrington was right.  Don Nelson has turned his potentially star power forward into a stationary three point shooter, basically giving him two instructions: 'shoot' and 'rebound'.  When Harrington didn't rebound, it was just 'shoot'.  When Harrington became frustrated, he asked for a 'trade'.  Don Nelson said 'no'.  Chris Mullin 'tried'.  But he was soon 'castrated' and running the franchise by title only.  It became 'messy'.  And then the Knicks traded for the guy.

D'Antoni has found ways to make the most of Al Harrington.  He has played him at both the 4 and the 3 - something he's had to do due to the dearth of perimeter players the Knicks have had recently.  His shooting makes him a natural fit, but he has taken the ball to the basket strongly, he has rebounded well enough (and Lee has been eating up the boards anyway), he has acted as a go-to-guy for a team that really doesn't have one (it's either Harrington or maybe Robinson off the bench), he's played excellent defence, and he's proven that he should be here in 2010.

Possible 9-man rotation in 2010:

Starters: Steve Nash, Wilson Chandler, LeBron James, Al Harrington, Chris Bosh

Bench: Chris Duhon, Nate Robinson, Danilo Gallinari, David Lee