Philly pulled their offer off the table for him, he is an unrestricted free agent. He would be a nice 6th man for the Rockets. DaDakota
All Matt Harpring would really do for us is take up time and disturb chemistry. He has a reputation of being a good shooter but I have yet to really see him shoot well from outside the 3 point arc. We might as well give the time he he would get to Tmo and Boki.
Mitch Richmond is about 80 years old and can't hit the same shots he could 5-10 years ago. He would be a guy that comes off the bench shooting 40%.
Harpring is the perfect fit for this team. He is capable of putting up 15 to 18 ppg, and he can shoot. Philadelphia misused him big time and he wasn't able to play his game. He is a VERY good outside shooter, he just had an off year on an injury-riddle team that never got into rhythm. He is also and intense defender, and can get down and put the clamps on guys. I'd love to have him on the team, of course we're already loaded at the SF spot. If not for Rice I'd love to have him start at SF while Nachbar grows. Or, if he's willing to come off the bench, he can be the perfect back-up for Cat.
RocksMillenium,I agree with assessment about Harpring's skills but do you think he could bring the ball up the court effectively?
At SF, the rockets will have Nachbar, Rice, and perhaps even Griffin. So you want to add Harpring to this depth chart? No way. Now, if we put him at center, he's stuck behind Ming and Cato. Harpring isn't a fit on this team, and there's no point throwing money away for useless talent.
They guy is an overated shooter. He can't really shoot outside the three point line and is only good for jump shots from about 20. He's a good guy to have on most teams but all he'd really be doing is stunting Tmo and Nachbar's growth. I don't see anything that Harpring can do that Nachbar can't do right now anyways so what's really the point of signing him?
TMO is a joke, the guy is a 12th man on the bench player at best..... As for Harpring, I was thinking backup 2 guard. DaDakota
Can Harpring even play 2? I don't seem to remember him ever playing that position. As for Mitch Richmond, he still does have the shot and the some of the moves he once did. Of course he's older now and not as quick but the only reason he didn't get playing time on the Lakers is because he has no D. A guy doesn't go from averaging about 17 points a game to averaging 2 in consecutive seasons because of age. He just didn't get time and now that he's won his ring, I expect him to join a team that he contributes a lot on. If you run plays for him, he's still a pretty good spark off the bench.
Richmond may still get some points off the bench but so can Rice if he recovers his fitness. We need to improve our defense along with our offense as well.
Harpring can't play backup shooting guard, DaDakota - he's not nearly fast enough to guard even the backups of the NBA. He's better off guarding SFs and PFs down low. In any case - Harpring is a nice player, very tough. What you see is what you get from Harpring - a tenacious, hard nosed player with a penchant for diving for losse balls and annoying the heck out of whoever he is guarding. He's a good starter at SF for a lot of teams, maybe even PF for a weak team in the East. But with the SF situation on the Rockets - Rice, Nachbar, and excess minutes for Griffin - there's not really a need for him. He'd command the full midcap exception over multiple years and may even get more than that from Chicago.
Harpring would be a good player to back up Boki once Rice retires, but I there's no playing time for him here right now.
Harpring's not overrated, he's not underrated. He's not horrible, he's not spectacular. He can do a lot of stuff on the court, but other things he can't do too well. We have 246 players lined up to play the 3, we don't need another one.
I read an article on Matt Harping's physical training. The guy is a stud! According to his physical trainer, he was a football player and he's one of the strongest players in the league. If that's true he can get physical and bang. Let's get him if Yao needs some power flanking him. Beside, he's a nice role player who's got a solid game, which is exactly what the Rockets need now. If we get too many stars or semi-stars, aka Lewis, on the team, we might turn out to be the next Trailblazers. Lots of noises, lots of egos, lots of potential, little chemistry and no rings. We got Rice who's gonna retire, we got Tmo who can't shoot, we got Boki who's, well, Boki . I am all for throwing Matt into the mix and see who fares better.
I would love to have Harpring on the Rockets. He is an absolute gem of a defender. His ball-handling is only so-so, and his shot is erratic, but he will bring to the Rockets what they lack.... TENACITY! However, I'm willing to bet that there are plenty of interest from other teams in signing him. The Rockets already have a glut of small forwards, I am not really sure if he'd want to come here just to sit on the bench. However, I'd say that he's a great fit with the Rockets.
If Harpring were slightly quicker and slightly better with the ball, he'd be Dan Majerle. As it is... he doesn't really ahve a role.
I watched Matt Harpring since his first game at Ga. Tech. The guy could shoot....in college and you would think that he would be able to put up 15-18 ppg. BUT the guy had his best year statistically this past season, but he only averaged 11.8ppg on a team starving for a second scorer. Maybe he just needs to be in the right system
