How can I refresh your memory with something that doesn't exist. the first talk of the t-mac trade came after t-mac said he didn't won't to play in Orlando. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=77112 this is the trade Doc Rocket said he heard about after the 04 season. now maybe that trade was in the works and then t-mac said he wanted to play with Yao but he didn't call the T-mac trade.
http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_3276283 "(Winning is) very important to me," Harrington said. "I promise it is. I took winning for granted. It would take a lot for them to sign me back. Obviously, money, No. 1. No. 2, we just have to find a way to get some other players, some good veteran guys in here because I've got to start winning again. "It's the worst, losing all the time. Can't sleep. Can't eat. Your body feels terrible all the time. Winning is very important to me, which is the reason I'm going to go to free agency and just weigh my options." Come Monday it'd better be Al Harrington in a Rox uni
Plus, didn't Harrington attend high school in Houston? I think he went straight from high school to the pros.
Al Harrington attended an HS in NJ according to nbadraft.net http://www.nbadraft.net/profiles/alharrington.asp
You're right, I was thinking of someone else. Not Rashard, there was somebody else who went from a Houston HS to the pros.
I think you are talking about Ndudi Ebi, who was a bust and out of the league now. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3469569.html NDUDI Ebi's dream is not over, but we should hope the charade is. There will come a time when one of Houston's greatest schoolboy basketball players will realize he was just a gullible, misinformed kid. Maybe that time will come when the checks from the Minnesota Timberwolves stop coming next year. Maybe it will be when Ebi is hustling for $50,000 a year in Europe, but hopefully it will be sooner. Ebi wasn't ready for the NBA three years ago and might not be ready now. Not yet, anyway. But when he was everyone's All-American and called the next best thing to LeBron James in 2002, so many agents, rating services and hangers-on told him he was ready. He started believing it. As soon as Ebi realizes he was wrong and starts over — not with a guaranteed contract, but in a gym full of players hungrier than him, and renewed humility in his heart, perhaps things will begin to change. Humble beginnings ... Until then, he will not be the Ndudi Ebi we once knew. He won't be the humble Ebi, who at Westbury Christian High School promised his family he would attend the University of Arizona at least for a couple of years, so he could grow and mature. He won't be the Ebi who used to carry a notebook into the locker room before high school games, writing down inspirational messages to himself, listening to pregame devotionals, nodding and convincing himself he would always have perspective. He won't be the Ebi who as a 15-year-old was turning down money and limousine rides to all-star games by shoe company representatives because he was loyal to his school and summer teams. He won't be the Ebi who was always quiet and levelheaded, the son of Nigerian parents who not only never pushed their son into basketball, but hardly understood the game or watched Ebi play — concerned more with his academic progress. Those days are hardly olden days. Yet after being chewed up and spat out by the NBA, the pages on which Ebi's rise to stardom were chronicled now seem faded, yellowed and ragged around the edges. ... give way to greed Ebi became a different kind of person when he started listening to the wrong people. His is a classic case of gullibility and greed. Agents came calling, telling him lies. He started thinking that just because he was running up the floor of the McDonald's all-star game with LeBron that it meant he was as prepared for the NBA grind and lifestyle. He wasn't. That much became clear soon after the Timberwolves made him a No. 1 draft choice, 26th overall. Last month, after two fruitless seasons riding the bench, never developing into what the Timberwolves hoped — pronouncing himself too good to consider the NBA developmental league or Europe — the Timberwolves waived the 6-9 forward. Few doubt Ebi could easily recover from his Minnesota slap in the face and become a quality NBA player. But Ebi's demeanor and parting shots from Minneapolis were disturbing to anyone who ever cared for him. They spoke to the depths of confusion the once-grounded Ebi has fallen. "You don't know anything," Ebi told Minneapolis-St. Paul reporters last week. "You don't know if I'm smiling right now. You don't know if I'm crying. You don't know if I've got a gun to my head. You keep asking me questions like I'm a chump. ... I'm not a chump." He spoke in the third person and fired off non sequiturs: "Now I just think I'm going to go into poetry, manual labor and live life like a regular guy. ... If you believe that, you don't know Ndudi Ebi. You wrote all that stuff down, didn't you? So you don't know Ndudi Ebi." This was not the same Ebi who seemed to have it all figured out as a 17-year-old. This was a 21-year-old kid thrust into the real world too soon, believing it was all right there for the taking, but never understanding what it took to grasp it. This was someone who always was told he was a superstar, believed it when a guaranteed $2.2 million contract came his way, then suddenly was overwhelmed. "It's a good example of why not to leave early," said John Lucas, a former Rockets guard and longtime counselor for troubled athletes. "He didn't know how to play. He wouldn't have been playing right away if he had gone to Arizona, either. He had the ability. He just wasn't ready. "The problem with rankings and things you read everywhere are they make people think they're better than they are. Everybody (in summer basketball) promotes their own guys so they can get shoe money. The guys ranked highest aren't necessarily better. They're just the guys who got ranked higher." Teams are showing interest in signing Ebi, notably the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets. His talent is unquestioned. He is sure to get another chance to chase his NBA dream, but until Ebi swallows his pride and remembers the focus and humility he had as a teenager, nothing will change. He has made one smart call. Ebi will return home and start working out with Lucas this weekend. Lucas, as always, will talk bluntly with the kid he tutored before the 2003 draft. He will tear apart Ebi's game and rebuild it. He will tell Ebi what he has told drug addicts, flops and failures. "Life is nothing but a bunch of start-overs," Lucas said. "It's what you do with them that matters."
I heard that one of Shannon Dougherty's eyes are slightly off center because one of them is trying to escape.
Why? Just because Van Gundy isn't satisfied with him? Rafer has hardly played (which does make a point that Toronto currently has gotten the best of the deal), but I really think he has a chance to be a legitimate piece on this team. Sure, we could use James as a 3rd scorer right now, but sometimes you have to make a business decision. Maybe the Rockets were a bit wrong for not knowing he was capable of this much, but he's still not going to be worth the money that he is probably going to get...and we already know he wouldn't have taken any discount to stay. I'd rather take a shot at a long term solution in Alston than have a one year fix in James only to be set back by him leaving. Anyway...if we find a way to get Harrington I would be ecstatic. I think it would have to be Swift and Wesley to get it done though...and that can't happen for another couple of weeks.
harrington would be perfect, but i doubt that atlanta would be willing to unload him for what we have to offer. but i could be wrong--i never thought t-mac could be had for francis and mobley (essentially). on another note, it appears that a full-scale "reloading" is coming either soon, or in the offseason, van gundy or not. this doesn't bode well. as mentioned by countless other posters, the t-mac/yao combo is not built for many years (5-7) of contention, although it's nice to think that way. t-mac is in his prime and will be there for only a few more years. dawson/van gundy wil have to strike gold, somehow, with a third wheel (harrington, boozer, etc.). i really believe the "third wheel", whether it's a pf, pg, or swingman, is the key to the shakeup. the proper role players can usually be had within 1-2 years with some intelligence and luck (thinking of sacramento, after trading for webber).
Harrington's value may be diminished because of his contract and because he has pulled a "Mike James" and made it be known that he is gonna test the market. All that being said, if Harrington can play the 4, why not trade for Darius Miles and let him play the 4 with TMac and Yao up front? Put him and Ruben Patterson together with Jarrett Jack, for Wesley, Moch, and Swift and whatever. Or, if we are going after Troy Murphy and his ugly contract, GS has to throw in Pietrus for Swift and our expirings. Otherwise, that trade ain't worth it.
The warriors would have to be braindead to trade Troy Murphy for Swfit and fillers. Let alone throw in Pietrus. Not gonna happen.
given that atlanta couldn't get larry hughes even with a max offer they'd want to get someone or something from harrington who will be an unrestricted free agent. for houston, if swift doesn't work out he'll be valuable as a backup for yao when deke retires. anyway, it's should be a fair trade, juwan could probably give them his career averages and then some in atlanta. juwan' career avg is 17ppg and 7.3 fpg. his avg for his last and only season in orlando was 17ppg and 7rpg. swift's career avg is 9ppg and 5rpg. his current avg for rox is 8.6ppg and 4.5rpg. it's not that far off. with juwan in their side a good pg and another good pick up could see them improve drastically. i believe their not that far off from when the bulls had their turnaround. btw swift and wesley is 10 mil of salary, hawks would have to give up al and half their team
