Al Harrington knows his days in Orlando are numbered, but in his mind, some of his best NBA days may yet be ahead of him
The 33-year-old veteran forward has worked as hard as ever this summer, dropping at least 27 pounds in anticipation of his last, best hope of winning an NBA title. Any day now, Harrington expects that Magic will either trade or waive him. If released he’s hoping to catch on with a contending team and put all his added effort this summer to work as a key member of a winning rotation.
"Being in that situation in Orlando, you get a real good look at politics and stuff like that, the part of the game that's not attractive — just the business side of it," Harrington told USA Today Sports. "One thing I realized is that it's not about how much you can play or what you can do on the court anymore. The game has become about financial numbers and salaries and stuff like that. It's not what you can do anymore. It's what you can do at that price. And everybody wants a deal.”
At least with the versatile Harrington, teams have a pretty good idea of what they can expect to receive in return. Over his 14-year career, he’s averaged 14 points and six rebounds, including a career high 21 points during the 2008-09 season as a member of the New York Knicks. What’s more, he’s never been motivated than he now seems.
"I've lost 27 pounds…and I'm focused,” he told USA Today. “For me, this year I'm going to have a chip on my shoulder, so if I play like that I'm going to be tough to deal with. I want to win, so I'll put it like this: I want to go to a situation where I can compete to make the playoffs. I'm too old to play for nothing. When I was younger, of course you play for stats and you want to be good, but I'm not going to be a Hall of Famer or nothing like that, so I want to win. I just want to win.”
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