Harrington practices, Mobley and Thomas have to wait (UPDATED)
You couldn't knock the smile off Al Harrington's face even if you said the word Nellie. The former Warrior participated in his first practice with the Knicks on Monday afternoon. Mike D'Antoni had him playing with David Lee down low among the other starters. Wilson Chandler was back on the B-squad, but D'Antoni wasn't committing to anything yet.
As for the other two new pieces brought in from Friday's trading day -- Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas -- they watched some practice but were not permitted yet to participate because the paperwork from the Clippers trade hadn't been completed yet as of 3 p.m., when the Knicks began.
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UPDATED (11:46 p.m.) - Just filed a story for the print edition. TNT's David Aldridge has a story up on NBA.com saying Mobley failed his physical and that's what's holding up the deal. I heard from a source Monday night that confirmed this report.
The Knicks can -- and likely will -- waive the physical just to get this thing done and avoid taking back Zach Randolph's big contract. But in the meantime, they'll wait until tomorrow just so Mike Dunleavy can't use Z-Bo against the New Orleans Hornets.
Mobley has had no prior known physical issue. He played in all 11 games with the Clippers this season and averaged 33.5 minutes per game.
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The Knicks have back-to-back games (Cavs and Pistons) and then comes Thanksgiving. So the first practice D'Antoni will have with all of his newcomers will have to wait until Friday when there could be a fourth addition to the lineup: Jared Jeffries.
Harrington seems off-the-charts giddy for this. He admitted there's going to be a great deal of anxiousness from the end of practice until the opening tip Tuesday night.
“Of course the macho in me will say I ain’t gonna be nervous but I’m sure I’m gonna have butterflies, like it’s the first game I ever played, period," he said. "But I’m looking forward to it, I know it’s going to be a packed house with everybody there to see LeBron and see the new-look Knicks. I’m excited for it. Can’t wait.”
Harrington, as you know, grew up in Orange, NJ and was a Knicks fan. He's obviously played at the Garden before in his career, but Tuesday night will be special to the kid inside him who dreamed of playing for the Knicks at the Garden.
“We couldn’t afford tickets so I never came to the Garden," he said. "But I watched all of them.”
You get the sense that being here means something to him. As does staying here.
“I’m just going to take advantage of my opportunity," he said, "and I plan on being here after 2010.”
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The change in practice schedule yesterday conflicted with an event the Knicks planned to participate in that deserves some recognition. Jeffries spearheaded a join effort with the Children's Aid Society to distribute 300 Thanksgiving meals for needy families. Monday afternoon at the Children's Aid's Pelham Fritz Transitional Apartments. The meals were still distributed, but the Knicks players that were scheduled to attend were unable.
Jeffries, meanwhile, was busy with a special delivery earlier in the day: his wife, Jennifer, gave birth to the couple's first child, Evangelina Marie.
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Comments (22)
DJ Augustin and Brook Lopez have been averaging double-double their last few games.
Meanwhile, our Rooster is obtaining second opinion on his bulging disc.
Coulda/woulda/shoulda.
You should have called Donnie Walsh when you looked into your crystal ball and TOLD HIM!
The Knicks aren't going to be a contender for two years, I think his back can heal by then. Hindsight is 20/20
P.S. Let me know the mega numbers for friday, thanks!
Hey Alan,
Are any teams interested in Starbury or are they all staying far away because he is a head case? And what about Curry? What is the inside scoop on other teams' attitudes toward these oddballs?
Another thing: as others have pointed out it is hard to post more than one comment per every few days. I keep getting "submission error -- too frequent post" messages when I post. To beat that I refresh the screen and try again and again with new security code to finally get posted......it's obnoxious but worth it to be a Knix Fixer Nut. Please have your web techies fix that.
After watching Harrington the last few years here in northern California I hope he finds his game with the Knix, if he has a game. Nellie was always ragging on him for not rebounding, Nellie did not run any low post plays for him -- why I don't know -- he was very inconsistent and his interior defense was not good. He was great on the 3 pointers and 15-20 foot jumpers but his inside game was surprisingly scarce. I vaguely remember him playing a strong inside game and being great in the fast break with the Hawks and hope we see lots of tha along with rebounding.
DTR
Hey Allan,
I know you mentioned in a couple posts ago that Newsday needs to find someone to take over J Crawford's blog. How about Harrington?
How does Walt Frazier feel regarding DW trading his son Mardy to the Clips?
We all know the Status of Gallo
With all thats going on around the Knicks why dont you stop HATING
say something relevant or shut up
better yet go on Bermans blog where you belong
Musta, I'm not a hater, but I too am worried about Gallo. We mighta made a mistake there.
AIG and Citigroup's stock proce is down over 90 percent this year.
.
Meanwhile, gold is up a modest 5 percent.
Coulda/woulda/shoulda.
Damn you Donnie Walsh...moron
P.S. Italian stocks are mixed....with lots of garlic.
I agree, 20/20. You can't label someone a bust or say 'we shoulda drafted this guy' when the rook hasn't even played healthy. Lets wait and see what the kid can do before we assume hes trash.
So will Mobley/Thomas play against the Cavs or what?
Thanks for the roundup, Marbury's Agent!
This just in from Reuters: bitching, fighting, mental ma$turbation and the rectal itch epidemic is running rampant on Knicks blogs.
"Knickerbocker blogs -- where genuine New York-style brotherly love happens."
David Stern
DEMAND A FIRST ROUND PICK.......DONNIE! PLay Hard Ball for Once. Or Give Them Gallinari....who wouldn't pass a Physical
Either!
Mobley is averaging almost 14 ppg this season and 19, 18 and 23 for his last three at around 35 min. per game. Obviously he can play – I wonder what’s wrong with him?
Is there precedence for demanding some kind of sweetener for this sort of thing? An extra pick would be nice.
I'm hoping that Walsh has been fielding offers for Randolph all the while, and now is entertaining a better deal. The Knicks should have at least received a #2 back in this deal. The guy was our best player this season.
Nice to see a player so happy to join the Knicks. Just last year Leandro Barbosa was on the verge of tears when someone sent
him a note as a practical joke saying that he was traded to the Knicks.
I just want to thank the Knick fans who have the class to see how Gallo fits before trashing the people who made the choice! The rest of you, please wait until then.
Further, recognize that drafting is not an exact science and will always be subject to surprises. Do any NFL fans remember when "experts" predicted that Ryan Leif would be a better quarterback than Peyton Manning?
Fools seem to forget that Greg Oden's first year is THIS YEAR!!
Maybe now they should get rid of him, right?
Fools seem to forget that Greg Oden's first year is THIS YEAR!!
Maybe now they should get rid of him, right?
DAMN YOU, security system!
Shaun Powell has written a very strange article encouraging Knick fans to root for LBJ.. I hope the article is "tongue in cheek." Otherwise, I repeat what I wrote beneath his article:
I would think that he would prefer an arena full of real fans rather than an arena full of PR types!
"I just want to thank the Knick fans who have the class to see how Gallo fits before trashing the people who made the choice! The rest of you, please wait until then."
Sorry, but we are still "waiting" to see how Fredic Weis fits! Another Eurotrash draft pick that was a complete waste.
Cool. You gotta love players who legitimately want to play for a specific team. We should get the best of Al Harrington.