Denver Nuggets Sign Al Harrington
One of the National Basketball Association’s top free agents, Al Harrington, has found himself a new home. On Tuesday it was reported that the now former-Knick had reached an agreement in principle on a five-year, $34 million contract with the Denver Nuggets.
The power forward announced the transaction via Twitter [sic]: "I'm taking my Talents to the MILE HIGH."
Denver’s acquisition of Harrington was by no means simple as they had to outbid the Dallas Mavericks for Harrington’s services. Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban went as far as personally appearing at the NBA Summer League to recruit Harrington in person.
The Nuggets are fortunate to have signed Harrington, as they will be starting the season with a serious deficiency at power forward. Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen will both initially be unavailable while rehabilitating from surgical procedures undergone in the off season.
This desperation also allowed Harrington’s agent, Dan Fegan, to orchestrate a deal in which Harrington receives the maximum mid-level exception deal with $5.8 million per year for the maximum five years.
Had Harrington signed with the Mavericks, he would have joined newly-acquired power forward Tyson Chandler and been crucial in giving Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks some serious offensive fire power. Harrington also had prior experience playing under Rick Carlisle, who coached him during his tenure with the Indiana Pacers.
In the end, it was stability that resulted in Harrington choosing the Nuggets. The Mavericks were hesitant to offer Harrington a long-term deal due to the depth of their roster. The Nuggets had no other choice after other top free agent power forwards such as Jermaine O'Neal [who signed with Boston] and Udonis Haslem [who's staying in Miami] became unavailable.
Last season Harrington averaged 17.7 points and 5.6 rebounds. While he may not be worth the money the Nuggets have essentially been forced to pay him, he should be an extremely useful contributor to the Denver offence. They hope Harrington can break the 20 point plateau, a feat he has only achieved in 2008-09 for the New York Knicks prior to a season muddled with him playing off the bench.
In addition to Harrington, the Nuggets have made some other smart moves to stabilize their bench. Shelden Williams and Anthony Carter are stated to have both agreed on veteran minimum salary contracts and will be signing contracts with the Nuggets any moment.
Carter is an 11-year veteran, and has spent the last four of his years on the Nuggets. He has been a useful third point guard for them, behind Chauncey Billups and Ty Lawson, and retaining him was a given for the Nuggets. Last season he averaged 3.3 points and 3.0 assists.
Williams played for the Boston Celtics last season, where he averaged 3.7 points and 2.7 rebounds.
The Nuggets need a strong season in order to increase their hopes of retaining star player Carmelo Anthony, who becomes a free agent after next season. With Al Harrington on the roster, this is actually a possibility. The Nuggets now have a very interesting triumvirate of power forwards and once Martin and Andersen return, they will have dynamic scoring on all of their shifts.
The Nuggets now also have an even more spread-out offence as Harrington can shoot the three-pointer with relative proficiency and has a respectable career average of .355 from behind the arch.
Carmelo Anthony will be able to utilize the openness Harrington creates to increase high-percentage scoring opportunities through driving the open lane. This is important because the Nuggets will need to score as many points as possible to make up for not having any sort of big man defence available until Martin and Andersen return.
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