R.I.P. Al "True Professional" Harrington

Harrington is finally gone!

He left with some parting shots, but what could you expect from a poor excuse for a leader:

"What I'm most excited about, though, is that I'm going to be winning again. Money is good, and all the stuff that comes along with it is fine, but I want to be back in the playoffs and back on national TV and back with a franchise that wins basketball games."

"I missed that the past two years, and now I'm going back to what I know."...

"I definitely look at it like Indiana got over on Atlanta," Harrington said. "I don't care what anybody says; a draft pick can't replace 19 and 7 [Harrington's scoring and rebounding averages from last season]. When you talk about winning and going to the next level, you can't say one thing and do another. That's just how I feel."

For the record, Indiana was 41-41 last year. And I think this justifies a lot of what was said here about Al "True Professional" Harrington. On his way out, gettin paid, going back home, he can't help dogging the youngest team in the NBA for whom he captained for 2 years. He doesn't talk about how he helped this team get better, how he felt about the city, just what he brought to the table- 19 and 7. Points and rebounds, that's all he cared about. Not his 0.18 blocks and his pathetic defense. Just "19 and 7".

I'm sure he's going to lead Indy to the league finals next year, now that he's getting the money he deserves. He leaves behind some real playing time for the Williamses, as well as added cap flexibility. I also love that Indiana had to take on John Edwards as part of the deal. For the record, Edwards was signed *as a free agent* by Super GM Billy Knight last summer.

But let's all say goodbye to Al. He was an Atlanta Hawk. He didn't care too much about this team, and really just wanted to get paid and get out of here. It's hard to weigh the stuff that we don't know about him- just what he left out on the court. And it wasn't too much.