MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL AIRPORT — I don’t want to make a federal issue of this because Al Harrington is about as nice a guy there is in the NBA – that includes GMs, coaches, P.R. staffers.
But he should’ve played at least one game during this “Lost Weekend” with his bruised knee, even if he felt he wouldn’t have been “effective” enough.
I’m sure sitting there in Minnesota watching fellow bench men Jonathan Bender, Nate Robinson and Jordan Hill give away the game, Harrington realized maybe he should’ve given it a whirl, dealt with the pain and let Mike D’Antoni decide if he was effective enough.
Kobe Bryant has played with a broken finger, was on a gimpy ankle yesterday and beat the Celtics in the last seconds. You play hurt at this time of year – everyone does. Jared Jeffries did – 48 minutes worth in Washington.
That’s what happens when you have guys on final years of their contracts. They care more about protecting how they look on the court and how their stats may be effected rather than won-loss records. I’m not saying that’s the case with Harrington. But you do wonder about Harrington and Larry Hughes, who is also looking for a new deal and created bad will with the coaching staff when he called D’Antoni’s methods “a joke.”
Now Hughes is needed but a stung D’Antoni appears reluctant. I don’t know if the Nate Robinson thing in December was personal but D’Antoni-Hughes sure is. If Hughes got into the hotel elevator and D’Antoni was on it, I can’t be sure they’d acknowledge each other.
—
Wolves PG Ramon Sessions all but admitted to me the Knicks backed out of a verbal agreement last July.
“There were plenty of nights I went to sleep thinking it will be done in the morning,” Sessions told me Sunday.
After watching Sessions twice in the last week, he definitely is an excellent penetrator and I think he would’ve opened up the offense if he signed. Sessions – and not starter Johnny Flynn – was on the floor when the Wolves made their comeback last night. The only concern is he’s not much of an outside shooter. Then again, neither is Chris Duhon – though he started to emerge from his awful shooting slump yesterday (4 of 5) in the game’s lone bright spot.