Pooh
08-28-2003, 02:24 AM
By Sekou Smith
[email protected]
August 28, 2003
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Indiana Pacers forward Al Harrington said he realized something about the NBA this season that should have been obvious long before he finished his fifth year in the league.
"This whole thing is a business," Harrington said Wednesday night. "And business comes before anybody, anything or any feelings. Business is just that, business."
It's a realization that will make Wednesday's firing of coach Isiah Thomas understandable for Harrington, 23, who's been working out in Florida most of the summer.
"Indiana is going to do what Indiana is going to do," he said. "Teams do what's best for their business, and once you understand that, nothing should come as a surprise."
Harrington is one of several players who called Thomas on Wednesday with consoling words.
He was one of many players who voiced support for Thomas in May, minutes after the season ended in the first round of the playoffs at Boston's FleetCenter.
"It's not his fault," Harrington said after the Game 6 loss. "We're the ones that go out there and play the game. Coach and the entire staff did a damn good job with this team. We just stumbled a bit and couldn't get it back when we needed to. That's not his doing. That's on us."
Fans and pundits alike pegged Thomas as the fall guy for the struggles of a team that went from first place in the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break to a third consecutive first-round playoff exit.
The players rallied behind Thomas, though, expressing their displeasure with the growing sentiment that the coach was to blame for the Pacers' stumble.
Thomas coached the East team in the Feb. 9 All-Star game in Atlanta. The Pacers then went 14-19, the worst second half among the eight Eastern Conference playoff teams.
Veteran guard Erick Strickland was Jamaal Tinsley's backup last season and never clicked with Thomas. He has since signed with Milwaukee.
But even after moving on, he didn't blame the coach.
"Hey, things happen sometimes and you're powerless to stop them," said Strickland, who has played with seven NBA teams. "It's all just business. Coaches, players, we all have to move on sometimes."
On Aug. 20, while discussing the new multiyear contract he had signed earlier in the day, veteran shooting guard Reggie Miller defended Thomas.
"I think if anyone has gotten a bad rap because of the way we finished last season, it's (Isiah)," Miller said.
He went on to call Thomas a "brilliant young coach with a bright future ahead of him."
But that was last week, long before there was any indication that a coaching change would be made five weeks before training camp.
Cynics would argue that the support for Thomas was just politically correct behavior from players who know that burning Thomas, or any coach, is bad business.
Harrington, on the other hand, argues that it's all just business, much like the sign-and-trade deal that sent All-Star center Brad Miller to Sacramento in July.
"You do what you have to do," Harrington said. "Teams do it, players do it. That's the business."
[email protected]
August 28, 2003
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Indiana Pacers forward Al Harrington said he realized something about the NBA this season that should have been obvious long before he finished his fifth year in the league.
"This whole thing is a business," Harrington said Wednesday night. "And business comes before anybody, anything or any feelings. Business is just that, business."
It's a realization that will make Wednesday's firing of coach Isiah Thomas understandable for Harrington, 23, who's been working out in Florida most of the summer.
"Indiana is going to do what Indiana is going to do," he said. "Teams do what's best for their business, and once you understand that, nothing should come as a surprise."
Harrington is one of several players who called Thomas on Wednesday with consoling words.
He was one of many players who voiced support for Thomas in May, minutes after the season ended in the first round of the playoffs at Boston's FleetCenter.
"It's not his fault," Harrington said after the Game 6 loss. "We're the ones that go out there and play the game. Coach and the entire staff did a damn good job with this team. We just stumbled a bit and couldn't get it back when we needed to. That's not his doing. That's on us."
Fans and pundits alike pegged Thomas as the fall guy for the struggles of a team that went from first place in the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break to a third consecutive first-round playoff exit.
The players rallied behind Thomas, though, expressing their displeasure with the growing sentiment that the coach was to blame for the Pacers' stumble.
Thomas coached the East team in the Feb. 9 All-Star game in Atlanta. The Pacers then went 14-19, the worst second half among the eight Eastern Conference playoff teams.
Veteran guard Erick Strickland was Jamaal Tinsley's backup last season and never clicked with Thomas. He has since signed with Milwaukee.
But even after moving on, he didn't blame the coach.
"Hey, things happen sometimes and you're powerless to stop them," said Strickland, who has played with seven NBA teams. "It's all just business. Coaches, players, we all have to move on sometimes."
On Aug. 20, while discussing the new multiyear contract he had signed earlier in the day, veteran shooting guard Reggie Miller defended Thomas.
"I think if anyone has gotten a bad rap because of the way we finished last season, it's (Isiah)," Miller said.
He went on to call Thomas a "brilliant young coach with a bright future ahead of him."
But that was last week, long before there was any indication that a coaching change would be made five weeks before training camp.
Cynics would argue that the support for Thomas was just politically correct behavior from players who know that burning Thomas, or any coach, is bad business.
Harrington, on the other hand, argues that it's all just business, much like the sign-and-trade deal that sent All-Star center Brad Miller to Sacramento in July.
"You do what you have to do," Harrington said. "Teams do it, players do it. That's the business."