you may see it that way, but the casual NBL fan who has heard of Al Harrington in the NBA is going to be excited about it. Plus how is this any different to the A-league and their loan players?

Get in line the out of shape import train behind the 36ers fans and Ebi Ere... but in Harrington's defence and the Kings, he is a short term injury replacement, id be happy with that a quick recovery. I dont think having a broken hand is playing the NBL, 15 games sucks because he has had legit injuries. You sound like your just a down in the dumps Kings supporter and I would be too, you guys were meant to do great things this season imo.

Al will have a breakout game before he leaves, I guarantee it. Right now his J is not falling (has not played a lot recently) and would benefit from a drive and dish type PG (they dont have one).

Once Al hits a few jumpers he will break out, he is a great finisher around the basket and exceptional at getting to the FT line. Al is just shaking off the cobwebs, learning the offence and his role and is getting acclimated to a new team and country. Give him more than 2 games before writing him off.

you have no idea!!

the interest being generated by both players is invaluable.

his contribution on court was OK given the timeline he has worked to. Have a look at the stats!!!!! Lets see how it pans out

Give Harrington another game or two to find some match fitness and adjust to the referees, and I expect he'll make a big impact before he leaves.

Joey wouldnt go for that, unless they are atleast facebook friends and is prepared to put some weight on.... fml

Unfortunately it doesn't really generate too much interest, not in Sydney anyway, where crowds were higher with Patrick Sanders and Trey Gilder as imports than with Sam Young, Josh Childress or Al Harrington.

Still, why not bring him in as an injury replacement at short notice? He's better than United's local import replacement option. If he finds some fitness and form he might help the Kings win a game or two.

I have always wondered why Sydney, a city of over 4 million cant pull a decent crowd. Anyone know why?

The crowds when Sydney return with those imports mentioned above were regularly around 6k-7k. There was celebrities at every game. The crowds look terrible now

Must be a sobering experience for these ex-NBA guys (Harrington, Warrick, etc) to come here and not comfortably crack a starting five. The guys ahead of them are just too keen to play and succeed, so have the urgency that will win loose balls and rack up points.

Harrington looks pretty out of shape. Glad he's a potential drawcard name for the league, but also glad he's playing for another team.

Weather is too good in Sydney and there must be too much else to do, even the NRL has struggled to maintain big crowds.

I think Warrick would be OK with what's going on, he would know he's going to be an important part of a championship drive. He's played OS before, he knows what it's all about.

Let's not forget that Harrington landed in Sydney on Thursday morning after a flight from the US and then had to play 2 games in 3 days starting the next day.

His fitness is not where it should be, but after a fortnight of training, getting to know his team and 3 or 4 matches under his belt I expect him to make a serious impact.

"Out of shape" can change quickly. I’m surprised by people’s negativity around Harrington after just 2 games.

Actually, Harrington had to do a whole heap of media interviews and then played 2 games in less than 48 hours. We can't expect everyone to do a Randle - land and then dominate straight away.

Absolutely spot on Anonymous #560887

The crowds were great for the Kings return season because the 0.002% of Sydney's population who give a rats about the NBL were happy to have any team to support. That novelty has been steadily diminishing ever since & Kings management have done nothing to retain fans let alone create new ones. A lot of traditional Kings fans still think this new Kings is really just a re-badged Razorbacks & the management does seem to be following exactly the same path to oblivion.

Ebi just looks a bit older and a step slower to me.

Harrington looks unfit and out of match condition. Those are two different things.

But- I predict that we haven't yet seen the best of either of them. Both will improve on what they’ve done so far. Especially Harrington.

Really? I didn't realise that.

Homicide Williams claimed he knew Harrington, and that Harrington had been training so I expected Harrington to be in shape before he took the court and it became apparent that he wasn’t.

If he really *had* been doing nothing for the past few months or since retiring in March then this is great news for Kings fans. It means he should have a steep fitness improvement over the first few weeks, and that sharp increase in fitness should correlate to better performances with every single game.

"Homicide Williams claimed he knew Harrington, and that Harrington had been training "

He probably predicted and guaranteed he'd be training.

You basically got an injury replacement for free and Al hasn't been the worst player on the court at any time.

What's the problem?

Harrington might have been training but it clearly wasn't anywhere near the intensity an NBL club trains at, either that or he celebrated each session with a banquet! Fair enough too, he was retired.

It will be tough this week too, Melbourne and Adelaide both play high-speed ball.

Well at the end of the day, Harrington is in shape.

Round is a shape.

A circle is a shape, I should say. Harrington is looking quite circular.

Yes I'm sure Ebi will be in peak playing condition come finals time. So he will be super ripped and cardio ready to watch on fox... delusional to think he is a good fit for what the 36ers need to get over the hump.

Poor Harrington, at peak fitness he would most probably be a beats, big boy, but looks slow but he seems annoyed at every bad call, so he is def keen to perform based on that. Sam Young never had that passion. Hopefully with some settling into Sydney and the kings version of a basketball system he will produce.

Cheers anon

Leon Trimmingham available?

Nope, Leon is on a yacht in the Caspian Sea with Iverson and Rodney O....

Those were good days for Sydney.. Keogh, Trimmingham, Uthoff, McClain, etc

"Lowest attended NBL game ever?"

Not even close. It wasn't so long ago the Breakers played some games in front of a couple of hundred people, with most of them reportedly on free tickets!

I love basketball and go to Kings games regularly. When I take friends who don't follow basketball their main issue is with the cost of beers and the fact that the place is full of kids.

The main thing that annoys me at Kings game is if you shout something to the ref or an opposition player about 5 people in front of you turn around as if to say "cheering is weird".