Al Harrington recalls the story of how he was roasted by Don Nelson for attempting to give a motivational speech ahead of a big game
Al Harrington & Don Nelson
© Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports/© Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
In the game of basketball, your mindset can play a pretty instrumental role in how good or bad you perform. Confidence will always be a big piece of the puzzle, but that isn't the only thing you need to be concerned with. If you aren't in the right mindset to play basketball, chances are you will go out and produce a dud, which is never a good thing, regardless of whether you are playing pickup or in the NBA.
Harrington got roasted by Don Nelson for trying to deliver a motivational speech to his team
Of course, in the NBA, the stakes are much bigger than in your typical basketball game. The stakes get raised even higher once the postseason rolls around. The game completely changes, with teams getting more and more familiar with each other as the series goes on. And if you aren't ready to go in the playoffs, you will get eaten alive by your opponent.
While he never ended up winning a championship in his career, Al Harrington knew what it took to play on the biggest basketball stage in the NBA. Harrington would try to get his teammates in the right headspace ahead of games sometimes, but he recently recalled a time when he got roasted by Don Nelson for giving a speech attempting to get his teammates hyped ahead of an elimination game.
"We in the huddle after the shootaround and he (Don Nelson) didn't really say nothing. So you know me, I'm telling them 'Yo, man, we can win this, we can pull this off, we down 4-1 or whatever.' After I got finished Nellie was like "Man, nobody wanna hear that s***.'" - Al Harrington
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Don Nelson hilariously shut down Al Harrington's motivational speech
It's tough to say that Harrington was doing anything out of the ordinary here, as players will often try to step in and help their teammates get ready for games. Harrington had already spent quite a few seasons in the NBA by the time he and Nelson crossed paths with the Golden State Warriors in the 2006-07 season, so he certainly knew what he was talking about when he was trying to get his team excited for the game.
But Nelson didn't appear to be having any of it. Maybe he was resigned to losing the series (which did end up happening), or perhaps he was simply joking with Harrington. Whatever the case, Harrington didn't sound too happy with Nelson's take, even if he can now look back on the matter and laugh at it. Harrington was never the greatest player to take the court, but it sounds like he wasn't the greatest hype man either if Nelson had to shut him down like this, and this is a pretty humorous story from Harrington.
A big piece of succeeding in the NBA involves having the right mindset. Being confident is one thing, but being in the right state of mind to play is just as important. Luckily, most players in the NBA realize this and do whatever they can to get their teammates ready to play.
One such guy who did this was Al Harrington. Harrington entered the NBA when he was just 18 years old, so he racked up much experience in the league quickly. Harrington recalled a story of how he tried to get his teammates hyped ahead of a crucial elimination game in the playoffs.
The problem was that Harrington got roasted immediately after his speech by his head coach, Don Nelson. The legendary Nelson told Harrington that "nobody wants to hear that s***" which quickly got Harrington to stop talking.
Harrington likely wasn't too happy with this feedback from Nelson, but looking back on it, it is a pretty hilarious story, and it's good to see Harrington look back at it now and laugh. But he must have been a pretty horrible hype man for Nelson to shut him down like this.
