How Good was Matt Harpring?

[ShazamDaShiznt]

He had a John Cena like chin. That's all I can remember about him.

[Beethoven]

why is there even two pages of dialogue already on Matt harpring? Should have been a two or three comment response and then thread tucked away on page 20 of this forum

[BNM]

My most significant memory of Matt Harpring was a quote he gave after a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in January of 2008. I was at that game with my kids. It was a low scoring first half with POR down a couple points at the break.

At the start of the 3rd quarter, Brandon Roy was on the bench, replaced in the lineup by Martell Webster. Webster proceeded to torch UTA for 24 points in the 3rd and POR won going away. UTA threw everyone they had at Webster - Ronnie Brewer, C.J. Miles, Matt Harpring and even Paul Millsap, but none of them could slow Webster down, let alone stop him. He was just totally on fire, probably the 12 hottest minutes of basketball of his entire career. My kids and I were going nuts.

After the game, when asked what went wrong for Utah in the second half, Harpring replied: "It was tough when what's-his-face got hot". How about putting a little respect on that man's name! He just lit you up for 24 in a quarter!!!

[Big J]

I'm shocked that we are discussing a mostly forgettable player from 15 years ago when we are in the middle of one of the most entertaining first rounds of all time.

[ellobo]

First time I've see him on TV, the man got some serious biceps for a basketball player. A less athletic Desmond Bane would be my guess?

Harpring was a good athlete. I definitely don't remember him as a worse athlete than Bane.

But three point shooting was not a part of his game (less than 1 attempt per game). Harpring made one third of his threes and was a good midrange shooter and a solid free throw shooter, so he probably would have been a better three point shooter if he played now.

He was just a good solid all-around player: good physical tools, pretty good at everything, not outstandingly great at anything, and played with energy and force.

[dirkdiggler4177]

The only thing I remember about him was his story on how he hated playing in Philly. The lockerroom was so ghetto, people playing dice and dominos and Iverson being Iverson. He then went to Utah fitted in just like a glow. No wonder.

[Stromile12]

Similar to Pat Garrity, so similar that I always got them mixed up

I never did. Harpring was clearly the superior player.

Garrity: 7.3 ppg / 2.6 reb / 0.8 apg / 41.7% fg / 39.8% 3fg / never averaged more than 11.1 ppg

vs.

Harpring:11.5 ppg / 5.1 reb / 1.4 apg / 48.1% fg / 33.1% 3fg / averaged 17.6 ppg one year for a playoff team.

I should have stated they looked physically the same to me at the time and played similar, I was pretty young back then.

[Hipster Doofus]

Tough mofo. He only played one year for the Sixers 20 years ago, but I do remember that he was scrappy and could score a little bit.

[slicedbread2]

I remembered him as one of those dudes that the Jazz and Jerry Sloan somehow were able to work with and turned him into a solid role player that managed to have a decade+ long career. The other free agent signings, late draft picks and undrafted players signed during the post Stockton/Malone to Williams/Boozer era were pretty crazy:

-AK47. Hell of a player before injuries and addiction to world of warcraft doomed him in.
-Wesley Matthews. Had a solid rookie year in Utah, then Portland gave him a nice 5 year deal that Utah chose to decline.
-Deshawn Stevenson. Left Utah after his rookie deal ended. Was a prep to pro player that managed to be known for his hard nosed defense. Got a ring in Dallas.
-Mehmet Okur. An end of the bench dude on a stacked Detroit squad that became an elite stretch 5 for the era that was the 2000's. Porous defense but oh well.
-C.J. Miles. One of the last HS players to go straight to the league in 2005 as an 18 year old. Amazing that he lasted 15 years in the league. Was a journeyman after 7 years in Utah.

I'm missing some other dudes, but man It's pretty insane when you think about it. Harpring got doomed by injuries towards the end of his career, but he was remembered for standing with the vets in Stockton, Malone and Ostertag when Mark Jackson's cancerous butt showed up and divided the locker room during Stockton's final year and the incident led to his retirement.

[BNM]

I remembered him as one of those dudes that the Jazz and Jerry Sloan somehow were able to work with and turned him into a solid role player that managed to have a decade+ long career. The other free agent signings, late draft picks and undrafted players signed during the post Stockton/Malone to Williams/Boozer era were pretty crazy:

-AK47. Hell of a player before injuries and addiction to world of warcraft doomed him in.
-Wesley Matthews. Had a solid rookie year in Utah, then Portland gave him a nice 5 year deal that Utah chose to decline.
-Deshawn Stevenson. Left Utah after his rookie deal ended. Was a prep to pro player that managed to be known for his hard nosed defense. Got a ring in Dallas.
-Mehmet Okur. An end of the bench dude on a stacked Detroit squad that became an elite stretch 5 for the era that was the 2000's. Porous defense but oh well.
-C.J. Miles. One of the last HS players to go straight to the league in 2005 as an 18 year old. Amazing that he lasted 15 years in the league. Was a journeyman after 7 years in Utah.

I'm missing some other dudes, but man It's pretty insane when you think about it. Harpring got doomed by injuries towards the end of his career, but he was remembered for standing with the vets in Stockton, Malone and Ostertag when Mark Jackson's cancerous butt showed up and divided the locker room during Stockton's final year and the incident led to his retirement.

He had a REALLY nice season his first year in UTA. Both his basic counting stats and advanced stats were outstanding, for a role player. His TS% that year would still be considered quite good, even in the modern 3-point heavy era.

The next year, he got off to a slow start, got injured and was never the same. The injury seemed to derail his trajectory and really set him back. He wasn't terrible post injury. He stuck around several more seasons, but he was never close to as good post injury as he was that first season in Utah.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

A funny story I remember about him was when Mark Jackson got his 10k assist, he was the one who received it.
The crowd started cheering like crazy and he said it really pumped him up and he thought at the time "wow, they really liked it, it was a sweet jumper!". He had no clue.

[Ice Trae]

he was awesome on 2k lol

Terrence Williams was awesome back in 2K when you could just spam the Euro step

Lol I abused him in 2k11 online. euro step, posters, spin dunks... he really was unstoppable lmfao

[harlem_ball]

Harpring was an average role player. A bench piece on a contender at best.

[carlquincy]

Somehow, I always remember him as the guy that got torched by Kobe during the playoffs

[Ugly Duckling]

not good at all. barely serviceable scrub

[okboomer]

Flashbacks to 20 years ago when I was in middle school and he was 76er. I dont remember much else from his game.