Will Kroenke's Penny Pinching Nature Save Harrington From Being Cut?

[Built Ford Tough]

Most likely amnesty cut: Al Harrington

 

How likely to use amnesty this season? Jump ball

 

Other amnesty candidates: None

 

Analysis: Harrington is on the list of presumed amnesty slam dunks headlined by Rashard Lewis thanks to the $27.7 million left on his contract ($16.5 million guaranteed). Be advised, though, that cutting someone and still paying them huge dollars goes against the eye-on-every-penny nature of Stan Kroenke, whose influence in the organization obviously continues to be felt hugely even though son Josh is technically operating the franchise.

 

Thanks to the exodus of Nuggets free-agent forwards to China in the offseason -- Wilson Chandler, Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith -- it's not inconceivable that Harrington hangs around for a while. The deciding factor figures to be Nene's impending free agency and whether the resulting flexibility from releasing Harrington could somehow help that cause.

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7147880/nba-most-likely-amnesty-candidates

 

I honestly don't see why the Nuggets wouldn't cut Harrington. He is vastly overpaid, has a long contract and doesn't even provide much positive attributes to the team. Even if they don't have Chandler, K-Mart, Smith or Nene, I still believe that they should cut ties with Harrington, but I don't know if Kroenke would be open to the idea of cutting him and being forced to pay him while he plays for another team.

 

They may decide that it is best off keeping him and hoping that he can provide an offensive punch to their team as it is very conceiveable to think that the Nuggets may have trouble on offense if they aren't able to bring back somebody like Nene or JR Smith and if Chandler isn't about to get out of his contract with his Chinese team.