What was on your mind last night? I was noticing last night how two good friends have had parallel careers. Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington are best buds, but are also very similar players and have experienced very interesting careers. I’m hoping you weren’t thinking about this too, because one person thinking about the comparison is weird enough.

Harrington and Jackson even played together in Golden State (left and center, respectively), pictured here with scrub Brendan Wright.

Both guys are dynamic offensive players. They’re big, so they can post anyone up, but they’ve also got the slashing  and ball-handling ability of many guards and the shooting ability of many small forwards. They’ve basically got it all offensively, and in their primes it was fun to watch them play. Both are fairly athletic and solid defensive players. In sum, they’re both guys that you want to be your second or third option. If they’re your first option, like Al Harrington was for the Knicks a few years ago, your team sucks. But as sidekicks, these guys were the best in the business. So why does nobody ever want them?

Both Jackson and Harrington have played for a lot of teams. For Jackson, the Nets, Spurs, Hawks, Pacers, Warriors, Bobcats, Bucks, and Spurs again. For him, the reason nobody wants him is obvious: he’s absolutely insane. This is the man who incited the Malice at the Palace, and has failed to coexist with many-a-coach. Harrington, meanwhile, is more difficult to explain. He’s been with the Pacers, Hawks, Pacers, Warriors, Knicks, and Nuggets (6 stints, as compared to Jackson’s 8). I guess his somewhat off-putting scalp wrinkles are to blame. But there is a larger reason for the expendability of both Harrington and Jackson: they’re tweeners. Neither is a bonafide star, nor a hustle guy who serves as the emotional heart of his team. So, when a team wants to make a trade for a star without giving up its top player or its valuable role players, they almost always throw the Al Harringtons and Stephen Jacksons of the world into the deal.

I have questions about the work ethic of both these guys – can you see either of them really working on their games during the summer? At this point, they’re both carrying around a bit of extra weight. Still, I like both a lot. I’ve actually met Al Harrington, and he’s a really nice guy. They worked together to form Protege, a clothing and sneaker line, that offered sweet basketball kicks at low prices that we normal folk can actually afford (unlike $200 Jordans). How bad can these two possibly be?

The league seems to have decided that their times are coming to an end, with each seeing his minutes fall in the last couple of seasons. Still, Harrington had a surprisingly productive season with Denver and Jackson is playing well for a championship contender. I know it’s kind of random and weird to be writing so much about two B level players and paralleling their careers, but these guys are under-appreciated and I think they’re cool (I bought their Protege sneakers), so deal with it.

Here’s a convenient highlight video of both guys. I turns out that there are freaks out there that do weird stuff like this, just like me… Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington Mix

Jackson and Harrington are similar players, have had similarly hectic careers, and are good friends. They even started a clothing and sneaker line, Protege, together.