Matt Harpring

Matt Harpring
Player information
Full name	Matthew Joseph Harpring
birthday	March 31, 1976
place of birth	Cincinnati , United States
size	201 cm
position	Small forward
college	Georgia Tech
NBA draft	1998 , 15th Pick, Orlando Magic
league	NBA
Clubs as active
1998–2000 Orlando Magic 2000–2001 Cleveland Cavaliers 2000–2002 Philadelphia 76ers 2002–2009 Utah Jazz

Matthew Joseph Harpring (born March 31, 1976 in Cincinnati , Ohio ) is a retired American basketball player who was active in the NBA between 1998 and 2009.

Career

After Matt Harpring played four years as a starter for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket , he switched to the professional camp in 1998. In the annual talent selection , Harpring was signed 15th by Orlando Magic . In his rookie season, Harpring started in 22 of 50 games, scoring 8.2 points and getting 4.3 rebounds per game. For this achievement he was elected to the NBA All-Rookie First Team .

In the 1999–00 season, Harpring only played four games before he was out due to injury for the rest of the season. In 2000 he moved to the Cleveland Cavaliers . With the Cavaliers, Harpring scored 11.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 56 games as the starting small forward . In 2001 he switched to the Philadelphia 76ers , where he started in all 81 games and put up 11.8 points and 7.1 rebounds.

In 2002 Harpring moved to Utah Jazz as a free agent , where he was to inherit the previously emigrated Donyell Marshall in the small forward position and relieve the jazz stars Karl Malone and John Stockton . Harpring played the best season of his career in 2002-03. He scored 17.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, hit 51.1% from the field and 41.3% from the triple line. In the choice of Most Improved Player of the Season , he landed in second place. After Stockton resigned in 2003 and Malone moved to the Lakers, coach Jerry Sloan Harpring appointed the team's new captain. However, Harpring was seriously injured so that he could only play 31 games. With 16.2 points per game, Harpring was Utah's scoring leader for the season.

With the signing of Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur and the fact that Andrei Kirilenko became an all-star during Harpring's injury , Harpring lost his regular place after his recovery. Despite all this, he was highly valued by coach Sloan for his tough defense and cleverness, so that in recent years he has mostly come off the bench as the best sixth man .

In 2009 Harpring was traded together with Eric Maynor for the draft rights to Peter Fehse to the Oklahoma City Thunder , for which he however never accrued. In his eleven-year career, Harpring scored 11.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

He currently works as a game analyst for NBA TV and occasionally as a color commentator for games at Utah Jazz.

Web links

• Matt Harpring - player profile on NBA.com