Matt Harpring

Matt Harpring is a professional basketball in NBA. He is widely regarded as an excellent all-around versatile role player. In 2003 he was named a team captain for the Jazz. Matthew Joseph Harpring was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on May 31, 1976. He attended high school at Marist School in Georgia, and in college at Georgia Institute of Technology. IDuring his ocollegite days he was named to the first team All-ACC three times and to the Third Team All-American. He finished his career as the school's second all-time leader in points while earning a bachelor's degree in business management. Harpring was selected with the 15th pick in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic. On his first season he was elected to the NBA All-Rookie First team and established himself as a vital player for the team. He missed most of his game on his second season after suffering an injury. In 2000 he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. One year later, Harpring was traded again, this time he is shipped to the Philadelphia 76ers. After posting career highs in most categories, Harpring entered free agency. He was finally selected by the Utah Jazz. After the departures of John Stockton and Karl Malone, Harpring was named as the Jazz team captain. Harpring played for the Jazz for 7 years from 2002 to 2009.

Matt Harpring didn't play for the entire 2009-2010 season. Although he was the 13th man of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Harpring was waived and eventually the Thunder signed instead free agent guard Antonio Anderson to a 10 day contract.http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/04/carmelo-anthony-stopper-matt-harpring/ He rooted for his former team on this year's NBA 2010 Playoffs, as he even gave valuable pointers to his teammates when they faced the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.

Rex Chapman, the Nuggets' vice president of player personnel said after the Game 2 of the series, “All day, I read articles where Matt Harpring was saying the Jazz need to dirty the game up, to hold, grab and lean on Melo as much as possible. I guess the players read those quotes as well. It looked like they took it to heart. It was just frustrating. I think three of Melo’s fouls were offensive and he did have guys leaning on him all night. So I guess they did what they had to do. Now that we know that this sort of play will be allowed, I believe we will be able to adjust.”http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/04/carmelo-anthony-stopper-matt-harpring/

Harpring was indeed built to defend and he even gave Carmelo Anthony some tough time on the previous seasons and the pointers and tips he gave to the Jazz were indeed helpful in the team's conquest of the Nuggets.

During his last season with the Jazz, Matt Harpring averaged 4.4 points, 2 rebounds, 0.4 assist, 0.5 steal and 0.1 block in seven outings. This is probably the start in the decline of the performance of Harpring.http://www.nba.com/playerfile/matt_harpring/career_stats.html

• Mahalo's Guide to the Utah Jazz
• ESPN.com: Career Stats
  • Height: 6' 7"
  • Weight: 225 lbs
  • Rookie Year: 1998