Al Harrington on how making 2,000 shots a day boosted his stock as a prospect: "I went from top 25 to top three in the country"

Al Harrington grew up dreaming of becoming a professional basketball player. The New Jersey native achieved this goal after being selected 25th overall in the 1998 Draft. However, that moment didn't come by chance; it came through sheer hard work.

This is illustrated by an anecdote the former NBA player shared on 'The Mark Jackson Podcast.' Harrington recounted how his AAU coach once challenged him to make 2,000 shots daily for two weeks. Despite initial hesitation, young Al embraced the task and soon reaped the benefits at a Nike Camp.

"Everything else was back to the basket, but when I went to Nike, I suddenly showed a jump shot, and they were like, 'Oh my God, he can shoot too!' I left that camp having won the MVP, so I went from top 25 to top three in the country…that was pretty much my journey, man," recounted Harrington.

2,000-shot challenge

Harrington began his basketball journey at St. Patrick High School in New Jersey. As a young forward, he displayed remarkable talent and a fierce competitive spirit, which pushed him to consistently challenge himself against the nation's top players. This pursuit led 'Baby Al' to switch from Adidas to Nike, as players like Quentin Richardson and Corey Maggette attended the latter's training camp.

However, before heading to the Nike camp in Indianapolis, Harrington's AAU coach introduced the aforementioned shooting drill to sharpen his game. Initially skeptical, 'Baby Al' jokingly asked if his coach could even count to 2,000. However, he soon started the drill, which was grueling at first.

"The first day we did it, it took nine hours. By the end of day 12 or 13, it was down to about five hours," recounted the 44-year-old.

Like father, like daughter

Ultimately, Harrington's hard work paid off, as he competed with Rashard Lewis for the nation's top talent.

'Baby Al' went on to play 16 years in the NBA as a member of the Indiana Pacers , Golden State Warriors, and New York Knicks. None of this, he said, would have happened without doing that drill. In fact, the now-entrepreneur benefited so much from it that he challenged his daughter, also a talented athlete, to do the same. The female youth soccer player isn't resting on her laurels either.

"I tell her, 'You gotta have 2,000 touches a day,' so she got this board, and she does it—2,000 touches every day. Since she's been doing that, you see her game going leaps and bounds; she's getting more and more technical. So that's a number for me that I'm gonna hold on to because I saw what it did for me," he remarked.

It's safe to say that work ethic runs deep in the Harrington family, and fans might soon see Al's daughter dominating the pitch just like her dad did on the hardwood.

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