The future of Matt Harpring

I talked to Matt Harpring Monday for a story in the Tribune. He is conducting his annual basketball camp for kids at the Murray Rec Center. It's already been a summer to remember for Harpring, who whose wife gave birth to the couple's third child just over a month ago. Now, Harpring is trying to determine whether knee and ankle injuries will force an end to his 11-year NBA career. He didn't tell me his final plans, but I get the feeling that Harpring won't play again. "The [knee] cartilage isn't there any more -- it just isn't," he said. "When motion isn't there ... I mean, I would would love to have something to make it come back. But I don't." Harpring has already thought about life after basketball because he's endured knee surgery and, last summer, a nasty post-operative infection in his ankle that required antibiotics for six months. Harpring struggled through the season, which he vows won't happen again...