For six weeks leading up to the NBA season, I ranked and filed the League’s go-to guys. Using the rationale that even the most harmonious, balanced team has one if-all-else-fails alpha male that they look to in crunch time, I picked one player per squad for a final list of 30. (A concept that went over a lot of people’s heads; I can’t tell you how many “How is Ray Allen not on the list and Boris Diaw is?” e-mails I got.)

More difficult than ranking the 30 was deciding who should have the go-to spot for each team. Sometimes it was easy: Kobe in L.A., LeBron in Cleveland, B-Roy in Portland, etc. Sometimes it was more tricky. A few weeks into the new season, some roles have changed and guys who weren’t pegged as go-to guys before have taken over new responsibilities.

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AL HARRINGTON, New York Knicks

While I found it strange that the Knicks seemed hesitant (at best) to re-sign Nate Robinson this summer even though he was their best offensive player last season, I chalked it up to the usual insane asylum atmosphere surrounding the franchise.

As it turns out, there was a reason NY gave Nate every opportunity to leave. A little more than 20 games into this season, Nate has fallen completely out of Coach Mike D’Antoni’s rotation — he logged another DNP-CD last night against the Nets — and has a long way to go before he even gets a significant role on the court, let alone status as the go-to scorer.

In the meantime, Al Harrington has taken over Nate’s old job as the Knicks’ top option. And like Nate once did, he’s subsequently become the most unlikely go-to guy in the League.

Harrington made only his fourth start of the year on Sunday. Last week against Orlando he got only 15 minutes off the bench, which came five days after he’d dropped 41 points against the Nuggets. Harrington has made no secret of his problems with his ex-coach in Golden State, Don Nelson, so you wonder how he feels about D’Antoni jerking his minutes around.

In New York’s run-and-gun system, Harrington has found his niche as a power forward (6-9, 250) who plays like a small forward; a single-minded scorer who prefers to operate from outside and mid-range even though he has the size to bang down low. Harrington is kind of like Antawn Jamison in that he’s never seen a shot he doesn’t think he can make, and will squeeze off shots from weird angles and seemingly without any thought to things like the clock or the scoreboard.

But when the game comes down to the wire (and the Knicks are actually in a position to win), Harrington is getting better at becoming a more focused player. His standout clutch performance was against the Celtics on Nov. 22 at MSG. On his way to 30 points, Harrington carved through Boston’s vaunted defense for buckets with Kevin Garnett primarily sticking him one-on-one. New York was down by 11 in the third quarter when Harrington knocked down three triples during a run where they tied it up, and with four seconds left in the fourth, he hit two free throws that forced overtime. He hit a couple more shots in OT, and while Boston ultimately won on a buzzer-beater, Harrington was taking smart shots and converting in big situations.

Harrington is averaging 20.1 points this year on 46 percent shooting from the field and 81 percent at the line. Of the 20 players in the NBA currently scoring at least 20 points per night, Harrington plays the least amount of minutes, just over 31 mpg. He’s not much of a passer (1.6 apg), but he can score with almost anybody in the League.

It’s not like the Knicks have a 6-15 record because Harrington is their go-to guy; it’s more like any team that has to resort to Harrington as the go-to guy is destined to lose a lot of games.

That said, this is a temporary gig. Harrington’s name has popped up in trade rumors recently, and his contract is up at the end of this season. If by this time next year he is New York’s go-to guy it would be only because the Knicks failed colossally in trying to lure free agents like LeBron and D-Wade and couldn’t even get one-notch-down Plan B’s; and as far as Harrington being the go-to guy anywhere else, it could only happen the way it happened in New York: By accident.

Where would he rank?
1. Kobe Bryant
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Paul Pierce
4. LeBron James
5. Tim Duncan
6. Dirk Nowitzki
7. Brandon Roy
8. Carmelo Anthony
9. Chris Paul
10. Deron Williams
11. Vince Carter
12. Joe Johnson
13. Danny Granger
14. Steve Nash
15. Kevin Durant
16. Gilbert Arenas
17. Derrick Rose
18. Chris Bosh
**BEN GORDON**
19. Andre Iguodala
20. Tracy McGrady
21. Baron Davis
22. Michael Redd
23. Devin Harris
24. Kevin Martin
25. Al Jefferson
**AL HARRINGTON**
26. O.J. Mayo
27. Stephen Jackson
28. Nate Robinson
29. Boris Diaw
30. Rip Hamilton

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