I saw the source this article is citing, and the source they were using seemed like crap. That source didn't even mention anybody from any teams actually saying the deal is going to happen or from any other reference. It seemed more like a conjecture from the rumors that have been spreading all day long. The original article was released soon after the Warriors selection of Curry. Since then, I BELIEVE that people like Chad Ford have said the talks have died down and the deal isn't going to happen. After hearing what's coming from Nelson and Riley I at least believe that Curry is not going to be traded. I mean Nelson has guaranteed Dell Curry that his son is going to get PT on this team. But I guess there is still chance that some deal bringing Amare to the Warriors is still in the works. Who really knows? The Arizona Republic articles seem like trash. Read them yourself. I don't know the past credibility of this paper, but what they are posting today does not seem to say a whole lot. The Suns were happy that Curry fell past number 6. This means he is going to be traded to the Suns...right... If they like Curry so much they should take Maggette, Curry and a filler for Amare. It may be the KG coming to GSW stuff but Phoenix style. I guess we will find out sooner or later. http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2009/06/25/20090625spt-sunsonline.html http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2009/06/25/20090625spt-bickleysuns.html#comments
Acquiring Amare Stoudemire is a positive IMO. His eye injuries have been freak accidents and his knee surgery was a success. The Suns were very cautious bringing him back from the micro-fracture. Amare is a bonafied franchise player and still young enough to build around. He's a big time scorer and a go-to player in the post season. Remember how he destroyed the Spurs a couple of seasons ago? At the time the Spurs had the best defense in the league and had no answer for this guy. I like Andris Biedrins and he is underrated, but let's be honest he's never going to be as good as Amare. He's not a difference maker on the court and a lot of his numbers are over inflated because of the style Nellie plays. The prospect of Monta/Amare duo is exciting. You get two young cornerstone players at two of the toughest positions to fill.
If Suns get Curry and Biedrins, you can't blame them for taking that over the Bulls crap. The Bulls could offer them more tax relief, but that Warriors package is packing a lot of talent. And even if the Bulls did a talent package, it would be something like Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas. Andris Biedrins is a lot better player than Deng, and while Curry could come out and suck (which I doubt, I think he's going to be a very good player), his value is about 20x that of Tyrus Thomas' right now. I think it's a great trade for the Suns. I think it's a dumb trade for the Warriors. They are the completely wrong team to get a guy like Amare. A trade like this doesn't seem to do much for them. Amare is an upgrade, but he's not going to carry a team, which he will have to do with the Warriors. What will end up happening is Amare will either walk after next season, or they will lock up Amare to a longterm extension and lock themselves up into longterm mediocrity. If that's what Amare goes for, then Bulls aren't going to be able to get Bosh, because Bosh has a lot more value than Amare around the league right now. (Of course it could have just been the Warriors being crazy, and were the only team offering a package like this). I don't have a problem with the Bulls just sticking with what they have. Maybe moving Tyrus Thomas. James Johnson looks like a pretty good prospect. He should turn out into a nice player. Shouldn't have been available at 16, but he was thanks to the point guard craze. (How many good point guards do GM's honestly think there is?). They have Mario Austin (a Euro-League MVP) coming over. Both are power forwards, and if both pan out, should usurp Thomas. If Bulls could get a lottery pick for Thomas in a trade, that would be great.
I think this is normal thought for most teams. But does anyone think the Warriors will actually be able to build around him? Idiots are running the front office.
I love Amare, but I have the same reservations with this trade as I did with the Chris Bosh rumor that came up a while ago. Short term, it's a clear positive, no question. Yes, it is a clear improvement in our inside game, although a drop in rebounding. And yes, it might be a better step towards attracting players to play here, but only if he re-signs. But, it may not lead to the playoffs, unfortunately. If Steve Nash couldn't make it to the playoffs in the West, (admittedly without Stoudamire for most of the season, and with coaching problems, but still with Shaq-Barbosa-Richardson-Hill) then our chances look about the same. There are only 8 spots in the West. San Antonio got better, the Lakers are staying pat as well as Denver, and Portland is still improving. So that means we have to somehow improve over Houston, New Orleans, Dallas, or Utah. (Houston of course depends on whether they make any moves and hugely on Yao's health. New Orleans is still a Paul-driven machine trying to move Chandler. Utah has a bunch of question marks with Okur and Boozer, while Dallas has Kidd. These teams thus may not achieve the same records, but I don't expect a huge drop off either). Even with all that, the Warriors still have absolutely no financial flexibility to improve, and we've got way too much salary (and not enough defensive talent) at the wing positions, and thus no ability to protect ourselves at all if he leaves. I guess it's better than just sitting around, but like I've stated, I almost rather tank this season, get a high draft pick and turn that into our own young potential Amare. Maybe I'm too high on next year's draft just like I am probably too negative on this year's.. but that's how I see it.
The Warriors aren't going to make this trade without an assurance from Amare & his agent on an extension to re-sign with Golden State for a fair market salary. Amare won't have to carry this team he'll be the main focus point for points in the paint, but the Warriors have plenty of offense even after they ship out the proposed players. Monta Ellis, Corey Maggette, Stephen Jackson, Anthony Morrow, Anthony Randolph The Warriors haven't had a dominant big man since Chris Webber left. Nellie knows how to get production out of Amare-type forwards. Amare is also one of the better passers at his position and is going to make the game a lot easier for everyone else on the floor. One of my All-Time favorite Warrior teams was Mullin, Spree & Webber. I think Nellie can recreate this type of squad with the addition of Amare.
If you believe that Monta can become a PG, it shouldn't be that tough to build around him and a franchise big, right? All else that would be needed is role player and the Ws seems to already have most of them. Consistent 3rd scorer- Jackson Rebounder/garbage guy -Randolph Muscle off the bench- Turiaf Outside threat- Curry/Morrow Someone to get to the line/create foul problems- Maggette Seems to me that team would be pretty good. I love Beidrins but he will never be a number 1 or 2 scoring option. I don't really like the idea of giving up 4 for 1 but I have no problem trading any of the mentioned guys for Amare. I'd just like to keep one of Curry/BW/Marco in that order.
Phoenix was a mess with the team Kerr tried to put together. They had no identity and chemistry was non-existant. Both Amare & Monta like to get up the court and score the ball. They'll be on the same page and I like to believe Monta will have a lot of confidence getting Amare the ball in transition and deferring to him a lot more than he has with the current Warrior bigs. I think the Warriors can get right back into the playoffs in the lower half of the seedings 6 to 8 seed. They'll have to be dominant at home, which they can be with the fan support and decent on the road. The goal will be a 50 win season and they should be able to finish 2nd in the Pacific. I don't think rebounding will take a hit. Amare rebounds and Randolph will increase his production with more playing time. The Hornets wanted to trade Chandler last year and I'm not sure they have enough to make it back to the playoffs. They haven't made any moves to improve their team. I also think Dallas could be on the outside looking in. Dirk's had a rough offseason with all the drama surrounding his love life and Dallas is getting long in the tooth. There's no guarantee Jason Kidd returns either.
Forgot to address this point. The Warriors don't have a lot of flexibility, but they've shown they're able to move contracts when necessary. Most recently of course being the Jamal Crawford trade.
This is the key right here. Amare's rebounding isn't as good as Biedrins' but it's decent. Amare's defense isn't as good either, but then again, Biedrins' defense wasn't outstanding. I would say it was "solid" for a undersized C. Biedrins was foul prone though, so his effectiveness was limited by forcing him to sit. That's why we got Turiaf to begin with. In return, we get Amare on the floor for 34.2 mpg (career...last season in 53 games he averaged 36.8) vs. Biedrins' 30.0 mpg (last year in 62 games...career high...career is 24.2) where his offensive presence will be felt much greater than Biedrins'. Let's be real, Beans never was an "offensive threat." He is an efficient scorer when the opportunity arises. To make up for it, Beans does a lot of intangible, fundamental things that never makes him a burden. You just wish he could stay on the floor a little longer. I think with a Amare, Randolph, and Turiaf front court rotation, you give up some defense and rebounding, but it gets made up in other ways that, I think, outweigh a Beans/AR/Turiaf rotation.
I'm just going to repeat my mantra, to get better, history shows you develop your own talent. You most certainly do not trade for someone past their peak. Only exceptions I can think of are the Garnett/Allen deals and Shaq to the Heat. Of course in those situations, you had Pierce and Wade in place, respectively. Here, Stoudamire is a fine midrange jump shooter, very good FT shooter and a powerful finisher. But what about the rest of the game? D/Rebounding/passing? Think he would have been 1st Team All-NBA say with the Nets instead of Nash? No way. Plus he's had one of the riskiest knee surgeries and a detached retina (ask Sugar Ray Leonard about that). He's more Bob McAdoo (scorer) than Maurice Lucas (all around PF). Please let this one pass in the night.
I agree with your mantra of developing homegrown talent, but the Warriors haven't really lucked out in landing a "can't miss" draft pick. They either win the lotto in a weak draft or they get stuck drafting middle of the pack. Amare is a great passer and can rebound the basketball. Sure Steve Nash helped him look better, but Amare can put up numbers in any high paced offense. Defensively there's a lot to be desired especially defending back to the basket guys, but he's not a major dropoff from Biedrins. Injuries are always a gamble, but you have to trust your medical staff checks him out thoroughly and makes the right decision on him.
Steinmetz on KNBR right now, saying that the reason GS pick was mentioned in the Amare deal is because GS never believed they would have a chance to get Curry. The idea is that the suns wanted GS to make a pick for them to include in the deal, and GS said okay, but then Curry landed at #7 and they were like, uh, deal's off, folks. Not to say Curry will be a Warrior forever, but Steinmentz is pretty sure that's they way it went, and that's why the Amare deal is now uncertain.
I don't think that's true today. The Lakers kept their talent in Kobe, Ariza and Walton, but the rest of the team came via trades and free agents. Even Fisher left and came back again. And Like you stated, Boston surely didn't follow that mold. I think adding a star to a small core via free agency is the new way. Fact of the matter is that the Warriors core is not good enough to compete now. They may have been good enough to compete in a couple of years. I've grown impacient. And I know others have as well. Amare is a stud and Nellie has proven that he can dip into the unsigned market to fill gaps. I think if you have a chance to grab one of the best big men in the leage, you do it without hesitation. Especially when that player can run the floor and is playing in a running system Stoudamire's knee looked ok last year. His eye is still up in the air. I'll let the doctors figure that out.
Yeah, most people are saying that it's actually GS that backed off the trade, not the Suns, and it's because they believe in Curry so much. Of course, maybe the Suns will reopen the talks and ok the Wright-Beli-Biedrins combo, but at least GS isn't getting pushed around. As far as developing own talent, I do agree we need to develop Randolph more, although Biedrins-Randolph in the front court is an unorthodox combo, because it's alot more finesse than pure inside scoring in the post. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, and ideally we could develop a Tayshaun Prince-type post scorer or rely on Randolph to show more promise in that area. At worst, the 2010 draft may have 8 to 11 really nice big men prospects I'm excited about, just like this draft's extensive point guard collection, although of those 8 to 11, I don't know how many will declare, since they're all early entrants.
This just strikes me as very odd because wouldn't you absolutely want to plan for every eventuality? Everyone knew this was a fluid draft, maybe it's unlikely Curry would be there, but it wasn't that crazy, almost every mock draft had him going between 6 and 8 (actually, that would seem to make it rather likely). I can't imagine, for something of this magnitude, this much money, someone in the Phoenix war room would plan all this out and not hand the Warriors a numbered list with every possible player 1-7, in order or preference. That's just insanely negligent and I would fire that person. How could you not plan for that? And they do have access to phones in all those rooms, don't they? Serves them right.
You're giving the guys in the war room too much credit. When they show the war rooms they look completely chaotic, disorganized and far too many people in one room. Do you really need 40 people in the war room? There should be 4 guys in there. 3 decision makers and 1 guy to get food, water or stand in when one of the decision makers needs to use the restroom.
Technically, it's not expiring until next year (the year after this coming year). Atlanta will take on about an additional $12M for doing this deal, while it's not going to turn around the franchise or anything, I think the Warriors actually did well and I will give them credit for it.
