<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">OAKLAND - When agent Bill Neff was working out the details of forward Matt Barnes' invitation to Warriors training camp last fall, he dealt exclusively with general manager Rod Higgins. Now that Barnes has exploded on the scene, cracking the league's top 20 in 3-point accuracy and transforming himself from an unknown to a viable NBA commodity, Neff recognizes that his calls this summer will be routed to another office. "I guess we'll be dealing with Mully more," Neff said. True enough. By making the most of the opportunity afforded to him by coach Don Nelson, Barnes has forced himself onto the future agenda of Warriors executive vice president Chris Mullin, who already was going to have to make tough decisions regarding center Andris Biedrins and forward Mickael Pietrus. This is not the first time in recent years the Warriors have had a player they brought in at the league minimum play his way into a multimillion-dollar pay raise. Golden State signed Earl Boykins a month into the 2002-03 season, then watched the 5-foot-5 guard parlay averages of 21.8 points and 8.0 assists per 48 minutes into a five-year, $13.7 million deal with the Denver Nuggets. The next year, it was forward Brian Cardinal's turn. Shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range, he put up 21.5 points and 9.3 boards per 48 minutes before agreeing to join the Memphis Grizzlies on a six-year, $30 million contract. Now, it looks as though Barnes will be in line for a similar kind of cost-of-living adjustment. "If you look at those two guys, you can make that case," Higgins said. "Matt has, up to this point, had an excellent season. That's a good comparison to those two guys, but we'll see what happens this summer." Said Barnes: "I've seen that (Boykins and Cardinal's cashing in elsewhere), but I'm with a good group of guys right now, and I have a great coach. So if I have an opportunity to stay here, I'd love to stay here." While Barnes probably shouldn't expect a five-year, $44.5 million deal such as the extension Warriors forward Mike Dunleavy signed two summers ago, Nelson allowed that Barnes has a similar skill set to Dunleavy, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2002 draft. "(Barnes) will get a lot of attention after the season," said Neff, who nevertheless plans on giving the Warriors first crack at Barnes' services. The problem is that Golden State, barring a salary dump of epic proportions, will have only its midlevel exception -- valued this season at $5.215 million -- to offer and also will be fighting to stay under the luxury-tax threshold. "You've got to look at who's under the cap, because the Warriors can only do certain things," Neff said. "But there's something to be said for playing where it makes you happy. ... Matt may just say, 'I don't care, I want to play for Don.'"</div> Source
I think a midlevel exception is fair at this point. Anything more than that and we wont even be able to do a sign and trade could we? That kind of sucks that we bring a guy in and he blossums, but we cant resign him. Kind of like the Arenas thing...
MLE is a deal anyone can offer-so there would not be an S + T likely on an MLE level deal-and I'd doubt any player we'd get on such a deal justifies going Lux Tax. What irony....we "anticipated" and overpaid Dunleavy....didn't anticipate-could lose out on Barnes-with the Dun contract a big reason why.
We'll have to see what kind of offers Barnes gets around the league. For some reason, I'm not sold on him completely and think other teams can adjust to him. He needs to be more consistent. I don't think he is a starter do you, i.e. he wouldn't start on most teams in the NBA? I rather keep MP right now, but will keep an open mind and things could change. If MIke Dunleavy Jr. didn't get that big raise and he was battling Barnes, then I would say Barnes was ahead at this point as to who stays and who goes. But just think. If Mullin didn't just hand Dunleavy the keys to the Warriors bank, then Dun could be in a Los Angeles Clippers uni playing for his Dad right now and Corey Maggette would be the Warriors starting small forward. That's a win-win-win happy scenario for everyone! I rather have Corey Maggette .
Okay this is really tasteless example, but it's like if we put an ugly girl right next to a really, really, really ugly girl... That's the difference between Barnes and Dunleavy in terms of their overall basketball games and matchup qualities. I wouldn't be surprised if some team overspent on him thinking he's like Bobby Simmons or Brian Cardinal and then he flops.
If the Warriors fall behind after a big losing streak I can see the Warriors possibly dealing Barnes at the trade deadline along with a big contract for cap relief. Also, maybe they could add Barnes with Dunleavy in a package for Corey Maggette. I don't feel like getting too ahead of myself. But if the Warriors are unlikely to make the playoffs then it would be a bit of a downer to lose Barnes for nothing. So I assume this topic may come up more so when the trade deadline comes up because I know there may be some discussion similar to this with Pietrus who also has an expiring contract. I wouldn't mind having Barnes about the MLE for 2 or 3 years. However I bet Barnes may want a longer contract.
Yeah Clif -- good reasoning. I mean, how many times have we NOT pulled the trigger on something, only to look back and think "damn we missed an opportunity!" Like when St. JEan waited on dealing Marc Jackson until the end of the season and got back Dean Garrett in return when earlier Jackson was a valuable chip. Or when there was ACTUALLY good trade talk about Murphy and Dunleavy like Dun for Mags... soon, we'll be lucky to trade Murphy for a bag of Fritos. Part of the GM game is having the guts to give up something -- like talent, promise, $$, in order to make a move. Yeah, it would be tough to see Barnes go in a trade, but it will be tougher to see him go at the end of the year for free. I don't know if it'll be Barnes, but Mully needs to make some deals pronto of this team is going in the tank.
