<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">29. Golden State Warriors (added Brandan Wright and Marco Belinelli; lost Jason Richardson) The Warriors can salvage their offseason if they can pull off a deal for Kevin Garnett or leverage their assets to get a similar wattage star. But at the moment it seems they'll have an awful lot of trouble replicating the magical ending to last season. Richardson was hurt much of the season but his return was one of the biggest keys to Golden State's awesome stretch run. Now the Warriors are without him and might lose two other key wings in unsigned free agents Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes. Folks are talking up Belinelli as a quality replacement for Richardson after his scorching hot summer league effort. However, his European numbers say he's not all that, and I trust those results a lot more than five pick-up games against the league's B-listers. Maybe Belinelli will be the exception who blows away his translated European stats, but I wouldn't bet on it. As for Wright, I like him as a prospect but his time is likely a couple years down the road, as his body fills out and he better learns how to tap his undeniable potential.</div> Source: ESPN
I could see how someone would think that, but I dont think Jrich was as key as they are making him out to be. He was injured and was not his true self. Now we may have been better this year had he stayed and came back 100%, but as he was last season, I think other people will be able to help fill his role...
You definitely need to re-sign Barnes. He is that athletic energy type wing player that you need. Belli better really work out or the Warriors will suffer. They have traded for the future though as Brandan will be sensational.
<div class="quote_poster">Warriorfansnc93 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I could see how someone would think that, but I dont think Jrich was as key as they are making him out to be. He was injured and was not his true self. Now we may have been better this year had he stayed and came back 100%, but as he was last season, I think other people will be able to help fill his role...</div> I agree...to me, he wasn't a big part of the big run. He seemed like the fifth wheel, hanging out on the 3 point line and running the floor, but nothing more. He just didn't seem at all like the Jrich we saw the season before. It makes me wonder how much explosiveness the knee surgery took away forever.
His analysis seems fair from where I'm sitting. He's basically saying there's a chance they can have a good team as-is, but there's a lot of uncertainies in the equation, which sounds about right to me. Without KG/Gasol/JO/whatever stud PF/C, they've got a shot at the playoffs, but it's an uphill battle involving a lot of things that have to go right.
If you recall the week when JRich came back, he was actually a hindrance at times because he wasn't fast or explosive. JRich actually WAS NOT ideally suited for Nellie ball. Barnes and Pietrus, though they weren't scoring as much 1-on-1, were actually filling the role nicely, along with of course Monta Ellis. The team was starting to gel chemistry wise, and when JRich came back, he couldn't run with the boys, so to speak. He was much more half-court, and as DT said often times just sitting on the three line. It just shows what these types of writers can do when they have to cover EVERY team (he also wrote a top 15 list of improved teams). How many GS games do you think Hollinger actually watched, from start to finish, during that stretch run? Not many. He probably mostly caught ESPN highlights along with everyone else. What he didn't see, what most writers don't see, even what many SCOUTS do not see, is ALL 48 minutes, of EACH and EVERY Warrior game, all 82, EVERY year. We do. And I think the majority of faithfuls here know that Ellis was actually more valuable at SG than JRich was, that JRich was a shadow of his former dunk-champ self after the surgery, and that he wasn't suited to sprint in Nellie's run-n-gun system. Most will also recognize that he began to regain some of his form come playoff time, was VERY valuabe in the playoffs, and is poised to have a great year in Charlotte. With that said, IMO most Warrior faithfuls will also agree that the Warriors are not WORSE off but actually BETTER considering the trade addressed long term cap flexibility, netted a HUGE exemption, and landed a stud prospect. On a separate note, I think most writers/scouts are like all the other knuckle heads in thinking Monta Ellis will either play point next year or be traded in a KG deal. Guess what? Wrong. He's not playing point. He's taking over JRich's spot, of course. He's going to start at SG and average 20 points a game next year. Where's the mystery?
Holinger's analysis is based on stats. Since we lost Richardson for two rookies, it's no wonder that our offseason ranked the worst based on stats. But, I have to say I agree with his analysis to certain degree as well. If we end our offseason without making any big move, our team is definitely worse than last season even though we resign both Barnes and Pietrus. Although Richardson wasn't quite a right fit for Nelson, he still was a big factor for this team. After the hand injury, Richardson averaged 18.6 pts / 5.9 reb / 4 asts, and during 9-1 stretch, he averaged 23 pts / 7.4 rebs / 3.5 asts, while shooting above 50% on both fg and 3 pts. I don't believe either Wright or Marco will come close to that production next year, and I think Richardson's hole may be bigger than people expect...
Also, I think Azibuike's 2 year deal will give him some confidence coming off last year. I think he'll be better than ever and that will further help offset the hole at the SG position. This was a guy who led the NBDL in scoring. Now, there's PT that's opened up for him.
The Warriors at their playoff level included JRich to a big degree, as Kwan's stats demonstrate. The Warriors are going to need big production from Azubuike and other walk-ons and draft picks to get even close to getting in playoff contention, imo. I think Azubuike can make the JRich departure a bit tolerable. It's just not guaranteed just to how much this would be so. But his rankings are a bit strange I think. He put Seattle last, and they added Kevin Durant...
Don't you agree though that it is hard to judge last season. The team had a new system to learn. The first 2/3rds we had dun/murph.... we had a lot of injuries - j-rich, baron, ellis, murph, etc it seemed like nearly everyone on the roster was down at one time or another we had the trade and the adjustment period we had baron out with the surgery and then we finally at the very end started to see j-rich come back and the team jell It just seems like a strange season that ended on such a high note that it is almost impossible to judge what kind of season we could have in 07/08 everyone out of camp healthy, hopefully, but now aware of the system. Bellinelli, wright added ..... i think mully is playing it just right and we might be able to retain both MP and barnes splitting the midlevel for the two guys. IF not i dont feel either is a great loss with AZ ready to step in. I am excited about this coming season more than i have been in more than a decade. I think with what we currently have and the fact we have the exemption to add talent if needed or make a trade at the deadline. I am not saying we win 16 of 21 like we finished the season, but i definitely feel we will be playing above the .500 line all season and be playoff bound approaching 50 wins.
I can't stand the way Hollinger uses a formula to determine how European stats will translate to the NBA. Bellinelli's stats (especially last year's when he was basically the only good player on a crappy team) are a bit misleading if you haven't actually watched him play for the past few years. I don't think he'll immediately compensate for the loss of Richardson, but he will be a contributor.
Ask Phoenix how hard it was to replace Joe Johnson. People forget how easy it is to replace 2 Guards in a running system. I'm not saying that any of the guys that are coming in will bring what Jason brought, but I think that the only thing the team really lost was depth. I see the Warriors being an improved team if they bring back Barnes or Pietrus plus a role playing front court player.
BTW -- did you see Charlotte just signed Gerald Wallace to 6 years, $57 mils... Damn they got him cheap. There are incentives which could boost it 2 mils per year. Still, at best that would be around $11.5 mils per year. To put that in perspective, that's about what Troy Murphy will be making in the final 2 years of his deal. Rashard Lewis is getting twice that. Man, Charlotte lucked out there. Wallace was 18 pts /7 reb / 2 stl last year. In 2005-2006, he was one of the only players in the history of the game to average 2 steals AND 2 blocks, awesome defensive numbers, along with 15.6 points and 7.5 rebounds. I guess that means JRich plays the SG and Wallace plays the SF? That's going to be a high wire act if JRich gets his legs back...
<div class="quote_poster">AlleyOop Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">BTW -- did you see Charlotte just signed Gerald Wallace to 6 years, $57 mils... Damn they got him cheap. There are incentives which could boost it 2 mils per year. Still, at best that would be around $11.5 mils per year. To put that in perspective, that's about what Troy Murphy will be making in the final 2 years of his deal. Rashard Lewis is getting twice that. Man, Charlotte lucked out there. Wallace was 18 pts /7 reb / 2 stl last year. In 2005-2006, he was one of the only players in the history of the game to average 2 steals AND 2 blocks, awesome defensive numbers, along with 15.6 points and 7.5 rebounds. I guess that means JRich plays the SG and Wallace plays the SF? That's going to be a high wire act if JRich gets his legs back...</div> Felton/JRich/Wallace that's not bad for a back-court. There'd have to be a lot of running there.
<div class="quote_poster">CohanHater Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Ask Phoenix how hard it was to replace Joe Johnson. People forget how easy it is to replace 2 Guards in a running system. I'm not saying that any of the guys that are coming in will bring what Jason brought, but I think that the only thing the team really lost was depth. I see the Warriors being an improved team if they bring back Barnes or Pietrus plus a role playing front court player.</div> For me, it's not that the Warriors lost another SG. The Warriors, when they lost JRich, lost one of their best rebounders. That is big when this team is very weak in that area of the game. A starting lineup of Baron/Monta/Jackson/Al/Biedrins scares me when this unit has to fight for rebounds. Sure the Warriors got Wright, but it's yet to be seen if he can break the starting lineup. Now the Warriors did go on a hot streak when Al was starting as the center. I just don't know how long that will last this year, especially without JRich. Now with Monta Ellis most likely being the 2 guard, the hole beneath the glass for the Warriors gets bigger. Also I think a big part of the Warriors last year was that they had 6 guys who could score 30 points on any night. The Warriors lose one of these players again with the loss of JRich and perhaps even Matt Barnes. If the Warriors want to win next season, there will need to be a lot of growth in individual players like there was last season (like from last season AB, Ellis, Barnes, and Pietrus).
Yeah, rebounding really scares me. We were already the worst rebounding team in the league last year. Then, we got rid of one of the best rebounding guard, and we are about to lose two average rebounding swing men. Davis is a good rebounder for PG, and Biedrins will average 10 rebounds. But, all Monta (3.2), Jackson (3.3), Harrington (6.4) and Marco are bad rebounders for their positions. Considering how we couldn't save our lives to secure defense rebounds last season, I don't know whether we can survive or not when our rebounding may get significantly worse. Unless Wright becomes a huge factor next season, we may be in a big trouble, and that's why I would love to see KG's trade as long as it doesn't involve Biedrins...
Azu is a good rebounder for SG, but he isn't better than Richardson. Also, we may lose one or both Pietrus and Barnes, and didn't add any player who can rebound well. Wright may be a good rebounder, but he probably will not be in Nelson's rotation next season. And, we are the worst rebounding team with awful -5 in rebounding difference. It would be hard to find worse rebounding 2-3-4 combo with Monta/Marco - Jackson - Harrington, and unless we add KG or that type of stud PF, we may be in big trouble with current line up...
I think a lot of Warriors/Nellie fans have a tendency to underrate how important rebounding is. Yes, sometimes Nellie's system can negate it (Dallas), but other times it can't (Utah). For me, rebounding is the biggest reason we lost the Utah series. Sure, you can point to lots of things like Pietrus' freethrows, but it was their utter inability to secure ANY critical rebound that doomed us. The Warriors were outrebounded 269-171 in that series, that is disgusting, and counting on shooting and tempo management to overcome that is asking a lot. Nellie's bag of tricks can only get you so far, at some point you need to muscle up with these bruising frontcourts to advance in the tough Western division playoffs.
