I know I said I was in favor of a reasonable extension for Jackson, but after tonight's game I'm really having second thoughts about that. The more I think about it, the more I want to see them tank this season (because I'm pretty sure they are not even going to sniff the playoffs this year, even with Maggette and Monta healthy), let Jackson go and get rid of Harrington to free up salary, get Wright, Randolph, Hendrix, Watson, and Belinelli ready, move Monta back to SG where he belongs, and finally acquire or draft a real PG next summer. I mean they just got outplayed by the Memphis Grizzlies on their own home floor for christsakes. I'm probably overreacting but this game has got me in a very bleak mindset.
I am kind of in the same boat. I love Jax and like you, probably overreacting a bit, but I really want to see Marco develop as I think he's got something there we haven't seen. That's just me.
Not bad thinking. If we're going to tank, then we should accumulate expiring draft picks (EDP) and try to rebuild through the draft and trades for EDP. That means keep AL the cancer if we don't get any good offers for him and don't extend SJax who both expire in 2010 like you said. Foyle's $6.8 M is coming off the books after this season. The strategy is similar to what Pistons GM Joe Dumars is doing except we don't have as good a veteran team as he does. We already found out this past summer that tier one free agents don't want to come to GSW land, i.e. Brand, Arenas and Josh Smith (sorta) once our best player left, so even if we have cap in 2010, LeBron and the other cream of the crop FAs won't want to come here unless we have a playoff team.
Well, we're already one step behind in the draft, as we have now given up a lotto-protected pick for Marcus Williams who we then did not extend. We're going to have to bite that bullet sooner or later. Further, we HAVE rebuilt through the draft, i.e. added pieces like Monta, Beans, and now Wright, Randolph and Belly. Also, getting a D-League player is basically like getting an undrafted, so we can add Azibuike, Watson and also undrafted Nelson to the list. In other words, we have a lot of young talent waiting to develop. Some of these guys are going to need to get paid. What if Randolph ends up being a 20/10 player demanding 15 mils per year. "Tanking" would mean benching your veteran starters and playing the young guys. But, in the Warriors' case, that's not really tanking, because it actually may help them win games! I definitely agree that we need to move Harrington and give Wright and Randolph all the PF minutes. I'm still sticking to my projection that Randolph will be most improved this year... I'm just waiting for him to emerge as a superstar. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing Belly, Azubuike and even Morrow take some minutes from JAx/Mags. At least they play with desire, team play and ball movement. I like that. Plus, Belly seems to be stepping up his D. Seriously, I think Azubuike could be just as productive as Mags if he was given the same minutes. Look at last night. He gets starter minutes and puts up 21 pts 6 reb on 8-16 shooting. Plus he's always fighting for loose balls, defending and running the break. Gotta love Azubuike. I hope Nellie doesn't play Mags 40 minutes when he comes back just for the sake of playing the big-contract guy. Personally I haven't been impressed with his shot selection or aggressiveness so far.
Don't get me wrong. In this case, "tanking" means realizing we don't have the pieces to get back to the playoffs, and not lose games on purpose so we get a decent draft pick. That comes later . Rowell's thinking seems to be that Monta can play PG and that we're okay at the 4 with BW, AR and Hendrix. It's not like he's looking to make a move at this point except maybe to extend SJax.
