Easier said than done for most of those. "Get Defensive"? The Warriors? And Don Nelson? Really? Have you followed any of Don Nelson's career for the last 20 years, Marcus? And making a splash sounds good, but with this front office, is that really something we want to see? A "splash" from Rowell will probably look like the huge, loud, drunk dude at the pool party cannonballing water all over the barbeque.
My wish list is this: The W's have to rebuild, and have set themselves back by signing Maggette and taking on other bad contracts. There's no guarantee that rebuilding will work, but it's more than clear that what's on the roster isn't enough. Number 1 priority has to be dumping Maggette's and Crawford's contracts. Likely they are few to no takers, but perhaps if we put it together with this year's draft pick (if we stay at #7) or some young talent. Perhaps Crawford can draw some worthwhile trades, but it'll only be second-tier talent at best; we just have to hope that whatever we get, it's a solid younger player who knows his role instead of the kinds of players we keep signing, offensive-focused guys. Number 2, the W's should be moving Nelson out of being the head coach and instilling a new voice. Ideally I'd love to see Cohan sell, but that's so unlikely I can only dream. The whole front office is a mess, but if they're going to stay behind Nelson, then clean it up as best as possible and move him to a GM's position where he doesn't constantly jerk around with the young players. Let someone else impart a more traditional coaching philosophy, even if it leads to losses for a year or two. Number 3, the W's have to find a true point guard or develop one through the draft. Ellis still has a very low chance of doing so, but I don't personally believe he will. Players should play to their strengths and limit their weaknesses, and very few players grow talents that they don't already have by the time they reach the NBA, no matter how young they are. Good/great players show glimpses of their strengths within the first 3 years of pro ball. Some fundamentals, like good defense, shooting mechanics, and shot selection, for example, can be improved, but generally the product is nearly finished. And with Monta, from what I've seen in limited time this year and before, being a good point guard simply isn't in the cards. From there, we have to look further to the future, perhaps 2-3 years down the road. Start trading off players for draft picks, contracts that expire within that period, and/or other valuable long-term assets/money-saving moves. No one's untouchable, although Randolph, Biedrins and Ellis are probably beyond the point where either side would be happy with a trade. Signing outside max-money-type stars is not a realistic goal for us, even if we do get far under the cap somehow, until we clean up the inner mess. No one who really wants to win is going to sign with us unless the front office commits to a clear philosophy and sticks to it. Rebuilding from the draft, though with a much higher risk factor, is the only option because it's the only way we can force players to come here at this point. The W's history of signing D-League talent is good, at least. The Euro-market is fairly tapped, and we've generally never found success by bringing over players, but maybe some lucky salvation can be found there if we keep searching. The sad part is I doubt this will happen, and instead of a 2-3 year drought, I'll see another 5-6 year drought before the W's regain true prominence in the NBA.
Here's something I thought I throw out. The only deal anyone has made for Mags was by the Clips. We take Baron Davis, a pick, and some cash back for taking on Davis' monster contract and give them Mags and Buike. I figure Baron is good for one or two years until he's about 32 and we can get back to the POs. Davis has four years left on his monster deal, but he'll be a good expiring in 2012. Giving up Buike hurts, but we get a pick back for him. I'd love to see Cohan sell to Larry Ellison, but it looks like he spent his money on Sun. I wonder what he has left? Toss in your yacht, Larry, and Cohan may go for it. I rather see Nelson go (which would mean he gets fired) and we move up Keith Smart. For GM, we should go after the assistant GM for the Spurs to get some defensive players and add big men to the mix. EDIT: Nelson still has some PR value in regards to the all-time winningest NBA coach record. Maybe, we work out a buy out with him to coach until he gets the record and then he transitions the team to Smart . See Dr. Kajita, I'm not a Nellie hater .
My offseason wishlist is to get a franchise player this offseason. We can't do jack for free agents, so might as well try to land a kid who is ready to play now and has lots of untapped potential and makes the team better.
