Came across THIS If Boozer chooses NOT to opt out, he's due 12M next year (http://hoopshype.com/salaries/utah.htm). This might be a good opportunity to trade Crawford + filler (BWright, Azubuike). Or, maybe we can dump both Crawford and Maggette for Boozer and Kirilenko. Yeah, Kirilenko is due a lot of money the next two years, but Maggette is due a lot more over the next 4 years. I'm not sure if Crawford or Maggette would be a good fit for Utah and I doubt any team in the NBA would be that stupid to take them both on, but you never know. Maybe they would think the same by us taking on Boozer and Kirilenko. I guess the only concern would be Randolph not playing the 4, but from what I saw from him, he can play either 3 or 4. I think a healthy Boozer would propel the Warriors into the PO's for sure. Do it!
Interesting idea. They'd probably want Wright as well if they gave up Kiralenko (who's actually a helluva fit for this system). I think I make that trade, even with Wright included.
I really doubt Utah would take on both Crawford and Maggette, Wright or no Wright. And even though I was initially excited about Randolph playing at 3, I now see him as more of a 4. Though he's lanky, he's not easily shoved around down low. He fights for position constantly and it seems to me that having him chase 3s around the perimeter takes him out of position for shot blocking and rebounding.
Shameless plug: http://sportstwo.com/NBASalaries.php#jump_UTA Can they play SG? That'd fit in with Nellie's schemes
I'm not too worried about what position Randolph plays. Just as long as he plays. He's not the same type of player Boozer is. Well, I doubt Utah would take both Crawford and Maggette. What do you think about Crawford + Wright for Boozer?
Holy crap Kirilinko makes a lot of money. Oh well, it's only for 2 years. I would love our roster if that trade could happen. Can you imagine a frontcourt of Beans/Boozer/AR/Turiaf/Kirilinko? And they're pretty much interchangeable. You can play any 3 of them and be OK except Beans/Turiaf/Boozer. And that would leave a guard rotation of Monta/Jax/Marco. My only concern is that there isn't much outside shooting but whatever, that lineup is a definate playoff team.
Did you kill Morrow and dump his body in the bay? I know Marco was injured, but I really think Morrow has moved considerably far ahead of Marco in the rotation, just as Randolph has over Wright with his injury. And Watson had a really good year as well, I think he may also be ahead of Beli. Towards the end of the year he was not only shooting well but racking up some pretty decent assist totals as well, when he put his mind to it. I'll be surprised if both Wright and Belinelli are still on the roster when next season starts, and it won't shock me if neither are.
Morrow is money but I wouldn't necessarily say hes clearly ahead of Marco in the rotation. Don't forget that Marco was averaging 20-30 mins and starting a lot of games for us when he was playing (started 23 of 42 games this season). Morrow certainly showed he can be a great scoring punch but I'm liking him more off the bench for the time being. Beli is a much, much better defender, passer, ball handler, can pick up some PG duties, great on the pick and roll, unselfish, moves the ball well, can run the break. He penetrates better too but Morrow is getting better there. They're very different players. Morrow is certainly the better shooter and scorer, Beli is more well rounded and more of a glue guy. At times we'll need both and who knows what will happen. It's good to have competition, versatility, and depth. But yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to see Wright or Beli go. Especially if its as a throw in along with Craw/Mags to get a good veteran. BTW I also don't think Beans is safe from being traded either. I think Nellie does like him but he seems to love Turiaf and I think he'd be more prone to moving Beans knowing that hes still got Ronny there. Despite Biedrins' awesome rebounding and often being our only big the past two seasons, hes only averaged 30 mpg which isn't that much for a starter. I think Nellie would condone adding Beans in a potential Bosh/Boozer deal.
I'd love this trade, but from the Utah side, like you guys already noted, there's no motivation to do it except to get rid of Boozer/Kirilenko, even trying to make it more attractive with Wright/Azubuike. Sloan would have a heart attack at the lack of defense and not much salary would be saved for them. They probably wouldn't mind a SG/SF upgrade, but they're not horrible at those positions either. Detroit has a better chance to make some kind of move with Utah, with Prince/Hamilton supposedly being available, and being better fits for the Utah system. A bit early to think about the offseason in general with the draft, opt outs, restricted free agent contracts and extensions still possible. For us, the more likely scenario is trading an overpaid player for another overpaid player, but hopefully with a shorter contract and/or young unproven talent. So somewhat realistic targets would be with teams like Charlotte (though they probably want to hang onto their younger desireable players), New Orleans with Peja (2 years, 27.5 mil), probably forced to take along MoPete's 2 year, 12 million and/or Chandler's 2 years, 24.5 mil), Memphis (taking on Jaric/Buckner with a younger player in return) or Milwaukee with Redd (2 years, 35 mil) and/or Jefferson (2 years, 29 mil) probably being forced to take on Gazduric's contract (2 years, 14 million), the Nuggets with Kenyon Martin (2 years, 30 mil), or the Bulls with Hinrich (3 years, 27.5 mil). Obviously, we can't blow our own budget taking too many bad contracts, but we're already in that situation anyway, because our team is one of the few that has a bleak free agent outlook for at least 4 years, where most other teams decided to aim for the 2010 free market and hope for the best.
Zhone is right, it's a bit premature to know what's really going to happen. I guess the immediate questions would be: is Crawford opting out? Are we signing Watson back (is he a RFA?)? If both those guys are gone, our guard (or wing player) logjam is almost resolved. We'd have left: Monta, Marco, Morrow, Jackson, and Azubuike. The latter two being interchangeable at SG/SF. That's a pretty healthy rotation there. With Maggette most likely staying with the team, is there room for all of those players? Given that Azubuike is like a better, cheaper version (I withheld saying "poor-man's version") of Maggette, the obvious want from the fans is to trade Maggette, but that's just so unlikely. This is why I think Azubuike may be in trouble (i.e. on the block). Because the team needs to address the logjam at these positions. I think he's in more trouble (and has more value) than Marco and I think Marco actually fills a team need that Azubuike cannot. I'm not sure why everyone is so quick to think Marco is going to be traded. Even though Watson was playing out of his mind towards the end, is he really someone we NEED to keep? I am against re-signing him even though he's our only prototypical PG (that's debatable).
I agree Boozer/AK-47 would have been good for the Warriors and that Utah wants to get rid of their salaries. Not only that, Boozer could become a cancer on that team and is standing in the way of Paul Milsap's development. However, Utah doesn't want non-defensive players back and long-term, big contracts back, so there lies the rub. If we still had Al Harrington, then I think there would be some interest. Unfortunately, Monta got hurt and put the Warriors in a bind and they ended up making panic moves. So, the one thing I don't want to see this season is the Warriors making panic moves. I think we already have a backup PG, so we don't have to re-sign Watson. However, it would be nice to have a starting PG instead of Monta being penciled in that slot, but we may have to live with it, Jax, Crawford (unless he opts out), and Marco learning to play the position.
If you watch Boozer closely, he's more of a jump shooter than the post up bruiser. He gets a few rebounds, maybe even a couple in traffic, but he's a bad defender (perfect Warrior!!!) I personally think he's overrated as a "power guy."
I think he's become complacent and unhappy in Utah. Obviously, that's not the Boozer we'd want. The Boozer we'd want is the one that DESTROYED us in the 07 playoffs. I don't remember him taking too many jump shots then.
Boozer doesn't have a prototypical post game but hes very good in the paint. Hes pretty short obviously so he relies on a lot of floter-type shots, a nice fadeaway, hes awesome on the pick and roll, has a little range. Hes insanely good at finishing with either hand, probably the best in the league. Hes a great rebounder too. Defense sucks but so does Bosh, Amare, etc.
This is the typical situation where free agency is just wrong. You've got a guy who's already maxed out his talent and is on the down slope yet commands/demands the salary for that max performance. These are the guys to avoid, you know you're going to get burned even if he delivers for a couple of years. The ones to go after are those one the upswing, Barry Bonds, Shaquille O'Neal (when he joined Lakers). Not the ones who are going down.
Totally agree. We have youthful talent and I think we are deluding ourselves if we think one aging veteran is going to all of a sudden push us deep into the playoffs. Plus, I just think Randolph is looking like the real deal and is accelerating his game at an incredible pace, just as Monta did a couple years ago. And Wright, while not developing as fast as Randolph, is quite capable at PF, as is Turiaf. I no longer think PF is the most critical need on this team. A pass-first PG is. If the Warriors are looking for a blockbuster trade, that's where I want to see it, maybe for Rubio, or someone else, but this team goes nowhere until we have a real PG and clear out some logjams at the 1-3 positions.
Boozer only one year left on his contract. Presuming Crawford does NOT opt out, we're stuck with paying him nearly 20M over the next two years. Which would you rather have?
I slightly disagree about the PG situation. We have several playmakers on the team that are more than capable of shouldering the load at PG at a rotation. I do agree that a premiere PG would help us out tremendously. This trade idea for Boozer doesn't address that, but it does address the logjam we have.
Its kind of an interesting dilemma we have right now. We have needs at PG and PF. We have Monta and Randolph. Nellie has said he wants Monta at PG and Jack at SG. He also said that Randolph has earned the starting PF spot due to his play at the end of the season. I do agree with HiRez that I'd prefer to run Randolph as the starter and really get his development underway now that hes earned his spot in the rotation. I do agree with DK here though that a pure PG isn't necessarily a huge need for us either. The one positive of this season was how the team as a whole moved the ball for much of the season. guys like Craw, Harrington, Mags, Jack at times, etc. can kill that but the rest of the guys did great. I'll take Mags's ballhogging off the bench to though because hes efficient and good at what he does. As for PGs available this offseason, how about Andre Miller?: http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/58908/20090501/miller_and_ratliff_ditch_final_team_meeting/ Hes a big PG whos got good vision, controls the ball well, strong, aggressive, can run the break, throws the lob as good as anyone in the league. Not a good shooter which I hate from the PG spot but scores well due to his ability to get to the rim and get to the line. Hes a UFA so we'd have to get him with either our MLE (unlikely and not ideal for all parties) or a S&T (you can do that with UFAs right?).
Yes, at the expense of developing Randolph, I would not want a Boozer or any other player that would take away from that. However, just because Nellie said he will play PF, doesn't mean he can't play SF along side Boozer. I don't think he had this scenario in mind when he was saying that.
