Last year The Warriors were GOLDEN! They're roster was full of young talent with unlimited potential, the surprise team last season. Than their Front Office dropped the ball. The Front Office came more concerned with staying as far away from the luxury tax as possible. Making questionable moves, trading young rising star for old veterans who's skills have deminished. Here's the break down... Think about it. Had Golden State kept their roster from last season they would be contending for a bottom seed in The Western Conference. PG: Gilbert Arenas SG: Jason Richardson SF: Antawn Jamison PF: Troy Murphy C: Erick Dampier Why break this roster up? You had a solid starting five and you would have had great talent like Mike Dunleavy, Brian Cardinal, and Speedy Claxton coming off the bench. Instead they wanted to go in a different direction. First mistake, letting Gilbert Arenas go. The guy averaging 18 points per game along with nearly 7 assists, he wasn't worth keeping around? He more than deserved a big contract, yet Golden State wanted to sit on their wallets rather than giving their fans a winning team. Now your without a point guard, so you trade your best player (Antawn Jamison) off for a washed up guard in Nick Van Exel. Than you take minutes away from your 3rd year Power Foward Troy Murphy so you can sign and play Clifford Robinson. I mean seriously, what was Golden State thinking? To top it off, this season Golden State tried trading away Erick Dampier. When you have a young center who is having a career year, why you would even think of moving him? Centers are a hard find, they have a solid center and they're looking to move him so they don't have to pay him this offseason. I'm simply sick of Golden State's front office, they rather sit on their wallets than put together a winning team on the hardcourt. Changes need to be made upstairs, the potential that team had was exchanged for a few more bucks in their owners pockets.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James X3:</div><div class="quote_post"> To top it off, this season Golden State tried trading away Erick Dampier. When you have a young center who is having a career year, why you would even think of moving him? Centers are a hard find, they have a solid center and they're looking to move him so they don't have to pay him this offseason.</div> I wouldn't call Dampier a young center.He is 30.They are trying to trade him because he can opt out of his contract and sign with another team.So they are trying to trade him because they can trade him for a good player when he still has value. I agree that they shouldn't have let Arena go.He is a great young pg but atleast they have Speedy Claxton.He is showing signs of being a great pg. But they are losing this season mostly because of injuries.
Great post KJ, I like your insight. But you have to remember that the Warriors have been injured ALL season long. Even if they would have kept this line up, Murphy has been out for the entire season and Arenas was on the IL for a long time as well. Antawn Jamison is not a leader and he didn't make anyone around him any better. I'm wasn't complaining when they let him go and I'm not going to start now. Lets wait till next season. If they fail to make the playoffs when they ARE healthy, than you will have a valid argument. But it is unfair to say this team isn't a playoff team when they haven't had a chance to prove it due to numerous injuries.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">Great post KJ, I like your insight. But you have to remember that the Warriors have been injured ALL season long. Even if they would have kept this line up, Murphy has been out for the entire season and Arenas was on the IL for a long time as well. Antawn Jamison is not a leader and he didn't make anyone around him any better. I'm wasn't complaining when they let him go and I'm not going to start now. Lets wait till next season. If they fail to make the playoffs when they ARE healthy, than you will have a valid argument. But it is unfair to say this team isn't a playoff team when they haven't had a chance to prove it due to numerous injuries.</div> I agree.You can't say they aren't a playoff team when they are plagued by injuries all season long.If the don't go to the playoff next season when they are at full strengh,then your arguments are valid.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Is he coming back? </div>Who?
Injuries are a risk you run when you bring in veteran talent. Yeah, Murphy is hurt but they still would have Cardinal as a solid backup. Think about it, they lost Jamison and Arenas and in return aquired Nick Van Exel and Clifford Robinson. Two young guys with unlimited potential, for two veterans who skills are deminishing and who's bodies have just another year or so of productive seasons. The moves they made just simply didn't make sense, their intentions seem to be staying as far under the luxury tax as possible rather than actually improving their team.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">Who?</div> i think he was talking about Murphy.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James X3:</div><div class="quote_post">Injuries are a risk you run when you bring in veteran talent. Yeah, Murphy is hurt but they still would have Cardinal as a solid backup.</div>But it is the young players that are getting injured. Arenas and Murphy would both have missed over half the games. Robinson has been great for the Warriors this year. PG: Speedy Claxton SG: J-Rich SF: Mike Dunleavy PF: Troy Murphy C : Dampier That is a pretty good line up that is capable of being a bottom seed in the Western Conference playoffs. This is why I say give them another year and let them play a season healthy. The Warriors last year were healthy for the entire season, that is unheard of these days. We are comparing two different teams in two completely different situations.
AFAIK, Gilbert went for the money ($60M for 6 years). We could only offer the MLE which was $4M since we were over the cap. Jamison, as great of a scorer as he is, wasn't worth the max contract. Plus we had dead weight in Fortson as well. Actually the one guy I didn't want to get traded was Welsch, but to make the deal with Dallas happen, we had to throw him in.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">Who?</div> The King James guy. I figure he didn't know that the warriors were injured all season making it hard to get a good comparrison between this year's and last year's warriors. Plus, Jamison really wasn't an allstar if you look at his one dimensional game and the fact he played like matador on defense. He had good scoring numbers but so do a lot of players if you get that many shot attempts. Plus did Jamison bring anything positive to the team element of the game? He's a nice guy and all, but he couldn't lead, get the team involved and make his teammates better. And on Gilbert... I would have liked to have kept Gilbert, but he is not a pure point guard with the mentality to create for others and to pass it first. It would have taken a lot of maturity, something that Richardson has already shown this year. Gil is the type of player that just tries to shoot it whenever he can. Look at his field goal percentage now. High thirties. Low forties. Really bad shot selection. Kwame Brown even complained about him and then Gilbert responded by passing and not taking any shots until the 4th quarter during one game. It happened with the Warriors too and it will only be a matter of time before he starts ballhogging again before someone has to complain yet again to make him change his style of play. I like Gilbert but you can be good team without him if you have a better fit at the 1. He was not a good fit at the 1. You have to look at the teams who have combo guards for 1's that continue to play like 2's. Are they better off? I'd say most of them, no.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jayserinos99:</div><div class="quote_post">AFAIK, Gilbert went for the money ($60M for 6 years). We could only offer the MLE which was $4M since we were over the cap. Jamison, as great of a scorer as he is, wasn't worth the max contract. Plus we had dead weight in Fortson as well. Actually the one guy I didn't want to get traded was Welsch, but to make the deal with Dallas happen, we had to throw him in.</div> Yeah that too. But I'm sure they could have written the contracts so that 4 million was paid this year and then more was paid the next couple of years, right? That way they stay under the cap and move those other long term contracts for next year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jayserinos99:</div><div class="quote_post">AFAIK, Gilbert went for the money ($60M for 6 years). We could only offer the MLE which was $4M since we were over the cap. Jamison, as great of a scorer as he is, wasn't worth the max contract. Plus we had dead weight in Fortson as well. Actually the one guy I didn't want to get traded was Welsch, but to make the deal with Dallas happen, we had to throw him in.</div> Exactly. I do not think this guy knows the Warriors situation as we all know as true fans that follow the Warriors day in and day out. Here are the problems I had with his post... 1. Mike Dunleavy has talent, but you never could see it with Jamison playing. 2. We would not have picked up Cardinal if we still had Jamison and Murphy was not hurt. 3. The reason why we signed Speedy was to replace the loss of Arenas. Thus if Arenas was still here, we would not have signed Speedy. Remember we signed Speedy the day after Arenas signed with the Wizards. 4. We did not let Arenas go, we could only afford to give him the MLE of $4.5m, he decided to sign a more lucrative long term deal. 5. Jamison proved he could not lead this team to a playoff spot despite averaging over 20pts/game. Fortson was a cancer and was constantly disrupting the team. We got rid of 2 huge contracts so we could have a possiblity to lop off $11m per season this summer or at worst 2 seasons. The clifford signing also got us a better defender in Robinson. Again, he also has a contract that would be expiring soon. More cap space. 6. Damp is having a career year, he is also in a contract year, hint, hint. If you were a Warriors fan you would remember last time he had a contract year. Then you would also remember how he played for the next 6 years. Damp has dropped hints that he will opt out of his contract this year, so in exchange for an expiring contract for another team to take on, we would be able to get a good young player in return so when Damp opts out this summer, we would not lose him for nothing in return... You are not saying anything everyone else on this board has heard.
I am quite certain Jamison shot 47% last year. That is actually a good shooting percentage. And Jamison was also decent with range, as he improved in that area quite a bit. And I liked Jamison because he was a player that you didn't need to feed so much because he could get points without being a main offensive option because he would get so many points off of rebounds and a ton on the fast break. And Kwame Brown getting upset at somebody on his team isn't anything new. The guy got in fights with the great MJ. I think that says quite a bit there. And ever since that Brown/Arenas thing, Arenas has been playing out of his mind. The Warriors lineup could had probably been if the world was perfect or actually even if the Warriors management had an idea what they were doing. Arenas/Speedy JRich/Jiri Jamison/Pietrus/Dunleavy Murphy/Cliff/Cardinal Dampier/Foyle Also being able to not resign Arenas because of Jamison's contract and Fortson's contract has to do with Garry Saint Jean. Several people say losing Arenas wasn't Saint's fault; but it actually was his fault and i guess some bad luck.
Give all 2nd round picks a team option to pick up the remaining years. Problem solved... If they bust, let them go, if they succeed, keep them.
Clif, I stand corrected then. Thanks for catching that one about Jamison's field goal percentage. Hmmm, then I must have been thinking of Antoine Walker's game or somebody else.
Arenas = too much dough, not enough comittment. He's been injured this season as well. Claxton is an excellent replacement. Atleast he knows how to take care of the ball and shoot freethrows and has a great work ethic. Arenas misses shootarounds, practices, and crap like that. Antwan Jamison = great work ethics great scorer, but lack of D and too much $$. That's why we let him go. All in all this was just a bum season with too many injuries. You can just imagine how many more games we'd win if Foyle and Murphy were 100%. They'd be reaping up the boards + Murph's 12+ pts per night, not to mention his FT%. We'd easily be contending with Memphis/Utah/Denver. As for now I think Musselman should just experiment with diff rotations. Win or lose. I want to see what Pietrus + Dunleavy can do. Good stuff i bet. If Pietrus can be a serious offensive threat. You'd have people running all over trying to guard him leaving the floor so spreaded out we oght to have more open offense flowing with J-Rich making some sick dunks.
^^^^^ When you have a core of young talent you build around them, building requires spending, something Golden State was apperantly unwilling to do. Gilbert wanted 10 million a year, what's wrong with that? The guy slipped into the second round and was getting paid VERY poorly while still producing on the court for Golden State. He suffered for two years making chump change, a pay day was defintely well deserved. The guy averaged just about 18 points and 7 assists per game in just his second season. He showed great potential, he meshed well with his teammates, and he simply deserved every penny of that contract. So why let him go? Sure, Antawn Jamison was over paid, but that was a mistake Golden State should have delt with. He's no more over paid than Nick Van Exel is, that's for sure. Not to mention Nick's skills are deminishing while Jamison is playing consistant basketball for The Dallas Mavericks. Golden State was still very capable of building a successful team even with Jamison being over paid 2-3 million per million, it wouldn't have been that BIG of an issue. Jamison averaged 22 points and 7 rebounds with Golden State in his last season, while shooting just a shade under 50% from the field. Over paid by 2 million or not, he was worth keeping around. You just can't justify Golden States move's by pointing to their injuries, I could simply care less how successful they could have been this season. Perhaps if healthy they made the playoffs, but getting out of the first round would be a long shot. Fact is they traded for and signed deminishing talent in exchance for rising stars who had so they could save a few bucks. Nick Van Exel? Clifford Robinson? You pick these two guys up who likely won't even be around in a couple of years. These are the guys you want in comparison to Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas? Come on now, the transactions were just absurd.
You do not get it. In order to sign Arenas, we would have had to been about $6m over the "salary cap" and paying a huge luxury tax, and would not have made the playoffs. You are right about the Warriors owner sitting on his wallet. He had a good reason. Anything short of a championship would be stupid for him to not only pay more money for a player, he would have had to pay almost 50% more in luxury tax. THEY COULD NOT AFFORD TO RESIGN ARENAS. Now if you were griping because they could have traded him for someone to get something in return, or if they should have made a trade to clear some cap room so we could have resigned Arenas, then you would have a valid gripe. But to come on here and talk out of your as$ is just plain stupid. That is so summer of 2003. Hind sight is 20/20.
