What are they fishing for? Warriors' move a head-scratcher David Steele, San Francisco Chronicle The Warriors will introduce their latest acquisition, Derek Fisher, on Monday afternoon in Oakland. Presumably, they will also introduce their new small lineup, so as to maximize both their trio of point guards -- all 6- foot-1 or shorter -- and their undersized (and also newly enriched) center, Adonal Foyle. Either that, or they'll offer some other answer to the question that has raged throughout Warriorland and the rest of the NBA since word of Fisher's signing surfaced Thursday: Why? And, if we're lucky, they'll also answer: What's next? The second question may be the answer to the first. The Warriors do have more roster moves in their future, simply because Erick Dampier is still on the free-agent market. Very few teams have the room under the salary cap to sign him outright -- and one of those teams, the Hawks, spoke to him over the weekend. The rest have to get him through a sign-and-trade, and the Knicks are the latest to make an offer. The good news about the Knicks' offer is that, as it stands, it won't bring back a fourth point guard. Which brings us back to the original question: Why? Why, if you have Speedy Claxton as the incumbent and obvious starter, and Nick Van Exel as the expensive, injured and potentially disruptive backup, do you then add another expensive former starter to the mix? Fisher comes north from Los Angeles with three championship rings, a smooth lefty jumper, a mind-set for taking charges, a sterling reputation for professionalism, and a place in NBA history thanks to his playoff buzzer- beater against the Spurs. He also comes with a contract -- six years, $37 million for a player who turns 30 next month -- that prompted virtually the same reaction around the NBA as did the hiring of Mike Montgomery as coach: "Huh? Where did that come from?'' That's a lot of money and a lot of years for someone who won't be in position to earn it, right? Whoa, not so fast. Fisher was quoted in several Los Angeles papers Saturday as saying he was told by Montgomery and vice president Chris Mullin that he would get "starter-like minutes'' at both guard spots. OK. So if Fisher's playing time is "starter-like,'' what does the actual starter get? Certainly the Warriors will tell us Monday. Claxton, by all indications, is having a good summer, and better, a healthy one. No one questions the knee that underwent surgery twice before he even came to the Warriors last year, and the broken hand that cost him a month last season has not been a problem. He has done nothing since returning from that injury late last season, and nothing in the offseason, to cost him either his starting job or serious playing time -- and, say people close to the situation, he has been told that neither are in jeopardy now that Fisher is here. Claxton has yet to play a full season since coming into the league in 2000, and the Warriors did use five point guards last season. Still, if Fisher is an insurance policy, he comes with some damn high premiums. And the old insurance policy now finds himself in a greatly reduced role. Ideally, the role of the 32-year-old Van Exel is cap-space holder, thanks to the nearly $12 million he makes in this, the final guaranteed year of his contract. Van Exel, however, is scaring teams away this summer. Teams that would love to have his salary to knock off the books next season don't relish having to deal either with his chronically sore knees or the rep as a malcontent he unfortunately carries. Problem is, the Warriors would rather not deal with them, either. Now, though, they're dealing with him as the No. 3 guy, the injured No. 3 cashing checks and awaiting his next NBA home. But there's no market for him now, and it will take every ounce of creativity of the Warriors' new brain trust to smooth all of that over. It's too bad that bringing in a character veteran like Fisher prompts all these questions; having someone like this on your roster should be nothing but positive, and on the day he signed, Mullin said so. Fisher's a winner, he said, and he wants to be here, and you can't have too many players like that around. But you can have too many little point guards around, especially when there aren't enough players at the other end of the measuring tape. Now that the Western Conference is Shaq-free, every team without an overpowering center feels it can make a move into contention. Many of them have, and so far the Warriors haven't kept up very well. They're counting on a big leap from the young core, but at the rate the rest of the West is remaking itself, the leap would have to be astronomical to launch the Warriors into playoff position. If the Warriors can bring some size back for Dampier -- and the Knicks are offering it in, reportedly, Nazr Mohammed and Othella Harrington -- then it could all work. They could do some mixing and matching at the three small positions, since Mike Dunleavy has gotten his feet wet at the point and Mickael Pietrus at small forward, allowing them to get away with less height in the backcourt. And if all these moves get the Warriors cap room next summer and make them real players in the market for the first time since -- well, almost since there was a market -- then all of today's questions become moot. But today, those questions are legit, and they overshadow the arrival of a solid, stand-up, financially secure addition. Why? And what's next? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...1936EDT0135.DTL
