<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Different Team Next Year? The Warriors are in no danger of going into the luxury-tax bracket and have only about $45 million in committed payroll next season. But almost their entire rotation is up for a new contract, including Baron Davis, Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins, and keeping them all will take almost all of Golden State's available cap space. Then there are backups Matt Barnes and Mickael Pietrus, who both will be entering unrestricted free agency, and the prospect of rebuilding a bench that has been precariously thin to date. In other words, it could be a very different looking team this time next year. "Absolutely," vice president Chris Mullin said. -- San Francisco Chronicle</div>
No Buike or Barnes (likely keep Buike, not Barnes unless he takes like the min); POB shown the door (No don't do it!!) Croshere unlikely to hang around for the min. Harrington traded? Unless he somehow learns to either (1) finish stronger by the bucket or (2) rebound and play better D without fouling.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (philsmith75 @ Jan 15 2008, 07:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>No Buike or Barnes (likely keep Buike, not Barnes unless he takes like the min); POB shown the door (No don't do it!!) Croshere unlikely to hang around for the min. Harrington traded? Unless he somehow learns to either (1) finish stronger by the bucket or (2) rebound and play better D without fouling.</div> Agree with that. Wouldn't mind bringing Cro back for the minimum at all, Buike I'd try to hold onto unless he gets a ridiculous offer from another team. Barnes i'd keep for the right price but he hasn't been very good this season. Biedrins and Monta? I'd like to hold onto them but you never know if we have a lot of cap and theres a lot of potential big name FAs. I'd like to bring Baron back too though I really wouldn't be surprised if they went in another direction. We could be a vastly different team next season or we could be essentially the same. Also, I agree that I would look into trading Harrington. The guy on WW.net who knew about the CJ Watson signing a few days before it happened said Francisco Elson for Pietrus is on the table right now but Mullin is looking into trading for a better play who may be available. Sounds like a BS comment but the guy actually has had contact with some of the W's beat writers and, like I said, he knew about the CJ Watson signing a few days before it happened.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Run BJM @ Jan 15 2008, 11:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (philsmith75 @ Jan 15 2008, 07:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>No Buike or Barnes (likely keep Buike, not Barnes unless he takes like the min); POB shown the door (No don't do it!!) Croshere unlikely to hang around for the min. Harrington traded? Unless he somehow learns to either (1) finish stronger by the bucket or (2) rebound and play better D without fouling.</div> Agree with that. Wouldn't mind bringing Cro back for the minimum at all, Buike I'd try to hold onto unless he gets a ridiculous offer from another team. Barnes i'd keep for the right price but he hasn't been very good this season. Biedrins and Monta? I'd like to hold onto them but you never know if we have a lot of cap and theres a lot of potential big name FAs. I'd like to bring Baron back too though I really wouldn't be surprised if they went in another direction. We could be a vastly different team next season or we could be essentially the same. Also, I agree that I would look into trading Harrington. The guy on WW.net who knew about the CJ Watson signing a few days before it happened said Francisco Elson for Pietrus is on the table right now but Mullin is looking into trading for a better play who may be available. Sounds like a BS comment but the guy actually has had contact with some of the W's beat writers and, like I said, he knew about the CJ Watson signing a few days before it happened. </div> Got to hold on to Biedrins and Monta unless.... nothing will justify trading them unless you get Duncan or Yao or Howard. They are cheap, proven, and young. That's the trifecta right there that works in bb, baseball, football, any pro sport. Pietrus for Elson? That's not too bad, could be worse; seen Elson get some buckets and he seems to have learned discipline from playing in SA, he's better than when he was with the Nuggets. Hope there is someone better, Haslem? No way Riles does that though.
Elson is decent, but he does frustrating things at the most untimely moments. I guess you could define Pietrus the same way. Adding size is a must for the Warriors though come playoff time. I agree the Warriors need to keep Biedrins at all cost. Look at all the young bigs in the West ... Clippers - Kaman Blazers - Oden Lakers - Bynum Rockets - Yao Suns - Amare Spurs - Duncan (and they have Splitter coming over) Hornets - Chandler Warriors will need a player who can compete with those guys and Biedrins is their best option. This will be Mullin's toughest off-season.
Obviously, this team will go through number of changes. The big question is will this team be better next year. Next year, we will have about 46 millions committed (assuming that Davis won't opt out) on Davis, Harrington, Jackson, Wright, Marco, Kosta and Foyle's buyout portion. This year's luxury tax threshold was 68 millions, and let's assume that it will be 71 millions. That means we will have about 25 millions. We will no longer be able to pay peanuts to both Biedrins and Monta, and we would be lucky to resign them under 10 millions. Their starting salary will be about 9 millions, so that's 18 millions out of 25 millions. Draft picks will take roughly 2 millions, so we will have 5 millions to spend. Then, can we retain both Barnes and Azu with those? That would be very hard since Azu will probably cost at least 3 millions. Even if we assume that we keep both Barnes and Azu, our lineup will be... Davis Monta Jackson Harrington Biedrins ---------- Barnes Azu Wright Marco (Plus picks, veteran min, and D league pick ups) This team will be exciting to watch, but, what we are seeing right now may be the future of this franchise with tons of things to go wrong, such as Davis' injury or Nelson's inevitable retirement. One unknown factor is Wright. He has a tool to be great, and I like his potential. But, it will probably take some time. Then, can we make a trade? If we keep Davis, Jackson, Monta, Biedrins, and Wright, we have Harrington, Marco, trading exception and picks to trade. We can't take additional salaries btw. Unless we can fleece some team like what we did on Indiana, I don't think we have enough to make a major trade. Then, do we trade Davis, Jackson, Monta, Biedrins, or Wright? That will be a tough decision for Mullin to make...
Nice analysis there Kwan. We definitely have a ton of options this offseason and a lot of it hinges on whether Baron opts out or not. He is our star and makes the whole thing happen but do we really want to risk giving him 4-5 more years where he could really start breaking down and becoming ineffective. Whats the track record for athletic, injury prone, high risk, scoring type PGs who are going into their 30s? Seems like it isn't as good as with less physical PGs like Nash, Kidd, Stockton, etc. Then again, Baron has had consecutive career years and seems to have finally been able to consistently stay in shape. But again, is Baron the guy you want to build around for the future? Its a really tough choice, especially depending on how much Davis demands. Monta and Andris seem like obvious choices to keep but theres a lot of good players available this offseason. Iguodala, Okafor, Josh Smith, Deng, Gomes, Craig Smith, Krstic, Calderon are restricted FAs. Diop, Bonzi Wells, Francisco Elson, Kurt Thomas, Jamison, Jason Williams are unrestricted FAs. Lots of big name players could opt out this year and pursue one last long term max contract before their career ends; AI, Baron, Brand, Maggette, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of others. It will be a very interesting offseason, especially if we have 25 mils to work with and theres almost no other teams with cap room. Do we keep adding solid role players to our core as is? Do we replace our stars with others who we believe will be better building for the future? I really have no idea but it will be interesting.
I think if we want to turn the corner, we have to go big. If there is a way to get a player like Elton Brand right next to Biedrins... holy crap. We would control the glass so much better and be able to pound the ball inside. More importantly, we have two strong defenders near the hoop. We should be able to match up with the Jazz if we had a power forward and center lineup that could defend against either Boozer or Okur. Plus, if we ditch Nelly's philosophy of "weighing down" Biedrins, he should be able to bulk up some more and hold his ground at that position. It's not cool how he gets pushed around by guys like Jeff Foster and generally anyone who weighs 250 or more.
