Yesterday was the writing on the wall...Pietrus will be gone.

Besides Biedrins, Pietrus is the most lucrative bargaining chip. Now that Dunleavy is locked up, I don't see any reason why the W's would be willing to extend him. St. Jean's prior game plan was to draft BPA regardless of position. That's the one aspect St. Jean did not just sit on his hands only to smell them a few minutes later. He drafted productive guards and wingmen not to mention traded for Hughes. What's the point I am getting at? He had a good eye for perimeter talent but his idea of acquiring a legitimate big man was Dampier.

Fast forward two years later and Mullin is now in charge. He inherited some good wing players and a lazy front court.The past two drafts Mullin has focused on drafting big and that's exactly what he's done. If his focus is to draft and develop these young big men, he'll eventually need to resign them in future years. That means the W's obviously have no intent on keeping Pietrus come extension time. Dunleavy just resigned!!! I really like Pietrus but let's be honest...knowing Pietrus wreckless play, do you really think he can play such good basketball that Dunleavy or Richardson become expendable?

Let me be the first to post my Pietrus trade suggestion:

TE

for Nene

Obviously that's not a fair deal so we would have to follow up with a 2nd immediately.

Pietrus/Taft/philly pick

for

Boykins

 

I LIKE Pietrus' "go for it" drives and want to see MP and J Rich on the floor togather running and slashing. I see the W's as too apt to bog down in a perimeter game. Pietrus was not a coach's son or a starting Dukie,but has come along well enough that many of us see him as ready to kick Dun to a 6th man role. Fast forward 2 years and Pietrus has more experiance,maturity,skills and THAT is when any decisions are made. At that point,who knows what the possibilities are? Maybe we do a J Rich + Dunleavy + ? deal for an important starter. Maybe Pietrus-with even higher market value,+ Foyle+a GS pick gets us a high #1 big man who becomes our franchise C. 2 or 3 yrs from now,a LOT of things are possible. We are a team full of young players who MIGHT soon be a lot better overall than the image we have from last season.

About the only sure thing ahead is that we are going to want to escape Fisher's contract. Even at that,there might be no good way to lose Fish witout too heavy of a sacrafice.

 

Problem with getting Nene, or any player with rookie contract, is that since Nene was drafted in Dunleavy year, we have to resign him after this season. But, since we don't have any room to resign, he will be one year rental. So, we have to package Pietrus with any of our heavy contracts...

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting upsidedownside7:</div><div class="quote_post">Besides Biedrins, Pietrus is the most lucrative bargaining chip. Now that Dunleavy is locked up, I don't see any reason why the W's would be willing to extend him. St. Jean's prior game plan was to draft BPA regardless of position. That's the one aspect St. Jean did not just sit on his hands only to smell them a few minutes later. He drafted productive guards and wingmen not to mention traded for Hughes. What's the point I am getting at? He had a good eye for perimeter talent but his idea of acquiring a legitimate big man was Dampier.

Fast forward two years later and Mullin is now in charge. He inherited some good wing players and a lazy front court.The past two drafts Mullin has focused on drafting big and that's exactly what he's done. If his focus is to draft and develop these young big men, he'll eventually need to resign them in future years. That means the W's obviously have no intent on keeping Pietrus come extension time. Dunleavy just resigned!!! I really like Pietrus but let's be honest...knowing Pietrus wreckless play, do you really think he can play such good basketball that Dunleavy or Richardson become expendable?

Let me be the first to post my Pietrus trade suggestion:

TE

for Nene

Obviously that's not a fair deal so we would have to follow up with a 2nd immediately.

Pietrus/Taft/philly pick

for

Boykins</div>
All of that for Boykins who is a backup point guard at best? Don't get me wrong, I love the guy as much as I love Brian Cardinal, but no way, man! We still have the Fish on our team and two other guards + Baron. Also, salaries don't match up.

I wouldn't trade Pietrus for Nene. Nene is all right offensively, but he lacks in so many other areas. A Nene type player could already be on our roster if Taft starts to play more and we would need to find a team for Nene right away or we'd have to let him walk at year's end since he's a 2002 draft pick. If we sign him... well crap why don't we just re-sign potential defensive lockdown player Mickael Pietrus instead of blowing it on Nene right after we blew money on Dunleavy Jr?

Also there's really not much time to evaluate and develop Nene unless it's decided that he's our team's center and not a replacement for Murphy. I'd rather have Foyle until I'm absolutely sure Nene is a real starter that can rebound, block shots, and score a little and knows organized basketball. From what I can tell, Nene is a good open court player similar to how Pietrus is a good open court player. There's a lot of limitations to open court players that aren't basketball smart.

 

Doesn't even matter anymore, Nene looks like he maybe out for the year. Denver's GM will be desperate now! Fisher for Nene!1

 

Man, at least sprained ACL and possibly more. Last year, they lost Lenard in first game and missed outside shooting for all season. This year, they lost Nene for some time. Talk about tough break...

 

Man... 5 more years of this:







And less of this:



I hope we find some way to keep Pietrus. Without him, look at the job Dun's doing on defense.

 

Make that 6 more years. 1 more on his remaining rookie contract + 5 years of extension...

 

Ow... no need to make the wound even worse now ;-)

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AnimeFANatic:</div><div class="quote_post">Ow... no need to make the wound even worse now ;-)</div>

I still can't believe people look at the 2 players, look at the team and prefer Pietrus over Dunleavey. Pietrus hasn't proven that he has the capacity to learn the game, let alone excel at it. Don't het me wrong, Pietrus has a few highlights per game, but until he plays a single game without me shaking my head for him moving to the wrong space, taking the wrong shot, just plain not understanding basketball, Dunleavy is leaps and bounds ahead of him.

Also, each season JRich steps his game up by proving that he's improved his weakness. This preseason Pietrus looks like he's taken a step backwords. Wheras Dunleavy has shown flashes of improvement in ball handling, strength, and of course shooting range and consistency. JRich is actually driving the ball and hitting mid-range jumpshots.

Which brings me to point #2. If Pietrus proves that he has stepped his game up and excels, he has the potential to be 6th man of the year. Maybe he's just worn down from a rough off season right now. If he earns his stripes and closes the gap between he and JRich, then JRich is expendable. You can extend Pietrus for a JRich-like contract and bundle Richardson with a Fisher, Murphy or Foyle in a deal for a superstar (If Minnesota struggles than A Garnett deal isn't out of the realm of possibilities).

Now I'm not for this signing as I think that Mully should've waited for 2006 to sign dundun, but it's not the end of the world. There are so many bargaining chips and tradeable pieces on this squad.

 

Didn't Dunleavy get 2 seasons to start and develop? I don't think Pietrus got that kind of chance. I've shaken my head many times at Dunleavy as well. His defense leaves a lot to be desired. My frustration mostly comes from him getting such a big extension and too soon.

 

The difference is that Dunleavy wasn't physically ready to play in this league. And he was stuck playing point forward at times. He's finally playing his position and getting the ball where he needs it. Pietrus just seems lost. And Dunleavy is a poor man defender, but he's gotten better each year as a team defender. Pietrus is a great man defender, but is out of position regularly on team defense. I hope this changes this season.

Pietrus can't dribble, shot a mid range jumper, clogs the offense any time a half court offense needs to be run on offense. These are major issues if this team makes the playoffs. I hope he proves me wrong though.

 

If we have to choose one or two right now, I will go with Dunleavy. However, neither Dunleavy nor Pietrus are ideal SF for us at this moment. Yes, Dunleavy may have improved his defense since his rookie year, but it's like saying he used to get 10 pts in exam, but now he is getting 20 pts. 100% improvement, but still a huge defense liability, and his defense in preseason really never indicated that he improved his defense despite additional bulk. And, because of his lack of atheism, he will most likely never be the ideal SF in the future.

In other hand, Pietrus does play like a chicken without a head. But, he is the most productive player in the league who played 20 mins or less by far. Also, his stats improved the most among Warriors players with the addition of Davis. It only has been his 2nd year and most of his weakness comes from inexperience not lack of the raw ability. So, it may not be illogical to expect Pietrus to improve once he experiences more games. After all, players like Mcgrady also had pretty bad first two seasons (actually both Pietrus and Mcgrady's first two years are quite similar), and we also gave Dunleavy, who was supposedly be a NBA ready player, 3+ years to see what's going on.

There is no telling how Pietrus will improve. He may be next Tmac or never learn how to play and stay the same. That's another reason why Mullin shouldn't resign Dunleavy this offseason. But, ever since he traded Jamison behind Saint's back, this may have been predetermined, and now we have no room to resign Pietrus...

 

All good points Kwan. Fortunately we have the luxury to watch them both. Pietrus will be getting plenty of minutes to prove himself. If he does turn into TMac then Mullin can find a way to fit him in. As for Dunleavy's D. I think that Murphy being next to him causes Dunleavy to be a worse defender as well. He never rotates and frequently causes other players on the team to be out of position (Foyle included). If there was a better defender at the 4, Dunleavy's 1 on 1 weaknesses would be minimized. This is also true for Pietrus.

I just don't see Pietrus being that guy. Perhaps I'm being over critical of him, but I just hate it when people are in the wrong place. If Pietrus comes back next off season and shows a mid-range jumper and or the ability to dribble the ball, I'll change my tune.

As for Bulk not improving Defense, i think Dunleavy's Bulk isn't pure "Bulk". He added strength without compromising agility. In fact, I think he looks more in control of his body and footwork than ever. Sure he was in the zone in that Phoenix pre-season game, but you saw him cross the ball over well, hit a solid turn around jumper, step back three pointers, and even block a shot (I wouldn't be expecting that all season) but it says something about his control.

I don't see his potential as capped at all. I honestly think Dunleavy has it in him to be one of the best team players in the league. If his confidence builds the way I think it will, he has it in him to be a poor man's Chris Mullin. (btw, Mullin was labled a terrible defender his entire career even though he was a good team defender.) We'll see how the 2 progress. Nothing would make me happier than for Pietrus to surprise me the way JRich did last season.

 

Wow! You guys are harsh on Pietrus. Wow! I don't know where to start.

I will start with saying that I really hope that Pietrus will not leave the Golden State Warriors. So far I have heard everything and more(I think a lot of descriptions of Pietrus' game were exaggerated) about what Pietrus CAN'T do or at least isn't so great at. But I will take this time to tell you what he CAN do. However unlike Dunleavy who CAN also do many things, what Pietrus can do actually shows up on the court and are things you can rely on- especially compared to Dunleavy who seems to vanish for 10 or more minutes when he's on the floor and whose shot comes and goes. What Pietrus does and can do is shut down all of the top star guards in the league be it a PG like Steve Francis or Tony Parker, a SG/SF like T-Mac or Kobe and pretty much anyother PG-SF in the leage. On top of that Pietrus' offensive game is becoming respectable. Any game that Pietrus is given the shot and has the faith of his teammates, he can score 20+ points. If a player like this can't please you, then I don't know what will. Saying this, I do agree that there are problems with Pietrus in terms of communication and being on the same page with the rest of the team. Last year especially was a tough year for him. Last year it was clear that the coach, Mike Montgomery, and also the rest of his teammates had zero confidence in his game. Finally when Baron Davis came, Baron changed how they were playing, which favored the rest of the players and Pietrus more, and then wala! like that everyone was in love with Pietrus again. Why people are down on him again, I don't know.

Also I wouldn't put so much stock into this last preseason and how Pietrus could have performed. This last summer he was playing the whole time for France in the European championships in Belgrade. I think it was stated many times that he needed and actually kind of wanted a rest, whenever he possibly could.

You may say that Dunleavy is leaps and bounds ahead of Pietrus as a basketball player. I believe all opinions about whose better than who in playing basketball varies a lot. Such as I read this article where this author wrote that Dennis Rodman was one of the most underrated players ever and David Robinson was one of the most overrated players ever. I would disagree with this opinion too. But what I want to say has nothing to do with opinions but by observations and by common logic, I believe at least that it's common logic. Say that we do let Pietrus go because now we have Dunleavy for a long time and there is "no place for Pietrus". That would just put on a ton of pressure on Jason Richardson, Fisher, and Dunleavy to guard players like Ray Allen, Kobe, TMac, Finley, etc. etc. all players in our confrence. I don't like the site of that. I would want Dunleavy gone instead of Pietrus in a heartbeat. No question about it. Maybe if there were other defensive stoppers or at least players who played good defense on the team, then maybe I would at the least consider Dunleavy over Pietrus. But we must look at the rest of our roster, and there is no way this team survives without Pietrus in a season and makes the playoffs. No way at all. The team as a whole has very poor perimeter defenders. Losing the best one we have and one of the best perimeter defenders in the league would be devastating. Also I believe the team has a slight shortage in athleticism, and Pietrus' athleticism is also a plus.

This year I hope that Mike Montgomery can be a better coach, I have my doubts about this though, and that he, Baron Davis, the players, and also Mickael Pietrus can be on the same page. I believe when Mickael Pietrus gets on the same page as the rest of the team and the players are put in positions to succeed, then this will be when Pietrus completely explodes and there should be a lot of success. I hope that the Warriors team doesn't go back on their confidence in Pietrus again like they did last year, which really hurt the whole team and especially Pietrus.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I believe at least that it's common logic. Say that we do let Pietrus go because now we have Dunleavy for a long time and there is "no place for Pietrus". That would just put on a ton of pressure on Jason Richardson, Fisher, and Dunleavy to guard players like Ray Allen, Kobe, TMac, Finley, etc. etc. all players in our confrence. I don't like the site of that. I would want Dunleavy gone instead of Pietrus in a heartbeat.</div>

As the great Ron Burgundy once said, "Agree to disagree"

Only time will tell.

 

Well, I can't see Dunleavy better than Wally, but that's just me. And, Mullin was a terrible defender. I still remember us hiding Mullin as much as possible, and many nights, he guarded center, because that center was the worst option for another team. At least, we know Mullin can dominate other side, but why do we have to sacrifice our defense, when Dunleavy is basically gel guy in offense, who can't create his own shot? Don't you feel something is wrong with this situation that our 2nd best offensive player is defending their best wing man offensive player and wasting his energy on defense end, while our gel player is hiding behind teammate? Shouldn't it be other way around?

Yeah, with this signing, Pietrus' fate with this club is basically decided, and I think that's the main reason many people seem to down on Pietrus. And, in order to keep Pietrus, we have to ship our existing contracts, and since we won't trade Davis, and it would be unlikely to trade our starting center or pf to keep back up SG, it would be either Richardson or Pietrus. I can't imagine this club without Richardson btw...

 

The thing is we have Pietrus for two more years, so we don't need to do anything with him, hopefully Mully can get creative and clear up some space to resign him or get something good in return. After Fish bestows all his playoff knowledge on the team and we know what the playoffs are all about hopefully Mully can get something (an expiring contract) for him in the offseason and we can clear up cap room for Pietrus and then Biedrins extensions.

 

Both Mr Jenning as Kwan are partially right here. I think the signing of Dunleavy means that Murphy is the guy to get moved more than it does Pietrus. I guess I'm so hard on Mikael because I see what he could be, but I just doubt that he'll reach the expectations. Plus, people seem to rip Dunleavy because they like Pietrus' game. We can soon put all this off-season talk to rest as it's almost game-time. Pretty soon we'll have some gameday talk to replace it.