Golden State Warriors
I've been a Warriors fan for years and most of those years have been bad, real bad. Recently, the "We Believe" movement started up and the Warriors were actually a winning team. They made the playoff which they hadn't done in 13 years and beat the #1 seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round. It was a pretty huge accomplishment and was very fun to watch as a long time fan.
After the playoff run, the Warriors make a decision to trade away one of my favorite players, Jason Richardson. They trade him for a rookie in Brandan Wright. At first, I thought "What the hell are they doing?". After a little thought, I knew why they did it. They cleared up Richardson's salary and got a young big guy with potential so that they could make a run at Kevin Garnett. The Timberwolves want way too much in exchange for Kevin and the Warriors don't make the trade. Kevin goes to Boston and wins a championship. The Warriors trade away the player that I felt represented the heart and soul of the team. He was the longest tenured Warrior player and had played through all the bad seasons that they had. He finally got a taste of the playoffs and they traded him to lowly Charlotte to wallow in misery for many years to come. This was the beginning of the Warriors downfall.
The following season, the Warriors actually finished with a better record that the year before but missed the playoffs. As a fan, I watched hoping they could make another exciting playoff push like the season before but it wasn't meant to be. The consolation that I had was that the team finally looked like a contender for the next few years but I could tell that something wasn't quite right. Then the off-season came. The team leader and arguably the best player on the team, Baron Davis, decides to opt out of his contract. He was scheduled to make more than $17 million the following year. He decided to become a free agent and signs with the L.A. Clippers for 5 years. Good for him, bad for the Warriors. He got what he wanted which was a long term contract to finish the rest of his career and in his home town. I guess money and being at home is more important than winning.
The Warriors just lost the heart of their team. They panic and start throwing money out to anyone willing to come to the team. They offer Gilbert Arenas $100 million. The Wizards offer him even more and he stays with them. They offer Elton Brand $90 million. The Sixers offer him a bit less and he takes it instead. It turns out that the Warriors should be happy that they didn't sign either of those 2 guys. Gilbert has been hurt and hasn't played a game all season. Elton Brand hasn't played nearly as well as everyone hoped and recently dislocated his shoulder. All the big free agents were gone. One of the only guys left was Corey Maggette. They end up signing him for 5 years and $50 million. I didn't think it was a very good signing. I like Corey. He brings toughness and scoring and someone that can get to the free throw line often and shoot a good percentage from the line. But I felt that he is rather redundant to the team. What the Warriors needed was a PG to replace Baron Davis, a leader for the team, and they also needed a big guy that can rebound, be a low post threat and a defensive presence. They addressed the big guy issue somewhat in their next off-season signing.
Ronny Turiaf is signed by the Warriors for what amounts to about $4.5 million a year. He brings toughness that the Warriors lack and defense and rebounding. He isn't an offensive threat at all and I don't see him ever becoming one. He's a under sized power forward and what we really needed was a pure center. Not perfect but he's better than nothing.
The Warriors then resign Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis. These guys are basically the future of the team. They get big 6 year contracts worth about $10-11 per year. After having these guys on the team for a few years, we know what they can bring so signing them is a no-brainer. During the off-season, Monta does one of the stupidest things he possibly could do. He is a young guy who didn't go to college and comes from a small town in Mississippi. If you've ever heard him speak, you know that he isn't the most intelligent person in the world. He came from nothing and suddenly has buckets of money coming his way. All he has to do is stay within the rules of his contract and he is guaranteed to be set for life. Since the Warriors have invested millions in him, they wants some guarantees that he won't do anything stupid and get himself hurt which is totally understandable. In his contract are things like, No Skiing/Snowboarding, No Skydiving, No Riding Motorcycles, etc. Basically, he isn't allowed to do stuff that puts his body at risk and if he does any of these things, the Warriors can void his contract and he gets nothing. Monta decides to ride a moped and ends up messing up his ankle. He tells the Warriors that he hurt himself playing basketball but the truth eventually comes out. The Warriors now have the option to void his contract completely and the kid is out $66 million dollars. I'm pretty sure that he already took out loans and spent a good portion of that money. He probably bought an expensive house and a fancy car and can you really blame him. I would have done the same thing. He's pretty much screwed at this point. The Warriors decide not to void his contract. He is still young and the injuries that he sustained aren't permanent. He can still come back and play. What they decide to do is suspend him for the time that he is expected to miss because of the injury. This basically means that he doesn't get paid for the time that he is going to miss. It turns out to be about $3 million bucks.
With Monta out for at least the first 26 games of the season, all the Warriors fans knew that they would be off to a shaky start. As of today the Warriors are 7-19 and 15 games out of first place in the Western Conference. With the crappy start, the Warriors panic some more. Al Harrington wants to be traded. Okay, he didn't produce anyway so trade him but at least get something we can use in return. Al has a contract that expires in 2010 and that is the same year that there are a bunch of free agents that most teams would love to have. Getting Harrington and his expiring contract would clear salary cap space so that they can make a big offer to any of the free agents that year. To add to it, he is not that bad a player when he is motivated. (You would think that earning millions of dollars to play basketball would be motivation enough.) The Warriors end up trading him to the New York Knicks, who we all know wanted him for his expiring contract so they can have room to sign LeBron James in 2010. In return, they get back Jamaal Crawford. He's a decent player but he has 3 years left on his contract. He's another redundant player. He can play the Point Guard position but he isn't a true Point Guard like Baron Davis was and he isn't a team leader. In my opinion, the Warriors should have got David Lee in the deal. They need more big guys.
Just before the Harrington/Crawford trade, the Warriors signed Stephen Jackson to a contract extension. He is the only guy on the team that you can say is the team leader but at times, I really hate his game. He turns the Warriors into a one man show. He jacks up 3s even though his shot is way off. He makes up his mind that he is going to score and forgets completely about the rest of the team. He occasionally makes a great pass but he doesn't do it often enough. Yes, he is 10th in the NBA in assists but he could do better. He tends to take the ball into traffic against triple teams and forces up bad shots. Sometimes they go in but most of the time they don't. He then stands and complains to the referee instead of getting back on defense. In terms of athletic ability, Jackson is mediocre at best. He isn't very fast nor is he a great leaper. I would like to see him remain with the team but before giving him a contract extension, he would have to prove to me that he can improve his game to justify first rather than the other way around.
Basically everything has gone back to the way they were before during that 13 year stretch when the Warriors failed to make the playoffs: Suckiness at it's highest level.
Now there is a trade rumor that makes me want to vomit. Apparently the Warriors are still desperate for a point guard even though they just got Jamaal Crawford. The rumor has the Warriors sending Brandan Wright (whom they trade Jason Richardson for and started this whole mess) and Anthony Randolph who is their rookie Small Forward/Power Forward that has a ton of potential for Raymond Felton. Felton is a true PG but he isn't that great. The Warriors would be giving away their future and nearly all of their big players for a point guard who has the option to leave the team at the end of the season. Why on earth would they make this trade? You take a small team that can't rebound or play defense and make them even smaller and you give away the future of the team in exchange for 2/3s of a season from Raymond Felton. Give me a break! This is almost enough to make a loyal fan like me revolt and become a Kobe fan instead (Yeah right! It will snow in Hell before that happens.) But seriously, this move would set the Warriors up for another 13 years of losing. Don't do it!
It's pretty clear to me that the Warriors are one of the worst teams in the league this season and it's hard to watch their games right now. The one thing that they do have is potential to become a better team in the future. They have young guys who show flashes of brilliance but just need to play more to hone their game and bring it up to an NBA level. This season is a throw away season. We all know it. Why not use it to make the future of the team bright. Let the young guys play even though they will probably get beat by 20 points each night. At least they will get a chance to get better and learn to play at this level. Who knows, they might even win a few games here and there.
The situation is bad but as a fan, I am not going to cry about it.... at least not too much. I already hear it from the few former Warrior fans that suddenly become Laker fans. They all cry about how bad the Warriors are and jump on the Wambulance. Well, I won't do it. Have a fun ride without me! I still believe... in the future of the Warriors.
After the playoff run, the Warriors make a decision to trade away one of my favorite players, Jason Richardson. They trade him for a rookie in Brandan Wright. At first, I thought "What the hell are they doing?". After a little thought, I knew why they did it. They cleared up Richardson's salary and got a young big guy with potential so that they could make a run at Kevin Garnett. The Timberwolves want way too much in exchange for Kevin and the Warriors don't make the trade. Kevin goes to Boston and wins a championship. The Warriors trade away the player that I felt represented the heart and soul of the team. He was the longest tenured Warrior player and had played through all the bad seasons that they had. He finally got a taste of the playoffs and they traded him to lowly Charlotte to wallow in misery for many years to come. This was the beginning of the Warriors downfall.
The following season, the Warriors actually finished with a better record that the year before but missed the playoffs. As a fan, I watched hoping they could make another exciting playoff push like the season before but it wasn't meant to be. The consolation that I had was that the team finally looked like a contender for the next few years but I could tell that something wasn't quite right. Then the off-season came. The team leader and arguably the best player on the team, Baron Davis, decides to opt out of his contract. He was scheduled to make more than $17 million the following year. He decided to become a free agent and signs with the L.A. Clippers for 5 years. Good for him, bad for the Warriors. He got what he wanted which was a long term contract to finish the rest of his career and in his home town. I guess money and being at home is more important than winning.
The Warriors just lost the heart of their team. They panic and start throwing money out to anyone willing to come to the team. They offer Gilbert Arenas $100 million. The Wizards offer him even more and he stays with them. They offer Elton Brand $90 million. The Sixers offer him a bit less and he takes it instead. It turns out that the Warriors should be happy that they didn't sign either of those 2 guys. Gilbert has been hurt and hasn't played a game all season. Elton Brand hasn't played nearly as well as everyone hoped and recently dislocated his shoulder. All the big free agents were gone. One of the only guys left was Corey Maggette. They end up signing him for 5 years and $50 million. I didn't think it was a very good signing. I like Corey. He brings toughness and scoring and someone that can get to the free throw line often and shoot a good percentage from the line. But I felt that he is rather redundant to the team. What the Warriors needed was a PG to replace Baron Davis, a leader for the team, and they also needed a big guy that can rebound, be a low post threat and a defensive presence. They addressed the big guy issue somewhat in their next off-season signing.
Ronny Turiaf is signed by the Warriors for what amounts to about $4.5 million a year. He brings toughness that the Warriors lack and defense and rebounding. He isn't an offensive threat at all and I don't see him ever becoming one. He's a under sized power forward and what we really needed was a pure center. Not perfect but he's better than nothing.
The Warriors then resign Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis. These guys are basically the future of the team. They get big 6 year contracts worth about $10-11 per year. After having these guys on the team for a few years, we know what they can bring so signing them is a no-brainer. During the off-season, Monta does one of the stupidest things he possibly could do. He is a young guy who didn't go to college and comes from a small town in Mississippi. If you've ever heard him speak, you know that he isn't the most intelligent person in the world. He came from nothing and suddenly has buckets of money coming his way. All he has to do is stay within the rules of his contract and he is guaranteed to be set for life. Since the Warriors have invested millions in him, they wants some guarantees that he won't do anything stupid and get himself hurt which is totally understandable. In his contract are things like, No Skiing/Snowboarding, No Skydiving, No Riding Motorcycles, etc. Basically, he isn't allowed to do stuff that puts his body at risk and if he does any of these things, the Warriors can void his contract and he gets nothing. Monta decides to ride a moped and ends up messing up his ankle. He tells the Warriors that he hurt himself playing basketball but the truth eventually comes out. The Warriors now have the option to void his contract completely and the kid is out $66 million dollars. I'm pretty sure that he already took out loans and spent a good portion of that money. He probably bought an expensive house and a fancy car and can you really blame him. I would have done the same thing. He's pretty much screwed at this point. The Warriors decide not to void his contract. He is still young and the injuries that he sustained aren't permanent. He can still come back and play. What they decide to do is suspend him for the time that he is expected to miss because of the injury. This basically means that he doesn't get paid for the time that he is going to miss. It turns out to be about $3 million bucks.
With Monta out for at least the first 26 games of the season, all the Warriors fans knew that they would be off to a shaky start. As of today the Warriors are 7-19 and 15 games out of first place in the Western Conference. With the crappy start, the Warriors panic some more. Al Harrington wants to be traded. Okay, he didn't produce anyway so trade him but at least get something we can use in return. Al has a contract that expires in 2010 and that is the same year that there are a bunch of free agents that most teams would love to have. Getting Harrington and his expiring contract would clear salary cap space so that they can make a big offer to any of the free agents that year. To add to it, he is not that bad a player when he is motivated. (You would think that earning millions of dollars to play basketball would be motivation enough.) The Warriors end up trading him to the New York Knicks, who we all know wanted him for his expiring contract so they can have room to sign LeBron James in 2010. In return, they get back Jamaal Crawford. He's a decent player but he has 3 years left on his contract. He's another redundant player. He can play the Point Guard position but he isn't a true Point Guard like Baron Davis was and he isn't a team leader. In my opinion, the Warriors should have got David Lee in the deal. They need more big guys.
Just before the Harrington/Crawford trade, the Warriors signed Stephen Jackson to a contract extension. He is the only guy on the team that you can say is the team leader but at times, I really hate his game. He turns the Warriors into a one man show. He jacks up 3s even though his shot is way off. He makes up his mind that he is going to score and forgets completely about the rest of the team. He occasionally makes a great pass but he doesn't do it often enough. Yes, he is 10th in the NBA in assists but he could do better. He tends to take the ball into traffic against triple teams and forces up bad shots. Sometimes they go in but most of the time they don't. He then stands and complains to the referee instead of getting back on defense. In terms of athletic ability, Jackson is mediocre at best. He isn't very fast nor is he a great leaper. I would like to see him remain with the team but before giving him a contract extension, he would have to prove to me that he can improve his game to justify first rather than the other way around.
Basically everything has gone back to the way they were before during that 13 year stretch when the Warriors failed to make the playoffs: Suckiness at it's highest level.
Now there is a trade rumor that makes me want to vomit. Apparently the Warriors are still desperate for a point guard even though they just got Jamaal Crawford. The rumor has the Warriors sending Brandan Wright (whom they trade Jason Richardson for and started this whole mess) and Anthony Randolph who is their rookie Small Forward/Power Forward that has a ton of potential for Raymond Felton. Felton is a true PG but he isn't that great. The Warriors would be giving away their future and nearly all of their big players for a point guard who has the option to leave the team at the end of the season. Why on earth would they make this trade? You take a small team that can't rebound or play defense and make them even smaller and you give away the future of the team in exchange for 2/3s of a season from Raymond Felton. Give me a break! This is almost enough to make a loyal fan like me revolt and become a Kobe fan instead (Yeah right! It will snow in Hell before that happens.) But seriously, this move would set the Warriors up for another 13 years of losing. Don't do it!
It's pretty clear to me that the Warriors are one of the worst teams in the league this season and it's hard to watch their games right now. The one thing that they do have is potential to become a better team in the future. They have young guys who show flashes of brilliance but just need to play more to hone their game and bring it up to an NBA level. This season is a throw away season. We all know it. Why not use it to make the future of the team bright. Let the young guys play even though they will probably get beat by 20 points each night. At least they will get a chance to get better and learn to play at this level. Who knows, they might even win a few games here and there.
The situation is bad but as a fan, I am not going to cry about it.... at least not too much. I already hear it from the few former Warrior fans that suddenly become Laker fans. They all cry about how bad the Warriors are and jump on the Wambulance. Well, I won't do it. Have a fun ride without me! I still believe... in the future of the Warriors.
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