Trade Deadline and All-Star Break Report

Discussion in 'Golden State Warriors' started by jason bourne, Feb 16, 2011.

  1. jason bourne

    jason bourne JBB JustBBall Member

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    Trade Deadline and All-Star Break Report

    By Jason

    First, I thought Monta Ellis had put up the numbers to make the 2011 NBA All-Star team instead of the all-snubbed team for the second year in-a-row. Monta has been averaging 25.2 ppg, third behind Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant, 5.4 ast, 2.2 stl, and been shooting 36% from the 3-pt arc. Even West All-Star coach Gregg Popovich vouches for putting Monta on the 2011 All-Star team. Perhaps if a guard goes down before the break, Monta will be chosen as a replacement. In regards to all-star appearances, it has been tough for a Warrior to make the all-star team since the team does not have a winning record and rarely makes the playoffs. The last Warrior to make it was Latrell Sprewell in 1997.

    What Monta reminds me of is the song “Borderline” by Madonna. He has been so close and yet hasn’t made the team. That leads me into the Golden State Warriors team that has been “borderline” to making the playoffs. The goal this year set by new Warrior owner Joe Lacob was to have the team at .500 at the all-star break. The team had a stretch where they won four in-a-row and were four back of the magical .500 mark in January when they lost the next four in-a-row, two to some of the weaker teams such as the LA Clippers and Charlotte Bobcats. Perhaps it was the way they lost to those weaker teams, but the losses really hit the Warriors hard like a punch to the solar plexus when someone is holding your arms behind you. Warrior fans hoping for a turnaround and a playoff berth were taken aback. It was the same old story and same old song -- Borderline.

    That brings us to the upcoming NBA trade deadline coming up on February 24th. Recently, the Warriors have beaten good teams like the Chicago Bulls, Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder have climbed back to four games back of the magical .500 mark in February. Sound familiar? They still have a couple injured -- backup PG Acie Law and backup PF/C Lou Amundson, but they have their starters healthy. The big question is whether the Warriors have enough talent besides Monta Ellis and David Lee to be a playoff team. Both Curry and Dorell Wright have contributed and center Andris Biedrins has upped his play of late, but Warrior fans are clamoring for a trade. Warriors GM, Larry Riley, has stated that the Warriors are keeping their lines of communications open and making calls for possible trades, but nothing has materialized. He said “there is no question we need to make this team better. It has to be done in the right way. It won't be done in a knee-jerk reaction. We can (wait). We prefer to find a solution before the deadline. But if we have to, we can do it this summer." I have not heard of a rumor even though other teams are in a state of flux such as the Charlotte Bobcats. Tonight’s game against the Utah Jazz should be a telling one. The Jazz and Deron Williams will be motivated to show they can win without former coach Jerry Sloan and to avenge their loss to the Warriors last time. It should be a tough time out.
     
  2. Run BJM

    Run BJM Heavy lies the crown. Staff Member Global Moderator

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    We've got @ Utah, then vs. Bos and the trade deadline is two days after the Boston game. We're yet again at a point where the team played a good stretch after struggling and you think maybe they're turning the corner. The other one or two times that has happened they've responded by going back into a rough patch. But this time we've actually beaten some winning teams. BUT they were pretty much all at home. The Utah game tonight is big and the Celtics game could be big if we are competitive. Its an interesting crossroad we're at now because we're 4 games under .500 and we've been playing winning basketball but everything has been at home lately. Adding even a decent bench player or two could make a big difference. Obviously adding a good starting 5 would make a very big difference. But do we want to marginally upgrade and lose flexibility for the future? We're 4 under .500 but in 12th place in the west and the 8th seed is currently 6 games over .500. And this season has been an unusually quiet one as far as trades and transactions go. What if we did add a bench player with a decent salary? Right now our cap space would be barely above the MLE, which could be valuable in luring an MLE type FA here, but it also means we're really not in the running for any big name players anyway in free agency. Are we better off swapping an expiring for a decent player making around and MLE deal now and then just adding another MLE type player in the offseason? Would that be ruining flexibility? As it stands its not like we're going to sign and of the big name guys anyway so making a trade for a decent player and then adding another with the MLE seems like the optimal way to add talent, and if we're careful about who we add they should be tradeable assets as well.

    BTW here is a great interview by TK with Larry Riley:
    http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawaka...vid-lees-play-selling-the-no-2-pick-and-more/

    Riley is very candid about all topics discussed but the big one to me is that LR says we really need a "big man". Seems like both he and Lacob have repeatedly stressed the need for a big man or presence in the paint. And while neither seems gushy about Lee, Biedrins isn't mentioned at all so its pretty easy to see that they mean a center. Seems like their mind is made up about Biedrins and hes on the outs and C is the biggest target, which is a very good thing IMO. Like Riley says though, the question is how the hell do you get one? Who would downgrade from their starting C to Beans? Would we need to trade Monta? Udoh? There are very few if any players at all who are over 6'10 with C girth in the upcoming draft. I'm really oping we do land one because the team is clearly going in a more defensive oriented direction and IMO lately its been more of a Steph Curry direction as opposed to a Monta direction. Not that Monta isn't important to the team but if the long term goal is a great defensive team I'd say you make the Monta-for-quality C move and over time its not that difficult to land an athletic SG who can contribute on both sides of the ball.
     
  3. Zhone

    Zhone JBB JustBBall Member

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    I like the idea of reincarnating Bill Russell that was mentioned. Quick, someone get his DNA and clone him.

    Looking around the league, excepting Dwight Howard, there aren't any great centers left. Nearly all of them are either PF playing out of position, clearly aged and close to retirement, or C that are mainly used as team defenders - the only inside games I see are from bigger PF's who only use their moves infrequently. Even PF's are getting shorter and shorter, it seems. Looking at college and high-school bball, I haven't seen any great big men (well, I do like Sullinger) coming up for the next two years. Of course, maybe there's some awesome player playing under the radar, but when's the last time you saw a dominant big man come out of nowhere? So basically, the answer is that there's no magical big man out there that the Warriors can get (unless Greg Oden or Yao Ming find magical cures for their unlucky injuries).
     
  4. AlleyOop

    AlleyOop JBB JustBBall Member

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    Just curious, Jason, are you the former "Jason Voorhees" that used to be on here?

    Yeah, I think it will be a tough road coming up, but I'd like to see the same intensity on defense regardless. They don't have to win a lot of games, but they should bring the same intensity... and if they make a trade, it should be in this same spirit... a guy who brings toughness and defense.

    Honestly, I'm still willing to trade Monta to make something like that happen.
     
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2011
  5. jason bourne

    jason bourne JBB JustBBall Member

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    Honestly, I'm willing to bet Monta will be here after the trading deadline.

    Who's Jason Voorhees? Nah, I'm Jason Bourne. Sometimes I'm Jason 3-Goggles (after hitting a 3) :cool:.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. 3RA1N1AC

    3RA1N1AC 00110110 00111001

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    mmhmm
     
  7. philsmith75

    philsmith75 JBB JustBBall Member

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    Monta for some expiring contracts. Really. The Warriors are not getting over .500 with him as the lead dog on the team and I guarantee you no other team will either. He's the master of big dog, little pond. I'm sick of it.
     
  8. Custodianrules2

    Custodianrules2 Cohan + Rowell = Suck

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    I just can't watch warriors brand of basketball. They're either so bad or so mediocre or so inconsistent it is torture.

    What we really need to do is get lucky at the lottery or do poorly enough to actually get more ping pong balls. We just simply aren't bad enough to get a top 3 pick or lucky enough to get a franchise player in a top 3 pick situation.

    I think they should just remove the lottery. Worst team gets first pick factoring if they've not had an all-star player in a while.
     

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