Author Archive

2
16
Mar

Duke

Our blog founder, Mike D. went to Duke. Just saying. Feel free to comment.

(yes, us other blog author Cal and UCLA Alum have very little room to talk, but today we do)

We are all Mountain Hawks tonight.

Welcome Home Monta.

0
14
Mar

The Day After

As one could see from my tweeting last night (@kirkland_j) I was not thrilled with the Ellis trade to say the least. Now that some time has gone by I am a little more open to the idea that this was a decent deal.  I just have a hard time believing that this was the best they could get for Monta Ellis keeping in mind that the Warriors also gave up an expiring contract, and a promising defensive minded player in Udoh, who was by all accounts doing everything that was asked of him.  This isn’t a roster, reset and blow it all up and start over. This was a trade made with the idea that they were one player away from greatness and that player is Andrew Bogut.  I am sorry but I still don’t buy that argument. Heck, I am not demanding or expecting a championship. Maybe that makes me a bad fan, but a fun to watch playoff team is okay with me at least for a few years. The #8 seeded We Believe team was one of the funnest times I can ever remember being a sports fan. Even for someone who bled Green & Gold in the late ’80s early ’90s. I will be okay with a few years of 7-8 seeds. I am just really not sure this gets the Warriors there.

So I will start with the Pros and there certainly are some out there:

  1. The tanking of 2012 has begun and Stern cannot get mad. Maybe the Warrior’s keep their number 7 pick, maybe they don’t. If not, they better lose their 2013 pick or this trade will have been an unmitigated disaster. 2013 may be a better year to lose a pick and it *should* be a pick in the high teens early 20s. I still think it will be hard for them to be bad enough to lose the pick unless somehow Stern helps them move up in the lottery.
  2. It does sound like Curry is being shut down for the time being. This is a really really good thing. Maybe the best thing to come from the trade.
  3. Monta was going to become a problem.  I am not sure I believe this but he was obvisouly getting tired of it being Steph’s team when Steph has done nothing to earn it. I do think he would have opted out of his option year in 2013-14 so the Warriors only had next year to turn it around before he left.
  4. Finally broke up the backcourt that was never going to work. And for that matter how in the heck is a Monta Jennings backcourt ever going to be much better.  WTF Bucks?
  5. Biedrins is going to have to play again. I see this as a good thing because he cannot possibly have less value. This forces him into games where he can either get enough confidence back or be so much further embarrassed that he too opts out and runs back to Europe
  6. If Bogut is healthy he will be a great asset. I just don’t think it is likely he remains super healthy (see cons)

Some cons:

  1. Would have rather seen Curry go at this point and it sounds like maybe the Warriors were thinking the same thing, but because of the ankle Monta was worth more.
  2. Andrew Bogut has missed 100 games in the last four years. Yes this is roughly the same number of games Monta missed, but remember he missed his in a freak moped accident, not hurting himself over and over again playing basketball like Bogut has done.
  3. I don’t think a big guy like Bogut will ever be as healthy as he was before this string of injuries.
  4. Capt. Jax is back. Not a good thing. The window for the Warrior’s flipping him is so small (he has to pass a physical) that he will be with them for the rest of the year.
  5. Your Golden State Warriors offense now centers around DAVID LEE.
  6. Giving up Udoh hurts. Giving up your best player hurts, giving up cap space hurts and then to top it all off you give up the only player in the trade who has the potential to get better.
  7. We get to hear more about ALL-STARS David Lee and Andrew Bogut while neither one are likely to ever be an All-star again.
  8. No more Monta post-game interviews.  Seriously I am going to miss those.

Overall, my disappointment in the trade is not that Monta is gone.  I can totally live with that. It is that the Warriors got such a small return on him. Maybe we were all kidding ourselves when we thought Monta was a valuable asset, but the Warriors gave up the three most valuable pieces in the trade: the best player, the young potential player, and the expiring contract.

I tended to agree more with these two takes than the local Warriors blogger’s very positive takes.

0
26
Feb

Jeremy Tyler to the D-League

MTII is reporting that Jeremy Tyler will be sent to the D-league.

A very minor move, but a move that probably should have happened some time ago. They guy is not getting enough playing time on the big squad and with limited practices this season there is little opportunity to improve.  As long as Biedrins keeps getting 15 minutes a game to produce absolutely nothing (minutes that should be going to Tyler IMO) he is better off playing for the Dakota Wizards.

0
11
Feb

Linsanity and Trading for Kaman

All this Linsanity has me slightly depressed.  I have to admit that I am happy for the dude and it is a ton of fun to watch, but there is a part of you that thinks, this should have been us Warrior’s fans having all this fun.  Not those awful big-market fans.  I full expected an ex-Warriors point guard to be highly motivated and bring the Knicks fans some excitement, I just did not expect it to be Lin. The only solace I can take from this is that Carmello will be back eventually, to ruin it all, by never passing and taking bad shots.

I played with the ESPN trade Machine a little this morning wondering what it might take to get Chris Kaman and more importantly his expiring contract.  I am not sure New Orleans would make this trade, maybe too much money coming back their way but it is at least a “legal” trade.

Kaman for Biedrins, D-Wright and Jeremy Tyler.

 

I hate to give up on Tyler before he ever had a chance and have him Jermentum some other team’s fan base down the road, but we would have to throw in a young promising player and he is about the only one besides Klay Thompson, or Udoh on the roster.  Thompson cannot go anywhere if D-Wright is traded and I like Udoh enough at this point from the defensive end that I would rather gamble on Tyler.  The most important part of this trade from the Warrior’s perspective is getting rid of Biedrin’s contract (I cannot believe how this turned out.  I think I used the word “Brilliant” when he signed it, I was so sure $9M per was such a great deal).

Kaman for Biedrins and Udoh works as does Kaman for Biedrins, Udoh, and Tyler. I would do the first but I doubt that would be enough for New Orleans. I think the second trade is probably giving up too much just for salary relief.

No Beidrins Amnesty is looking worse and worse every day.

Thoughts?

1
12
Jan

Preview: Orlando at Golden State

Orlando
Magic

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
7:30pm | TNT

Official Game Preview

2011-12 Meetings
January 12, 2012 • Recap
Magic 117
Warriors 109
 
  • String them together: Can the Warrior’s string together two good wins at home and ride the emotional high of the Heat win or will they have a let down?
  • Dwight Howard: In Howard’s only appearance in Oakland will the big guy go off?  Sorry folks but the Warriors are not going to pick him up in a trade.
  • W’s Big Men:  A HUGE question mark now that Kwame Brown is out. Can Biedrins stay on the floor for more than 20 minutes or will fouls or injury limit him?  Can the Warriors stay within 80% of Orlando on the boards.  I imagine they have to if they are going to win.
  • Lines: Money Orlando -155, GS +135; Side GS +3.5; Total 188
0
12
Jan

More Roster Thoughts

I present a few thoughts up for discussion:

  • Kwame Brown needs surgery for a torn pectoral muscle and is out until early April.  The season ends April 26th.  First this is disappointing because I liked what Kwame was bringing to the court.  A lot more than what the starting center was bringing when he wasn’t hurt himself.  MTII suggests that Ish Smith will be cut in order to bring in another big man.  The inactive list does not open a roster position, but is there a way for the Warrior’s to declare Kwame inactive for the rest of the season and use his spot on the 15 man roster to pick up another player?  Can they cut him?  If so that is the route I would take as by the time he comes back and there is only 2 weeks left in the season, the playoffs will already be out of the question, so why tie up a valuable roster spot for two weeks of no-point basketball.  This assumes everything goes smoothly.  If he has a slight hiccup in his recovery then he won’t even be back until the playoffs and that is not happening.
  • That Heat game was a lot of fun to watch.  I missed the 3rd quarter, no biggie, and caught the end.  I was thinking about going up to the game for my birthday (I guess I share it with Lacob), but figured the game would be the opposite of a good birthday present to myself.  I was wrong.
  • The Warrior’s beat the Heat and the National media hardly notices, the Clippers beat the Heat and suddenly they become valid players in the NBA Champion discussion.  Pretty absurd.  Now ignoring the Warriors win was probably the right move.  Discuss it as a single game, but it probably had no larger meaning on the Warrior’s season.  It may show that it is too early to anoint the Heat Champs, but does not mean that the Warriors are “for real.”  In the same context the OT loss to the Clippers may also show that the Heat are going to have some trouble with high scoring teams on the road.  The Clippers may or may not be real, but I don’t think we will look back at one OT win over the Heat and say, “That was when we knew.”  The Heat losing to the Warriors the night before just proves that beating the Heat in your house is not a Herculean task.
  • TK talks about the W’s upcoming decision on Steph Curry and offering a max contract which is about 5yr/$75M for $14.8M/yr average.  “Among Curry’s 2009 class includes Blake Griffin (max obviously), James Harden (interesting) and Tyreke Evans (interesting).” I think all three of those players are better than Curry now and are likely to be in the long-term with the possible exception of Harden.  As I have made clear I have soured a bit on Curry and do not see him as a future Super-star and a team can get into a lot of trouble giving max contracts to non-Super stars.  I think he deserves something much closer to Monta’s 6 year $66M contract (Curry on the books for 6 years with his injury history scares the hell out of me though).  It may be max or nothing, and I would lean towards max, but maybe he needs to be traded once he can show his ankle won’t fall apart every three games and sell high.
  • File this in whatever … but the Raiders move to fire Hugh Jackson was probably the right call.  Just as we did not blame Lacob for wanting to start afresh and fire Keith Smart, I don’t blame McKenzie for wanting to start fresh with his own guy.  Plus Hue Jackson gambled on the Palmer trade and did not make the playoffs.  I think he needed to make the playoffs for that trade to be worth it and therefore save his job.  The Raider’s have no draft picks in the first three rounds this year, so the rebuild is going to take several years.  If I were GM I would trade anyone, including Run-DMC if I can get picks in the first two rounds and get the rebuild happening one year sooner.  Yes, the Raiders can possibly make the playoffs with the same team next year, but I don’t see them getting very far.  That being said San Diego is still a better team and they may figure out how to play 16 games at some point so it is no guarantee the Raiders are a playoff team.

 

2
4
Jan

2012 Season Predictions

I am going to go ahead and take the liberty of referring to this season as the 2012 season.  Forget 2011-2012. There were so few games played in 2011 that I am going to save myself vital energy and go 2012 here on out. Feel free to send your complaints to David Stern.

1) Mike added a Twitter feed of some Warriors and NBA writers into our left side bar.  I am really digging this feature as a non-twitter user.  Now we get more Tim Kawakami complaining!

2) The three of us made some predictions before the season started and we never got them posted, so you will have to take our words for it that these first 5 games did not influence the predictions (The playoff predictions were made a few games into the season because we forgot to do it before the season started, oops)

Your 2012 Golden State Warriors Record Predictions:

Mike: 34-32  .515 winning percentage (42 wins in a normal 82 game season)

Xian: 31-35  .470 winning percentage (38.5 wins in a normal 82 game season)

Jake: 29-37  .439 winning percentage (36 wins in a normal 82 game season)

For reference: 2010-2011 36-46  .439 winning percentage (equivalent to 36 wins in this shortened 66 game season)

Some of the Pros have them at:

Bill Simmons 22-44; .333 winning percentage;  27 wins in a normal 82 game season (link to podcast)

Joe House 26-40; .394 winning percentage; 32 wins in a normal 82 game season (same podcast)

TK: 31-35; .470 winning percentage; 38.5 wins in a normal 82 game season; 10th in conference

If you can find predictions from any of the local guys put them in the comments and we can update the post.  I found nothing for Ratto, MTII, RUSTY! or any of the KNBR folks.

Your 2012 Playoff Predictions:

Mike:
WC: Lakers
EC: Miami
NBA: Miami
MVP: Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamebron

Xian:
WC – OKC
EC – MIAMI
NBA – MIAMI (UGHH)
MVP – DURANT

Jake:
WC: OKC
EC: Miami
NBA: Miami
MVP: Lebron

We did not actually make a prediction whether or not the Warriors would make the playoffs, but by record Xian and myself do not think they will and Mike may or may not think they are going to squeak in with the 8th seed two games over .500

4
4
Jan

Roster thoughts

image credit: http://europebasketball.net

A few thoughts about the Golden State roster and potential moves quick hit style:

1) It looks like the Warriors are going to sign Nate Robinson.  Ughh.  I hated the guy at UW. I hated him even more with the Knicks.  He can quickly become a ball hog who is not nearly as good as he thinks he is. I don’t care that he is a 5’9″ slam dunk champion. I don’t care that he has a chip on his shoulder. We don’t need another selfish offensive minded guard.  Boo. I don’t think this is a play-off year so I would rather see what Ish and Jenkins can do.

2) DeMarcus Cousins may be available.  Sounds like the Warriors are not interested, but I certainly am.  I just got done saying the Warriors don’t need another selfish player, but for Cousins talent I would be willing to make an exception.  I want to think that Jackson would have more credibility with Cousins than Westphal does for the reasons of NBA experience, age, and hell I will just say it, maybe even race. I would trade Biedrins and take on Rudy Fernandez’s bad contract for Cousins in a heart beat.  I would think about including Udoh too.  However this would all rely on Jackson being okay with the trade.  If he says no go then I would trust him on this one.

3) TK suggests trading Monta to Chicago for one of their four bigs: Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Omer Asik or Luol Deng. I gotta say I am not in love with any of those four guys.  I haven’t liked Noah’s antics since his time at Florida and while Taj Gibson is an interesting player I just think Monta for Gibson straight up is not enough.  Deng … meh … $12M, $13M, $14M over the next three years.  Way too much money for my taste.  Monta is cheaper and better.  I am sure Chicago would jump at a 1 for 1 trade giving away any of those four named.  I would not do it from the Warrior’s end.  I know they need to do something different and trading Monta is probably the best way, but I don’t like the value in any of the above trades.  Also, I am less and less sure that Monta is the guy that has to go rather than Curry.  I am starting to think Curry’s ceiling is no where near a Steve Nash, and probably more around a Monta Ellis (albeit a different player).  Curry has a lot more value on the trade market.  The Warriors need to explore what they could get for Curry, compare that to what they can get for Monta and they may find out that they can get much more for Curry, to the point that they could be a better team with Monta + new additions, than they will be with Curry + worse new additions.

Thoughts?

6
29
Dec

12/29/11 Games Open Thread

Sad Kobe

Photo credit http://bleacherreport.com

I am back from the Holiday traveling and ready to enjoy a little NBA. I was not able to catch either of the Warrior’s wins being out of market at the time so I am a little more negative than the rest of the Warrior’s fans out there. I am slightly encouraged by the defensive play though and it looks like the “under” may be a good bet until Vegas adjusts to the fact that the Dubs won’t be playing in 215 point shoot-outs anymore.

Here at W&W we are doing a little bit of fake gambling with “Thunder Bucks” for bragging rights and a few beers. I like the Knicks to bounce back and beat the Lakers tonight. This reminds me that we all made predictions for the Warrior’s season record that one of us will throw up in a separate post in the next couple of days.

If you are watching games tonight and want to chime in feel free to.  Otherwise an Open thread for Warriors & Whatever.

1
1
Nov

Happy Opening Night

Its a good time out!

FU NBA.