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?

Marcus Thompson has a Biedrins

I have to admit that at the time of the Biedrins signing I thought it was a great signing.  The right amount of money and the right terms (non-escalating). It was obvious that Baron was a huge part of Andris’s success but I would have never predicted he would become so awful upon the loss of BD.

I have to admit that getting expiring contracts for Biedrins sounds like a great deal.  Get him off the books after 2012 and start over.  My gut reaction was DO IT NOW!!! But after 5 minutes of thinking of it I can see why the Warriors may not want to make that deal.  As MTII points out they don’t have anyone one better to replace him with and he can only improve from his disaster last year. Maybe Jackson thinks he can do something to bring back a bit of the old Beans working out in Oakland during the off season, I don’t know.  I really want him to get better and be the 10-10 guy but I just don’t see it happening.

I would make this trade but it is not a slam dunk no brainer. Or maybe it is and I am over-thinking it. DO IT NOW!!! or maybe next week after mulling it over again.

Photo of a Photo by Rineke Dijkstra

No surprise that Lacob would want in on this action — he saw how much of a difference a bona fide superstar can make when his Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett. I would certainly agree — and would do this trade in a heartbeat if the Magic gave the green light (this trade doesn’t work as-is salary-wise, so I’d assume the Magic would dump a bad contract in there as well).

I’d just be happy that someone is taking Biedrins, Udoh would become much less necessary with Howard prowling the paint (though how fun would it be to see them play together?), and while Ellis would be missed, there’s no question that Howard is by far the better player.

But what if the Magic want more? Is there a better combination that would work for them — and wouldn’t be too painful for the Warriors? There’s the #11 pick (I believe the Warriors would have to draft the player for the Magic and then trade him, since they can’t outright trade the pick before the draft), and of course, Curry is the other name that they’d surely be asking for (would they want also want to replace Biedrins with Lee in the deal, or would Lee’s contract scare them off?). Would you include Curry in a trade if it meant getting Howard?

I would, provided that Howard signed an extension. Howard is a clear top-5 player in the league, and some systems rate him as #1. If the Warriors could sign him to a long-term deal, I’d trade anyone to get him.

But if it’s just for the 1-year rental, then I’d keep Curry out of the deal. Sure, he didn’t make the leap many of us expected/hoped for, but he still has more potential for growth than anyone else on the team at an incredibly valuable position.

So we’ll see. I’d have to imagine that the Magic will get better offers, starting with the Lakers. But you never know — maybe the more “likely” trade partners get cold feet, in which case working aggressively to get in the game as the Warriors appear to be doing could just pay off.

A fan can dream, after all…

The bigs deserve most of the credit in this one, as they frustrated Kevin Love and his frontline friends on the way to a +41 between Lee, Biedrins, Udoh, and Amundson. They won the rebounding battle against a team that bested them by 21 on that stat in their last meeting, and fueled the Warriors big turnover advantage by making Darko cough up the ball and generating 10 blocks (5 of those for Udoh). And, of course, ending Love’s double-double streak is a nice trophy achievement — one that should go in Lee’s case.

Another thing that stood out about this game was how ugly it was during the Warriors’ run over the 3rd and 4th quarters. It had a slow, plodding pace with a ton of whistles, but for once the Dubs were the beneficiary of ugly ball as they completely flummoxed the Timberwolves’ offense and got plenty on their own offensive end to pull away.

So, good to see a game play out the way it was supposed to, as the Warriors have been a bit lazy about playing up/down to their level of competition this year. But to win consistently you need to beat up on the teams you should, then steal a few against those above you. This was a nice step in that direction — and tonight we’ll see if they can keep it up with a road game against the Kings.

But the defense couldn’t hold in overtime, and at the end of the day this counts as another L. Looking at the comparative stats above, they didn’t have much business even being this close as they were significantly outrebounded and lost almost every statistical category.

Monta was great late, and Curry had a solid game despite riding the bench throughout most of the 4th quarter (smart move by Smart, as the lineup he had out there was working). I also thought Ekpe played well, though his foul trouble knocked him out early in the 3rd and he never found his way back in.

I liked seeing Lee play the 5 at the end of the game, and he had another solid stat line (14 and 14) but poor +/-. Still, that was nothing compared to Biedrins, who managed a -16 in just 9 minutes of action.

And how about Evan Turner? After struggling throughout the earlier parts of the year, looks like the dude is finally putting it together. He was a game-high +25 (in a game his team only won by 8), and was all over the place at the end of the game.

So the road trip continues, and after a night off we get to play Baron and the Cavs. That will be an easier game than tonight, though you know he’ll be motivated and we just saw how good he can still be if he puts his mind to it.

Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images

The Warriors ride into the All Star break in style behind a huge game from Monta Ellis and another solid defensive performance.

Monta was the hero in this one, as he put the team on his back and hit big shot after big shot in the second half. What was remarkable was that all his shots felt so needed in order for the team to keep pace. Definitely his best game in weeks, and something that should give him a good feeling while he’s fishing in Mississippi during the break.

Curry, on the other hand, had his worst game in a while, as persistent foul trouble kept him chained to the bench. And when he was on the court, his shot wasn’t falling — until his huge bucket in the closing minute to keep it a two possession game. So credit him for keeping his head in the game despite his struggles.

Dorell Wright played the sort of all-around game that has become the norm for him, with 22 points and 5 rebounds. And Reggie Williams gave the team a great offensive spark off the bench — he’s been exactly what they need on that front since he got off his slide back in January.

The bigs were just OK, though Andris’ rebounding in the fourth deserves special mention. There was one stretch where it seemed like he was grabbing every defensive board (not insignificant when offensive rebounding/putback machine Jefferson is on the opposing team). Slightly disappointing night for Lee though, as his rebounds were down for a second game in a row and he only managed 13. Brandon Wright continues to re-establish his trade value and scored 6 points. and Udoh had another largely stat-free line but continues to be a factor on defense.

And while scoring contributions off the bench outside of Reggie’s were fairly light, every single bench player was a positive on the +/-. If they can keep up that sort of consistency, it gives the team a chance to rest some of the starters (and spell Curry when he gets into foul trouble) — and that’s going to be key down the stretch.

So all-in-all another really positive win, and a great one to take into the All Star break (their 26 wins matches the win total from last year). The Warriors took care of business in these final games before the break, and by playing their best basketball of the season they give us hope that a late-season run is a legitimate possibility. We’ll know soon enough once they head back out on the road in the coming weeks, but for now we can at least savor the fact that this team is, unequivocally, improving.

3-point shooting, one of the Warriors’ biggest strengths this season, really failed them tonight as they went 2-18 — and never adjusted. Defense was the biggest problem though, as Lee and Biedrins had team lows of -22 and -16, respectively — though all the starters were double digit negative on that stat. Monta was a volume shooter at 5-17 (though he picked up 12(!) rebounds), Curry was 0-6 from three, and Dorell Wright did a Monta impression at 3-13.

Silver linings? I guess you could point to solid bench contributions from Udoh (team-high +13) and Reggie Williams (19 sorely needed points).

But, ultimately, the team just wasn’t ready to play in a game they needed to win. And as this “easy” stretch of the schedule starts to come to a close, the future of this season is starting to look fairly bleak.

Wait, what’s that? The Bobcats have won 4 of 5 — including 3 straight on their current road trip — and 10 of 16 overall since Paul Silas took over as coach? Still, I’d rather be facing them than the Spurs or Hornets. I guess.

In what’s becoming a regular occurrence, the Warriors are playing a game that they just can’t afford to lose if they want to keep their fast-dwindling playoff hopes alive.

The big key to me — more for the long-term future of the team than for tonight’s game — is the Biedrins-Udoh dynamic. Will Smart stick with the Latvian and see if he can get *any* production from the big guy? Or will he have a short hook and start giving Udoh more minutes at the 5, especially since Lacob made noise about wanting to see more from the rookie during his Radnich interview yesterday? We’ll find out tonight…

Decent offensive games from most of the starters, and Curry and Wright were at least able to come close to even on the +/- (Wright in particular is impressive at -1 in 42 minutes — what the hell happened the 6 minutes when he was off the court?). But in a perfect example of how much better of a point guard they have, Paul had 17 assists and 6 turnovers while Curry had 6 and 5.

Still, you just can’t overlook the defense. I didn’t watch the game, but from all I’ve read it sounds like Chris Paul just got absolutely everything he wanted as a facilitator. Biedrins was once again a complete non-factor — hard to disagree with Feltbot’s assertion that he essentially makes the Warriors play 4 on 5 when he’s on the court these days, leading to more turnovers since no one can get open — and with the season slipping away I hope that Smart will at least start giving Udoh more minutes at the 5. Might as well see what we have there.

At this point, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the Warriors are just not good enough to move out of the lower third of the league as currently constructed, largely because of their defense. And because they’re not completely awful, they’ll likely end up with another late-lottery pick that will hardly be a difference maker.

I’m starting to think that blowing things up is the way to go…