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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?

• Offense: With no Curry, it will likely be a tall order to keep up with tonight’s visitors. Can the Warriors generate enough offense to stay in the game?
• Defense: Much more important, can Jackson get them to play smart defense against a team that might be a bit sloppy as they focus on lobs and other Sports Center catnip?
• Bench: The Warriors’ bench was pretty terrible last year. Will this year’s rookies and b-list additions represent an improvement and allow them to get Monta off the floor for at least 15 minutes every night?

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…

(Of course, he also has no coaching experience of any kind.)

(Also, I found this article by Steinmetz interesting — in particular, the notes about how at the end of the regular season, it seemed like Doc Rivers, Stan Van Gundy, Erik Spoelstra and Mike D’Antoni could become available. Just like this year’s draft class, the available coaching pool was severely limited this year).

Reading the transcript of Jackson’s chat with reporters tonight before Game 4 of the finals makes me feel a bit better about his inexperience — he’s aware of his limitations, but confident that he’ll overcome them. He’s expecting 100% effort on the defensive end, and I think that’s a different 100% than Smart demanded.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle will be the offensive and defensive scheming, and on that front the Mike Malone hiring is huge — and I love the reports that Lacob made him an offer he couldn’t refuse to keep him from rejoining Mike Brown with the Lakers. Now that is the sort of aggression and smart money-spending that we never saw under Cohan.

So consider me cautiously optimistic. I like the front office team that Lacob has put together (especially the West hire), something that has made me want to trust the team’s judgment more than I have in the past.

Throw in the reports of a potential Monta Ellis for Andre Iguodala swap — something I would do in a heartbeat — and we could be looking at a very different Warriors team by the end of the month. One can only hope — after all, even if Jackson proves to be the best coach in history he won’t get very far unless the Warriors upgrade the roster.

In all seriousness, this has been a tremendous 3-game stretch. These aren’t meaningless end-of-season games for the opposition; the Mavericks, Blazers, and Lakers all had a lot to play for when they faced the Warriors this past week.

The last two games in particular have been a ton of fun to watch, as the Warriors — dare I say it — dominated for most of the second half in both contests. Things got a little hairy at the end of the game last night, but the Dubs hit enough big shots to keep a healthy cushion and even avoid a foul-plagued ending.

Perhaps most impressive, the Warriors out-rebounded the Lakers 50-47. Bynum pulled down 17 boards, but they were able to hold Gasol and (especially) Odom in check. David Lee matched Bynum with 17 boards of his own, making it his second straight impressive double-double. Thanks to the rebounding and turnover (+7) margins, the Warriors ended up with 93 shots to the Lakers 77 — a big part of why they won despite shooting just 39%.

Curry and Ellis put on a nice show, as despite Curry’s cold touch early he hit some big shots at the end to preserve the win. Wright had another cold shooting night, but hit two big 3′s late to keep up the lead and break the Warriors’ single-season record for made 3-pointers. Udoh went scoreless, but pulled down 8 rebounds in 19 minutes — impressive considering the front line he was up against.

Now the Warriors get a few nights off before facing the Kings on Sunday, when they can get to the 36-win mark that they decided to shoot for after the bottom fell out after the All Star break. I know the Warriors have developed a habit of getting hot late in the season when their playoff spot is already decided, but they appear locked into the 11th draft position at this point so might as well see what they can do!

David Lee had his finest game as a Warrior, helping the team to a +7 rebounding advantage by pulling down 20 boards to go with 29 points. Monta and Steph also chimed in with 30 and 28, respectively, and as they mentioned on the postgame show this was the best game these three have played together as a trio.

Amundson gave some great second half minutes off the bench — even hitting his free throws — and while Dorell Wright couldn’t hit a shot to save his life, he didn’t screw things up too badly either as he posted a +21.

Now the Warriors head down to LA to take on the Lakers on the back end of a back-to-back. As the great Fitz just mentioned on the telecast, winning tomorrow would complete the most improbably 3-game winning streak…just about ever.

Stat of the game: 22-24. That’s the Warriors mark from the line, 3.2 above their season average in attempts and well above that in terms of makes, and they even managed 4 more attempts than the Mavericks. If they can get to the line — and make them — this team can really hang in there.

Monta kept the team in the game through the first three quarters, then went strangely silent in the 4th. But Al Thornton picked up the slack, with 12 points and 9 rebounds off the bench — most of that in the final period. Amundson also came up big off the bench with 8 points and 10 rebounds.

So all-in-all a feel good win against a quality team that still has a lot to play for in terms of playoff positioning. It’s just too bad they couldn’t do this more consistently throughout the season.

A hearbreaker of a loss, but great to see that this team still has fight left in it. Those back-to-back 3′s at the end of regulation were almost legendary, and had me scaring the hell out of my 4-month-old with my yells. Sadly, they couldn’t recreate the magic at the end of OT, but still a good showing against a playoff team on the road.

Curry brought his A offensive game — as he usually does against the Thunder — though his PG stats (5 assists/6 turnovers) were once again lacking. Monta on the other hand continued his hot streak in terms of distribution, with double-digit assists for the third straight game.

Udoh continued to make his presence felt defensively, and Lee did a good job playing big with 15 boards to go with 24 points (even with Perkins, the Warriors continue to match up inside against the Thunder better than they seemingly do anyone else).

Only Wright disappointed among the starters with a 2-13 shooting night, and he still managed to pull down 10 boards and post a team-high +10. And looking at the overall +/- stats, this game was clearly lost by the bench: all positive for the starters, all double-digit negative for the reserves — only 3 of whom played, totaling just 35 minutes.

Overall, I guess this is the sort of result you want at this point — great effort, but lottery position preserved.