Saltzman Says...Goodbye Monta Ellis

The Warriors were bought by Owners with a background in two things as it relates to sports: Owning teams, and building teams.

Peter Guber's Mandalay Entertainment owns several Minor League teams.

Joe Lacob owned part of the Boston Celtics and saw the internal workings of a organization that carved out a plan, stuck to it, and delivered a championship from it.

Bringing in Jerry West as an advisor to evaluate talent, Rick Welts to run the business side that bobby fowell used to, Bob Myers to help improve the Warriors standing with other GM's and agents, and Mark Jackson to build a team that relies on passing the basketball and defense. 

Everyone hired was hired for a purpose.

The team was not fully built by the time David Lee was traded for, but the move had the ok from ownership.  They traded three complimentary pieces:

Anthony Randolph, who is currently playing 12 minutes a game, scoring 5.9 PPG for Minnesota

Ronny Turiaf, who is currently averaging 1.2 PPG and 3 RPG for Washington

Kelenna Azubuike, who is not currently playing basketball.  

The Knicks, in essence, traded David Lee for cap space to pursue Amare Stoudemire and trade for Carmelo Anthony.  As good as they look on paper, especially now with Jeremy Lin, they aren't in any better shape than the Warriors currently.  

For all of David Lee's shortcomings on defense, he is an offensive force at times, and he has a consistent jumper that helps open the floor for his teammates.  He is also a willing passer.  It doesn't make up for his lack of defense, yet he is now going to be paired with Andrew Bogut.

Bottomline: Monta Ellis doesn't play defense.  Monta Ellis is not as good long term as Stephen Curry or Klay Thompson.  Monta Ellis is not as important to a playoff team as Andrew Bogut.

Every single Warrior that has been brought in plays defense since the front office was completely built.

Klay Thompson

Kwame Brown

Dominic McGuire

Brandon Rush

 

Nate Robinson

Andrew Bogut

Stephen Jackson

Every one of those players puts in work on the defensive side of the ball.

PG Stephen Curry (backed up by Nate Robinson)

SG Klay Thompson (backed up by Brandon Rush)

SF Dorell Wright (backed up by Stephen Jackson)

PF David Lee (backed up by Dominic McGuire)

C Andrew Bogut (backed up by Andris Biedrins)

{That would be a fun 5-on-5 to watch.}

with Charles Jenkins and Jeremy Tyler, that is a much more balanced team with a very talented bench.

If Stephen Jackson can embrace the 6th man type role that Nate Robinson has, we can be tough to beat next year.

We will certainly look to bring in a rookie or two to challenge for playing time

I could see the Warriors bringing in a rookie SF to make Stephen Jackson expendable.

(Ideally, Harrison Barnes or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist)

I could see the Warriors bringing in a rookie C to make Jeremy Tyler work and Andris more expendable.

I could even see the Warriors bring back Kwame Brown this off-season.

 

Saltzman Says...Warriors making all the parts fit

When word first got out that the Warriors hired Bob Myers, nobody jumped up and down because nobody knew who he was.  They word spread that not only was he an agent, but that he had some of the best players in the NBA as clients.  More to the point, he was the right hand man for the best agent in basketball, Arn Tellem. 

Then, the Warriors impressed the NBA world when they decided to hire Jerry West to be a consultant on basketball decisions.  Joe Lacob gained immediate credibility for bringing in arguably the greatest basketball mind there is.

The next step was to finally replace Keith Smart, who was fired after the season, and in comes Mark Jackson.  Jackson, who was the most well known name available, was brought in to add more national attention to this afterthought of a franchise.  Despite capturing the NBA fan's imagination in 2007 with a rare post season run, the Warriors can be looked at as one of the worst run franchises in basketball.  Now that chris cohan is no longer the owner, and Joe Lacob has showed a commitment to spend on quality, perceptions can change.

The team is coming off a 10 game improvement from their dismal 2009-10 season, and they are certainly letting the league take notice of their actions.

The one side note that makes all of these moves very interesting is how these people are connected:  Both Myers and West have deep rooted connections to Arn Tellem.  However, it is also intriguing to note that Mark Jackson and Mike Malone have the same agent as well.  Despite being the top assistant in New Orleans, Mike Malone has been brought in to the same role in Golden State.  Very rarely do the Warriors outbid for someone, and even less often when they are sought after by more impressive franchises like the Los Angeles Lakers.  Malone coached for Mike Brown, the new Los Angeles Lakers head coach, but he also coahed Jackson, and more to the point, have the same agent.  Steven Kauffmann also represents current Warriors assistant Jerry Sichting, who is well known for his x's and o's as well. 

Former Golden State Warriors assistants Mario Elie and Sidney Moncrief are also represented by Kauffman

Saltzman Says...Warriors next coach nearing decision?

Joe Lacob is back in the country.  What does this mean for the Warriors fan base?  According to some reports, the Warriors will go through the June draft without a coach.  According to other reports, however, the Warriors will pick up the pace considerably now that Lacob is back from his vacation.  Larry Riley, the Warriors general manager, has apparently already started the interviewing. According to SI.com, Golden State officials met with former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Mike Brown and top Dallas assistant Dwayne Casey last week.  The Warriors have also received permission according to different reports to speak to Lawrence Frank of the Celtics and Chuck Person and Brian Shaw of the Lakers.  Frank was a former head coach in New Jersey and Brian Shaw is an Oakland native.  The three potential candidates that seem to be out of the running are long time Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, former Houston Rockets and New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy and top San Antonio Assistant, Mike Budenholzer, who is believe to be the future successor of Gregg Poppovich.

Could Brian Shaw come home to Oakland to lead the Warriors?

So again, what does this all mean for the Warriors fan base?  It seems clear that Joe Lacob, Larry Riley and Bob Myers, the Warriors new assistant GM, have a plan in place.  It seems like, from an outsider's view, that the coach is a chip in the same way the players are.  If you believe reports that the coach might not be hired until after the draft, than the next coach's opinion of his own players loses its value.

It would seem that barring a big trade, Stephen Curry, David Lee, Dorell Wright, Ekpe Udoh, and Monta Ellis are the safest bets to stay, probably in that order.  As much as the team publicly loves Monta, it is possible that the team would move him if it meant getting a better defender to team with Curry.  If talks were to heat up with Philadelphia, for example, for Andre Iguodala, a swap of perimeter players could happen.  Andris Biedrins also seems a safe bet to stay, but only because his stock has never been lower.

Reggie Williams, Acie Law, Al Thornton, Charlie Bell, Vladimir Radmanovic, and Lou Amundson could all be moved or released.  Amundson is the only one of that group that is a strong defender.  With Jeff Adrien and Jeremy Lin possibly playing more in the D-League than the NBA next year, that means that only 7 players by my count are likely to return next year.

PG Stephen Curry
SG Monta Ellis
SF Dorell Wright
PF David Lee
C Andris Biedrins
PF/C Ekpe Udoh
PF/C Lou Amundson
------------------
PG Jeremy Lin
PF Jeff Adrien

The Warriors would desperately need a starter at C who can score, a defensive minded guard, and a defensive minded wing player.  Those three positions that have been discussed quite heavily this off-season, would give the Warriors the 8 man rotation all good teams possess.  With Biedrins and Amundson allowed to be fringe players instead of consistent contributors, the team's chances for success would improve dramatically.

I will keep you all posted.

Saltzman Says...Warriors can learn from playoffs

Here's hoping every Warrior player and front office member is watching every second of the Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder's series in round two of the Western Conference semi-finals.  The Western Conference has always been loaded with talented players and teams, specifically big men, and this series shows how close and yet how far the Warriors really are.

As important as it is to have a Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook or a Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol to run your team through, it is as critical to have a Kendrick Perkins, Nick Collison or Thabo Sefolosha, as well as a Tony Allen, Shane Battier and Darrell Arthur.  Those six role players have been monumental defensively.  They have helped their teams not only to get to the second round, but also in scaring the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks who are battling for the right to play them.  Also not to be forgotten are roles of players like Eric Maynor and Greivis Vasquez who have been outstanding running the point for the 2nd unit.  Perkins, Collison, Sefolosha and Maynor have helped the Thunder become one of the best all-around teams in basketball.  Allen, Battier, Arthur and Vazquez have done the same for the Grizzlies.

The 2011-12 Warriors will only be as good as the team they build.  Hopefully with Bob Myers hired as the assistant GM to Larry Riley, the Warriors will be more active in bringing in the right pieces to be a playoff basketball team every year.

Will the hiring of Bob Myers be the change that leads to smarter personnel decisions?

Saltzman Says...Hire Rick Adelman

Rick Adelman has parted ways with the Houston Rockets.  The Warriors have a good coach in Keith Smart, but the Warriors need a great coach.  The Warriors had Rick Adelman once before, and gave in zero talent the first time he was here.  He admitted as much in the article that good players make good coaches.  However, if we can convince Adelman to come to Oakland, and bring in a big man he can work with, we will have the pieces in place to get to the post-season.  We also might be able to bring in great role players like Chuck Hayes, Shane Battier and even Yao Ming.  Riley talked about bringing in another big man.  Hayes and Ming are among several centers available this off-season.  Riley talked about bringing in another defender on the perimeter, and Shane Battier is certainly the definition of that.  Battier and Dorell Wright locking up the 48 minutes at the small forward would give us a great upgrade.  We also need a third guard, and with the hiring of Bob Myers who knows the league and was the agent for some pretty special big guards like Brandon Roy, Tyreke Evans and great role players like Kendrick Perkins.