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 collecting peices

The Warriors have brought in a brain trust to rival most NBA teams. Jerry West and company know the best thing Golden State can do is to collect players other teams will covet. By grabbing three prospects in the draft, the Warriors have more options heading into free agency.

Klay Thompson - the son of former #1 overall pick Mychal Thompson, gives the Warriors a 6-7 swingman to join Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis. If you add restricted free agent Reggie Williams, the Warriors have four players who can score the basketball and could be assets other teams want. Most NBA teams don't call the Warriors about Acie Law or Charlie Bell and Jeremy Lin is a project at best.

Charles Jenkins - adding Jenkins, a 6-3 New York City point guard out of Hofstra, the Warriors have a possible upgrade at point to Law and Lin. Curry and Ellis desperately need minutes off the floor over the 82 game season and beyond, and these two guards can help with that.

Jeremy Tyler - the Warriors then went out and spent $2 million buying the draft rights to Tyler from Charlotte. Tyler is a 6-10 power forward who recently turned 20 and skipped his senior year of high school to play professionally overseas. If the gamble pays off, Tyler could be one of the two big bodies the Warriors desperately need to go with Andris Biedrins, Ekpe Udoh, David Lee and Lou Amundson.

If nothing else, the Warriors added three players to use as building blocks or trade bait as they look to finally get back to the post 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