People have been asking me what I thought about the latest Warriors moves so I'll go through them one by one.
Corey Maggette
Of all the moves, I like this one the least. After Baron opted out and eventually left, it seemed like the Warriors went into panic mode and just started throwing major cash at Gilbert Arenas and Elton Brand. As much as I like Arenas, there is no way he is worth 100 million, knee surgery or not. After Arenas resigned with Washington and Brand decided to pull a Boozer and go to Philly, the Warriors acted quickly and reached an agreement with Maggette. I don't mind the acquisition of Maggette per se, it's just that I don't think he is worth 10 million per year over the next 5 years. He is a good player, but not a 10 mill player. To me it looked like the front office was trying to save face and do SOMETHING to appease the fan base, even if it meant overpaying. Warriors fans were in a state of shock after the Baron situation and needed some hope to hold onto. The front office hoped Maggette was the answer.
When the signing first went down I was completely against it, but after reading other fans' thoughts my feelings have changed a bit. If someone asked me if I would trade Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes (3.5M and 3.0M, respectively) for Maggette (~8 million in the first year of the contract if it is structured with the standard 10% increase per year), I would've done the trade without hesitation.
Ronny Turiaf
The general consensus among Warriors fans are that they overpaid for Turiaf. Of course they overpaid a little bit; it was absolutely necessary that they did. Because Turiaf was a restricted free agent, the Warriors had to pay a little bit more than the Lakers were willing to pay. If the contract was for say 3 million/year the Lakers might be able to afford that, match, and then he's back on the Lakers.
Many people also think Turiaf is annoying. Personally, I find his antics entertaining. If you don't know what I am talking about then here are a couple videos.
The bottom line is that Turiaf is what the Warriors needed. He is a solid rebounder/shot blocker that will bring a ton of energy off the bench.
Marcus Williams
I loved him in college. He was hyped up as the best point guard in the draft, but fell to the 22nd pick for whatever reason. He's never really gotten a real shot or even consistent playing time in New Jersey playing behind Jason Kidd and Devin Harris, but the games he started last year he averaged 11.1 pts, 6.3 assists, and 4 rebounds. He did turn the ball over 3 times per game, but he is a 22 year old pass first point guard with potential. The pick that the Warriors traded doesn't affect them for a few seasons so hopefully by then they will be a perennial playoff team. Also, if this year's draft was any indication, it doesn't take too much to obtain a late first round pick. (I believe the Hornets and Nuggets traded their first rounders for cash) Overall I see it as a low risk/high reward deal for the Warriors.
Kelenna Azubuike
I wanted the Warriors to match, but I wasn't devastated when there were reports saying the Warriors reached an agreement with Maurice Evans, virtually ending any chance the Azubuike offer sheet would be matched. However, when Evans backed out and wanted more money, I'm glad Mullin just decided to match Azubuike's offer sheet. Azubuike and Evans are similar players, but Azubuike is 5 years younger and has bigger guns. Haha.
Monta Ellis
I expected the Warriors to sign Monta for at least Kevin Martin money 5/55, so I was happy when I heard the agreement was for 6/67. Now that he got paid, don't expect to see any more posts about me meeting Monta at an autograph signing. I can pretty much guarantee he doesn't do any signings this year.
In an earlier interview Nelson said something like "Monta fell in love with the tattoo lady" over the summer and got like 10 new tattoos. Here are some pictures.
All I can say is Wow.
Speaking of Monta, I really dislike Ralph Barbieri. He keeps saying things like, "It's Monta's team now. I've been driving the Monta Ellis bandwagon for the past two years! I've been saying it's going to be Monta's team, but nooooooooooo people scoffed." Ralph, shut up. Seriously. He acts like he was the only person that knew Monta was going to be good. Whatever. He shows his lack of knowledge about sports, especially basketball on a daily basis. Last week he showed he didn't know the difference between the mid level exception and the trade exemption. He said that Ray Ratto was wrong in his column today because Ratto wrote about how Monta had no other offers. It never crossed his mind to think about salary situations and the fact that he's a restricted free agent. Teams, other than Memphis who have Mayo, don't have the cap room to offer Monta a lucrative offer, and teams that are over the cap aren't going to offer Monta their mid level exception because firstly Monta wouldn't sign it, and secondly, the Warriors would match without hesitation. I want to call KNBR and tell Ralph how I feel, but he'd just get mad and call me a jerk off like he usually does to critical callers.
Hopefully Biedrins resigns soon. There are reports that a Euro team is interested in him. I'm hoping that Biedrins' camp is just using that as leverage to get more money from the Warriors. That's what I thought Josh Childress was doing, but I was way off on that one so who knows.
