SB Nation User Blog: Dubs fan in Boston

Magic offseason dilemas and effect on the Warriors

Dubs fan in Boston — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:53:17 -0000

Well,

Now that the Finals are freshly 12 hours old, it's already time to start talking free agency for the losing team:

1. Hedo Turkoglu & Marcin Gortat are going to test free agency and get significant raises

2. Orlando has too much tied up in Rashard Lewis ($18M in '09-'10) and others to make a significant efforts to keep the two without dumping salary.

So, Turkoglu & Gortat can be had in free agency, and others like Alston, Nelson (unlikely to be available), Pietrus, Battie, JJ Redick can be had in trade if Orlando is trying to re-sign Turkoglu and/or Gortat.

Who would be a good fit for the Warriors? How can we make something work? Does anybody else still think having Rashard Lewis signed for 4 more years at >$18M/year is even remotely a good thing? If he was at $12-$13M/year they'd be able to keep Turkoglu. Instead, they're going to be relying on... Pietrus as their starting SF and Nelson to run the pick & roll? That's pretty steep, and when you add in the fact that they'll go from the Polish Hammer to... Tony Battie and Adonal Foyle (assming they even re-sign him) as their backup centers, they'll become worse and much thinner. They're not challenging Cleveland without keeing Turkoglu (and neither is Boston without getting KG healthy.

So, how and where can the Warriors step in? Who do we want? I'd say Alston is the easiest target, but he was notorious for being emotional, which will not play well with Nelson.

What Orlando wants:

1. Re-sign Turkoglu

2. Re-sign Gortat

3. Cap space to do 1 and/or 2

4. Replace the talent of Turkoglu and Gortat with cheaper players

What the Warriors want:

1. Acquire Turkoglu

2. Improve on current roster or cap situation

Options (in order of how happy the Warriors would be):

1. Sign Turkoglu

Highly unlikely, not even going to discuss it. The Pistons (and others) have more money to give and are better destinations.

2. Maggette for Turkoglu (S&T)

No way Magic do this unless Turkoglu just about has paperwork in place with another team and they're looking to get something (anything) for it. I wouldn't put it past Otis "Rashard Lewis gets $120M" Smith, but it's a long, long, long shot.

3. Ellis for Turkoglu (S&T)

The Magic would have to clear some cap space to make this happen, and it would only be feasible if Turkoglu really wanted to leave because I'm sure Orlando would be happier to have Turkoglu. So we'd have to offer more money AND Orlando would have to clear cap space... difficult, very difficult.

Maggette & Turiaf for Alston & Gortat (S&T)

Orlando would really only be interested in this if they lost Turkoglu and couldn't find any good FAs to sign at SF. Not really likely, and I'm not even sure the S&T is legal or feasible. We could do two separate trades, though Turiaf's salary is going down while Alston's is going up... might have to throw in some filler.

3. Maggette & Davidson for Alston & Battie

Would allow them to cut $2M, which they could then use on either Turkoglu or Gortat, Maggette would give them some offensive firepower to repace Turkoglu if they were to keep Gortat (certainly the cheaper of the two).

4. Package built around Ellis, Randolph, and Wright for Rashard Lewis

This would be the "big spalsh" Riley would be looking to make for "the best Nellieball mismatch at PF in the NBA," but I'd probably give up on the team.

As noted many, many times, a S&T is very rare and very difficult to pull off. So none of those are really feasible. I could see us making the Maggette & Davidson for Alston & Battie move, but that's a minor move. It would give us something at PG and cut long term cap. This could also be done with JC by himself, but unless Orlando feels like they're over a barrel, they're not going to do anything that ridiculous. Or maybe they will, their GM is still Otis Smith.

Anybody else have any good ideas for how we can work the Orlando situation?

Mikael Pietrus, NBA Champion?

Dubs fan in Boston — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:12:52 -0000

Anybody's who's been watching this series knows what kind of impact Air France is having on LBJ. LBJ is still scoring, but he's having to work a ton harder and Mikey's forcing him into jumpers instead of just getting owned (which is what everybody else in the NBA seems to do). The Orlando Magic have a 3-1 lead in this series in no small part due to Pietrus' efforts on LeBron and he's been scoring well in the series too (13PPG on 8 attempts per game).

I, for one, am not too surprised that he's successful out there. He can simply focus on what he's good at, defense and open shots, knowing that everybody else is doing their job. This is something that he didn't have on the Warriors.

If they make it by the Cavs, and with a 3-1 lead they've got 3 shots left, they've got a very good shot at taking the championship. If they do win the championship, Mike Pietrus (who had been so hated by Warriors fans when he was here) will have earned an NBA championship. His defense against LeBron has been great and he's been very effective on offense.

I can't remember and I didn't see all of his games this offseason, but has he stepped out of bounds yet? Does it matter? For whatever reason, Pietrus was not wanted here. Perhaps too much was expected of him, perhaps he and Nellie didn't get along, perhaps he likes Florida. But he was a great guy who always gave 100% effort, and I'm very happy that he's enjoying some success. He's now a significant contributor to a serious championship contender. That's more than you can say for BD & JRich.

Excellent Kobe article

Dubs fan in Boston — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:15:47 -0000

Excellent Kobe article

"It's sad, maybe, but Kobe will never be appreciated in a manner commensurate with his ability. He's in the process of turning himself into an antihero. (In many respects, he is similar to Alex Rodriguez, another tin-eared superstar.) Everything he does reeks of insecurity, which is a really weird trait for a guy who -- along with LeBron James -- is a once-a-decade basketball talent."

Really, a very on point take on Kobe, a supreme talent that has never and will never be OK with how the world sees him... unless he singlehandedly wins an NBA championship by averaging 60 a game in the finals or something "worthy" of his narcissistic image of himself.

League's most disappointing players references Warriors.

Dubs fan in Boston — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:02:09 -0000

League's most disappointing players references Warriors.

Guess what, the Warriors are referenced here, but not how you might think.

So, does Monta suck or is he awesome?

Dubs fan in Boston — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:47:57 -0000

Was his ankle sore or was he visiting his sick mom?

He came back from the injury and was not himself. He was not scoring efficiently and not really doing much of anything good. Then he had a two week hiatus and came back. Nelson said, from the beginning, that he was resting his ankle, and somewhere along the line the FO said he was also visiting his mom. Monta came back at the end to say "No, I was visiting my sick mom, ankle's fine."

I suspect that his ankle was a little sore, but wouldn't have really kept him out of the game. Being a professional athlete, he thinks he's invincible. "What's a little dull pain to me, the super athlete? HAHAHAH, I laugh at dull pain, I'm indestructible!"

Whatever was the catalyst and whatever was the side effect, the rest seems to have done him some good, as he appears to be close to old Monta. Winning and peak performance cure all rifts, and that seems to be where we're headed. As freerandolph has pointed out, the Warriors have a winning record with Monta in the lineup (10-7 right now). Monta has been playing quite well since he's been back, a few more good games and he might get to the 60% plateau again (He's at 56% right now). It's still too early to tell, and he could easily just be on a hot streak against lazy/crappy defenders (BD is known to get lazy, and Steve Nash is a picnic), but he's showing more than flashes, he's put together whole games. So, what's your take?

Personally, I'm of the opinion that he's still awesome, he was just a combination of rusty and not 100% when he came back in Jan. I also think that he had a sore ankle and he wanted to see his mom, so everybody was happy with him going home and taking a rest for a week or two.

Poll

Does Monta suck? Was his ankle hurt?

He sucks and Nelson was lying

8 votes

He sucks and his ankle was sore

5 votes

He's awesome and Nelson was lying

101 votes

He's awesome and his ankle was sore

214 votes

I don't care whether he's awesome or his ankle was sore, he defines "pure evil" because he rode a dirt bike with his friends last offseason

44 votes

372 votes | Poll has closed

Worst pair of starting lineups ever in an NBA game?

Dubs fan in Boston — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:43:01 -0000

Worst pair of starting lineups ever in an NBA game?

LOS ANGELES GOLDEN STATE
PG M. Taylor SG A. Morrow
SF R. Davis PG C. Watson
PG B. Davis SF K. Azubuike
SG F. Jones SG M. Belinelli
G A. Acker SG M. Ellis

3, 2, 1... TANK!!!

Dubs fan in Boston — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:36:16 -0000

OK,

So it's already been discussed, but in the last two days, two very damning things have come about to suggest that tanking season is now fully upon us:

1. Monta Ellis out 1-2 weeks

2. Nellie claims he'll start playing the youngsters

I also took a look at the league standings: we're currently in the 7th slot, but only 5 games away from the 13th pick. What's that mean? If we start playing well, our lotto chances are dead. If we stop playing well, our lotto chances are still alive. Is this a good thing? I don't know. What excuses are they going to have? Is Andris' joke about still being 2 months away going to ring true? Is Monta going to struggle to come back this time? What other tanking maneuvers will they make?

Look at Monta's situation this way: If he's out 1-2 weeks and comes back slowly, that gets us to mid-March, only a month left in the season. He could play for two weeks and then shut it down to "not risk injuring himself". Heck, he could even not play at all! Captain Jack could start taking a few rests here and there... What do you think they'll do?

Poll

How will the Warriors tanking efforts manifest themselves?

Monta sits the rest of the season

21 votes

Various starters get random ailments that make them miss a few games here and there

34 votes

Andris sits the rest of the season

4 votes

Nellie starts playing Marcus Williams "to see what we've got"

42 votes

This thread is getting deleted because the mods don't like talking about tank-a-palooza

10 votes

All of the above

49 votes

He's just going to play the youngsters... we're not tanking

84 votes

244 votes | Poll has closed

Suns fire Porter

Dubs fan in Boston — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:07:42 -0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3910443

Now, I know this isn't directly Warriors related, but the article quotes Amare as saying:

"I think Alvin is a great players' coach," Suns forward/center Amare Stoudemire said after Sunday's All-Star Game in Phoenix. "He gets along with his players well. Of course, he'll have a great game plan from a basketball standpoint. I think it will be somewhat up-tempo."

I, for one, think this pretty much means that Amare isn't getting traded. You don't hire a new coach, only to get rid of one of your stars. I assume they'll try to make it work with what they've got and make a trade only if it's an offer they can't refuse.

Although, they haven't exactly committed to a coach for the long term, so they could just say "screw this, let's get rid of Amare too!" I don't see it happening.

I think Porter was likely much of what bothered Amare in the first place with his defense first attitude and the way he molded the offense more around Shaq than Amare. He's a great player, and he's by far the youngest of their stars. He's the guy you build a team around, not Shaq, and to a lesser extent, not Nash. I think Kerr was looking at it like "Either Amare or Porter have to go. Amare doesn't fit the offense, so either he's a big trade chip or we've got to change the offense." They made it known that they'd be willing to move Amare for the right price, they didn't get a price they liked, and that made their decision. What's your take?

Poll

Is Amare still going to be traded?

Yes

45 votes

No

105 votes

150 votes | Poll has closed

10 games in, and I like what I see

Dubs fan in Boston — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:40:24 -0000

It's 10 games since Monta came back, and I like what I see:

CLE 105-106 (L)

LAC 107-92 (W)

@DAL 93-117 (L)

@NO 91-87 (W)

@HOU 93-110 (L)

SA 105-110 (L)

PHX 124-112 (W)

@PHX 105-115 (L)

UTA 116-96 (W)

NYK 144-127 (W)

We've gone 5-5 against top competition, 8 of those games are against teams going to the playoffs (yes, Utah was undermanned... it's still a tough schedule). It's a little skewed towards home games, but we did take one away from a good New Orleans team and a bounce of the ball against Cleveland or San Antonio could have made that 7-3 instead.

Sure, Monta's struggling himself, but once he gets back into basketball shape, the team will just be even better. Biedrins is a solid starting center, Turiaf is showing to be a capable player as well. He's at least "first big off the bench for a championship team" material, if not "starter for a half decent team" material. With Wright coming back, I think we're doing alright down low, and they're all under 25.

Now that Jax & Maggs are not injured, they're playing well... Go figure. Check out their season splits and how much better they're playing in Jan/Feb.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/splits?playerId=378

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/splits?playerId=497

Heck, even Jamal Crawford seems settling into his role as a distributor, his shot attempts are down in February significantly and his assist to turnover ratio is almost 3:1 in Feb. Yes, somewhat low sample size, but it's still nice to see and there are real reasons that we can point to for why this is happening: our other three top guards are actually healthy and he no longer thinks he has to carry the entire load himself.

What does this mean? The Warriors, as they're built, actually don't seem to suck that much. Sure, they're not going to win a championship as is, it's guard heavy (which is normal for the NBA), and they don't play defense well, but they score in bunches and have guys who can hold their own down low to prevent the other teams' bigs from complete going to town. We've got 6-7 solid guards (Jax, Maggs, Craw, Monta, Kelenna, and CJ/Beli... did I just call Belinelli "solid"? Yikes...) and we've got 2-3 solid bigs (Biedrins, Turiaf, Wright). There's also the Anthonys who've each shown some promise in their own way.

We're getting healthy and we're going to make the patented "snatch defeat (crappy lottery pick) from the jaws of victory (good lottery pick)" Warriors run that gets us all excited for the offseason while screwing up our draft chances. Get ready. We got 29 games left. I predict ~15-18 wins, which gets us to 33-36 wins on the season.

What's everyone's take?

Poll

How many wins will the Warriors end the season with?

18-23

8 votes

24-28

77 votes

29-32

230 votes

33-36

209 votes

37-40

51 votes

41+

61 votes

636 votes | Poll has closed

In the immortal words of Maximus Decimus Meridius, "Are you not entertained!?!?"

Dubs fan in Boston — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:22:51 -0000

via a601.ac-images.myspacecdn.com

You've got what you want. Marco's playing 20 minutes a game. Maggette is sitting. Randolph is getting playing time. Nellie's giving all you "But the young guys are so good!" fools exactly what you want. Guess what, they suck! We've lost 12 of 14 games. Kelenna is getting his 30 minutes a game. And they're not good, they suck.

So, I ask this question to all of you who've been clammoring for the young guys to get the PT they deserve: ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?!?!

I'd throw my sword, but you know... I don't have one and it's kinda hard to do over the internets.

Poll

Are you not entertained

Yes, I'm entertained, and I like seeing the young guys out there.

29 votes

Yes, I'm entertained, and I like the idea that we could win the draft lotto

24 votes

No, I am not entertained, these guys suck.

44 votes

I was entertained when I watched Gladiator, not so much by these Warriors.

32 votes

Other (Please explain in a comment)

13 votes

142 votes | Poll has closed