Here's to the combination of boredom and imagination

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Continuing a long tradition of senseless, self-promoting rosterbating here on GSoM. Enjoy....

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Hey guys. I'm a Warriors fan out in the Bay Area. I (and I'm sure many other W's fans) want to know what it would take from us to work a trade with you guys for either the #2 pick or for A.I. I know that either one is asking a lot so I'll try to be realistic about our (tiny) chances to snag one of these guys.

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Obviously, David Lee is the top FA out there and would be an excellent fit with the Warriors. Just ask Bucher:

16. David Lee, PF/C, Knicks (RFA)

His game: Energy and defense without needing plays called for him. Will sacrifice his body on screens and charges. Undersized but athletic, hard-nosed and low-maintenance. Rebound and loose-ball fiend. Good hands and decent with putbacks and finishing around the rim off pick-and-roll. Not much of a threat beyond 15 feet or on post-ups. Willing help defender, but not a shot-blocker.

Right system: Up-tempo is ideal because he'll outrun most bigs in transition. Need at least three scorers, ideally four, so he has room and reason to chase down rebounds and putbacks. Can't play off an offensive post threat because he doesn't have the jumper to space the floor. Mobile enough to show on the guard in pick-and-roll defense and get back to a rolling big.

Wrong system: A methodical half-court set with a dominant scoring center who is not a shot-blocker.

Best fits: Suns, Blazers, Jazz, Rockets, Thunder, Warriors

I'm sure nearly everyone on this site would love to have him on the W's and there has been a lot written about the possibility in the comments of several posts. The question is would we have a shot and what would we have to give up to make it happen? (warning: long post with lots of analysis)

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http://www.ibabuzz.com/warriors/2009/06/26/curry-pg-of-the-future/

 

I didn't see this posted yet though I'm sure many people have read MT-2's blog. If you read the quotes from Nellie it seems pretty clear that he now sees Curry as the PG of the future.

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I went ahead and started the Golden State of Mind League for Season 2 (that is what sportingnews.com calls the 2nd half of the season).

 

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/hoops/season2/basic/home_good.html

League name is Golden State of Mind.

Everything will work the same as it did for the first half. For those of you who haven't played, check it out. It's a salary cap league. Each player has an assigned value and you are given $35M to buy 6 players of your choosing- there's no draft.

Props to back2back51's (Adonal Foyle Dot com) if he pulls out the win. If....

First of all, please leave this up for  people to see. This is an awesome opportunity for someone and for W's fans everywhere. This is no different than that guy (sorry I can't remember your name, man) who gives away the tickets (except I'm not giving anything away).

 

I just received a message on Facebook (stay w/ me here) from "Cal Poly Bay Area Alumni" group. Apparently there is a private reception for CP alumni before the game on Jan. 25 with esteemed Cal Poly alumnus- you guessed it- Bobby mofo-ing Rowell.

http://www.calpolylink.com/s/699/index.aspx?sid=699&pgid=539&cid=1326&gid=1&ecid=1326

I cannot  go to this but I think it would be SICK if there is some other CP grad on GSoM who would go represent and let Big Bobby know just how the fans feel about what has gone on in the last 6 months. You have to be a CP grad but, I mean, like 10% of my HS class went there so I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one on GSoM.

I think we should find someone who can go and GSoMers could pay their way. I got five on it (or more), anyone else?

 

So, I have been torn between writing another post to throw on the heap of bitching, moaning, condemning posts or writing some forward looking post, like so many members suggest as they complain about the people who...complain.

Luckily, I didn't have to decide (it takes me half an hour  to pick which 6 pack I want at BevMo so deciding is not a strength of mine). I found a great way to combine both urges that I think we all have as W's fans, to bitch and to look ahead- because, what the hell else do we usually have?

(WARNING: Long, thought out post ahead. Sorry, I guess?)

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For those of you who aren't already all over this (I'm sure, love or hate it, a lot of GSoM'ers are daily Talking Points readers):

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2008/09/29/for-the-record-baron-davis-and-mullin-had-a-tenative-39m-agreement-until-rowell-vetoed-it/

Whether or not you wanted BD to get that deal, this has interesting implications for our team. Obviously, Kawakami gives a way better analysis than I ever could but it seems to me that the most important point for the future is that Mullin got uver ruled on something as big as this. That combined with the complete lack of any meaningful extension talk would seem to suggest that his influence is decreasing and this will be Mullin's last season w/ the W's.

Kind of a bummer if you ask me but I'm just some dude. Let's go way off the hypothetical deep end and assume a) this is Mullin's last season as GM and b) that he completes no major moves between now and his exit. Assuming those two ideas, what move/ combination of moves define Mullin's tenure as GM to you? Peep the poll...

Poll

If it ended up being true that a) this is Mullin's last season w/ the team and b) he doesn't complete any major moves during the rest of his tenure, what move or combination of moves would define Mullin's job as GM to you?

7%

Extending Foyle at about 10x his worth

16 votes

6%

Extending the DunMurphy sisters.

14 votes

29%

Trading a 6-pack of beer and a mop for BD

68 votes

36%

Trading the DunMurphy sisters for SJax and Al

84 votes

13%

Trading JRich for BWright

31 votes

6%

Locking up the (pre Moped-gate) future by re-signing Monta and AB

15 votes

228 votes | Poll has closed

I had 5 minutes to kill so I went ahead and created the fantasy league for this year. Just like last year, it's the salary cap league on SportingNews.com and it's all free.

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/hoops/season1/basic/home.html

Create a team name then go to "join an existing league":

League name:  Golden State of Mind                                                                    Password: 1975

Since it's a salary cap league, there's no exclusive ownership of players which means there's no draft. We can all have Kobe if we want to. Also, there is no real limit to how many people can join the league since an infinite number of people can own any given player.

You start with $35 million to buy 6 players: 2 guards, 2 forwards, 1 center and 1 "6th man" (which means  the player can play any position). You have to maintain that type of roster all season (w/ those positions, not the exact players I mean). Some players have multiple positions they can play on your roster (G/F or F/C).

Players' values go up and down during the season based on how many people are buying and selling them, like the stock market. Players earn fantasy points through points, boards, assists, etc.  and most points wins the league, regardless of franchise value.

You get two trades every, I think, Tuesday night. The trades aren't actually trades you complete with other members of the league; a trade is really a right to sell a player and replace him by buying another.

Season 1 ends at the All-Star break and then season 2 goes from after the break until the playoffs. Hope some people join this year. Last season was hella fun.

I know it's way early to be asking this, but Adam at FastBreak got me thinking about fantasy basketball w/ his  latest post .   I'm wondering if the folks who set up the GSoM fantasy basketball league at SportingNews.com last year were planning on repeating that this year?

I loved the version of fantasy basketball that sportingnews.com used and GSoM had some good fantasy managers and some close contests. I hope it happens again.

Mullin started off his tenure as GM, well, sucking big time (see his first 5 major contracts and most of his drafts).

After the Indiana trade, I had finally gained some faith in Mullin's ability to evaluate talent and make deals accordingly as GM.

I reluctantly saw the J-Rich deal as necessary. It seemed the W's were finally giving us reason to be optimistic.

Now, first, we lose BD, the heart and soul of our team, not to mention the best Warrior in a long time, and gotten nothing for him. The losing him probably wasn't as much Mullin's fault as it was his design, but getting nothing for him was his fault.

What does Mullin do? After he finally got our from under the horrible deals he gave to Murphy, Foyle, Dunleavy and to a lesser extent J-Rich- what does he do with that cap room? Give $10 M per year to a 6th man who to a degree duplicates two of our best players in Monta and SJax?

$3M more a year on that deal could have gotten us Josh Smith or Baron. I'm not saying either of those sigings would have been the wisest, but if you are going to spend $50+ M on a player over five years, get something better than fucking Maggette!

This stinks of PR desperation by the W's front office: they missed out on BD (or what they could have got for him), Gilbert and Brand all in a very short span. So, they decided they would just sign the next biggest name left on the market.

Gee, where have I heard that one before? Oh yeah, two years ago when the Giants tried to sign Gary Matthews, Jr., Carlos Lee, and Alfonso Soriano and missed on all 3. So, they signed the next biggest name left on the market: Barry "shit, look who's pitching today" Zito.

I by no means am saying Maggette is going to become a headcase and have the sharpest decline of his career, BUT he sure as shit is going to end up as a severely expensive PR move 3,2 or even 1 year down the line.

Plus, here are some interesting comparisons:

Baron Davis DOB: April of 79 Career avg. games/season: 60.8

Corey Magette: DOB: Nov of 79 Career avg. games/season: 65.4

So, if you buy the logic of not re-signing Baron b/c he was "old and injury prone" as I and many did, why the fuck would we give almost as much $$ to a player only 6 months younger and nearly just as likely to miss a significant amount of games each year?!

Idiotic, this was an idiotic move by Mullin and he no longer deserves my faith as a fan in his abilities as a GM.

First of all, let me say that this post has nothng to do w/ Kawakami's blog entry. It is two completely points.

Moving on... I know it is sacreligous to come on GSoM and post that Monta might be a "curse". I'm not saying he is, just asking and playing devil's advocate.

So, here's my point: how many times have you read a string of comments that goes like this:

"Point guard X is a solid young PG and has x, y, z going for him and the W's could get him by offering (Al, TPE until a onth ago, a washing machine, whatever)."

Reply:

          "Yeah, Point guard X is awesome but he's only 6'1" and can't guard   the opposing 2 guard. That would be a real thin/small backcourt with Monta."

Our problem isn't finding a PG, it's finding one who is the size of and can cover a 2 b/c Monta isn't and can't.

I by no means am suggesting the W's should do anything less than sign Monta to a monster contract b/c he is/ will be an elite scoring guard in the NBA and he's like 15 years old.

Just wanted to point out that building around Monta at the 2 spot is going to be a hell of a lot more difficult than if we had a bigger (read "normal sized) 2 guard.

If by some random miracle we were able to acquire a nearly as good, young 2 guard w/ more size, it might be something worth looking at (read "Iggy"). I realize that's a "no shit" type of idea, but still.

It may be risky hitching the W's train to Monta, that's all. It may be the greatest move the franchise ever made, too (though it seems to be getting easier and easier to top that list).

 

He's a young, long, athletic shot blocker who would put up 20/10 as our starting PF (put up 17/8 last season as ATL's SF). His scoring has increased every year he's played.

Basically, he's sort of what the W's hope BWright could be someday. Does this make BWright redundant? Maybe. Could BWright be a cheaper, homegrown, potentially better substitute? Maybe. Could they both play simultaneous super SF/PF spots? Maybe.

But, if Philly is really going after him w/ only $11 M (or a few more if they trade someone for a pick), seems like we could easily swoop in with a $13-14 M per offer and have our already dependable rebounding, shot blocking PF of the future locked up for the foreseeable future. Plus, we would still have BWright and Randolph to develop into who knows what. PLUS, we would still have some cap room, $6-7 M.

Could this be an overpaying, knee jerk reaction? Maybe.

Obviously, I don't know what I think, do you?

We all know that Mullin declared he would match whatever offer Monta or AB are given. Therefore, it was never a serious risk that the Dubs wouldn't have signed #8 for next year. Still, there was the risk that Memphis might have tested him on it and either 1) driven up how much the Dubs had to pay or 2) driven it up so much that Mullin and/or Cohan would think it wasn't worth it to match.Obviously, Mullin had to say that both for PR and strategic reasons, but let's assume we can hold him to it.

It seemed that strategy may have already had a positive effect.Sportswriters had speculated the last few months that Memphis would target Monta with its significant under the cap money this offseason, obviously planning to play him at the 2 (considering they have Conley and Lowry to play PG).

With their acquisition of OJ Mayo last night, who would obviously be slated to play the 2, logic would seem to dictate that paying Monta $11M per would be expensive and redundant. It seems safe to assume that they will not go after Monta now.

Whether or not they traded for Mayo because they were discouraged and deterred by Mullin's statement or b/c it was simply a golden opportunity, they now have him and don't need Monta (I think it was the latter: they are trying to sell the team and they both shed their major contract burden in Miller and got a franchise face for the future in Mayo).

I know there are other teams with significant cap space (Philly, I think a few others). So, the Dubs are not out of the woods. Someone can still pull off option 1 or 2 from above.

But, their biggest (speculated) competition is likely out of the running. That can't help but improve the Dubs chances to bring back Monta at a reasonable price

Why "Celtics mode" won't work for us right now:

Boston was very lucky that a) Seattle thought Allen was done, b) that Kevin McHale is a f--king moron, and c) that Rondo overachieved for a significant number of the games (albeit very sporadically).

Barring that kind of luck gracing the Warriors, we will not add the requisite talent to surpass the teams with these lineups:

Paul, West, Chandler

Deron, Boozer, AK

Kobe, Bynum, Gasol, whoever they get for Odom

To a lesser extent: Duncan, Parker, Ginobili

Three, maybe four, brick walls that would get in the way of winning now.

Why we should build around our young core of AB, Monta and Wright (Buke and Marco to a lesser and much lesser extent respectively):

There are several teams with good young cores that we will have to compete with for years to come:

Paul, Chandler, West (big stretch, especially w/ his back)

Roy, Oden, Aldridge, Outlaw

Jefferson, Foye, McCants, Brewer

Why we are in a good position to build around them:

1) We don't suck, we almost made the playoffs and would have any other year in history. Boston sucked last year and thus had a much more drastic need to go for broke than we do this year.

2) Two of our three core young-uns are already contributing in significant ways so we don't have to bide our time. Although, obviously, both have improvements to make (AB= offensive game beyond pick and rolls, Monta=ballhandling, passing, playing D on occasion). Plus, Wright showed improvement w/ every game.

3) We have solid, contributing veterans whose contracts will (probably) expire sooner than later. Mullin and Nellie have both mentioned a desire to get another veteran this offseason. Jax and Al (if Cleveland doesn't have a hard on for him after all and he ends up staying around) both have contracts that expire after 09/10. BD obviously is a whole other post altogether, but will probably come off the books in 1 or 3-4 years(unlikely but perfect for the W's 2-3 year extension). Hopefully, that will be perfect timing for the young guys to inherit the team completely.

I realize there have been separate diaries about the issues of CWebb at 34 being, well, CWebb at 34 and the issue of Wright and others not getting enough playing time, but I haven't really seen them tied together (read: please don't tear me a new one if I didn't see some similar post).We currently have C-Webb as our starting center (as long as we're not playing the Suns). It doesn' seem like this is the best allocation of minutes (even if the "starting" nod is just a practicality and he only plays 10 minutes right now). The young guys need some play.

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For the last time,

YOU CAN'T COMBINE THE TPE WITH OTHER PLAYERS IN THE SAME TRADE!!!

I can handle reading a million dumb trade scenarios that insanely favor the W's (Piertrus and POB for Josh Smith and Acie Law) because they are occasionally fun to dream or speculate about, or at least use as a platform for debating a more legit trade possibility.

BUT, the constant trade proposals of Piertrus, POB and the TPE for ___ are just getting ridiculous. YOU CAN'T DO IT. GET A F-ING CLUE. The fact that you can't is constantly mentioned in diaries, too, I don't get it.

I'm sure this is futile, but (imagine me choking up dramatically, like some acceptance speech for teacher of the year in a bad movie) but if I can change the life of just one uninformed fan who was going to propose one of those trades, then it was all worth it.

The joke half:
(Remember I am being purposefully dramatic and/or silly- don't rip me for jumping off the proverbial bandwagon, even though I have been a fan for 19 of my 24 years and those other 5 were taken up by Sesame street and crapping myself so I think I get a pass)

Chicago has their Billy Goat, Boston used to have the Bambino. Some might say Portland has their Sam Bowie. The thought occurred to me as the KG-less but were so close to not being KG-less W's went to 0-6 while the KG-having and loving it Celtics sit at 7-0:

Could KG be our curse if, say, we go from 13 years of dismal performances to one year of a miracle, resurgent franchise only to return to the dismal play of years past?

The serious half:
My theory (basically piggy backing /copying / agreeing with Kawakami's)on the KG trade= we got BWright to replace AB in a deal but since that is who Minny wanted and we refused, we got stuck with Wright and no KG...OR we just plain wouldn't include AB and just plain didn't get KG...OR KG said he wouldn't sign an extension with the W's if he didn't have a solid center, AKA AB.

Another thought: if POB didn't totally suck last year, would the W's have felt that AB was more expendable and the included him and gotten KG?

I personally am OK with the result, it's just an interesting thought.

Way, way, like years way too early for this poll but:

Poll

Will the W's regret not adding AB into a package and, thus, not getting KG (assuming that was the case)?

31%

Screw AB, KG is the ^%&^%* truth. I already named my first son Kevin and my daughter Kevina. We will rue the day we missed out on KG. KG even has a little goatee like a billy goat.

12 votes

5%

NO WAY, AB is the truth! I'm naming my first son AyBee

2 votes

5%

Gotta build for the future, that's AB...and the other guys that would have been included.

2 votes

23%

Even with KG, we still wouldn't have won the West so stick with the young-ins.

9 votes

34%

Yeah, maybe we blew it.

13 votes

38 votes | Poll has closed

Here we are on Oct. 21 and AB has still not been extended. Kosta sleeps each night on a bed of money that, by many accounts, is there more than anything as a favor to Duffy, AB's agent. So I ask you, gumshoes, will it go down before the extension deadline on the 31st and why hasn't it yet?

I'm sure you all read that Minny is rumored to be offerring AlJef, a superior player and prospect to even the formidably skilled AB, $10 M per over 5 years.

If that is the going rate for young big men of that quality then we should be happy to sign AB to a $7.5-9 M per deal and be done with it. He is an already strong defensive presence who is ready to become a double double machine, and not the Murphy variety either, the real deal (just feel like I always have to make that distinction).

Let's get it done.

====================================

[Moderator's Note, by OptionZero:]

According to Geoff Leopper of the Oakland Tribune, we might be waiting for a while still:

It's not unusual for talks in these situations to go down to the wire, even in asituation where player and team are both on the same page early on. But after a summer in which the Warriors repeatedly exercised strengthened fiscal restraint, the silence becomes more ominous for fans who want to see Biedrins' status resolved now.

The biggest obstacle to Biedrins' signing may be Chris Kaman. The Clippers' center, 26, signed a five-year, $50 million deal last October, setting a benchmark for other young pivots looking to get paid. Duffy can point out that Biedrins — who averaged 9.5 points and a team-high 9.3 rebounds last season — had demonstrably better numbers than Kaman did last year and is light-years ahead of where Kaman, 25, was at 21. The Warriors can spin it the other way, saying that because Kaman regressed after signing his fat deal, they should wait and see if Biedrins will make another big leap this season. One fear in signing a young player to a big-money deal is that his work ethic will dissipate in direct proportion to the rate at which the bank-account balance accrues. Biedrins, however, has always been one of the Warriors' hardest workers, and he doesn't plan to stop now.

So, I would love more than anything to go to opening night and sit in the GSOM section with all of you fine people. But, like I'm sure a lot of people, I just can't make it to Oakland and back and still handle business at work the next day.

So, my proposal:

A GSoM meet up somewhere in the South Bay on opening night.

Obviously, there will be a million bars with the game on that night. But it would be sick if we could find one and try to hold it down with as many GSOMers as we can ...

OR what would be even tighter is if we could find a GSoM-friendly bar or restaurant in the 408.

I have absolutely no specific place in mind but I'd love to hear what you guys think.

After several tasty Belgian ales, and just reading a reference to Matrix's "trade demand" the thought occurred to me:

Of the top 4 teams in the WC= SA, PHX, Utah and DAL, SA is the only one that doesn't have an important (in the Mav's case vital) player who has displayed some sort of off-court emotional frailty this offseason:

PHX: Marion's feelings getting hurt whenever he reailzes that he is not one of the two most important players on the team and his subsequent trade demand

Utah: AK asking for equal praise and criticism

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3050125

IMHO, not trying to get back into it OZ for the record, but dude is a prissy little headacase.

DAL: We are all intimately familiar with Dirk's complete inability to deal w/ getting his, and I say his not their on purpose b/c it was him not showing up, his a$$ whooped by the W's. He seems to have been obsessing over it all offseason. Random Mallrats reference: "After it's over, you're not the same, you're changed"- Gil at the dating show thing, c'mon. Dirk is like the mythical chick Gil is talking about making out with until the sun comes up: he will never quite be the same.

SA: TP got married, Big Fundamental and Ginobli are still themselves mentally and physically.

I by no means want to imply that the first three teams are doomed or that those players won't show up this year b/c I think they will to varying degrees, but doesn't this have to spell out some sort of advantage for the Spurs? I mean it's an easy pick to make, but that w/ everything else just makes it that much more apparent.

P.S. "You d-u-m-b bastard, that's not a scooner, that's a sailboat"

"A scooner is a sailboat, dumbhead"

"Oh yeah, there is no easter bunny. That down there, that's just a guy in a suit!"

It seemed like a buy-out (by the Euro team whose name I can't recall) was likely if not completely said and done last Thursday. Since then we have heard nothing about it from the W's, Sarunas or the Euro's.

So, time for some reckless and unfounded speculation: a deal for Kobe must be imminent and we need old Cabbages in the deal to make the salaries work. Just kidding, not that reckless.

So, we all know there are basically 2 possible reasons for the lack of action/news:

1. a buy-out is being negotiated
   
2. The W's are trying to complete a deal which would involve his expiring contract

What's everyone thinking is going on?

It seems like either could easily be the case. Neither an int'l buy-out nor a Pietrus s/t (presuming that is the deal Cabbages would be a part of) would come together quickly (assuming the W's are talking with those 2 "new" teams).

So, any new info, anyone, on Cabbages or MP or both?

===================================

[Moderator's Note, by OptionZero:] According to Pacers.com Sarunas Jasikevius says he has not signed with a Greek team:

Despite rumors to the contrary, ex-Pacers guard Sarunas Jasikevicius told a radio station in Israel he has not signed with Olympiakos in Athens, Greece, because he is still under contract to Golden State. Jasikevicius told Sport 5 his agent has presented several options to the Warriors that would lead to his departure, including potential trades to other NBA teams to no avail. "NBA is strange a lot of times," he said. "I would think if they didn't want a player they'd get rid of the player." Looks like he's still a Warrior.

=====================================

[Moderator's Note #2, by OptionZero:] According to pree, the Warriors have indeed offered to buyout Sarunas...but for a fraction of his $4M:

Now, according to league sources, Jasikevicius is in Lithuania working out and has confided with others that the Warriors have had a buyout offer on the table all summer. The amount of the buyout is rumored to be $250,000, far from the $4-million salary Jasikevicius guaranteed himself by picking up his player option earlier this summer. Read the Hoops World article for more

SacBee is reporting that the Kings have offerred Kevin Martin a 5 year $55M extension.

http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/344011.html

Now, I know there are differences between the situations: Monta's knee and the fact that we can't extend, only re-sign Monta being the 2 main ones as I can tell.

If he has a relatively injury free year then I can see the possible negative impact of his knee history being minimized.

Since we can only re-sign but can match, that means that the W's and Monta's people alike are obviously much more subject to market forces, up or down, on Monta's value than the Kings and K-Mart's people were.

The Kings seem ready to set K-mart's value at $11M per. The W's, whether they like it or not, have to wait out the season to see where Monta's value ends up.

If he has comparable or better stats to K-mart and reduces his TO's then it seems like Monta's agent would have a somewhat solid justification for using Martin's deal as a basis for Monta's.

In terms of geography, age, position and strengths, they are comparable players and that seems to make the comparison between the two and the subsequent pressure on the W's that much stronger.

For anyone who questions the J-Rich trade, this is why it was necessary.

=========================================

[Moderator's Note, by OptionZero:]

According to the Sacramento Bee, Martin has agreed to the deal:

According to two league sources, fourth-year shooting guard Kevin Martin late Monday night agreed to a five-year contract extension with the Kings worth about $55 million. Martin, whose breakout 2006-07 season will vault him into the upper pay ranks of NBA shooting guards, unexpectedly flew in from his training hub at the IMG Academies in Bradenton, Fla., and arrived in Sacramento on Monday in anticipation of signing his new contract. A news conference is expected this week to announce the deal.

It seems like everything I have heard about BD's offseason has been related to what players (KG)and hot celebs (Alba, Hatcher) he has been hanging out with or what show his production company is behind.

I haven't really heard anything about him working out, what shape he is or isn't in so I'm kind of concerned. BD must know he has to show some durability this season to get anything close to the extension he wants so I would expect him to get in pretty good shape, but then again it seems like he on the hollywood scene more often than the gym scene.

Does anyone have any info on what he has been up to besdies schmoozing?

We all discuss in the diaries how we feel about certain moves or the offseaason as a whole all the time. So, I was kind of wondering what the pulse of the GSOM community at large is about the offseason.

The point of view I am asking my question from is this: What if this it? Pietrus comes back for the 1 year qualifying offer and Mulson and Co. pack up shop for the offseason.

So, in the words if the immortal Jack Nicholson, from the titular quote to one of his least cool, but still cool just b/c he was in it, movies:

Poll

What if this is as good as it gets?

36%

I'm cool with it. Let's keep the team together, let the young-ins develop and we can be a solid 7th-8th seed.

72 votes

34%

I'm cool with it for now but something better happen before Feb.'s trading deadline

69 votes

12%

No, we need to do something NOW to stay competitive and/or improve in the playoff rankings this year.

24 votes

17%

A la the comic book guy: Worst offseason ever. Shouldn't have made the J-Rich trade, we lost out on KG, and now we are out of the playoffs and without our heart and soul.

35 votes

200 votes | Poll has closed

I have been in Vegas (I am currently writing from my laptop in a dumpster) so I apologize if this topic has been covered recently.

With Aug. 6 having come and gone with Wright still being a member of the Warriors, what are everyone's thoughts? Does this mean that we are definitely keeping him or is he here only until we find a replacment for the KG deal, whether that be this summer or in Feb.?

I am hoping this means that we are keeping him and willing to wait the few years to develop him. Huge upside, could be poor man's Bosh or even, gulp, KG. I hope this for two reasons:

1) it means Mulson is willing to stick with the young core 4 (Wright, B-nelli and the obvious others)

2)it might suggest that we actually wanted to have him on our team or at least knew that the infamous draft night deal might not work out and were OK with having him on our team from the start

Both of these bode well for Wright and the team as a whole.

That is, if we're keeping him. What do ya think?

This idea was touched on in the KG diary, but seems like it deserves its own. Since KG is all but officially a Celtic, what impact player can we now dream about getting? Obviously, the chances of us getting a Gooden/Varejao type is more likely than getting an impact forward, but that is a lot less fun to talk about sometimes. So, put on your imagination caps kids, here we go:

Shawn Marion:
Gives you 10 boards, 1.5 blocks and 18 points a night. Solves rebounding issues and helps with post D, though isn't quite a Boozer-stopper.

PHX wants to cut salary and is afraid he might opt out next summer. They have shown this offseason that Matrix is clearly expendable and Amare clearly is not, which makes it obvious who will eventually go. PHX also has a shortage of young talent and expiring salaries, so:

Harrington, Runas's expiring, POB's expiring and Wright (maybe throw in a pick) for Matrix with an extension built into the deal

Elton Brand:
One of the most solid, protypical (other than his height) PF's in the league, nuff said. He is also a year younger than Matrix.

Clips would be wise to read the writing on the Western conference wall and just start rebuilding now. With the likely loss of Livingston (at least temporarily), they need a young guard and if rebuilding could use more young talent to boot. So:

Monta, Runas and POB's $6 mil combined, Harrington for Brand with an extension

AK-47
Could be great in Nellie's system or could have another terrible season and subsequent meltdown. For that reason, we only pull the trigger if it is for the right price.

Utah knows how nuts he is and their patience seems to be wearing thin so they might ship him out for the right price. Also, though they are $4mil under the cap, they have very little expiring $ for next year and they will have to re-sign Milsap and Williams soon. So:

Harrington, POB and Runas and a conditional draft pick for AK. They get expiring $ for this year and next.

Article in the Miami Herald today quotes MP's agent as saying

Golden State restricted free agent Mickael Pietrus, perhaps the best small forward still available, wants to play for Miami, agent Bill McCandless said, but it will only happen through a sign-and-trade. Talks between the Heat and Warriors are ongoing, but it's unclear if a deal will get done, McCandless said Tuesday. Golden State restricted free agent Mickael Pietrus, perhaps the best small forward still available, wants to play for Miami, agent Bill McCandless said, but it will only happen through a sign-and-trade. Talks between the Heat and Warriors are ongoing, but it's unclear if a deal will get done, McCandless said Tuesday.

Who are you looking for in the s/t?

Seems like Haslem's contract is way too long and way too expensie for what we would get and how little he would be used in 2 or even 1 year w/ the hopeful development of Wright coming to fruition then (I realize this point has been discussed in earlier diaries).

JayWill is ridiculously overpaid and would probably not even work b/c his contract would be too disparate from MP's (unless MIA is nucking futs).

Forget Posey, whether in some weird double s/t or just as a straight up signing, please Mullin, for get him.

So, do we just try to get some picks? A couple 2nd rounders, maybe even a 1st if they are desperate enough to sign someone, anyone.