SB Nation User Blog: Mr RuN n GuN

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Mr RuN n GuN — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:48:09 -0000

I must say Mullin has surprised me every step of the way this offseason. First of all basically forcing Davis to opt out (I'm over this and fine with it. Baron made a business decision. I cant blame him) and then offers a max contract to Agent 0. Then he offers a max contract to Elton Brand. ANd during all of this, Mullin and NEllie come out and say we are going to have a youth movement and develop our young guys. This excited me becuase I was thinking wed be bringing in Iggy or J-Smooth. WRONG!!!

Instead what is the answer to this offseason? Correy freaking Magette. Don't get me wrong he is a good player but he was playing on a crappy team in a contract year. SOmeone has to score and fill up a stat sheet you know what I mean. Also, 50M for guy who does fit any need on our team...this is ridiculous. No one was offering him more than a FMLE which is about 36M. We overpaid I understand to get him to come to the warriors but for 14M, no thanks. Also, how is part of the youth movement being 29 years old and were paying top dollar for him until he is 34? I see minutes being taken away from bellinelli and possibly AR with this signing. THis is not going to help the young guys develop. Also, Magette is definitely not the guy who is going to take a young guy under his wing and groom him into an a nba ready player. Sigh...

I would have much rather have rather have paid Iggy max money since Philly signed Brand than sign Magette. I mean atleast Iggy is a combo guard and could have tried to help us at point. I mean I'm just being a realist, Monta is not the answer for PG, no matter how much Nellie or the fans want him to be Steve Nash, he just won't be. He's tournover prone and well hes not a creator for others, only himself. The signing of Corey Magette marks the unevitable "stuck phase" for the Warrirors. Say hello to be the odd team out of the play offs every year for the next 3-5 years and then not getting any difference makers in the draft becuase well be picking from 10-14 every year.

Then I caught a break last night reading Kawakami's article reporting that most likely Magette is only going to be making 6.5-7.5M starting this year and the total contract was actually in the low to mid 40s. THis excited me because he was thinking we'd have around 10-12M left over after signing monta and beans. THis got me thinking, maybe we have a chance still to sign josh smith especially if we signed him first and then monta. Then we could go over the cap and sign Beans since he is currently a Warrior. But no no no. Mullin has the answer right up his sleeve.

Surprise! We get the towel waving, happy face smiler out of Los Angeles who has a big heart (literally and figuratively) for a 4 year/17M offer. Don't get me wrong I love watching turiaf but for 17M i don't and for 4 years! Honestly, what does signing turiaf do for the warriors. This completely stunts branon wright's time as well as Hendrix's time. Seems to me Mullin does not care about the young guys at all. However, my roomate made a good comment and thought maybe turiaf would be our back up center. Maybe this could work, but I just feel he is not big or good enough to bang with guys like Yao, Duncan, Shaq, Howard, etc.

I feel as if Mullin forgot that this isn't a video game where the money is virtual and there are no caps or penalties for over spending since it is a video game. Seems to me all of you who were afraid to sign Iggy or J-Smooth beause it would hamstring our franchise well you got your wish we didnt sign either of them. But now, our franchise is hamstrung and were Fed with a capital F. Welcome to be stuck in mediocrity for the next 3-5 years and not having a chance to trying to sign any big names in 2009 or 2010. All you can hope for right now is that Mullin calls you at your house and offers you a 5 yr deal worth 20M because you are the Warriors #1 fan.

*note Lakers can resign Turiaf if they match our offer. I hope they do, he belongs in LA and is one of Kobe's best buds. Only problem is Lakers are already over the cap, so resigning him might cost them double.

Enough is Enough!

Mr RuN n GuN — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:31:04 -0000

After coming into work and reading up on my nba rumors through espn to hoops insider, I am beginning to worry that the Warriors may lose everything. Sources from our own GSOM are telling us that Josh Smith is not even on our radar! I'd like to know who is on our radar, I mean christ if one of the best available free agents who isnt coming off of a major injury is not on our radar I have a feeling there is no one our radar.

I want to begin by first voicing my honest disapproval of waiting until 2010 to make a big offer to a big time player. I understand a lot of big names like LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, Carlos Boozer, and many more are going to be "available". However, all of their respected teams are also going to have the money to resign them and the wild cards of New York and New Jersey cleaning house to make room for King James. Thus, in 2010, many teams are going to have money to spend not just the Warriors, so the time to make a move is now when there are just 3 teams with cap space: Warriors, Philly, and Memphis. And let's be honest Memphis will not be making a big spalsh most likely. And also, most of these guys would not want to play for the Warriors in all honesty. What do we hvae to offer them? Money? Last time I checked money does not win rings in any sport, just ask the Yankees and Knicks.

Moving right along, let's now vent about Elton Brand:

Let's be honest the only real talk about the Warriors signing a free agent is Elton Brand and we all know he is not going to sign with us. This is all a huge ploy to pretend like he is mulling over our offer, so the Warriors and NBA officials do not believe that there is collusion between Baron Davis, Elton Brand, and the Clippers. But in reality, we all know Elton Brand's agent pulled this whole deal off. He was the one who contacted Baron and told him Elton would take a pay cut to bring in a PG like himself and that this would be a perfect opportunity to come home and try to make a deep run into the play-offs. The Warriors never had a shot in signing Brand. He is just acting like he mulling over the decision. And the academy goes to ....

And now there is a source on GSOM saying we aren't even tryign to go after Josh Smith. Um two words...WHY NOT? First of all, this is a young talent that we can build a franchise around with Monta Ellis. Now I know everyone is going to say we already have AR, B Wright, and Al Harrington why do we need another young PF. Answer! Josh Smith was built to be in a Warrior's uniform. He is super athletic, can take people off of the dribble at the PF position, dunk and finish on anybody, bring an inside presence on defense when monta lets his man to the basket every time and will block shots and get us boards. He is also only 22! We should be paying this guy 65-75M to come play for us and front load the deal so the Hawks will not be inclined to do so since they already have a lot of big contracts like Joe Johnson (14.2M) and Mike Bibby (15M) and not to mention our good old friend Speedy CLaxton is making a little over 6M. Plus, the Hawks dont want to spend 15M for Josh Smith and would be much happier just resigning childress.

Now, I agree landing Andre Iguodala is almost going to be impossible to sign. FIrst of all, Philly has a ton of cap space as well and probably will not let him go, however, we could try to tie their hands up if we offered say a 5yr 65-75M offer. THis would eat up some of their cap space and thus, make it harder for them to pursue Josh Smith or our own Andris Biendrins. I love his game and I would not mind having him, the only propblem is he is a SG and Monta is not our answer at PG. Also, Philly just has too much money.

Now for my worst nightmare:
Depending on what free agents we go after and how we treat Monta and Andris we could be in a world of hurt. Imagine, Mullin tries to low ball Monta or Andris or Monta just decides he doesn't want to play for us anymore. He can take a one year tender at about 1M and just walk to any team he wants next year. I mean there are all these rumors regarding Monta's love for New York. Well, let's see the New Knicks are cleaning house and going to drop Marbury (20M off of the books), looking to trade Crawford, Randolph, and David Lee (another 25M or so off the books). Hmmm, seems to me as if the knicks could sign Monta and then use the signing of Monta to lure King James away from Jay-Z. Just speculating. It does not take much in the East to be a Contender.

Enough is Enough! Somethign has to be done! Mullin cannot expect the Warrior fans to keep paying for season tickets if he is not gonna try to make us a winner in the future or even try to make us better. I know the faithful will stick through it thick or thin and wait it out. But in all honesty, didn't we just go through that for 13 years? Who wants to reapeat that?

Here are my Suggestions I wont go into detail, just list them:

1a. Resign Monta Ellis for a 5 year deal around 45-55M. No 3 year deal like Kawakami is suggesting because we need to keep him at this cheap price. Not many teams have their franchise player for only 10M a year.

1b. Resign Beans. He deserves a new contract, but I do not want to pay more than 8M a year for him. Let's say a 5 yr deal for 37.5-45M.

2. Sign Josh Smith. period. 5 year 65-75M

3. Investigate on Shaun Livingston and sign him to a 2-3 year deal around 3M a season. That is not too much of a risk.

4. If the Knicks buy out Marbury, sign Marbury to a 1 year league minimum or up to 2M deal. He is a one year rental and still provides decent numbers. To those concerned about him being a cancer two words: Stephen Jackson. He is our team leader and will not let him get out of hand.

5. Resign Buike. He deserves a new contract. Give him a 3yr deal around 8-10M. He is a good role player.

6. Trade Harrington and maybe a young draft pick (Belinelli or Wright) for a PG or draft picks.

7. Look for a new coach. Nellie is not the answer long term. He has maybe 2-3 more years, doubtful, but maybe. Bring in the Celtics Assistant, Tom Thidobeau who was the defensive specialist and all around brains behind Doc RIvers. He will brign defense to the already most potent offense. Well I guess what was the most potent offense.

8. Develop AR, he will be a star!

Heres an Idea or Two

Mr RuN n GuN — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:32:54 -0000

This idea is contigent upon us landing Elton Brand, I truly hope we don't. But if we did get him, I'd hold himhostage to Miami who truly wants him.

What I would do is somehow package a deal that would send Elton Brand and Maybe Brandon Wright or Anthony Randolph to the Heat for Shawn Marion and Michael Beasley.

Or this deal which I am not too fond of but again it would a ton of cap space and get us a one year fix at point: We would send Brand, Action Jackson, and maybe Belinelli for Marion, Jayson (White Chocolate) WIlliams and Michael Beasley.

We would clear 25M in cap space by doing this trade the following year which could help us go after a big name in 2009 or 2010 and have Beasley to build around.

Now I know we might have to give up more, but the Heat want Brand and Brand wants to play with the Heat, so this potentially could happen. We may need to add in a second round pick or another young player.

But this is the upside, Marion will be off the books very soon, so we onyl gotta pay him one year of 18M and then hes gone. And we would land Michael Beasley which would the perfect piece to build our franchise around. Imagine for a second Monta, Beasley, and Beans with either Wright or Randolph whomever we got to keep.

However, I truly hope the warriors will extend offers and focus thier attention on Andre Igoudala or Josh Smith. Becuase I believe our future is getting young and signing one of the two at around 12-15M a year with the deal being front loaded.

And lastly, MOnta wants a long term deal at only about 10M a year. That seems like a huge steal in my opinion. I thought we would honestly have to pay him about 12-13M a year. For his young age and talent level this is a steal. I hope Mullin locks that up real fast before he decides to do a 1 year tender deal for 1M and then walks the next year away from the Warriors.

What do you guys think? I just dont want brand and his big contract because although Brand helps us we wont be winning a title ever or competiting for one. We will make the playoffs but barely and prolly bounce out in the first round or second round. If we get young and build around a young core then we can compete for a title in like 3-5 years and be good for the next decade. We need to follow the trailblazers model right now. Their roster is loaded.

To the delusional fans....

Mr RuN n GuN — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:55:12 -0000

Before i begin my rant, I want to clarify that yes it is going to be difficult to make a move this year and get someone who can be an impact player and we should not just be throwing money at anyone like we are currently doing with Brand and Arenas. However, if we do not make a move this year and hope to stockpile talent through drafts, how are we ever gonna get anyone to want to sign with the warriors in 2010. King James is a lock to New Jersey almost and well you really think D wade is gonna jump ship for maybe a little more money? Come on now, who wants to come to the Warriors if our ownership does nothing to improve the team. So it can be all well and good we have like 20-25M in cap space in 2010, but will it even matter? Not many guys sell out now just wanting the money. Most want a combo of the money and a chance at the ring. And with the warriors taking a back seat in everything this year from the draft to trades to free agency we should not be expecting to have a legitimate shot at signing any big name. The time is now.

We should throw a deal to Josh Smith/Iggy somewhere around a 5 year 60-70M deal that is front loaded so it will be hard for the hawks to match. Then we can build around one of those players with Monta, Beans, AR, and B Wright.

But my guess is Mullin and Cohan continue to hibernate until soemtime around 2010 and say oh crap we lost baron? what happened to our play off team?

Words of Wisdom from a stoned roomate

Mr RuN n GuN — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:53:27 -0000

With the departure of Baron Davis, my roomate broke it down quite eloquently while blazzing on our balcony, "my only goal in life is to make 300M so I can buy the warriors and not scre our team over like Cohen." I hope he reaches that goal for obvious reasons. Cohen has been keeping us down for years, but now it is time for him to put up or shut up. He should either embrace this rebuilding phase and give mullin the reigns to go all out or look to sell the team to an owner who is more dedicated to their fans and players and not business. Cohen is the cancer to this team.

We are both die hard Warriors fans and have stuck it out through thick and thin. And now it seems inevitably again we are about to spiral down into thin. Yet, all may not be lost if Cohen sacks up and takes some chances and forks out the dough. Because I fear if we do not fork out the money, we may lose everything (monta and beans) even though they are both restricted free agents. I mean who honestly wants to stay in a Warrior uniform right now being a young phenom with ownership not doing anything to try to improve the team. In the past 3 years we have lost both of our emotional leaders and hometown heroes in J-Rich and Baron. In all hoensty, it is poetic justice that we lost Baron the way we did because we outright told J-Rich we were not going to trade him the day before the draft and what do we do? We cut all ties with J-Rich and yes it may have been a business move, but I am tired of us doing business moves to free up cap. Jesus Cohen fork out the dough and try to do something because the fans and players deserve it.

Anyways, here is a thought that could help our future:

I believe the Warriors now should try to sign Josh Smith and offer him a front loaded deal that the Hawks will have a hard time matching. I mean we have so much cap space right its comical. If we were able to sign Josh Smith, then I think Monta and Beans for sure will not leave and we will have an unbelievably young core to build around.

Potential Roster:
PG Stat Jack / CJ Watson
SG Monta Ellis / Buike / Belinelli
SF Josh Smith / AR
PF Brandon Wright / Al Harrington
C Beans

I dont see Barnes, Pietrus, Perovic, or Cro coming back to us and I see us moving Jackson and Harrignton soon. But think about the core of Monta, Josh Smith, AR, B Wright, and Beans. That's a greta core to build around and we could be back into the play offs before you know it. And if we could trade Harrington for a big PG like Crittenton or draft picks that could help us out tremendously. Also, we should look into signing Shaun Livingston if we can get him for cheap and I can't believe I am going to say this, but we should sign Darius Miles as long as he is cleared to play because the Jail Blazzers would have to pick up his remaining salary from his previous deal which would greatly screw over their youth movement and talent since way too much is locked up. In a sense we could Miles hostage and try to pry away some of their players. Not gonna happen but a funny thought.

Concluding, the time is now to make a move and get good young talent and I think Josh Smith is our answer. If we fork out the money he will come especially if we front load it since the Hawks probably will not wanna match that. Then we have a great young core to build around and if we do have a bad year then we could be in line for Ricky Rubio, Blake Griffin, and Brandon the headcase Jennings. So all could not be lost! We Believe remember? or will Cohen once again screw us?

Any chance this is a blessing.... or too optimistic

Mr RuN n GuN — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:11:06 -0000

Before I write my little idea, I want to clarify I understand the warriors offered a max deal to former warrior fan favorite, agent 0. So, this may cut all ties with Baron since it is like a slap in the face. However, while I am here sitting at work, I realized maybe this can be a blessing or a silver lining. Here is my optimism:

MAYBE Baron is smarter than all of us and is actually doing the Warriors a favor, however I doubt this is true since how he was treated in the Phoenix game and how supposedly Mullin has low balled him. Regardless, with Baron opting out we may have the chance to negotiate contracts with both baron and elton and try to get both to sign for less than they would normally take, in order to have a legitimate shot at winning a ring. I know it supposed to be the other way around with the Clippers talking to both of them, but in my opinion the Warriors have a much better supporting cast assuming we are able to sign Monta and Biendris. Also, I understand Baron is a LA native, but he realizes his career has been reborn and saved in the Bay and he loves the fans. I mean think about it for a minute, what if we were to get baron to sign for lets say 3-5 years at about an average salary of 10-12M and elton brand 3-5 years around 12-15M. This would still leave us room for signing Monta Ellis since no one will really make a run at him and we can match any offer. Biendris may be the odd one out and in that case I think it is time to start developing B wright to his full potential. But if somehow we could get all of our players on the Celtic mentallity and take small pay cuts to win a ring, then we could find ourselves deep into the play offs for the next few years. And maybe the way of getting brand is through sign and trade by sending biendris, pietrus, and kosta to the clips (or harrington, pietrus, kosta and a future first round pick). Meh who knows maybe I am just wishfully thinking while I'm at work.

But think about this line up for the next 3-5 years
PG Baron
SG Monta
SF Jackson
PF Elton Brand
PF/C B Wright/ Biendrich (if we somehow kept beans)

Current Bench:
Al Harrington (if not traded)
Anthony Randolph
Marco Belinelli
Mikael Pietrus (if not traded)