It appears that the recently traded Damon Jones may find himself being traded...again!

Damon Jones was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday. He knows he probably won't need to unpack his suitcase.

The Bucks' backcourt is bloated with point guards Luke Ridnour, Ramon Sessions, Tyronn Lue and Charlie Bell.

"They might move me somewhere else," Jones said in a telephone interview. "I will resurrect my career again similar to what I did in Miami and Milwaukee. I'm in better shape now than I was in the last two years. I want to find someone who really believes in me." -- The News-Herald

Link to full article: http://news-herald.townnews.com/articles/2008/08/14/sports/doc48a3c273c0879460264428.txt

For those that don't remember, DJ used to be a Golden State Warrior back in 1999-2000.  He didn't play much at all, so he wasn't really able to showcase his shooting ability.  He has since established himself as a consistent shooter w/ a career 40% beyond the arc.  I think he's on the last year of a 4-year/$16.1 million dollar contract he signed w/ the Cavs back in 2005.

Should the Warriors take a crack at trading for DJ?  Who would you trade for him?  Would it even be a good idea?  He would definitely bring some consistent 3 pt. shooting to a team that loves to launch them more than any other team in the NBA, not to mention a veteran presence at the point w/ a number of years of playoff experience!

Just putting it out there since there hasn't been a lot going on w/ the Dubs lately.  Thoughts?

While doing some research on the soon to be released trading cards for the TV show HEROES (die-hard fan right here!), I came across this article in the TOPPS Trading Card Company website...

UNC Star Teams With Leading Sports Company

New York, NY (June 20, 2007) -- The Topps Company announced that it has signed a multi-year exclusive spokesperson deal with University of North Carolina Basketball star Brandan Wright.

I thought it was pretty interesting since Tony.psd has been working on some GSoM webpins and making them look like trading cards.  This one WARRIOR will be part of a pretty exclusive group of athletes signed by TOPPS.

Wright joins Greg Oden, Dwyane Wade and baseball players David Wright, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Ryan Howard and the late Mickey Mantle as Topps exclusives.

Article Link: http://www.topps.com/sports/news/toppsNews.aspx?news_id=158

I'm not sure if this was ever brought up, so if OZ wants to delete or move this diary, it's all "G double-O D good!"  Or, anyone else a HEROES fan?

In today's ESPN NBA Rumor Central:

Haslem Doesn't Want To Leave

Jul 18 - With most of the big names in free agency now off the market, the Heat will likely have to pursue trades to fill its needs for depth at point guard and small forward. And Udonis Haslem's name has come up in several trade scenarios that involved the Heat.

Despite the speculation, Haslem said Tuesday he expects to be in a Heat uniform when next season opens.

"When your name comes up, you take it as a compliment, I guess," Haslem said Tuesday.

"If it's a better situation, I just have to understand the business side of it," Haslem said. "But I've done all my work here, from state title to NBA title. I want to be here, no doubt." -- Miami Herald

So reading this I automatically think of trading PIETRUS, who the HEAT have been rumored to be interested in, for HASLEM!  Seems to work for both sides if the HEAT is looking for a small forward and they already showed interest in PIETRUS.  I don't what HASLEM's salary is, so I wouldn't be able to go into detail about the various trade scenarios, but maybe someone who does can share their knowledge w/ the rest of us!

In today's ESPN NBA Rumor Central:

Room For Udoka?

Jul 18 - With Travis Outlaw's signing, Ime Udoka's future with the Blazers could be in jeopardy. The Blazers now have the NBA maximum 15 players under contract, which seems to mean that GM Kevin Pritchard will have to make a trade or someone will have to be cut for Udoka to fit into Portland's plans for next season.

"This kind of raises the question: 'Hey, what about Ime?' " said Erin Cowan, Udoka's agent. "That's the story line. Hey, what about Ime? And to be honest, I don't know. But you know what? It's not our decision. That's (the Blazers') decision. The ball has always been in their court."

Cowan said there are multiple teams that have expressed interest in Udoka, but he would not confirm or deny that one of them is San Antonio, as has been rumored. -- The Oregonian

Just wanted to share what I found!  I don't know much about him, but a bunch of GSoM members have expressed their interest in this guy.

Hmmm...I wonder who those 19% were that didn't think the WARRIORS would make the PLAYOFFS?! =P

Sorry, I just had to post a diary or else my post would never been seen!

And I wonder how many of those 19% are gonna purchase PLAYOFFS tickets?!  You guys wanna get on the W's BANDWAGON now?

Keep hating!  It just makes the WARRIORS NATION grow bigger, closer and LOUDER!!!

This has got to be the BIGGEST news in the NBA, but ESPN reports the WARRIORS 1st PLAYOFF appearance in 13 years as just another NBA game!!!

I just watched the telecast of ESPN SPORTSCENTER and they just showed the highlights from the game just like a regular season win or something and not one of the greatest finishes from a team that has missed the PLAYOFFS for a record 12 seasons!  I don't want their love, but at least their respect for our beloved W's for finally making it into the PLAYOFFS!!!

I guess this is only BIG news to the people in the WARRIORS NATION and GSoM!!!  I ain't trippin though, the W's will make a lot of noise in the PLAYOFFS...if not the players, I sure know the WARRIORS FANS will!  ORACLE ROCKS!!!

is a good way to describe what's been sweeping WARRIORS NATION recently!

BARON has definitely stepped up his game, not only as a player, but now as a leader!  I remember when we were trying to figure out who  our "go-to" guy was before, whether it was BARON or JRICH.  It seems that we now know!

All I know is that I think I have it and in this case, I hope it's contagious...BARON FEVER!!!

By Garret Wilson
Hoopworld.com
March 20, 2007

Quite simply, Baron Fever is infectious.  All the Warriors are feeding off of Boom Dizzle's renewed competitive fire.  Even though Davis is averaging a full ten minutes less per game than before his injury, his mere presence enervates his teammates.  Players like Stephen Jackson and Jason Richardson can't speak highly enough of how much they enjoy having Baron around.  Nor are they just spouting off media-friendly clichés.  Jack and J-Rich's gushing about Davis is practically at the man-crush level.

Here is the rest of the article:

http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_21305.shtml

Fans, Team, Organization!  I'm starting to feel sorry for the PACERS!  After the trade I was like "Suckas...thanks for taking DUNMURPHY from us."  I still feel that way, but they're totally going in the opposite direction the W's are just because of the most recent Trade: Dun, Murphy, Diogu, McLeod for Harrington, S. Jackson, Jasikevicius.

Looks like they might not make the playoffs and on top of that not even have a draft pick to show for it if they're not in the lottery!  And I thought the W's were in a pickle!  Looks like we're all in the same boat after the trade, but we're going up, while they're coming crashing down!

By Andrew Perna
From RealGM Indiana Pacers Front Office
19th March, 2007

Remember Al Harrington? Yeah, the guy we fawned over last summer when we acquired him for a measly 2007 first rounder. The interior presence that we were going to start alongside Jermaine O'Neal, the former fan favorite who was going to help cure all of Indiana's recent public relations blunders. Well, if you didn't know he's in Golden State now. The Harrington-O'Neal experiment failed, even faster than the Artest-O'Neal pairing, and now all the Pacers have to show for it are two of the league's worst contracts (Sorry, Mike and Troy).

They're finally starting to admit that it wasn't that good of a trade after all!

Here's the rest of the article:

http://pacers.realgm.com/articles/113/20070319/coming_up_blank/

GO WARRIORS!!!

when we have PEROVIC!  There's been a KOSTA PEROVIC sighting, in Europe of course, and he seems to have developed quite well since the W's drafted him.

By Janny Hu
From SFChronicle

Perovic, a 22-year-old center from Serbia, is currently putting up impressive numbers for BC Partizan Belgrade in the Euroleague playoffs, which is entering its sixth and final week of Top 16 play.

The 7-foot-2, 240-pounder is averaging 11.2 points and 6.3 rebounds in 28 minutes per game after posting similar numbers for his club team in the Adriatic League.

Perovic's standout performance came two weeks ago when he posted 19 points and 11 rebounds in a loss to Greek powerhouse Olympiacos.

Okay, so Yi might actually be better, but should we really draft another soft 7-footer, or trade the pick and look for a veteran in trade or free agency for our young team, or draft a player in another position?

Just thought I'd share this article w/ you all since I totally forgot about this guy myself!

Here's the full article:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/19/SPGRNONMG21.DTL

GO WARRIORS!!!

by Garrett Wilson
from Hoopsworld.com

Finally, the Warriors are healthy again.  And just in time, too.  For a minute there, it looked as if Golden State wasn't going to make that last little surge that makes all the Warrior fans think they have a chance even though we all know they don't.  Now we all get to have our hearts broken good and proper.

Man, after 2 convincing wins, we still can't buy any love!  I think the fact that we do have a healthy roster for once, gives us all the hope we need for the playoff push!

So far the W's have shown a lot of life and EFFORT, which I always speak highly of, in the past 2 games.  It's just a matter of continuing that and going out there and winning some ball games, especially against our conference opponents like tonight!

Here's a link to the rest of the article:

http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_21147.shtml

GO WARRIORS!!!

"If you build around them...they will come!"

that these words came out of DUNLEAVY's mouth, when making a comment about how the KINGS will fare w/o ARTEST...

from the Sacramento Bee:

It's funny how that works in this league sometimes, how a team can be better without a guy," Dunleavy said."

I guess he SHOULD know what he's talking about, since we are most definitely a better team w/o him, although we haven't been playing like it only due to not having a healthy roster.

GO WARRIORS!!!

EDIT from GSoM Staff: Please link to the original article you are quoting from. We do not want to steal other sites' traffic. Thanks.

by Garrett Wilson
from HOOPSWORLD.COM

Nobody really can pinpoint when it happened, but the Golden State Warriors have clearly upset the Basketball Gods and the Basketball Gods still aren't over it.

This season marks what is figuring to be the thirteenth straight year Golden State misses the play-offs.  Over all those years, the Warriors have been beaten down, humiliated, ridiculed and toyed with.  It has just been one disastrous failure after another.  Warrior fans might like to believe that this is an exaggeration, but it isn't.

I mean think about the laundry list of bad luck and bad decisions the team has made:

-Chris Webber traded away
-Don Nelson quit
-Warriors used the #1 overall draft pick on Joe
 Smith
-The ill-fated Tim Hardaway trade (although that - is looking a whole lot better after his recent
 comments)
-Drafting Todd Fuller instead of Kobe Bryant (or - anyone who wasn't a stiff)
-Drafting Adonal Foyle over Tracy McGrady
-PJ Carlesimo coaches the Warriors
-Latrell Sprewell tries to strangle PJ Carlesimo
-Trading Vince Carter for Antawn Jamison
-Gilbert Arenas leaves via free agency due to a  
 collective bargaining agreement loophole
-Getting Mike Dunleavy Jr. instead of Yao Ming

And those are just the unfortunate incidents that come to mind immediately.  Face it, the team is snake bit.

Even this year, the wrath of the Basketball Gods has hit the Warriors with full force.  The team finally assembles a deep roster and is poised to make the post-season only to get hit with a wave of injuries that  would make a tsunami blush.  Then just as the team was poised to get healthy, Baron Davis goes down, followed by Stephen Jackson, Matt Barnes and Josh Powell, sending the team into a nose dive.  The funniest part of it all is that Golden State's head trainer, Tom Abdenour, is one of the best in the business, and even he can't keep the players on the floor.

No matter what the Warriors do they can't seem to get back in the good graces of the Basketball Gods.  They have hired and fired coaches by the bushel, switched out GMs, traded away and acquired stars, built through free agency, and built through the draft.  Absolutely nothing has worked.

It is time the Warriors started thinking outside the box.  That's what they do in all the movies, right?  Why don't they field a team of wacky characters who don't get along at first but then learn to play together and end up winning it all?  That never fails.  Or maybe they could find some twelve year old who, through some bizarre accident/discovery, is suddenly the greatest player in the world?  That kind of thing happens all the time.  Or, my personal favorite, sign some sort of talking animal to the team.  Not only does it assure victory, but it is a heart warming tale for the entire family.  Everybody wins.  Would that appease the basketball gods, or do we really have to resort to human sacrifice (finally, something Dunleavy would have been useful for)?

I'm not even kidding either.  This is really what it has come down to for me, a lifelong Warrior fan.  I just refuse to believe that any team in any sport could be this bad for this long without their being some kind of higher force at work.  On behalf of Warrior fans everywhere, we beseech you basketball gods, forgive us for whatever sins this team has committed and tell us what you need us to do to return the franchise to your good fortunes?

(If he sells the team... wins will come)

This guy is right about a few things!  I don't think we had a chance at landing YAO MING as much as we would have looooved to bring him to the BAY, which is filled w/ a large ASIAN COMMUNITY amongst many other minorities!

Bottomline...is there really some greater power out there keeping us from winning, let alone play fun and entertaining basketball?

Maybe it is time to change the jerseys and/or mascot!  Shoot, maybe it's time for the team to move!  No, no, not to another state, but maybe to the other side of the BAY BRIDGE!  I think old WILLIE BROWN had a notion to build a basketball stadium in "THE CITY"!  maybe we can get MAYOR "GET"SOME to do the same if we file a petition or something!  Well don't hate me just yet OAKLANDers & EAST BAYers, it was just a thought!  One thing we can all do is start praying to the BASKETBALL GODS!  Maybe they'll hear our prayers while we're in this tailspin or maybe we should just kiss the PLAYOFFS good-bye!

GO WARRIORS!!!

by GARRETT WILSON, HOOPSWORLD.COM:

For Golden State to take the step up and become a play-off caliber team, they need a leader to emerge from within and show this squad how to win.  The job is there for the taking, but does anyone on the team have the will and fortitude to claim it?

this was a pretty good article in HOOPSWORLD today!  a loss definitely brings the spirit down from a player or even the whole team, but what the WARRIORS haven't been showing is that spirit DURING the game!  they start off sometimes showing life and energy, but as soon as they get down, it shows in their play!

in most of my postings i've emphasized the lack of EFFORT!  sometimes that is more important than actual talent!  i ask myself all the time "is the team we're losing to actually better talent-wise?" and most of the time, on paper, no they're not!  but what most teams have is a leader or STAR that shines above everyone else!  someone they can look to and depend on!  the SUNS have NASH (although, they've got a crap load of talent on there too), the HEAT have SHAQ and had WADE, the LA LUCKERS (as I call them) have KOBE, etc. etc.  who do the WARRIORS have?  BARON?  JRICH?  MONTA?  honestly, i'm not sure!  i'd like to admit that BARON's the man, but THE MAN should always be dependable, and besides BARON's great skills and playmaking abilities, he's either not on the court enough or he gets trigger happy and gets away from what he does best, which is penetrate and dish!

after all is said and done...i just want to see more EFFORT from our guys!  if a team beats us after putting out a good effort, then the other team is just better!  but when you lose to a team that deep down you know isn't better, then something's wrong!  and in this case, it's the lack of a leader or "go-to-guy" and the lack of spirit and effort!  the two latter being intangibles that either make a team just an ordinary team or make a team better than the rest, which means TOP 8 in the conference and a road to the PLAYOFFS!

GO WARRIORS!!!

From ESPN.COM

So much for rearranging the NBA landscape. Every trade involving big names like Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Pau Gasol and Mike Bibby was denied. The biggest deal? Juan Dixon for Fred Jones.

but the biggest news right now isn't adding any players, it's losing an ex-player.

DENNIS JOHNSON DEAD AT 52

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2775430

forget about the trades or lack-thereof!  crazier things have happened!

my prayers go out to JOHNSON's family!

well it's nothing really...sorry if i made it seem like something BIG, but it's pretty interesting!  of course 99% of rumors aren't true, but they are fun to talk about! =P

By Darren Andrade of HOOPSWORLD.COM:

The biggest player in both name and stature available is Memphis Grizzlies center Pau Gasol, the smooth shooting Spaniard that has the kind of toughness not often seen at the center position anymore. He is by no means traditional, with an extended range and a thinned out frame, but he is effective on the glass and defense as well and would be able to run with a number of quick teams in need of a running big man. The Chicago Bulls aren't exactly that, but they are one of the few clubs in the NBA with enough pretty pieces to reel in Gasol and Grizzlies GM Jerry West, who has previously asked for Ben Gordon and Luol Deng in return. The Bulls countered that the asking price was too high and the bet is that talks are weak. Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors might have entered the fray with interest in the former rookie of the year after redoing much of their roster. The oft-injured Baron Davis could be dealt as the rise of Monta Ellis and Mickael Pietrus continues and the acquisition of Sarunas Jasikevicius gives the Warriors a promising future in the backcourt. With Jason Richardson returned from injury and recent add-ons Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington starting, it would seem the Warriors are a star big man away from a breakout.

this is probably just more smoke up our you know what!  since the trade deadline has come and gone, something this big would have had to leak out!  on top of that, they talk about who is available, but they never tell you that whoever is available is or isn't wanted!

looks like our current roster is here to stay...we at least until the end of the season!  one positive note...we've won 2 in a row and sitting gingerly on the 8th spot for the playoffs!  doesn't look like too bad of a no-trade!  hopefully we continue to move up, while other teams move down!

GO WARRIORS!!!

why is it so quiet?  only a few minutes before the trade deadline and only a couple of peeps!

MP's gotta go or we lose him at the end of the year for nothing!  that or pay him a ridiculous amount of money to come off the bench!  hmmm...sounds oh too familiar ahem FOYLE!

c'mon MULLIN work your magic!!!

GO WARRIORS!!!