Golden State Offseason 2010: State Of The Warriors

The Warriors have been wheeling and dealing this off season, dumping Maggette, Randolph and Turiaf, drafting Epke Udoh and signing David Lee and Dorrell Wright. Have they been making smart moves or are they setting themselves up for another decade of futility?





The Warriors have a plan.

You may not know it yet, but its there.

Amidst a cloud of fan based negativity, GM Larry Riley has made a series of smart, yet unpopular moves. First, Riley talked the Milwaukee Bucks into paying for the Warriors 10 million dollar mistake, Corey Margette. Next he pulled off a sign and trade that brought in coveted free agent David Lee from New York for three players who played a combined 35 games last year. Most recently he inked defensive minded SF, Dorell Wright, to a reasonable three year, 11 million dollar deal.


And he’s getting killed for this why?

Most likely due to 17 years worth of built up resentment aimed at team management. As each year brings on more mediocrity, losing seasons, failed lottery picks and boneheaded decisions, the demand for new ownership has escalated to an all time high. At this point, any move, short of Chris Cohan selling the franchise, is guaranteed to inspire a furry of hate and negativity.

And rightly so.

Warriors management has peddled “hope” onto this fan base one to many times.

They were inspired by Webber. Failed. Bought stock into Sprewell. Failed. Had something going with Arenas/Jamison/Hughes. Fail. Talked themselves into Dunleavy/Richardson/Murphy. Epic Fail. Most recently, fans went all in on “We Believe,” hit the jackpot, tasted the glory, than blew the winnings at a late night strip club.

Thus, it is not surprising that a burnt fan base feels like they are about to get burnt again.

HOWEVER (pronounced in the way that Stephen A. Smith would pronounce it), the Warriors recent moves and current roster present fans with the possibility of a bright future. Unlike previous attempts to resurrect this franchise from the NBA’s gutter, there is a logical plan in place.

GM Larry Riley entered this off season with a roster full of talented, yet mismatched pieces. If the roster was an outfit, it would have clashed worse than a Craig Sager ensemble circa 1986. Last years wardrobe featured stylish, yet hard to match, plaid ties in Randolph and Wright and mismatched socks with Curry and Ellis, white shirts with hard to remove stains in Biedrins and Azubuike, plus, an off brand assortment of hats shoes and shades in Morrow, Watson, Williams, Hunter and Tolliver.

After the most recent moves, Riley is primed to begint he upcoming season with a matching coat and tie, clean shirt, fresh kicks and of course his lucky mismatched socks. The Warriors are putting together a team with an identity, matching parts and complimentary skills and it starts with the acquisition of former New York big man David Lee.  

The former Florida standout is the perfect fit offensively for both the current roster and Don Nelsons up-tempo offense. He is a standout on the pick and roll, where he rated above Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudamire last year according to ESPN’s John Hollinger. Lee has tremendous hands for a big man and is great at finishing around the basket, getting to the foul line, or hitting the jump shot out to 18 feet on the pick and pop. This will vastly improve both Monta Ellis and Stephen Currys game, both of whom also excel at the pick and roll. Ellis will no longer have to rely on beating his man one-on-one as Lee now offers a target to pass to once defenses collapse. Curry, whose decision making is superior to Ellis, will now be trusted to initiate the half court sets with screen rolls from the top of the key ala Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. As Curry works off of the screen, he will have the option of passing inside to Lee, weak side to Biedrins, strong side to an attacking Ellis or weak side 3 ball to newly acquired Dorrell Wright, who excels at the corner threes. And if all that fails, we know Curry has the stroke to put the ball in the basket himself. This years offensive attack is primed to light up the scoreboard in a selfless way that last years team could never comprehend. 

Not only will there be improvement on the offensive end, their will be improvement in the locker room as well. Lee is a high character guy and at 27 years old is primed to become a leader of this team. He, along with Monta Ellis, will give the team two battled tested, proven producers in the prime of their careers. Add to that a healthy Andris Biedriens, up and coming star Steph Curry and “bruce bowen esque” Dorrell Wright, and you have a strong core moving into the future. 

  This core meshes well financially as well. They are the only 5 players, plus Epke Udoh, that the Warriors will be committed to after this season. Their combined salarys total 43 million, which will be almost 17 million under next years cap. This allows plenty of wiggle room for the team to add a significant game changer, extend Stephen Curry and fill out a depleted bench.  

Detractors will point towards the defensive side of the floor and its numerous shortcomings. Much of this concern is warrranted, the Warriors were not a great defensive team last year and enter next season with worse individual defenders. The difference, and the reason I think the team will improve, is due to the Warriors style of play. The up tempo pace Don Nelson likes to run, emphasisis different defensive principles than the traditional NBA teams. The defensive end is geared towards inspiring the fast break and this is accomplished in two ways, turnovers and rebounds. Both Steph Curry and Monta Ellis were league leaders in steals last year, initiating almost three fast breaks a game each, by stepping into passing lands and picking off ball handlers. Both David Lee and Andris Biedriens have posted double digit rebounding seasons and are able to outlet the ball and beat their man down the floor to finish at the other end. We have seen this work before with the “We Believe” team. There were very few good one-on-one defenders but the team excelled at getting easy points off turnovers and initiating the fast break after opponet misses.  

So I applaud Larry Riley. Has he formed a playoff team this offseason? No. Has he won back the faith of a depressed fan base? No. But what he has done is shown a commitment to a plan. He has given this team direction an identity and some continuity.

We have some comfortable socks, albeit mismatched, a matching shirt and tie, a nice pair of shoes and an idea of how the rest of our outfit is going to look.  

And all of this with room to spare for some serious bling next offseason.