The Golden State Warriors Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin does things a little bit differently than the average NBA decision maker.  Instead of reacting on emotion after an extremely dissapointing season he decided to just step back take a few deep breaths and not do anything until he was able to think it all the way through.  When the smoke cleared he realized that the roster wasn't the problem...He realized that he had assembled a core group of players that are talented, versatile and capable of causing matchup problems for opposing teams.  He realized that if he could bring in an architect, capable of taking this roster and bringing out the full potential of it's collective parts that wholesale changes were not needed.  What he found was Don Nelson, a leader of men, a strategist an NBA legend and one of the brightest minds to ever patroll the sidelines of an NBA arena. 

Once Nelly was in place the natural progression of thinking for Mullin was to address which players would fit with Nelson and which ones won't.  You can rest assured that Nelson had some imput in this area.  The roster as presently constructed has a lot of "Nelly" type players...Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy and Zarko Cabarkapa for example.  There are a few non nellie types as well like Ike Diogu, Michael Pietrus and Jason Richardson and several guys could go either way depending on how they react to instruction.  Andris Biedrins could be really good or really bad for example.  Chris Taft, Patrick O'bryant, Adonal Foyle and Devin Brown would all fall into that category as well.   

Now it appears that they have turned their attention toward the old Don Nelson strategy of taking chances on players that others view as flawed and turning them into effective role players in his system.  DaJuan Wagner is a highly skilled basketball player capable of putting up a lot of points in a short amount of time.  He causes matchup problems for most teams at the shooting guard position and is a guy that will force other coaches to react and take their focus away from other areas of the game.  Selected sixth overall by Cleveland in 2002, Wagner has battled a variety of injuries throughout his career. He played in just 73 of a possible 164 games in his first two seasons before being limited to 11 contests in 2004-05, when he was diagnosed with colitis, an inflammation of the colon.Wagner had his colon removed last October, and he lost 30 pounds.  Still just 23 years old, Wagner has averaged 9.4 points in 102 career games and his potential has never been tapped. 

Dermarr Johnson is another highly skilled basketball player that was chosen sixth overall in the draft but due to a serious car accident after his second season has never reached his full potential as an NBA player.  The car accident not only cost him his starting position on the Hawks, it nearly cost him his life. Johnson fractured four vertebrae in his neck, causing him to lose all right to left movement of his head. For the seven weeks that followed, DerMarr was forced to wear a stabilizing halo around his head while his neck healed.  At 6'9" and just over 200 lbs, Dermarr is capable of playing multiple positions.  A silky smooth athlete with a nice outside stroke.  Dermarr is the type of player that the Warriors really don't have currently on their roster.  He is only speculation at this point, but the fact that they are targeting players like him is a very good sign and it shows the impact of Nelson on the franchise.

Another possible target for the Warriors is former Fresno State big man Melvin Ely.  Ely brings some things to the table that the warriors really don't have in the way of toughness, interior defense and old school low post moves.  He is kind of a throwback type of player that really likes to operate inside the painted area.  He established career high averages with 7.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 20.9 minutes last season with the Charlotte Bobcats.  With a long awaited breakout season under his belt, Melvin is ready for an even bigger role next season and because of the depth of the Bobcats front line he may be looking elsewhere for an opportunity to continue his development.  Rumors have swirled that the Warriors are in talks with the Bobcats about a sign and trade deal that could bring Ely to the Bay.  They really don't have anything to lose by taking a chance on a big man with so much upside potential.