Whether one agrees with the moves of the Brooklyn Nets or not, their activity so far in the 2012 offseason has to be commended. Indeed, they have taken several steps to have their team dominate NBA headlines as we impatiently await for the season to resume once gain November. And let’s be honest here, they have made some substantial moves that could put potentially help them land a top four record in the Eastern Conference next season.
Billy King, the Nets general manager, has been able to secure the commitment of both Deron Williams and Gerald Wallace to long-term contracts, has an agreement in place to obtain Joe Johnson via trade with the Atlanta Hawks and also managed to get a verbal agreement with Reggie Evans to get him to join the team.
And just in case those moves failed to impress you, it seems as though they are still in the running to acquire Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic . Granted, although ESPN.com’s John Hollinger pointed out that the signing of Mirza Teletovic makes it rather difficult for Brooklyn to land the superstar center (insider) because of this little thing called the salary cap, Brooklyn is still in the news. The end result is that prospective fans can already start discussing the team and get amped up to see them play.
The Toronto Raptors tried a similar strategy if you will, by attempting to sign Steve Nash and also getting an agreement with Landry Fields to sign an offer sheet.
The Dallas Mavericks unsuccessfully tried to lure in the Nets’ stud point guard, and thus turned to Nash only to watch him join the purple and gold. Back to the drawing board the Mavs go.
The defending champions feel as though they need to add another shooter to their roster and are thus hoping to convince Ray Allen to join them and hit open long-range bombs in South Beach.
All of these moves are interesting on their own and have helped make the offseason exciting so far.
But don’t tell that to Warriors fans.
So far, save for Brandon Roy talks, the Dubs kingdom has been largely quiet and inactive in terms of pursuing players to help the team next season.
To be fair, they might be in the midst of orchestrating the trade of the decade, which could help explain the lack of activity of the front office; but that seems like somewhat of a reach.
There is no other way to say it: the Golden State Warriors are giving the impression that they are on the sidelines of NBA free agency, and that does not bode well.
One could point out the fact that the Dubs are over the cap and thus have no wiggle room available to go after players, but that’s just it; the Dubs should actively be looking to unload Andris Biedrins specifically so that they can be part of some bidding war — let’s be honest with ourselves, Biedrins’ contract is not bringing back a stud player — for a quality role player. Heck, the GSW might not be able to retain some of their own players.
Brandon Rush is a restricted free agent and he is bound to attract some attention given his ability to defend perimeter players and drill bombs from 3-point range. Dominic McGuire may not be a household name, but he was a steady player for the Dubs last season and should be relatively cheap to keep in the Bay; but once again, are the Warriors interested in bringing him back given their lack of activity as far as player movement goes?
And then we get to the biggest conundrum involving the team: does the Golden State front office bring back the players from last season that “helped” the team to a 23-43 record, or do they bring in new blood and tweak the roster a bit all the while accounting for the fact that team will face a few injuries during the course of the regular season?
The answer should be obvious, and yet the inactivity at the top leads one to wonder if Golden State actually has a plan. Harsh words perhaps, but Houston is putting on the full-court press to get Omer Asik while the Warriors are doing nothing.
The Phoenix Suns have reportedly traded away Steve Nash to the Los Angeles Lakers, flirted with Goran Dragic, obtained a verbal agreement to bring Michael Beasley to the desert and once again, the Dubs have done nothing.
Warriors fans have heard the rhetoric before about the team’s commitment to making the playoffs, but as the proverb goes, “actions speak louder than words”.
And the lack of action by the Warriors so far speaks volumes…
Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].
I think the patient approach to free agency is a smart one. Look at the way the 49ers have played the game in football recently. Let the impatient franchises make the mistake of overpaying initially and then swoop in to get the bargains later. In today’s capworld you simply can’t make too many mistakes and hope to have success.
The Dubs simply don’t have any cap room right now to add big pieces. Re-sign Rush and McGuire and make a play on a lesser name like JJ Hickson and then try to make some trades that make sense down the road.
Free agent moves? Playoffs? Let’s field a healthy roster for more than 6 weeks first and then we’ll talk about what should happen after that.
But hey, on the bright side, they’re going to build that shiny new arena on the SF Waterfront…or somewhere, ANYWHERE in SF, as long as it’s not in Oakland. Get your priorities straight, people. You should be worrying less about the roster and more about how prestigous a new arena will be.
I have to agree. I like what we have as a core to develop, but in the end what will put us over the top is a big name free agent. They will come when we have a big shiny arena in a beautiful part of san francisco, and a sound core of talented players, both of which we seem to be moving towards. Sorry for all the posts. I’m stuck in a train station with far too little to do haha. GO DUBS!
You people seem all too content with this middling, go nowhere, non successful, but still profitable team. Let’s keep paying for futility! With the roster we have currently, no playoffs, 100% chance of a lottery pick, but not a good one; probably a 5th pick at best.
I was hoping that by sending Monta off, the warriors were finally committed to blowing up the team and finding ways to start over. Instead, they’re putting out one of the least athletic products in the league and building around the Cancer Ankle duo of StephC and Andrew “I’m not passionate about the game” Bogut?? FAIL.
Overpaying for talent like Omer Asik (already a great defender, but still with huge potential), Landry Fields (solid locker room guy, local Stanford product), Goran Dragic (surprisingly athletic and high basketball IQ), and Michael Beasley (headcase, but can score points in bunches and is at least tall and long enough to bother SGs and SFs) is STILL a million times (you can count this million in straight cash too) better than overpaying a NO talent like Biedrins (mentally broken, physically weak, back up center).
First off Dew, anyone can say anything good about those guys- they’re not getting 6 mil a year for NOTHING are they? But based on current circumstances and the approach the Warriors brass have taken (and I would say it’s a good one), they are not in a position to be throwing out cash at guys who have just had a career year, when they don’t know what kind of team they are going to be fitting into. Asik is only worth going over the cap if we know he’s the piece that will put us over the top. You speak of perpetuating the outside the playoffs inside the late lottery culture… what about asik is gonna change that? Not to mention his meltdown in the playoffs. I know bulls fans who are happy to say good riddance. Recent history with Marcin Gortat makes him more attractive that he should be. He is overrated.
The bogut trade was definitely a huge move in an attempt to change the culture and I think it is a bit demanding to expect an entire overhaul overnight. They are clearly making the transition to a sound franchise model, but it takes time and PRUDENCE. There is an abundance of mid level players on the market this year. I see no reason to join the spending race to get guys that are clearly going to be overpaid. As I said, let the dust settle, and anyone left that is worth underpaying, take them. There will be leftovers this year, trust me. Other than that, let this team gel, our young guys develop, see what our health situation is like, and reevaluate at the trade deadline. If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a warriors fan, it’s not to expect it all at once (or at all).
But mostly, I take exception to your using Biedrins as a straw man when he has NOTHING to do with this front office. The old regime signed him, the new regime is stuck with him. Don’t hate because of that. He will play out his contract; hopefully we can move him, but not without a bit of luck, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a serviceable 10 minute a night big man. And BOY is he good looking!
Look at the names mentioned in this article: Omer Asik, Landry Fields, Goran Dragic, Michael Beasley… are any of these guys starters on a playoff team? Yet they are all getting offered $6mil + by desparate teams. Personally, I’m glad the Warriros are sitting this one out, it is the smarter salary cap play. The trade market will heat up for players like Dorell Wright and hopefully Biedrins only after free agents have homes, and then we can judge whether teh Warriors are sitting on their hands this offseason.
I couldn’t agree more. Why go out and overpay a bunch of low to midlevel players right now when we a) don’t have much cap room, and b) don’t relaly know what we are working with? Wright’s contract will become a valuable asset as the season goes on and playoff teams are looking for help on the wing, and maybe we can use him to unload biedrins contract. Who knows.
We have so much to learn about this roster, and I think it makes no sense to go out and buy a high priced backup centre when it might turn out that ezeli is it. We might be overpaying beidrins, but if we let go of the image we had when we extended him, we can still use him for some extra minutes and expect some rebounds and putbacks. When you dont have to worry about his foul trouble in order to squeeze 20+ minutes out of him per game, he actually can serve a useful purpose.
I don’t want any of these horrible contracts. I would like to see us pick up a big veteran guard (roy/kidd perhaps?) since we won’t get a back to the basket scorer for the bench, and mcguire is a decent and cheap backup at the 4. I hope we resign him.
Moreover, the kind of thinking in this article is what gets GM’s fired and franchises buried bad contracts. The fact that this is being posted on a website dedicated to the warriors in a time of hope and excitement is shameful. Are you trying to get fans upset or something? Better to try and understand the thought process before publishing something denigrating a prudent business practice. If you don’t think their office is active right now you are dead wrong. Meyers spoke at the rookie introduction press conference and quoted Lacob I believe saying there’s patience and theres prudence. I believe the warriors are being prudent. Let the dust settle and underpay whoever is left.
They can’t just make a move for the sake of making headlines. Most of the movement this offseason has involved terrible contracts. I think they have to wait for the dust to settle and try to make some second tier trades (SF for a PG).