Five Moves the Golden State Warriors Should Make This Offseason

[Legacy]

When a franchise has been as sad to watch as the Golden State Warriors have been for the past few years, you know there is always room for improvement. For the Dubs, there are five key things that they should do this offseason in order to stop being the laughingstock in the NBA.

 

5. Get rid of Corey Maggette

 

The Warriors signed Corey Maggette to a five year, $50 million contract that continues to haunt them today and will continue to haunt them for the next few seasons. From what I've read, trading Maggette is what the Warriors will attempt to do first this offseason. With the money that Corey is being paid, he should be able to do much more. Other than scoring and getting to the line, Maggette does not do much. He is not a good leader, takes questionable shots, and does not try to play defense. Golden State should trade him for a guy like Shane Battier, a guy who is a good leader, better basketball player, and a player who actually plays on both sides of the floor.

 

4. Fire Don Nelson

 

It's obvious that the run-n-gun system will not win you a championship. It might be fun to watch, but it will not get you far. Not only is that a reason to fire Nellie, but he is also not a good coach for a young group of guys like the Warriors present. If Nelson passes Lenny Wilkens for the all-time wins record this season, there might be a bigger chance that he will quit. Nelson needs to be fired as soon as the record is broken. He has had too much conflict with several players and has lost his passion for coaching, which is no secret if you watch him on the sidelines and in interviews.

3. Trade either Curry or Ellis

 

No matter what some people may think, Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis cannot work together. When one of them is out or on the bench and the other is in the game, the team plays better. Ellis is the better scorer, and Curry is the better passer. I don't see any of them as franchise players who you can build a championship team around. Like Ellis said before the season and Nelson said during the season, Curry and Ellis do not work well with each other, and one of them needs to be traded soon before the conflict increases.

 

2. Draft John Wall

 

Golden State has a legitimate shot at the No. 1 pick in this upcoming NBA draft. The unanimous No. 1 pick is John Wall. If the Warriors get the first pick, they must draft Wall. He has the potential to be a superstar in the league and will be a great player to build around. Scouts are saying they have not seen someone this special since LeBron James was drafted in 2003. Curry or Ellis will have to play second fiddle to Wall. If the Warriors don't get the first pick, they should target Evan Turner.

 

1. Chris Cohan selling the team to Larry Ellison

 

The day that Warrior fans have been waiting numerous years for should come soon. Reports indicate that Larry Ellison is showing a lot of interest in buying the Warriors. Cohan isn't read to sell the team yet, but if the attendance continues to decrease, he should sell the team sooner. So stop going to games and keep Cohan's wallet empty. One playoff appearance in over a decade is embarrassing. I'll leave this article with an Ellison quote: “I'm addicted to winning. The more you win, the more you want to win.”

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/357616-five-moves-the-golden-state-warriors-should-make-this-off-season

Edited March 6, 2010 by Legacy

[Legacy]

thoughts?

[xx.]

5. There's a good chance it will happen if someone actually wants him.

 

4. Firing Don Nelson should be number one on the list, he has the most wins of all time and is a veteran, however, he probably won't be because of the management.

 

3. Passing up Mayo and Thabeet for Ellis, I don't know if they'll trade him. Mayo and Curry would have been perfect.

 

2. Won't happen.

 

1. Ellison would definitely be a good owner for the team.

[Built Ford Tough]

I'm bored and have nothing better to do so I figured I'd respond to this because I know how much it sucks to take the time to write an article only to have nobody respond to it. Remember what I said in that other thread about not following the Warriors too intently, so if I am way off-base in anything I say, don't go too hard on me.

 

5. Get rid of Corey Maggette

 

How many more years does Maggette have on his contract? I can't remember for sure if he signed there this summer or last summer, although I think it was last summer, and I don't feel like looking it up at the moment.

 

Anyways, if he only has 3 years left on his contract I think that you could possibly find somebody willing to take on his contract, altough it doesn't seem all too likely. I think that the Warriors are going to be stuck with him for at least another season because the few teams that I think would've been willing to take on his contract made moves prior to the deadline that basically eliminated any sort of possiblity of them making a move for Maggette (Cleveland acquiring Jamison and Dallas acquiring Butler, maybe throw Houston acquiring Martin into that mix, although I don't think they would've traded for Maggs).

 

I think that the only hope the Warriors have of unloading Maggette is if some team that is in a "win now mode" manages to completely strike out in free agency and are desperate to add an efficient (Maggette has a very nice TS% of 61% and he also gets to the line 8 times a game to go along with his 50% shooting) scoring small forward to the team. Otherwise, I just don't see anybody taking on Maggette's contract this summer. It would be a huge step forward in the Warriors rebuild if they managed to unload him though.

 

4. Fire Don Nelson

 

I definitely agree with you here. Nelson just isn't the right coach for a team that should be rebuilding like the Warriors. Well, if you ask me Nelson isn't the right coach for any kind of team, lol.

 

It is clear that the Warriors weren't anywhere close to a playoff team this season yet it took Nellie around 10 games to realize that he should be giving somebody who is a key piece of the future like Stephen Curry a legit role on the team. Anthony Randolph, another Warrior who seemingly has a bright future, had sporadic minutes all season long before getting injured.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I am all for making rookies earn their minutes but what Nelson doing is just stupid if you ask me. You have to let rookies play through their mistakes if you want them to grow as a player and it seems like Nelson doesn't allow his young players to do that nearly enough.

 

I don't follow the Warriors intently or anything so I wouldn't know if there are rumours floating around about them firing Nelson in the offseason or not, but I get the impression that they have no intentions of firing him. Is that a fair assumption?

 

3. Trade either Curry or Ellis

 

I don't even think that there should be any debate between trading Curry or Ellis. I think that it should be an absolute forgone conclusion that the Warriors should try and move Ellis during the summer and keep Curry as an integral part of their future heading forward. Not only because I think Curry is the better player with the brighter future (as I posted in this thread.), but because it gives the Warriors more flexibility financially. Ellis is locked up to a 5 year/$55M deal where as Curry is under Warrior control for the same amount of time at more than half of the price.

 

Even if the Warriors don't get as much for Ellis as they would for Curry, I just don't see the argument for keeping Ellis rather than Curry. I do agree with you that they should look to move Ellis in the offseason as well though. I loved the Curry pick in the draft because I really liked his game coming out of Davidson, but I knew that sooner or later they needed to make a decision on Curry or Ellis because the two wouldn't be able to coexist as a backcourt both offensively and defensively.

 

2. Draft John Wall

 

No arguments here. If the Warriors get the 1st pick in the draft it is obvious who they should draft.

 

However, I think that this team would take a huge step forward if they managed to grab somebody like Evan Turner in the draft as well. He isn't a great shooter, but the guy has just such a smooth all around game and I honestly think that he can become a 20/5/5 type of player who brings leadership and other intangibles to the table. Normally I don't buy into pre-draft comparisions, but Turner's comparisions to Brandon Roy seem spot on to me. I may overrate the guy but I honestly think that he is the clear cut 2nd best player in this years draft and think that he is going to be a future All-Star. Pairing him and Curry up together gives you a great duo heading forward.

 

If the Warriors do end up firing Nelson and play a more traditional game, I think that DeMarcus Cousins would be a solid pick as well, assuming that Wall and Turner are both off of the board. Cousins is still fairly raw and I know that the Warriors already have guys like Biedrins, Randolph and Wright on the team, but I think that Cousins and Curry would play very well off of each other.

 

John Wall should obviously be #1 priority though, but if they don't manage to land him they could still take huge steps forward if they manage to grab somebody like Turner or Cousins (as long as Nellie is gone, if he isn't then he would be a terrible pick).

 

1. Chris Cohan selling the team to Larry Ellison

 

No comment on this because I have literally no idea what kind of impact this would have on the team at all.

[Legacy]

Chris Cohan is the worst owner in the NBA. 16 years, one playoff appearance. Does not care about winning and hires idiots to run the team.

 

Larry Ellison in the other hand owns Oracle the company and has had interest in buying the Warriors. He is knowledgeable about sports and hates losing. He will also get rid of the idiots running the team.

 

If Cohan sells the team, Warrior fans will be crazy happy.

 

Thanks for the comment. I hate when barely anyone responds when people write articles haha.

[Legacy]

As for Don Nelson, he himself said that he will stay until the end of next year to honor his contract. GM Larry Riley loves Nelson and says he likes the style of play.

 

I think the latest Nellie will leave will be until the end of next season, but there could be a bigger chance of him leaving if he breaks the all-time wins record this year.