Spitballing: Still My Favorite Soap Opera
The Question: Is the soap opera over?
The Answer: Doesn't seem to be.
The Solution: Unfortunately, the solution is to force the team to be sold to new ownership and have the new ownership bring in new management but that's not going to happen so the Warriors are going to have to work with what they have.
The soap opera that was Golden State last year was epitomized just this week when the team's PR guy confessed to planting a story on a blog. People were reacting negatively to the Warriors teleconference with season ticket owners (or, at least, they didn't like the reports that were coming out about it) on a site and the PR guy thought the best move was to post under a pseudonym, pretending to be a random fan, and say something to give the conversation a positive spin. Like most everything the Warriors have done lately, the move was handled poorly and was a big risk for almost zero payoff. Why not post under his name? Why even bother with the online quibbling? It was a move that made zero sense and left the team with egg on their face.
On the bright side, the team does indeed have some talent so things are all terrible. How the talent fits together (especially under Don Nelson) is a different story altogether. My first trade option of Andris Biedrins for Kevin Love wasn't met with much approval but I have to say that I still like. Admittedly, throwing in Kelenna Azubuike was too much but I'm still for the deal as an option. I like the front court rotation of Love, Anthony Randolph, and Rony Turiaf and I think the Warriors might be better off with Love's rookie contract as they are probably close to owner Chris Cohan's spending limit.
The biggest problem with this offseason is that Cohan's spending limit and the lack of expiring deals means that the Warriors would have to overpay for anything. The Celtics might be willing to trade Ray Allen but the amount of talent that it would take to convince the C's ownership to take back the contract would likely be more than the Warriors are willing to give up.
The #2 pick is for sale but if the Grizz really love Thabeet than it would likely cost the Warriors Andris Biedrins. And even if they did finagle a #2, Marc Gasol, Marko Jaric deal out of the Grizz, replacing Biedrins with Gasol just makes a weak defensive frontcourt even weaker. You'd have to LOVE Rubio to make that happen. (And I wouldn't be stunned if the Grizz wanted more if they were giving up Gasol).
The main target is Chris Bosh but a) would Cohan pay him a second max contract and b) would Bosh even agree to re-up with the Warriors? The team has been such a mess that I could see him refusing to re-sign and demanding a deal to somewhere else. There's always Amare but I'm not sure if he's really the kind of attitude you want nor do I think his injury history is that of someone to whom you want to pay a guaranteed 20 million a year.
With everyone looking to cut costs rather than add, I think the Warriors hands might just be tied and they'll have to stand pat for the year.
