GSoM Q&A with Tim Kawakami 11/15/06 (Part 2 of 5)

by Atma Brother ONE on Nov 21, 2006 11:25 AM PST in Interviews

Golden State of Mind friend Tim Kawakami did another great Q&A with us last week. It's fun to talk Warriors and Bay Area sports with Tim because he always has a fresh, witty perspective. Make sure to make Tim's blog Talking Points with Tim Kawakami a daily stop. Also, make sure to check out his work in the San Jose Mercury. Tim's always got the latest scoop on the Bay Area sports scene and some great insights. Warriors Nation is lucky to have Tim covering the Warriors.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V

Here's Part II of our Q&A with the other parts to follow in the next few days...

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Golden State of Mind: It's only been a few games, but both Andris Biedrins and Mickael Pietrus seem to have improved by leaps and bounds since last season. What's been the source for their improvement? Also, Biedrins is eligible for an extension after this season and Pietrus will be a restricted free agent. Are the Warriors looking to keep either or both players?

Tim Kawakami: Biedrins and Pietrus are showing immense improvement, is there an explanation? Biedrins is due an extension in the off-season, Pietrus is a restricted F-A, what are the Warriors chances of keeping both? Answer: As you guys know, I wasn't a total slam-dunk supporter of Nelson's hiring. I wanted to wait and see. But the moment they hired him, I knew this: He'd probably do the most good for Biedrins, Pietrus and Ellis. I think I told you guys that, too. Why? Because Nelson understands what to do with exotic players, and these are exotic players. Montgomery was afraid of exotics--he wanted college regiment--do it this way every time, so we can beat Arizona State. But wait: That's not how the NBA works. The NBA are the best of the best. You need exotic, sometimes erratic players to make a difference when everybody's flying around. Biedrins was a special player last year--great hands, defended the rim, finished at the rim. NOBODY ELSE did that. NOBODY ELSE does that. But the coaching staff was afraid of his fouls (logically) and afraid to risk him out there. But Adonal Foyle for 28 minutes was better? Crazy.

Same thing with Pietrus. Montgomery just never understood him. He didn't yell at him because he didn't think Mickael understood him. He didn't instruct him for the same reason. He just watched him, got mad, and yanked him the first time he did a dumb thing, which is often, still with Mickael. But he does great things, too. And the dumb things are worth the great things.

In the NBA, you coach to the special stuff, not the mundane stuff--as long as you can coach the mundane stuff, too. Nelson embraces the special stuff. He's embracing Biedrins and Pietrus and they're paying him back. Will they be re-signed? Biedrins, that's a lock. I think Mullin will be allowed to go into luxury-tax land, if he has to, to keep Biedrins. It'd be crazy not to. 20-year-old 7-footer with a great attitude and great feet and hands... that's your definition of a player worth the investment. (Murphy, Richardson, Dunleavy and Foyle would be the definitions of... well, not.)

Golden State of Mind: Some teams, like the Utah Jazz, won't let the Warriors get out and run. What adjustments, if any, will Coach Don Nelson need to make in games where the Warriors have to use a lot of half court sets?

Tim Kawakami: The Warriors probably lose, like they did in Utah. There's just not much half-court stuff Nelson can run--other than Baron going at the rim--without a real post scorer. That's the weakness and that has always been the weakness--a guy who can score easy buckets inside and guard the opponent power forward who often gets easy buckets inside.

The good thing for the Warriors: There aren't many teams as disciplined and big as Utah right now. You've got San Antonio. The Clippers most days. Maybe Houston. That's it in the West. So the Warriors will be able to go up and down vs. most teams--and against all teams at home. Doesn't mean they'll be over .500. But they'll get to 38, 39, 40, 41, something like that, assuming Baron and Biedrins stay healthy.

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UPDATE: Check out Tim's blog post following up on these answers- Monta Ellis already is a better, more valuable player than Jason Richardson

Stay tuned for the rest of Tim's second Q&A with us...

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V

This past September we did another fun Q&A with Tim: Part I | Part II

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Comments

reinvesting

It'd be crazy not to. 20-year-old 7-footer with a great attitude and great feet and hands... that's your definition of a player worth the investment. (Murphy, Richardson, Dunleavy and Foyle would be the definitions of... well, not.)

not? - Richardson!? Is that a misquote?!

by hardcore on Nov 21, 2006 11:53 AM PST reply actions

JRich not worth the trouble?

Some one show this bum the door!!!

by Skeptic con Urquell on Nov 21, 2006 2:02 PM PST reply actions

exactly

he had me until he went there on Jrich. No respect...completely unjustified comment. Jason is worth every penny of his extension and actually a bargain.
I would also assume the same thing he said about Beans (ie: w's would go into tax to keep him) could be said for Monta as well. They are not about to go through a Gilbert part two.

Let's Go Oakland! Gas, Brake, Dip.

by OaktownFunk on Nov 21, 2006 2:29 PM PST reply actions

Arenas Rule

I very much hope that the Arenas rule actually helps the Warriors. It was an attempt to close the barn door after the cow got out, and it looked like it was an attempt to make sure that no one else had the opportunity to have the misfortune the Warriors felt fall upon them. Nice I guess that if it actually works, we'll be the beneficiaries.

(I have some fear that there's a loophole that hasn't been properly accounted for though and in a couple of years with the next CBA we'll see the Ellis rule close a loophole in the Arenas rule.)

by jae on Nov 21, 2006 5:37 PM PST reply actions

Excellent work

This segment has all kinds of great morsels of information. Good questions and killer analysis by TK. I can't believe TK didn't save some of that insight for his own column or blog. He really does show us love. Now, I can understand the umbrage the earlier comments took lumping in JRich with Dun and Foyle. But, TK was against all of these contracts from the beginning. He would have taken the risk of letting all those players hit the open market instead of locking up the future.

I find something else more problematic... The whole "exotic" tag is a nice description but not entirely true. Pietrus and Biedrins are raw players that needed to be coached. They did not improve, but rather regressed in the Monty era. That is unforgivable. Now, it will be hard to keep this nucleus together with the contracts from before. Look for salary dumps. I think Murph and Rich are gone before the ASB.

by eshock @ Golden State Of Mind on Nov 21, 2006 6:18 PM PST reply actions

Jrich gone by the all star break eh?

thank god you ain't running the show. No offense but that is absolutely crazy. His is not a salary needing "dumping". Again, Jason's contract is beyond fair. He would have gotten WAY WAY more on the open market after he became a FA. The W's got lucky to lock him up. He is a cornerstone of this team, period. He is not even close to 100% right now. Don't judge him by the way he is playing right now. I am confident most W fans realize that Jrich is legit when healthy and I can't wait to see it.... BD, Monta and JR running fools out of the gym...yeah, that'll be fun.

Let's Go Oakland! Gas, Brake, Dip.

by OaktownFunk on Nov 21, 2006 11:04 PM PST reply actions

The ONLY way I could see J-Rich traded is if...

he was packaged w/some other players to land either Kevin Garnett or Jermaine O'Neal. Other than that, he's here to stay.

Somehow trading J-Rich brings back memories of trading Mitch Richmond. I'd rather keep him if at all possible.

However, I wouldn't mind seeing Murphy traded for an expiring contract -- although he has value as a double-double guy, the Warriors need the salary cap space, and the minutes on the floor.

Doesn't Alan Houston STILL have a contract with the Knicks that expires this year?

Hmm...

by bigcity7 on Nov 22, 2006 12:14 AM PST reply actions

Somehow trading J-Rich

"Somehow trading J-Rich brings back memories of trading Mitch Richmond". Yep, Hope Nellies not here to screw us up and move on again?
Now Kevin Garnett? What does minnesota need? who could we send them? If we could get KG for some combination of Monta,Pietrus,Murph,Dun,Ike,Zarko,Foyle,and any of the newbies it might make sense. I don't think we could stand the loss of Baron, JRich, or B'Dris right now. Baron's our only real point, JRich is our heart and soul, BDris is our only active center. Baron, JRich, KG and B'Dris along with whoever we kept might be an interesting lineup though?

by Skeptic con Urquell on Nov 22, 2006 10:33 AM PST reply actions

I love JRich as much as anybody.....

but to trade for a legitimate big man, such as Garnett or O'Neal, he is going to be the first to go. Especially since Monta has played so well while Jason is on the mend. Everyone knows that 2 guards in the NBA are the easiest to replace. Look at Kevin Martin from the Kings. Dude came out of no where, and now scores 23.5 in the best league in the world. All because someone gave him a shot. Garnett is the highest paid player in the NBA at 21 mil/per. So for any trade with the Warriors, multiple players who make millions would need to be included. Since Jason is also our most proven commodity, you can bet that any team considering trading a superstar, would want the best they can get in return.
At this point, I would say that only Monta and possibly BD are untouchable. For Kevin Garnett, I would trade the house. Read Bill Simmons today on ESPN.com page 2 for a look at the lack of Quality players that KG has played with over his career. Pair him with above guys who are way above average, such as BD, Monta, and then throw in role players like Dun, POB, and whoever else and the Dubs would be onto something. But superstars are not given away for free. Of course, getting KG is really nothing more than a pipe dream.

by DailyDub on Nov 22, 2006 11:24 AM PST reply actions

YES! I saw that KG article and...

I think he would be a perfect fit for the Warriors as I'm sure all 30+ teams feel the same way. lol...But the difference is that the Warriors have young talent. Talent that a team can build around, and also plenty of draft picks to make an attractive offer for the big fella.

Since KG is a 4, I'm sure they'll want a 4 in return, probably J-Rich, and a draft pick.

A package of:

Troy Murphy, J-Rich, either Ike Diogu (or) POB, and a #1 draft pick (the 76'ers) might do the trick.

BD
Ellis
Peitrus
KG
AB

would at least be competitive for a few years. KG would be surrounded by talent and ironically in this scenario I would prefer to keep Mike Dunleavy as he would have tremendous value to this Warriors line-up. He could really fit in well as a set-up guy for all our scores, a chemistry player, etc...

One of the reasons why I have felt Dunleavy has struggled is because he's never had a guy who would glare through him after a missed shot, or a blunder like Coack K would.

KG has a stare that would kill! Imagine the stare KG would give Dunleavy after a missed lay-up?!!

by bigcity7 on Nov 22, 2006 3:43 PM PST reply actions

It's going to take more than a few stares

to turn Dunleavy into a quality NBA player. He was terrible again tonight against the Jazz. When Baron, Petrius and Ike are all back, I don't see a reason to put MD on the floor at all, unless it's a blowout win or loss. He certainly doesn't deserve more playing time. Most other guys in his situation would make the most of their minutes and play with a vengeance, but he goes out and performs the same, night after night. I guess he thinks his crossover between the legs dribble when no on is guarding him impresses someone. Maybe he'd flourish on another team and I'd certainly like to see him get that chance. Occasional flashes of good play aside, he'll never be more than he's shown in 5 years for the Warriors.

Optimist

by believer on Nov 25, 2006 11:46 PM PST reply actions

JO

I'm a big Jermaine fan, but i wouldn't make any deal involving him and JR. While he's a legit big, he's way too injury prone. Besides the knee surgery that's slowed him a bit to start this season, JR has shown himself to be much more durable.

by dirrty on Nov 26, 2006 8:53 PM PST reply actions