Austin Croshere Trumps Mickael Pietrus as Best Foward of 2007 Free Agency

by dj fuzzylogic on Aug 3, 2007 2:30 PM PDT in News

The weight on Mickael Pietrus’ shoulders hasn’t been this heavy since the two missed free throws in Utah this past playoffs. It appears that the fate of NBA Free Agency for the rest of summer 2007 depends on what happens to Pietrus this off-season. At least Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News seems to believe so:

Teams have been reluctant to commit to other big guards or small forwards until Pietrus and Pavlovic sign.

As many very helpful folks that hang out here on our blog have reported, several NBA playoff teams have sought the services of Pietrus in addition to Mohawk Barnes (who will be this years Warriors bargain bin replacement? See below).

Is this to say that Pietrus is now the premier (restricted) free agent left in this summer’s pool? Apparently not as the Warriors have now officially signed Austin Croshere to the league 10 year veteran minimum wage, but don't even owe him the whole thing. A few members of our blog community have documented this earlier in previous diaries (shout out to Streetballer et al. for the diaries earlier).

Is it safe to say that the KG chase that the Warriors were linked to was just a smokescreen for the Warriors true intentions of signing Croshere? Did the Warriors just use KG as a foil (or Foyle??? Bu-dum-ching!) to thwart Western conference rivals plans of getting at perhaps the most prized forward of this off-season?

Croshere can bang with former elite forwards of the eastern conference! By the way, what's up with those shorts?

If the post-season was any indication of how thin the team was beyond the starting-five, its evident that the Warriors nation, at least those that commented in Streetballer’s diary, are ambivalent about the new addition. Ironically, Croshere was a key piece in the Mav's game two victory of the Warriors, hitting three of four from downtown. Surprisingly, the formerly b-rate player, once making b-rate (at least by this age of NBA ball standards) money, will be playing for minimum wage in the NBA (which is minimum wage for less than 1 percent of the whole world…). On the bright side, you got to give it up for Mullin and Nellie; for that price, they could have done worse. They could have gotten this guy instead. How is he still in the league?

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Comments

i never seen crosher play!!!

how much of an impact will he have on the dubs? same with the other dude Pavlovic.

by baller90210 on Aug 3, 2007 2:35 PM PDT reply actions

Croshere interview - today

http://media.knbr.com/knbr/0803croshere.mp3

by streetballer on Aug 3, 2007 3:30 PM PDT up reply actions

Austin Croshere

this seems to be a good signing with little downside. He might even improve his 3 point shooting with a coach who encourages that from his bigs and I think he could give them 5-10 minutes against some other bigs

He is insurance in case they can't get anything else done. If he doesn't play no big deal

The Kosta signing is the one that has me scrtaching my head. Really? I don't see why he deserves a contract.

by Zig on Aug 3, 2007 2:37 PM PDT reply actions

when i clicked "this guy"

i was 60% sure that it was gonna be foyle...

but wooo...Livingston...that's old school.

by sadleavy on Aug 3, 2007 2:39 PM PDT reply actions

btw

who's guarding croshere in that picture?

by sadleavy on Aug 3, 2007 2:40 PM PDT up reply actions

who's guarding

Kenyon Martin

by Ace Fury on Aug 3, 2007 2:42 PM PDT up reply actions

nope

the correct answer was...

NOBODY!

Nobody can STOP KG 0.2

Let's just hope that the other teams don't sign nobody or we're fucked. ;-)

....

On a serious note, i thought that might've been Martin but that's a terrible pic of him.

by sadleavy on Aug 3, 2007 3:43 PM PDT up reply actions

I also

enjoy that webpin, it makes mine look just plain foolish

by FoyledAgain on Aug 3, 2007 4:50 PM PDT up reply actions

KG 0.2

LOL! Great webpin sadleavy. Are you ever going to have a webpin that doesn't have a guy in an Indiana jersey.

by olympicmike on Aug 3, 2007 3:44 PM PDT up reply actions

we need to get rid of Cabbage and POB

ASAP and take back one or less players and sign Barnes and I think we will be ok

by Zig on Aug 3, 2007 2:44 PM PDT reply actions

what?

i dont understand the signing of this guy...does this mean no james posey? To me Croshere is a really poor posey..like dirt poor. Hes not even a pushing carts and recycling cans poor, hes ugh.

by djchuckdeez on Aug 3, 2007 2:53 PM PDT reply actions

he's cheap

by Zig on Aug 3, 2007 2:59 PM PDT up reply actions

tried to 'youtube' him

but he only had one... err... "highlight"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4o-ZVOoO3A

hmm, ah well. Nelson must see him as '6 extra fouls' so that's something I guess

by Anomaly on Aug 3, 2007 3:01 PM PDT reply actions

Too Funny...

That is Croshere taking the charge...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeBSnZFB6_o&NR=1

by streetballer on Aug 3, 2007 3:16 PM PDT up reply actions

O.K....I was just having fun

not Croshere...but still funny. Croshere is an old style in your face type of player.

by streetballer on Aug 3, 2007 3:19 PM PDT up reply actions

one of the greatest clips of all time

it almost looks scripted. sucks for the guy who put that jersey on, his game will be forever cursed!

by dj fuzzylogic on Aug 3, 2007 3:43 PM PDT up reply actions

Oh my word....

Did they need a new basketball after that, camby swatted that so hard he coulda popped it

by FoyledAgain on Aug 3, 2007 4:51 PM PDT up reply actions

gotta love....

random cheap shots on randy livingston....ouch

by BeLEGENDelliAllDay on Aug 3, 2007 3:20 PM PDT reply actions

OK Signing

Croshere won't really make a big impact on the team, but most likely will be used in special circumstances (mismatches, jolt of energy, free throw situations in crunch time). Good thing about him is he's cheap - veteran minimum which the league is paying I believe half his salary.

Now Perovic is a major headscratcher. He hasn't proven anything and now makes more money then guys like Azubuike and even Monta? Unless deep down Mully and Nellie know something about him, the Perovic signing for now is not a good one.

It looks like what we have left to do is resign Barnes, sign a power forward who can bang like Varejao or trade for a power forward like Jermaine O'Neal, and find a suitable backup small forward. I've been hearing sign and trade talks of Pietrus for James Posey, which I'm for.

by AntiLaker on Aug 3, 2007 3:57 PM PDT reply actions

And the hits keep coming

I'm starting to accept that Mullin laid it out on the line to get us, the fans, Kevin Garnett. He traded the heart of the team for a promising young, knowing that he'd weaken the team in the short term. He tried to make it work for KG to come to the dubs. But he messed up and it didn't work. Now, we're stuck with "at least we have added financial flexibility" and austin croshere. Austin m-f'in Croshere.

I'm glad the warriors aren't going to be the laughing stock of the Association. I truly am. But I'm still working through the disappointment that Mullin probably is going through himself. Ugh.

by GameSix on Aug 3, 2007 6:34 PM PDT reply actions

BD & Austin

Does anyone else remember during the playoffs that there was a little bit of trash talking/ extra-curricular activity going on between bd and austin?

didn't they attend the same high school? did they play high school ball together?

what do you guys think about what their relationship will be?

by pfree on Aug 3, 2007 7:03 PM PDT reply actions

I wouldn't

Dig too deep on that. Baron can be a pretty fiery guy. I think that incident was more of a "heat of moment" thing.

"OHH, MAAAANN!" - Mike Tirico, NBA Playoffs '07

by Tim N Chris Burger on Aug 3, 2007 7:28 PM PDT up reply actions

Hey

can we at least start a pettition to get Croshere to shave his head? Or maybe at least a really close buzz-cut? Me and my circle used to always make fun of his do (or the slow and steady disappearance of it), but now that he's "part of the family" i wanna try to keep my mocking of him to a minimum.

by ssmokinjoe on Aug 3, 2007 8:15 PM PDT reply actions

For the look-a-like files

Austin (Brian Cardinal 0.0?) Corshere

Donny (Utah fan) Osmond

by bloodsweatndonuts on Aug 3, 2007 8:52 PM PDT reply actions

They do look

Like they were switched at Birth.

"OHH, MAAAANN!" - Mike Tirico, NBA Playoffs '07

by Tim N Chris Burger on Aug 3, 2007 9:06 PM PDT up reply actions

sounds like a great free agent signing

(bu-dum-ching)

by Proof on Aug 4, 2007 1:03 AM PDT reply actions

oh god

so we got a guy that fought with baron durin the playoffs, we got mickeal pieTRASH who cant do anything, at least we got kosta 7 footer hopefully he can help with the rebounding, WARRIORS SHOULDA USED MOST OF THE MONEY FOR GETTING BARNES BACK AND THE REST FOR WHOEVER 3RD RATE FOWARD WE COULD GET

by gswLLBatman on Aug 4, 2007 1:13 AM PDT reply actions

yo

Pietrus isn't back yet.

Kosta = $5m/3years
Croshere = less than $1M real money/1 year

Barnes asking = something around $16M/3 years at least

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero @ Golden State Of Mind on Aug 4, 2007 7:30 AM PDT up reply actions

Oh my

It's hard to keep tabs on the Dubs while I'm in India (thank god for my GSoM peoples), but it doesn't look like I'm missing much at all. Um, nice to see the Warriors making so many "impact" moves this offseason. The Croshere signing was absolutely pointless.

As of right now the opening day roster is worse than last year's team.

by Atma Brother ONE on Aug 4, 2007 1:20 PM PDT reply actions

Woah, you're in India?

That's pretty cool! Have a good trip!

By the way, why is everyone so angry about the Croshere signing? It's gotta be part of a bigger deal. I figured it out:

Obviously Mullin contacted Ainge after the KG trade. Ainge said:

Sure Mully, I can give you Garnett. Because you know who we really want? Adonal Foyle, Austin Croshere, and the Notorious Patrick O'Bryant.

Isn't it obvious? No one here ever sees the big picture.

Golden State of Mind- We iBelieve

by goGSW24 on Aug 4, 2007 1:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Crochere's signing

Crochere wasn't a bad pickup. His rebounds per minute is actually pretty good. Also, our team needs an intimidator/banger-type, especially if Barnes goes elsewhere. Plus his contract is cheap.

by northwestpat on Aug 4, 2007 1:46 PM PDT reply actions

why

why did mully sign this guy when powell would suffice? its not like powell would have cost much more either.

by vietsta4o8 on Aug 4, 2007 6:42 PM PDT reply actions

Powell

Was offered the same contract as Azubuike and didn't take it. I believe he was looking for a multi-year deal, and a Spanish team was considering offering him more money.

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero @ Golden State Of Mind on Aug 4, 2007 10:57 PM PDT up reply actions

I thought it was an Italian team...

...but you probably know it better.

Golden State of Mind- We iBelieve

by goGSW24 on Aug 4, 2007 11:38 PM PDT up reply actions

Now that I think about it

I might be wrong. I don't know.

Golden State of Mind- We iBelieve

by goGSW24 on Aug 4, 2007 11:39 PM PDT up reply actions

maybe it was

Italian- the point is it was an overseas team.

I could be thinking of spain beccause I was reading about Gasol/Navarro

Questions? Complaints?

(AIM: JetForze; email: Jon.d.ma@gmail.com)

by OptionZero @ Golden State Of Mind on Aug 5, 2007 12:22 AM PDT up reply actions

Croshere

signing will be allright at that price. as others have said, he'll be the type of guy who will thrive in the nellie system.
I don't know if anyone else noticed, but Livingston did show flashes of brilliance. He scored 12 a game in '98/'99. that's production...
plus, about all the hand-wringing over our former #23; here's some sacrilige for this apparent-Jrich devotional blog. I agree that the B-Wright trade was probably engineered to swing for KG, but even as-is, I think the trade is good for us. We had a logjam at that spot, and a dearth at the 4. With Jackson, Beli, two of the three we haven't signed (Pietrus, Buike or MB-preferably Barnes and Buike)the 2/3 are in good hands. JRich is on the downward slide of injuries and age. Mulson swung him at the perfect time, getting a great piece to build around in the future in Wright, flexibility for next summer, plus that 10 million dollar chip for adding another baller this summer. Keep the faith. Those two guys dug us out of purgatory, and we're on our way towards hallowed ground

by panhandlelegend on Aug 4, 2007 10:45 PM PDT reply actions

self-inflicted purgatory

at least in Mullin's case it is

everyone using "mulson" or whatever combo bad-beer name you want to use are missing the point that Mullin got us into this mess while Nelson is getting us out of it

In God We Trust, From Nelson We Follow

by hardcore on Aug 8, 2007 5:10 PM PDT up reply actions

um this is actually a good signing

why are people complaing hes a really cheap person who can make 3's! if i remember thats how the warriors play. and baron thing i think that was a heat of the moment thing. baron has gotten mad with alot of people and i could tell they are coo with each together. baron and austin probably have a close relationship since they went to the same highschool. and if he does not work out at least he was cheap, but i think he would be they guy we need for the dirty work, than the wide open weirder than matt barnes looking jump shot

by 24k state fan since 87 on Aug 5, 2007 3:46 AM PDT reply actions

Barnes

I read a lot of talk about Barnes and how necessary he is to the success of the Warriors which in my view is silly. I really enjoyed the Barnes story last year also, a guy who had been on 5 different teams, came to camp with no contract, and worked himself onto the roster, eventually ending up playing a lot more minutes than he should have because the Warriors were so woefully weak in so many areas. But let's not delude ourselves, he is not a first string player on a really good team, in my view Azubuike is a much better player than Barnes, and younger. What we are talking about when we talk about Barnes, Azubuike, Pietrus, or Croshere is the 8th or 9th player on a good team and maybe that is high. You cannot pay a guy like Barnes or Pietrus $4 million a year. That is what got this team in trouble before, paying Foyle, Dunleavy, Murphy star money when they are fringe players.

by wushi on Aug 5, 2007 5:15 PM PDT reply actions