Gary Payton...coming to the Warriors?

by nykeedunks on Feb 3, 2008 10:50 PM PST Comment 21 comments

so i have this friend who said that yesterday he was shooting around with Gary Payton at Club Sport (Pleasanton or San Ramon, cant remember) and my friend says that Gary told him hes coming to the Warriors. Supposedly Payton said that the Dubs are just trying to clear cap and sign him before or after the break.

I know its a totally unreliable source but my friends not one to make something like this up.

My question is though, we have CJ Watson for the rest of the year and looks pretty adept at playing at the NBA level and we just got C Webb back. What good can possibly come from getting Payton.

all i see in this is a hometown retirement party...but hey it'd be nice i guess

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!

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you said it

we have watson for the year and just got webb. I doubt we get him

we will miss your j rich

by ripjrich on Feb 3, 2008 10:59 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Why would we want him?

He is way passed his prime. NO REASON to bring him back... He would be more of a liability then anything IMO

THE HEART AND SOUL OF THE W'S

by dallaswarrior on Feb 3, 2008 11:03 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

umm

if you look at roster there is no one we can waive anyone... we just signed cj..unless you think we are going to waive webber right after we signed up..which would actually be pretty funny. That would be the ultimate diss.

the only quasi plausible thing that i can think of is trading pietrus for a draft pick or something then signing up payton. But i doubt thats going to happen.

by saintdee on Feb 3, 2008 11:35 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

We could also

trade POB for a draft pick. Not that I'm suggesting it (I think POB deserves some PT) but we don't play him anyway, for whatever reason (whereas MP gets a lot of burn and it's not clear how we would make up for his absence if we let him go for picks)

Livin in the E

by ebot on Feb 4, 2008 12:19 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

POB for a pick

I'd sure as hell would do that trade. We aren't going to give him playing time in any circumstance anyway, even if our bigs do get injured Nellie's just gonna go small anyway.

We don't play the guy. We're clearly not committed to him in the future, we declined his miniscule $2.2mil option for next season. There's no point in him taking up a roster spot anymore. We might as well get something for him while we still can.

by jlagace on Feb 4, 2008 12:28 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

the sad part is

this guy can really be good. He has a nice mid range jumper. Loves the skyhook, which if really worked on will be unstoppable. Unfortunately, unless he all of sudden cracks Nellie's rotation, he's pretty much a goner now. Even if the Warriors offer up, it's a blur if he'll re-sign with a team that barely plays him. I just hope he doesn't become one of many Warrior players that suddenly improves after leaving the team.

by lightz0ut on Feb 4, 2008 1:13 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

agree

And there's no question he's going to do well somewhere else, no question at all.

by jlagace on Feb 4, 2008 1:25 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

yup

and then all the people who bitched about how he sucked here will bitch about how we didn't give him more playing time

by AJC3317 on Feb 4, 2008 12:38 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

GP

I could see how we could still use a player like Gary Payton. He's a playoff-proven guard that Nellie would be comfortable playing this postseason.

Monta Ellis still might be a little too young for the big stage, he certainly pulled quite a disappearing act last postseason.

Azubuike? Inexperienced. I'm not saying he's not good enough, but what I am saying is that he's too inexperienced for Nellie to put faith in him under such circumstances. Azubuike didn't even get garbage time minutes during last postseason. Nellie may not think he's ready for big time minutes this postseason either.

CJ Watson? Way too inexperienced. He'll have all of half a season of NBA experience under his belt when we hit the playoffs. I doubt Nellie is going to want to put young CJ in charge at PG at any moment of the postseason. He doesn't even trust CJ enough to run PG right now, he usually plays CJ next to Baron which is counterproductive anyway.

I'm not trying to diss our backcourt in any way shape or form; they're young, they're talented, but they're inexperienced and unproven in terms of postseason play. We all should know by now that Nelson isn't a big fan of inexperience.

Gary Payton may not be the Gary Payton of old, but we won't need him to be. Coming off the bench and orchestrating the offense against other bench players for 8-10 minutes per game won't be too much to ask for from him. In addition to that, he'd bring great mentorship, leadership and chemistry to the squad. Plus I've never heard anything negative about the old man's physique and conditioning, he's still rock solid with no body fat.

I'd rather take Gary Payton on the active list over Perovic, Pietrus, or POB anyway; all three are non-impact or negative-impact type players for us anyway.

by jlagace on Feb 3, 2008 11:40 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

he's gonna be

Nellie's new assistant coach. Avery Johnson pt. 2

by Five Ten Entertainment on Feb 3, 2008 11:42 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

here's why I don't think I want Payton

Mainly because I'm afraid he'll have a T-Hud effect on Nellie's rotation. By that, I mean, you'll see more of GP - good and bad - coming off the bench, possibly cutting playing time of CJ and Buike. Although, GP would probably have more of a positive effect on the court than Hudson ever did, I still think Nellie would be stubborn enough to keep him playing even when he's hurting the team.

He will definitely be a good locker room and bench presence though. But I doubt he'll sign up just for that.

by lightz0ut on Feb 4, 2008 1:18 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

stop the madness

i think the "unreliable source" is enough to know that the source is unreliable.

win or lose... playoffs or lottery... i gotta luv them dubz! GSW 4 Life!!!

by gogomaplata on Feb 4, 2008 2:06 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Regardless of the source

I think the question here is "if GP were to come to the Warriors, what would need to happen?"

The answer, as has been shown is that it won't be easy to make space.

by SkipT on Feb 4, 2008 8:03 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

if GP was coming

wouldn't Nelson have brought him in for the mini-camp ala Webber this week?

by hardcore on Feb 4, 2008 8:21 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

GP and Webber

Webber is obviously higher on our priority list right now, considering CJ Watson got signed recently.

Webber was high priority, and Hudson was an expendable roster spot.

Right now, I'm sure Mulson are hard at work trying to move Pietrus, POB, or Perovic for either cheap talent or picks and empty roster spots. If we move either of those three and end up with empty roster spots, I'm sure that would provide an opening for Gary Payton to come in. Up until that happens, our roster is full.

I guess that's what GP meant when he said the Warriors are trying to "clear cap", he means "roster cap" of 15 max players.. that is if this source is reliable and GP actually said that.

by jlagace on Feb 4, 2008 8:58 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

cap

we have room under the luxury tax threshold, if we really wanted to bring payton in that bad we could cut POB and add the glove, but he doesn't fit our needs imo ... I would rather see us use the vaunted flexibility from the JRich trade on someone better suited to our needs

by hardcore on Feb 4, 2008 9:15 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

rumors...

i thought we decided to stop all these rumors thread? unless there is a reliable source, especially a GP rumor. Its funny this has to be like the 3rd or 4th thread that says " o my friend heard this, talked to him, or he is the type that wouldn't lie," same things being said are getting old. I am all for GP coming back b/c it means there is a move, b/c I feel like that wouldn't be the only move to be made.

by celicadriven27 on Feb 4, 2008 10:09 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

true

I could easily spam this thread with Pietrus diaries since one of my friends know him. The thing is, unless it's a new issue that hasn't been discussed at all, and you're looking for what everybody else my think. Just keep it to yourself.

by lightz0ut on Feb 4, 2008 10:17 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

No room for Payton

Or rather, with Nellie and C-Webb there's already a shortage of Geritol in the locker room.

by shadowboy on Feb 4, 2008 10:31 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Why is nobody bringing up Croshere?

If somebody is going to get cut in order to bring on Payton, it very well could be Croshere.

He's played ok when he's been healthy but he obviously is struggling with some chronic back issues and I'm sure the organization is tired of the inconsitency.

Granted POB is worthless on our team since Nelson has no faith in him but he's more valuable in a potential trade as a young expiring with potentially untapped talent.

www.joefrank.com

by Joe Frank on Feb 4, 2008 12:11 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

POB/Cro/GP

agreed - POB is more valuable as a trade asset than Cro, my point was that if they wanted GP so badly (or at all) they could make it happen. My guess is that in many regards Cro was supposed to fill the role CWebb is now being brought in for - depth inside, outside shooting, etc. and maybe they still hope he can in the second half ...

In any case, imo GP doesn't fit our needs nor would dropping Cro or POB for him make us any better than using CJ and keeping him for the future ...

by hardcore on Feb 4, 2008 12:23 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs