Offseason Q&A: Tim Kawakami (San Jose Mercury) Part 3 of 4
Onto part 3 of our Q&A with Tim where we talk about last summer's dream, Bring KG to the Bay!

********** Golden State of Mind: More so than any other member of the media you know all about the Warriors pursuit of Kevin Garnett last summer. KG just picked up the Defensive Player of the Year trophy (the Warriors' biggest weakness this past season), lead the Boston Celtics to the best record in the regular season, and helped vault the Celts to legit contender status. How do you think this past Warriors season would have turned out if they ended up pulling off one of those rumored deals that you wrote about to bring KG to the Bay ? Tim Kawakami (4/23/08): That's the beauty of KG... he can be talked about in various forms, within various scenarios, for various conclusions... I'll bet I'm talking about KG and the Warriors 30 years from now, when he's 20 years into the Hall of Fame. OK, let's guess that the Warriors offer that Minnesota liked best was centered on: Harrington, Ellis OR Biedrins, Draft Pick (that turned into Wright); the Warriors probably would've received KG and several other salaries things back. You know and I know that this was a much better offer than Boston put together, but KG wanted to go East and Minnesota didn't push KG and his agent on that. (And maybe Mullin offered both Ellis AND Biedrins, though I'm not sure about that. My sense is that he never offered both.) Do I think that KG Warriors team would've made the playoffs? Yes, I do. KG, Baron, Jackson (assuming Nellie wouldn't have killed all three like he did Baron-SJax-Monta this year), Biedrins OR Ellis, Belinelli, maybe Jaric, Pietrus, Barnes... That's a pretty good team, at least as good as Houston and Dallas and probably better. I think Baron would've kept motoring with KG, instead of stopping in February. I think Nellie would've rested SJax. I think the Warriors would've played much better defense and who knows, Nellie might've even played Patrick O'Bryant. Would that have been as good a team as Boston is this year? No. That was the greatness of that deal for the Celtics--they were able to add Garnett without really messing up anything, so voila, that's a title-contender. The KG Warriors might not have threatened the Lakers or Spurs. But it would've been fun to see. I'd still have questions about the longevity of the core--but if the Warriors get KG, they don't have the young risers we're talking about now. It's a short-term shot and I'd bet most Warriors fans would've loved to see it. Mullin would've loved it, too. ********** Stay tuned for the final part! From the GSoM Vault:
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Kawakami's homerism is showing.
Kawakami is falling into the same trap that so many others have about the Warriors having put together a better offer than Boston.
The reality was that Boston presented Minn with Al Jefferson, a player more valuable than either Ellis or Biedrins. As much as I like Biedrins and Ellis, we couldn’t match that at the top end of the deal without offering up both players. Trades in the NBA tend to come down to the best player swapped. The cap-match players tend to be more often burdens than anything to consider in terms of ‘talent.’ The other parts of any offer we had was more or less filler, but not filler of the good kind. Did Minn really have any interest in Harrington and his multiple year contract? Probably not. He doesn’t help a team that you know is going to be rebuilding in any way. Minn’s plan was to get a good young player and clean out contracts. Boston offered garbage, but garbage on expiring deals. We did no such thing.
by jae on May 1, 2008 9:31 AM PDT 0 recs
Uhh... yeah, what he said.
Monta AND Beans would have been better than the Celtics offer. But Monta OR Beans doesn’t even come close.
Ratliff was an expiring $11M contract. Gomes and Green were valuable side pieces (both young Gomes showing ability, Green had/has potential), and Jefferson is a beast, and is also very young. No way does any Warriors offer approach that.
Sorry Kawakami, you’re just wrong.
by Dubs fan in Boston on
May 1, 2008 9:59 AM PDT
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What a waste of a question
We get 4 questions with the guy and we ask him a redundant, hypothetical one? This topic has been beaten into the ground to a tremendous degree. How about picking his brain for some actual “insider” information next time?
www.jettisonhigh.com
by BALLINelli on May 1, 2008 11:38 AM PDT 0 recs
I hate...
to bash GSOM because these guys do such a great job for us warrior fans but in this rare instance, I agree. This was a silly question.
by in for life on
May 1, 2008 11:15 PM PDT
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I really don´t believe everything I´m reading here on GSOM these last couple of days…
I will write an extensive analysis of the season, but I don´t think it was a total mess. Everyone here is talking about blowing it up. Trade Baron, fire Nelson, trade everyone, rebuild for the future… Jeez! We still have good years with this team! Of Course we need a good PF and a good backup PG. but no need to rebuild just because we won almost 50 games and didnt make the playoffs!
F**K REFS!!!
by faetati on May 1, 2008 12:12 PM PDT 0 recs
you´re welcome!
Dont froget to read my season review this week!
F**K REFS!!!
by faetati on
May 2, 2008 12:17 AM PDT
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