In reference to my call to trade Al Harrington, I have been asked (as well as wondered myself) who I would go after?  Well, I'm not sure how enamored they Heat are with Shawn Marion, or how he feels about them, but that would be my first choice outside of Elton Brand.  Elton Brand is a more difficult trade to make because the proposed team is in the same division as the W's, which makes a trade less likely.

Let me say that either of those are very likely, but here is the direction I'd try and go.  The case for Shawn Marion:

Run, run, run:  The Warriors are probably entering next season as the NBA's elite scoring team, with the addition of Shaq in PHX, and the gradual decline of Steve Nash.  Never mind that the Warriors already an elite scoring team, but the addition of Shawn Marion would put them over the top. 

Scoring:  Worst case scenario for the nay sayer, the scoring would be a wash, but I'd still give the upper hand to Marion, easily.

*Marion: 36 MPG, 15.4 PPG, FGP 50%, FTP 70%.

*Harrington: 27 MPG: 13.6 PPG, FGP 43%, FTP 77%.

The only clear edge that Harrington has is free throws, which is of concern, but not enough of a concern for anyone to not make this move.

The Achilles Heel: Defense and Rebounding:  With the Warriors willingness to go small, you could use the 6'7 Marion at the PF position. 

Marion's regular season defensive rankings worth noting:

#7 in the NBA with 1.98 SPG (Steal per game) - Harrington 0.9 SPG

#6 in the NBA with 8.0 Defensive RPG - Harrington 4.1 Defensive RPG

Many of Marion's stats were better than Harrington's, but twice as many steals and defensive rebounds per game?  Who doesn't know that the Warriors defensive mission is to turn the ball over?  Last season the Warriors were the #1 offensive rebounding team in the Western Conference, and the 5th worst defensive rebounding team in the Conference.  Remember to the defensive stops that could have been last year, if the opposing team hadn't pulled that offensive rebound...

The logistics of the trade:

This is where it gets very tricky.  I'm not completely knowledgeable of the NBA salary cap, but from what I could find, the Warriors could go up to $67.865M before they had to start paying the luxury tax.  I wasn't able to find out what the 2008/2009 salary cap figure will be, so I'm basing this off of this past seasons numbers.  I will also be using last years player salaries for free agents and their potential sign and trade deals.

Sean Marion's 08-09 cap figure is $17.4M, Al Harrington being $9.2M.  Ouch.

Fist there would have to be some sign and trade deals done in order to make this deal.  The main players leaving the Warriors would be Al Harrington, Mickael Pietrus (I chose MP due to the apparent interest from Miami last season), Kosta Perovic, Kelenna Azibuke, and the Warriors #1 draft pick this year. 

Salaries:

As stated, Harrington is making $9.2M.

Pietrus made $3.4M, so I'll round him up to $4M assuming he's get a small raise.

Perovic is due to make $1.94M.

Azibuke is due to make 797K.

(Plus 1, or 2 first round picks?  Or Belinelli if the W's don't think he'll pan out)

Other players that could be mixed and matched, Barnes, O'Bryant and Belinelli.  Belinelli may be required as part of the main package, although I'm trying to avoid that in these scenario's.  Those salaries mentioned above would come to $15.93M, which could amount to a wash with whatever Marion would sign to, because his new deal would not equal the $17.4M he's due to make. 

Also, if the Warriors are that big on Belinelli, they could offer an additional 1st round pick, because chances are with Marion they wouldn't be in the lottery and the team would be young enough that losing another first round pick probably wouldn't kill them in the long term, although it certainly wouldn't help.

This would give the W's a possible roster of:

Baron Davis - C.J. Watson *

Monta Ellis -  Kelenna Azibuke

Stephen Jackson - Matt Barnes *

Shawn Marion - Brandon Wright

Andris Biedrins - Austin Croshere *

Patrick O'Bryant * - Marco Bellinelli *

* Players that could be resigned, or (sign and) traded away as part of the proposed deal.

Since I tried to be conservative in my salary cap figures, the Warriors would probably be in decent cap shape, especially if a move like this could prompt Baron Davis to opt out and resign at a discount in the same manner that Gilbert Arenas would to keep Antawn Jamison.  If not, BD's departure after this season would clear plenty of cap room to allow for Marion's salary and a replacement for years to come. 

Ellis/Jax/Marion/Wright/Biedrins  -  That sounds good to me. 

I did my best to make this trade remotely apprear aa a possibility, but there is so much that goes into it, and so many variables involved that makes something of this scale hard to imagine.  Anyone have Mullin's phone number?  Maybe he's hiring for an assistant.....I'm full of imagination.