FanPost

Where the Warriors should go from here

Hey guys,

It's been a tough few days, but honestly this short-term pain and frustration can be turned into long-term success. First of all, the Warriors were not going to be title contenders in the short term, and the likely best that they could do considering the %!*@%@^ owner is a team in that vicious 2nd/3rd tier or Western Conference teams, which is now even more brutal.

As such, it's time to lick our wounds and make a smart battle plan for how to best come at this strong for the future. Here's how I'd do it:

Rule 1: Do not waste the money (see Fisher, Derek)

That said, what makes the most sense to me for this offseason is to make two front-loaded deals, which uses the available space now, makes teams less likely to match (though one of the two is a UFA), and opens up more money in the future:

1. Andre Iguodala- A very good player who is a natural fit next to Monta and also allows the Warriors to go after either a PG or SF long term since Monta/Iggy can be a SG/SF group (my preference) or a PG/SG duo. Something like 5 years, $65m frontloaded (so 15/14/13/12/11). You can frontload, though I do not know whether the max decreases are 5% or 10% per year (that offer relies on 10%).

2. Shaun Livingston. A real boom/bust guy who ideally would be a nasty, nasty backcourt mate with Monta. He has size, vision, and horrible injury problems. 3 years frontloaded totalling around $13m ($4.4/4.3/4.2 works), and it would be fantastic to have a 4th year team option on the end of that as a protection in case he works out really well.

Other than those two (and possibly Josh Smith or Okafor, though I assume both would be matched), it'd be better not to waste cap space this offseason long-term and either move it to next summer and try to slide Al/Jax (or both) for space in the 2009 offseason or just wait them out and spend in 2010 (Bosh!)

Theoretically, that team (with Monta/Beans getting $21m base combined with 10% raises) wouldn't have cap space for 2009 without getting Jackson and Harrington off (but would be luxury-tax safe at around $64m, considering cap increases).

Then, these would be their cap commitments going into the summer of 2010:
Monta/Beans: $25.41m
Iggy/Livingston: $17.2m
B-Wright and Marco: $5,778,341
Draftees (Randolph, Hendrix, 2009 1st- I used the #10 pick for a base), 2009 2nd, 2010 1st (I used #12 pick), and 2010 2nd: $8,000,980

That totals $56,389,321, which will be reasonable considering the cap increases for two more offseasons (2010 cap will be at $64.6m if $3m increases per year, which would be average).

So that team would have 12 players on roster (assuming all the picks work out) and a little less that $10m to work with, so it could be spent on one guy, or someone like Wright and/or Marco could be used in a S+T if necessary to get a stud like Bosh.

As always, thoughtful comments/criticisms are appreciated.

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!