i think the warriors are going to sign at least one good free agent. Because players today want money and although they want to be on a contender, money becomes a more important factor. Take Elton Brand, I know he will probably go back to the clippers but he did delay his decision to go back because of the huge sums of money that we offered. So i think the warriors can seriously sign one of these restricted free agents eventhough we might not be a contender next years. Thats my opinion. Yeah i would not want to lose Monta, but i highly doubt that Monta will leave, Mullin promised and he will do anything to bring him back. I trust mullin.

All the warriors have to do is forget brand and trade al harrington for a vet PG, then that frees up even more money in the cap to go after either iggy or Joash smith maybe even both?? Then if there is any money left we could try and go after maggete.

Lineup-
Kirk Heinrich
Ellis
Maggete
Josh Smith
Beidrens

How is this for optimism:

First, Mulson gets the Kings to blink on the guy from Rider, dropping a better player (AR) into the #14 spot. Time is the only way to tell on that, so I won’t argue the point either way.

Then, they don’t resign Baron. It was going to go down that way in a year anyway. Face it, the writing was on the wall. So we Cohan have has an extra $17 Mil lying around this year. The intent was to have that kind of money lying around next year, but I don’t think Cohan is going to get too grumpy about it. What Mulson gets is more minutes to spread around – to Ellis at the one, Belli @ the two (not sold that he will be a useful NBA player yet, but perhaps Nellie can cook up a way to use him, and this is a great way to find out), we see what Kaz has over a full year, etc.

So now the smoke screen really starts.

The warriors seem to be rumored to have big offers out to every major free agent in what is really a pretty mediocre FA year. I can’t help but notice that we don’t seem to be “winning” any of these bidding wars. My question is, are we really in any of them in the first place? Where are all these rumors coming from, anyway? The Dubs front office has been completely mum. Do you think that any NBA player’s agent would mind having permission to go back to the Clippers and say that the Dubs just made a max offer on their client?

In the meantime, there is a feeding frenzy happening in this very mediocre FA season, and a whole bunch of other teams are filling up their rosters and cap space for the long run. The dubs are not. Yes, I get it – cap space and $1.95 gets you a Venti coffee, but still.

I am not hearing so many rumors about Ellis and Biedrins. Or even Kaz. Perhaps we keep following the course that Mulson has been setting for the past couple of years. We let the frenzy die down. Quietly sign our guys to reasonable, fair, we-can-build-a-real-team-around-you-guys numbers. We keep Jackson to school the youngsters. If Barnes can stage a mental comeback, we probably get to get him at the vet’s minimum, and his (past) fire would be a nice addition to the Warrior culture. We keep Al and his expiring contract, decent understanding of Nellie’s system and neutral locker room presence.

We give the youngsters a year to show what they have got, and who works where. Then next year, we can target a talented PG in the draft (our record is, after all, going to suck though all this, sorry), and exactly the right available FA, at a potentially more modest price, to complete our roster.

Side note: A top-notch point guard is obviously a great thing to have, but there was an espn.com article that showed that very few of the past championship teams had a top-10 PG at the helm. In fact, who remembers that the last time the Dubs made the playoffs (before Baron) was the year that Tim busted up his ACL and Avery Johnson took over?

No major moves this summer, but keep the waters stirred up and tap all the other teams out. Develop/evaluate our guys. Maybe even groom Nelsons’ replacement. As for Baron’s money, we can turn it into short-term deals for veterans that can help show our new guys the ropes, or perhaps Cohan can lower ticket prices for a change.

OK, now even I realize that I am dreaming.

But just to do the math – let’s see. Let’s take Davis’ Salary: 17.8 Mil. Divide that by 41 home games, equals a little over $434 thousand a game. (sickening isn’t it) (I guess I shoulda learned hoops instead of Ultimate Frisbee). Divide that by about 19,596 tickets per game, and that works out to about $22.15 per ticket.

Whaddya say, Cohan – split the difference?

He’s a good defender and apparently he can handle the rock pretty well… maybe play the 1?

and the Hawks aren’t a loser franchise? BD was a solid player, but he wasn’t an all-pro and the dubs were terrible in his first couple years here, so obviously he wasn’t the sole reason for the turnaround.

mind having either, but no matter how you put it , the warriors were going to have a tough time getting the eighth spot w/baron. never mind these two. The best thing to do is wait and see as they develop young players. there is no need to sign anyone unless he/they make us better than what we’ve lost.

how many guys go to winning teams over taking the most money. did baron? imo no. come to think of it in the last twenty years name one big name free agent that came to any of the bay’s franchises. think long and hard about that. i can only think of one. barry bonds. but bonds was coming home,so imo it doesnt really count as the giants attracting a top free agent. plus the giants were getting a .290 30hr guy not victor conte’s bonds. so baron signing with the clips isnt so much them bein able to attract f.a.’s as it is him goin home.

I think we should have a thread for Baron haters and leave the rest of us to hate on Mullin and Cohan. Baron was and is a great asset and I can completely understand him feeling disrespected and heading south.

Right now we have more money than any other team in the NBA-about $18M-and that is after we sign Monta and Beans due to some prudent moves made by Mullin starting with the J-Rich trade. We are in great shape to build a good team for some time to come, but this coming season, baring landng one or two solid to impact players like Smith and Iggy, we won’t win 35 games IMHO.

naw zito was already in the bay, all he did was cross the bridge. dont remember the f.a.’s on the 94 squad. off the top of my head deion is the only name that really stands out(then again i’m not a niner fan so my bad if i missed someone)as far as fish goes…well i dont think i really need to elaborate on that one. but my point basically was that historically the bay area just does not draw big name f.a.’s for some reason. is it the ownerships, cost of livin, i dunno but imo its bigger than just the franchises w-l record or history. the bay and its franchises just do not appeal to f.a. outsiders.

Skeptic, this post isn’t up to your normally high standard. Baron came here because he was traded and we got a steal cause he burned his bridges in NO. And in general players go when a teams shows them the $$$ except in rare cases. For obvious ego reasons, players equate bread with status and follow the money. The only time they don’t is usually if they made a commitment to the franchise/team like Brand seems to be doing or like Malone did when he hoped to win a title with LA.

Sadly, most front offices operate on a bottom line and as cheap as I think Cohan is, he isn’t nearly as bad as the owners of Memphis, for instance.

They just aren’t worth the type of money they will demand. Sure they can play defense (well, Smith does it more so on the stat sheet), but where would a young defender who can’t shoot fit on a team that is notorious for playing no D and chucking 3’s? Signing any of these free agents would just be like buying a large gold bar and trying to push it through the circle hole in the child’s toy table, it don’t fit. All we have are swing men, smallish 2 guards, and 7 foot projects. Adding an overpaid swingman that can’t even shoot would just be a travesty. This team needs to just stay on it’s rebuilding path now that they’ve kissed Davis away and the big contract along with him. Now if the Warriors just draft smart, see how their players develop, and test the 2010 Free Agent waters, everything should go smooth. As of now, there are only 2 players I’d consider pursuing, Kirk Heinrich (for a cheaper price than he might demand though considering last year was terrible) and Kyle Lowry (a great defender and set up man for a mere fraction of the cost for AI or Josh Smith). I’m not going to concoct any crazy schemes to ship out players for any of those two, or even guarantee that they would be great, but I am saying that PG is our biggest need along with our eternal necessity for an effective PF/C (those can be optimistically filled by AB, Wright, and now Randolf however so the jury is still out). Whether they pan out or not, the lack of a single PG to develop is certain, considering Ellis is more of a SG.