FanPost

Offseason Reality Check

Mid June is usually the most exciting time of the year for Warriors fans, mostly because of our team's annual triumphant romp through the playoffs only to reinforce itself as a dynasty of epic proportions.

Championships aside, Warriors fans look forward to the summer for the NBA Draft, and the bucketsfull of hope and promise that it brings. Our imaginations run wild. The Warriors' draft pick will be a Savior, and if that's not enough, we can also trade a bunch of our flotsam for other draft picks that yield Saviorettes. We might even make another trade for a superstar or two. 

But this year is a little different. Maybe a lot different. Or maybe, in the end, not any different at all.

The variable this year, which many draft prognosticators apparently are ignoring, and somehow even a few GSOMers are forgetting: The team is for sale. It's gonna happen this year, folks. We'll have a new owner. While this fact itself has often been the subject of many diehard Dubs fans' offseason fantasies, the unfortunate reality of the sale is that it'll almost certainly delay any exciting happenings on or surrounding the draft.

The prospective buyers all have their kits. Assets are well documented. Liabilities are being considered. Someone's gonna drop a hot $400 Million, and Cohan is smacking his lips in anticipation (or sweating his shirt off). I would think the last thing he would want to do at this point would be to make a move that could hinder a potentially imminent sale. Nobody wants to see a curveball this late in the game.

The exception might be a pure salary dump. But I don't think we have the right assets; the big salaries have enough talent that a giveaway could hurt the team, in the papers and the box office. I can't imagine Riley and Cohan having the balls to trade Monta for draft picks prior to a sale, as his perceived value and box office draw is too high to risk it.

If this thought process is correct... well, we're picking at six... and not much else is gonna happen anytime soon. Riley will pick the BPA (I have no clue who that is or will be), we'll welcome July with Steph+Monta as our starting backcourt, Maggs as our resident offensive clog, and Nellie as our disinterested, looking-forward-to-retiring-to-Maui head coach. Other teams will be going bonkers, trading difference-makers and draft picks left and right. 

We'll just have to hold tight and wait for the Ellison Wave to sweep in and flush out the mess. Forget those damned Titanic deck chairs; welcome aboard the Rising Sun. He (or Mastrov, or a mysterious group of loaded Chinese dudes, or whomever else wins the war) is this summer's Savior. We'll still have time to dream, Dreamers. It'll just happen later than usual.

There's a good chance that this team isn't sold until late in the summer, maybe even into the fall. There's a chance that no significant moves are made well into the season. We just don't know what a new owner is gonna have in mind. In a way, maybe this year will be the best ever for the Dreamers—it's hard to guess what the future holds for this team. It'll just be on hold at least through the Draft, and that makes me a little sad.

 

(If the Warriors make a big move this week, this FanPost will self-destruct and I will die in shame.)

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!