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Nene?

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It is no secret that the Warriors need better interior defense.  David Lee grabs rebounds at a very high level, over 11 per 36 for his career.  Biedrins is even better with over 12 rebounds per 36 for his career, with that being said Lee and Biedrins share a weakness they both are not the best defenders.  I applaud Lee for his effort and Biedrins shows the ability to defend in spurts but defense is not either of their strengths("strengths" 9 letters only one vowel.)  Lee just signed to a large contract and has a much better all around game compared to Biedrins, therefore the Warriors should be looking for a center capable of playing great defense along side Lee.

Carmelo Anthony is not going to be a Nugget much longer and an indirect consequence of this action by Anthony is that the supporting cast that surrounds Anthony are probably less likely to stay with the Nuggets.  Denver is set to go into a rebuilding mode in the upcoming season.  Nene Hilario is having a career season with the Nuggets and probably wants a long term deal.  The Warriors will have the ability to sign him as a free agent, they could also do a sign and trade with the Nuggets.


This is why Nene works with the Warriors:

  • Nene is a big upgrade defensively as evidence by this list of post defenders from last year I found on the APBRmetrics forum (Post Up Defenders.)
  • Nene doesn't get many blocked shots, but the reality of defense is that blocked shots don't equate to defense necessarily, they are nice much like steals but they are not a perfect indicator of defensive ability.
  • Nene isn't nearly the rebounder that Lee and Biedrins are but he isn't horrible either, he gets around 8.5 rebounds per 36 which is mediocre for his position, but he is not a slouch in that area necessarily.
  • Nene's big strength besides his defense is his ability to score super efficiently without taking away much from the Warriors other offensive weapons.  He only shoots 9.6 shots per 36 and scores 17.3 points per 36, he has a blistering .693 TS%.
  • Nene's WS/48 is over .200 which according to people who go by that statistic makes Nene a star player
  • Nene has the ability to run the floor and has done so in Denver throughout his career, other interior defenders would force the Warriors to play at a slower pace, Nene would not force the Warriors to do this.
  • Nene drawns 6.5 foul shots per 36, which he hits at over 70%, this is good for the Warriors because the Warriors do not draw enough fouls on a consistent basis, Biedrins and Lee combine for about 5.0 foul shots per 36, this number would skyrocket to 10.5 if Nene was on the team, this is a significant difference.
  • Conclusion:  Nene would bring interior defense, more offense inside at elite efficiency and draw fouls, therefore helping the team by putting opponents in the penalty more often.  Overall Nene is the exact type of player that the Warriors need if they want to continue playing a fast paced style and be competitive.

How do we get Nene?  We have a few options, we could wait for Nene to opt out of his contract and sign him as a free agent, keeping our team intact and adding Nene(using whatever is left over to re-sign Reggie Williams/get another point guard) or we could do a sign and trade.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yjteljj

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=34pholh

The Nuggets would do a trade with the Warriors for Nene because once they know he isn't resigning they will want to get something out him, the Warriors have plenty of assets that the Nuggets might want anyone but Curry and Lee(highly doubt the Nuggets would want Lee) would be expendable in my opinion in order to sign a type of player like Nene.


There are many other trade combos that work as well, the Warriors do have draft picks they could potentially give up as well.

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!

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