A New Era: Golden State of the Warriors

by N.L Thorough on Jun 25, 2011 9:38 PM PDT

The development of our Core Group started in 2005 with Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrens. In 2009, we found a keeper in Stephen Curry, plus we got a Sleeper in Reggie Williams. Last year we drafted Ekpe Udoh and Jeremy Lin, both efficient role players, and Jeff Adrien, another undrafted but useful player. Of course, as a whole, these players haven't had the clear Vision from ownership as it does today, and it shows in what they've accomplished to date. We've acquired David Lee and Dorell Wright last year to add to our draftees and with a year under their belt and a new non-interim Coach, provided with a high caliber Staff, this team can finally plant its' roots and build for the future.

In comparison, before the Thunder moved to OK City from Seattle, they had already drafted Nick Collison and Kevin Durant Because of lack of public funding for a new Arena, Oklahoma City businessman, Clay Bennett moved the Sonics to OKC. And as the Thunder, in 2008 they drafted Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. In 2009, they drafted James Harden. All these Draft picks are the core a of what OKC is today. And with some little tweaks via trades, they have assembled a good group of young players that will contend in the West Conference for a long time.

Under a new Think Tank , this recent draft brought us Klay Thompson, Charles Jenkins and Jeremy Tyler. I had Thompson as a top 3 SG overall and the safest SG to pick, Jenkins as the Top 3 Senior PG (Top 5 overall) after Fredette and Goudelock,. And in Tyler we get a former Top HS Prospect, (who knows what would have happened if he went to College) we might be getting a No. 1 Lottery Pick for the price of 2 Million .

As in previous years (Anthony Morrow, C.J. Watson, Anthony Tolliver, Reggie) we might get some undrafted player such as Center Denzel Bowles or PFs Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Frank Hassell, Papa Dia and Jerai Grant, or Small Forward Damian Saunders- a group of overlooked Seniors in this years draft. I personally like the first two as they actually played well against top 100 RPI College teams. Hey! If we could have all off them to replace our outgoing Unrestricted Free Agents-Go for it! Note: among PFs and Centers, I had these ranked higher than Keith Benson, Trey Thompkins, Tristan Thompson and Terrence Jennings.

We finally have smart new Owners , a dynamic front office and a "Mommah-of-a-Coaching Staff". With what we have now top to bottom is the start of a new era for the Golden State Warriors. ( Cue in Nina Simone "Feeling Good)

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!

Tweet Comment 18 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Around SB Nation

Boston Celtics Daily Links 4/26

Apr 2012 from CelticsBlog - 0 comments

2012 New York Knicks Playoff Preview

Apr 2012 from Posting and Toasting - 87 comments

NetsDaily Off-Season Report #1

Apr 2012 from NetsDaily - 270 comments

Bucks Look To Add Size, Brandon Jennings vs. Monta Ellis, Hammond And Skiles Look To 12/13

May 2012 from Brew Hoop - 46 comments

Updates From Today's Practice

Apr 2012 from Posting and Toasting - 166 comments

Comments

ya.. maybe we get lucky with some undrafted guy......! never know.. lin was/is close to servicable

by PIRATEWARRIOR on Jun 26, 2011 2:05 AM PDT reply actions

Im actually really high on Jeremy Tyler

Think he can develop into a serviceable big for years to come.

by Back2Believe on Jun 26, 2011 11:07 AM PDT reply actions

Jeremy Tyler may be our

Demarcus Cousins… actually idk i dont know much about either except that their big dudes who may be mental basket cases

I wish I never had to sleep.

by DMJR on Jun 26, 2011 12:11 PM PDT reply actions

their = they're

I wish I never had to sleep.

by DMJR on Jun 26, 2011 12:11 PM PDT up reply actions

Jeremy Tyler may be our Demarcus Cousins

Nope, Cuz is a big with some serious skills, he wouldn’t be had in the 2nd round of a weak draft.

Party'N Party'N , YEAH!! Party'N Party'N , YEAH!! Fun fun fun fun.

by Skeptic con Urquell on Jun 26, 2011 4:07 PM PDT up reply actions

Tyler is a gamble. Let’s see what happens. Will he grow up and work hard..than he will be a good player or will he continue to be a headcase in which he will have a short NBA career.

by tenkaistar on Jun 26, 2011 6:07 PM PDT up reply actions

I also like what the Warriors are doing

Ownership has been proactive in trying to build a squad.

Ultimately we will not know how this team is going to do until Jackson and his assistants manage their first game together as a coaching staff. Mark Jackson not having any coaching experience definitely worries me a little, but with Mike Malone, I hope he will be able to do well.

For him to guarantee playoffs when he has never coached a game is a little over the top, in my opinion. He is putting a lot on himself, but I see him as someone that can accept failure and use it to strengthen him. Let’s see how the team starts off the season.

This season will be so completely different from last, I have no idea what to expect.

by DubsDominate on Jun 26, 2011 9:11 PM PDT reply actions

are we really comparing ourselves to OKC already?

Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka

Now, someone please tell me which of those would not start for us? All four of those players are better than our starters right now, with the one possible exception being that Curry has a slight chance of passing Westbrook in the next few years, if he is allowed to fully develop.

But guys, let’s not fool ourselves here. Those four OKC players are a core that can obviously get to the playoffs and go deep. We don’t have anything close to that talent level right now, and the proof is that we are not close to being a playoff team, let alone a serious threat to go to the conference finals like OKC just did.

If anyone thinks what we have right now is a core, he or she needs to have a better understanding of what people really mean when they use that term. Cuz what we got ain’t it.

_______________________________________________________________
The City: A Golden State Warriors-Centric NBA Blog

"Also, Evanz’ posts are easiest to hide while working. The chats and graphs can look like actual work related data to the lazy walker-by’s eye" (tafkasam)

"When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the state of science." (Lord Kelvin)

by Evanz on Jun 27, 2011 5:35 AM PDT reply actions

Not comparing us to OKC's Team per se

The premise was more on how great franchises build through the draft and free agency market with excellent scouting. how management has to trust in their scouting department to make educated and financially wise draft picks and free agent signings (Iggy for Monta-ish No No’s) and Ownership assembling a top-notch organization top to bottom to make reality of a vision of their blueprint for long-term success .

by N.L Thorough on Jun 27, 2011 6:36 AM PDT up reply actions

Sounds good. The question then becomes, how do these truisms apply to the Warriors more than to any other NBA team? If you hadn’t noticed: relative to the rest of the league, we kinda suck.

I’m also curious how Monta-for-Iggy is a “free agent signing,” or why, for a team that sucks at defense and rebounding, it would be a “no-no.”

Not to be a jerk, but this diary seems to consist mostly of a transcription of the Warriors roster in paragraph form. The basic premise seems to be: “The Warriors are an NBA team with a buncha players and and a coach and an owner — woohoo!”

I mean, more power to you — no one should ever begrudge a good burst of unbridled optimism. But neither should one begrudge a cold, hard look at reality. The reality right now is that the Warriors are mired in a long cycle of sub-mediocrity; and that their current core of overpaid, mediocre-ish players (specifically, Monta, Biedrins, and Lee) makes it somewhat difficult to break out of that cycle.

There will be no extra point!

by Sleepy Freud on Jun 27, 2011 7:08 AM PDT up reply actions

GSW sucks, you’re right. But it doesn’t have anything to do with the CURRENT ORGANIZATION. From my perspective, admrable changes have been made top to bottom and time will tell us if the Warrior Fans reason for filling up those Arena Seats was worth it.I’ve been frustrated with the previous front office for so long that just the
mention of Cohan selling had me Woohoo-ing.

Monta/Iguodala is just a rumor,I wasn’t using that as an example to Wise Free Agent Acquisitions but to reiterate the Scouting-Management-Owner Correlation to building talent the right way. Hence, the OKC way mentioned previously.
I presume you know how these players’ contracts are structured so I won’t go into the details. I don’t believe that a player swap as such would help us in the near future both with team chemistry and team salary cap.

TEAM CHEMISTRY
First off, I’m not for Monta Ellis being traded because, for whatever woes the Warriors are in he’s still the best player on the team, even though the situation has been less than favorable for Monta, he’s Warriored thru it and made himself
a top-notch Guard. The teams chemistry is not his fault, when they offered him his contract renewal years ago claiming him and Biedrens as the Cornerstones they failed to build around those two because of BAD Scouting-Management-Owner (and Coach).

Getting Iguodala presumably will help us at the Two Guard because he adds size to defend bigger 2’s. True, we do get bigger. But from a “Player Ability per Buck” standpoint it favors us to keep Monta if the only alternative is Iggy which I’ll discuss below.
But I’ll say this,however GSW handles trading Monta will give us a picture of how GOOD or BAD the current stewardship is. So, to get “A Lesser Player for More Money” doesn’t seem the financially sound thing to do.

TEAM SALARY
If Stephen Curry is the Future of this franchise,which everybody thinks so, it would be safe to speculate that they’ll do anything to keep him once his Rookie Contract expires.
Currently, our largest contracts are David Lee’, Monta Ellis’ and Andris Biedren’s.
Monta and Andris contracts were from the past regime, what it is is what it is, we just have to deal with it.
I thought Biedrens couldn’t be moved but it seems late noise in the rumormills suggest it could- if the “Rockets Offer” holds any water.
Let’s go back to the Monta/Iggy now in relation to Steph’s future salary considerations. Again it would be better to keep Monta as Iggy’s incremental increases will affect how we resign Curry while still having spare cap for Quality Free Agent signings.

I’m not against Trades, I’m just against trades that are quick fixes but have rippling effects on the future of the team and how mismanagement of salaries limits a team
from effectively buiding a strong contender.

by N.L Thorough on Jun 27, 2011 9:29 PM PDT up reply actions

They're similar

Monta could drop thirty points on any given night, just like Kevin Durant.

Stephan Curry is better than Westbrook hands down.

Dorrell Wright is just as dynamic as Harden, but he’s better than Harden at the three-ball.

And Ekpe Udoh is a great shot blocker, but remember it was only his rookie year.

So i’d say that their pretty similar, and whens the last time OKC beat the Warriors at home?

by Warriors realist on Jun 30, 2011 9:46 AM PDT up reply actions

Monta could drop thirty points on any given night, just like Kevin Durant.

um…don’t even go there

Stephan Curry is better than Westbrook hands down.

no… steph is close to westbrook at best. he is not ahead of him whatsoever.

Dorrell Wright is just as dynamic as Harden

he’s really not

but he’s better than Harden at the three-ball.

arguable.

And Ekpe Udoh is a great shot blocker, but remember it was only his rookie year.

i assume you’re arguing that ekpe is similar to ibaka. maybe defensively, not even close offensively.

So i’d say that their pretty similar, and whens the last time OKC beat the Warriors at home?

are you seriously arguing that okc isn’t better than the warriors?

by bigkino217 on Jun 30, 2011 2:58 PM PDT up reply actions

are you seriously arguing that okc isn’t better than the warriors?

Clearly. That’s why OKC didn’t make the playoffs, and we lost to Dallas in the Western Conference Finals. Go Warriors!

_______________________________________________________________
The City: A Golden State Warriors-Centric NBA Blog

"Also, Evanz’ posts are easiest to hide while working. The chats and graphs can look like actual work related data to the lazy walker-by’s eye" (tafkasam)

by Evanz on Jun 30, 2011 9:38 PM PDT up reply actions