FanPost

preemptive contingency outline


most posts on warriors pages deal with one of two possibilities for next season: either curry (we'll leave bogut out of the equation, he's not the focus here) comes back healthy, proper, fit and ready for duty, or injuries bog him down. there is a longer term possibility i feel like might actually happen, though, and its not a very good one.

lets face it: curry has been playing out of position for his first 3 years in the NBA. we all know, while he does have the tools (good passer, speed) to be a point, he really is suited for the 2. unfortunately he is undersized. so, once again, we are at a crossroad: force our budding undersized guard play his natural position... or match him up against players his size and put him in his unnatural position. what to do?

obviously we'll have to see him play this year first. year 3 is supposedly the year pgs make leaps and bounds in their game, so maybe im totally out of it and curry will be a great point guard. right now he is a pretty good point guard. but he could be a better 2 than he will ever be a 1. the other reason we have to let him play is to shop him for other GMs. if he cant stay healthy, his market value tanks harder then we did last season. if he can stay on the court, that's just icing on the cake. without further ado, my preemptive contingency outline, AKA life without curry:

Step 1: Draft Kendall Marshal

this is the most important part of the puzzle: curry's replacement. not replacement, upgrade. last year, he had an assist to turnover ratio of 3.5. curry boasts a 1.933... in his time with the warriors (5.8 assists per 3 turnovers). he's a facilitator and has good height to view the floor. a true floor general. he'll spend his rookie season spotting time behing curry and hopefully running the second unit splitting time with jenkins. in a dream world, curry imparts in him his pure stroke, while jenkins helps him bulk up in the weight room. i'd be fine with him just getting acclimated to the NBA game his first season.

one (laughable) possible plus i just thought of of having marshal on the team is the ressurection of beans. hear me out here: there are a million theories as to why he completely fell off the planet. but one i always found interesting is he operated best with a baron davis-like facilitating poing guard. since davis left, its either been curry or monta running the point, never a 'true' floor general. suddenly our depth in the front court looks a lot better if we could count on a solid 15 minutes from biedrins not playing like biedrins, right?

Step 2: Shop Curry

this is where the water gets murky. who in a year would need curry? will the other teams be looking at him as a 1 or a 2? what type of performance will he be putting on next season? for the sake of the plan, i'll leave it ambiguous. i'll just assume curry plays pretty much like he did his sophomore season and use his stats from that year as well. what team would be interested in a 17.5/5.8 kind of guy? if deron leaves, maybe the nets. when howard leaves, perhaps orlando. utah could always use some backcourt depth.

one thing that comes to mind that i find intriguing is perhaps miami. they need a consistent three point threat, even if coming off the bench. curry will be on a new salary, so we could do a sign and trade with bosh. i believe we get 20 million liberating dollars of cap space with beans/jeff coming off the payrole, so we could make the salaries fit. thats the only specific trade i can think of at the moment, but im sure someone will think of an even better fit.

Edit #1: i checked some of the salaries on the jazz and it seems they really know how to keep their salaries in check. unless they resign milsap or jefferson (which i dont think they'll do), there's no pieces i see them giving up in exchange for curry. scratch utah off of the list

i really gave this some thought for the last 24 hours. perhaps the best potential trade for curry would be with portland, a swap for a resigned batum. nic batum plays some great d and has some decent upside. portland is in need of a sharpshooter and a point guard, and it would give them a decent nucleus to build around (sorry if i sounded like the commentators from 2k). for the warriors, HOPEFULLY we'll have made the playoffs so our draft pick probably wont yield that starting caliber 3 we're looking for. sarting lineup for warriors, reserves in (): marshal (jenkins); thompson (rush); batum (mcguire); lee (tyler [or carl landry on an MLE]); bogut (???)

you get the idea though. the warriors should look for young talent to build around, preferably in the frontcourt. lee and bogut will not be around forever, and the nucleus should be built around thompson/marshal/????. a defensive minded 3 would be a godsend but i wouldnt hold my breath.

Conclusion

in all likelihood this will not happen. curry is a fan favorite and he makes a fine floor general. that said, he would make an even better 2 guard, coming off screens and lighting up the defenses. it all comes down to if your content with just 'good', over 'legendary'. i toyed with the idea of sliding curry to the 2 and either having thompson or curry come off the bench, but i've had enough with tweener 2 guards getting burned on the defensive end.

marshal of course hasnt played a second of an nba game, but ricky rubio showed that a past first mentality can do wonders for a team. i feel like guys with a good IQ and understanding of the game make smooth transitions to the nba, albeit shooting may hold them back a bit. despite the unknowns, i'd really like to see what a starting five of Marshal/Thompson/McGuire--Wright--Jefferson/Lee/Bogut can do.

go ahead and tell me if you think curry will become the point guard we need or what we should do with him

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!