Santa Cruz Warriors season preview: What might these players contribute to a NBA roster?

The Santa Cruz Warriors open their inaugural season in California tonight at 7 p.m. against the Reno Bighorns (which you can watch online on YouTube). The following is just an overview of the team: a look at their roster, what some of the top candidates to make a NBA roster might contribute to the Warriors if called up, and how Kent Bazemore and Jeremy Tyler can participate as assignment players. For more on the team, click here to visit our Santa Cruz Warriors section.

The Warriors' unusual commitment to Rick Jackson: Why owning a D-League team can be so valuable

The Golden State Warriors brought former Syracuse big man Rick Jackson into training camp this year knowing that he wasn't ready to contribute at any level, NBA or D-League. Even though that chapter in Jackson's life is now complete, the story itself speaks to the value of the franchise owning the Santa Cruz Warriors.

Santa Cruz Warriors re-acquire Mickell Gladness, trade Rick Jackson to Austin Toros to make room

The Santa Cruz Warriors have re-acquired Mickell Gladness, who played for the Dakota Wizards last season before joining Golden State for their tank-a-thon end of their season. To make room for Gladness, Santa Cruz has traded fellow post Rick Jackson to the Austin Toros.

Santa Cruz Warriors release Japeth Aguilar

As first reported by NBA.com Philippines and Philstar.com, the Santa Cruz Warriors have waived center Japeth Aguilar.

Stanford's Ros Gold-Onwude, Drew Shiller to serve as analysts for Santa Cruz Warriors

Stanford alums Ros Gold-Onwude and Drew Shiller will serve as analysts on the radio broadcast team for the Santa Cruz Warriors in their inaugural season. But still without a PA announcer, the Warriors will hold a contest open to the public.

Santa Cruz Warriors media day and practice notes: Where analytics and passion collide

With the Golden State Warriors away on a road trip, the Santa Cruz Warriors held their inaugural media day in California at the Warriors' downtown Oakland headquarters on Thursday followed by an open practice. The following are just a few notes on my initial impressions.

Santa Cruz Warriors bring a promising roster into inaugural season in California

Today is media day for the Santa Cruz Warriors, who approach their inaugural season in Northern California with a promising roster that includes three Golden State Warriors training camp invitees.

Details on Kaiser Permanente Arena agreement between Santa Cruz and the Warriors

There were a number of comments about the details of the impact of the Kaiser Permanente arena deal in my first post about the Santa Cruz Warriors last week.

There were a number of great points brought up and enough to say that I decided to respond in a fresh post. Here are some of the major points of clarification.

• In my initial post, I wrote that the Kaiser Permanente Arena would have 4,000 seats, citing the figure given in a Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal article by Lauren Hepler. However, as GsoM commenter BlazFraz noted, that figure isn't entirely accurate. A more recent report by Tom Jones of the Central Coast News reports a 3000-seat capacity, which is closer to the seating chart I obtained from the Warriors.
  
• The agreement for the temporary arena is a seven-year deal, based on the approved Santa Cruz City Council agreement and is a somewhat unique public-private partnership between the City and the Warriors. Financially, the final agreement called for a $5.4 million total budget with the city putting up a $4.1 million loan and the Warriors putting up a capital contribution to cover the remaining balance.
• The whole agreement has been structured such that the City's loan is repaid as soon as possible and with the combination of prepaid rent from the Warriors, the Kaiser Permanente sponsorship, and a combination of other smaller elements in the plan, nearly $3 million of that $4.1 million is guaranteed to be recovered by the City in the first few years of the agreement. When you add in additional revenue from usage fees and other city events, there should be little problem in recovering the entirety of the loan.
• For those concerned, the city's contribution "does not obligate the General Fund in any way", according to the agreement. In other words, this arena deal is not taking money that would otherwise go to things like road, police, fire, building funds, etc.
• In addition, UC Santa Cruz has expressed interest in using the facility for basketball and volleyball games, which would generate further revenue though the specifics of that are not included in the agreement.
• There's also the added value of Santa Cruz having a facility with which to attract major events like conventions, which the existing Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium is insufficient to host. While concerts have also been something mentioned, there will initially be limits on that pending a noise study.

Ultimately, this deal is beneficial for all parties involved:

• The temporary arena agreement allows the Warriors to put up an arena quickly with less expense to them than a permanent arena would incur.
  
• The loan agreement is structured such that there is minimal long-term risk to the City, financially or physically: should the Warriors leave town for any reason, the space can be far more easily repurposed than a permanent arena would be.
• UC Santa Cruz gets a facility to host games, conferences, or other events that it – nor the city – previously had.

Kirk Lacob on Warriors' interest in a WNBA team

Both Joe Lacob and Jim Weyermann had experience in women's basketball - in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL) - before coming together with the Golden State Warriors.

Those experiences came up during the interview with Santa Cruz Warriors GM Kirk Lacob and so the discussion briefly turned to whether the Warriors organization would consider bringing a WNBA team to the Bay Area, as described yesterday over at SB Nation's women's basketball site Swish Appeal.

"I think the Bay Area could use a WNBA team - I think it's a terrific spot for one," said Kirk Lacob during the interview. "I think we have a history of doing it. We love basketball, in any shape or form. Right now the only summer basketball (in the Bay Area) is summer league and it's really, really fun, but it doesn't cover every demographic that we have in this community. The Bay Area is unique because while it has a fan base for all sports, it really loves basketball. It's the most knowledgeable [fan base] in the league in the Bay Area. So it would not be an awful thing if down the road something were to happen."

Northern California's last two experiences with women's professional basketball have ended on sour notes.

The WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs, a perennial playoff contender that made consecutive WNBA Finals and won the title in 2005, folded abruptly in November 2009 when the Maloof brothers hit financial trouble that foreshadowed some of the problems they've had more recently with keeping the NBA's Sacramento Kings around.

Prior to that, Joe Lacob owned the ABL's San Jose Lasers before that league folded abruptly in December 1998, having lost its competition with the WNBA. But with Lacob's experience with the Lasers and Weyermann's experience as general manager with the ABL's Seattle Reign - both among the league's more successful franchises in its two year existence - the Bay Area appears to be a prime candidate for a women's professional basketball team whether the league seeks to expand or relocate a team.

Given the people involved with the Warriors, the question might not be whether they're interested but when they'll be ready to give it a shot.

For more on the Warriors, Lacob, Weyermann and their relationship to women's basketball, check out the full story at Swish Appeal.

Interview with Kirk Lacob (Pt. 2): The Warriors, Sports VU & solving the "communication problem"

In Part 2 of an interview with Santa Cruz Warriors GM and Golden State Warriors assistant GM Kirk Lacob, he discussed how analytics are used throughout the franchise, why they're excited about Sports VU, and how they approach the "communication problem", which is as difficult as the "data problem".

D-League 101: An interview with Santa Cruz Warriors GM Kirk Lacob

In Part 1 of an interview with Santa Cruz Warriors general manager Kirk Lacob, he discusses his role with the team, the value of the Affiliate Player Rule, Jeremy Tyler's experience in the D-League and why Jeremy Lin declared he would never go back to the D-League after playing in Reno.

The Santa Cruz Warriors: Cultivating A Pro Basketball Culture In 'Surf City'

The Santa Cruz Warriors don't have an arena, a website, or even a door on their conference room (until last week). Yet they do have over 600 season ticket holders and a solid foundation for success.