Golden State Warriors Offseason Review

[Smitty731]

Current Salary Cap Status: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1317365

Players Resigned: None

Additions: Leandro Barbosa, Aaron Craft, Justin Holiday, Shaun Livingston, James Michael McAdoo, Brandon Rush, Mitchell Watt

Subtractions: Hilton Armstrong, Steve Blake, Jordan Crawford, Jermaine O’Neal


Predicted Opening Night Depth Chart (assumes a 15 man roster for all teams, new additions in bold):
PG: Stephen Curry, Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa
SG: Klay Thompson, Brandon Rush, Nemanja Nedovic
SF: Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes,
PF: David Lee, Draymond Green, Marrese Speights, James Michael McAdoo
C: Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, Ognjen Kuzmic

Offseason Grade: B+

Analysis: Golden State improved on each player they lost, in my opinion. Livingston and Rush will more than replace what they got from Blake and Crawford. Livingston can come in and play either guard spot. In either situation, Curry or Thompson will get to come off screens. It also gives Iguodala a break from doing the ball handling. Rush provides good depth in case of injuries. And he’s a more consistent player than Crawford. The highs won’t be as high, but at least you know what you are getting each night. A healthy Ezeli will be very good for them as well. He can bang and rebound. That is basically what you need behind Bogut. If Bogut goes down with an injury again, I could see them asking O’Neal to come back. At this point, a shortened season is probably best for him anyway.

All around, the Warriors didn’t need to add too much. They could have pushed for Love, but I think they did the right thing. They have one of the best offensive teams in the league. Kerr will only make that part better. If they continue to defend the way they have the last couple of years, Golden State will be in the mix in the Western Conference. They probably are not at the San Antonio, LAC or OKC level, but right on the next tier. If those teams slide for any reason, the Warriors could step right in.

[old rem]

Good analysais. GSW had for years.. a pattern of turning over half the roster.. and they needed to stabilize a bit.
The projected roster/depth is pretty accurate, with Nedovic and McAdoo a bit unsure. Nedovic has to show progress in Pre-Season or GSW will be looking to give him away..or buy him out. I think Aaron Craft can earn a spot.
Kuzmic hardly played for GSW but is a real C and averaged 11+ rebounds in D League. GSW will hope he's better, that Ezeli is durable, 100% recovered.. and has learned a bit.

With no SF averaging 10+ points.. GSW will look at that. Iggy is fine but may do more as a 6th man, a 2/3 swingman. That only happens if Barnes or Green steps up. I'm interested to see how Rush does. When with GSW he was a good "3 and D" guy. Having Rush on the floor with Curry and Klay could be interesting.

[Smitty731]

Good analysais. GSW had for years.. a pattern of turning over half the roster.. and they needed to stabilize a bit.
The projected roster/depth is pretty accurate, with Nedovic and McAdoo a bit unsure. Nedovic has to show progress in Pre-Season or GSW will be looking to give him away..or buy him out. I think Aaron Craft can earn a spot.
Kuzmic hardly played for GSW but is a real C and averaged 11+ rebounds in D League. GSW will hope he's better, that Ezeli is durable, 100% recovered.. and has learned a bit.

With no SF averaging 10+ points.. GSW will look at that. Iggy is fine but may do more as a 6th man, a 2/3 swingman. That only happens if Barnes or Green steps up. I'm interested to see how Rush does. When with GSW he was a good "3 and D" guy. Having Rush on the floor with Curry and Klay could be interesting.

I was unsure out of their partial/non-guaranteed guys who would stay, if any of them. I like McAdoo the most because his potential is so great. I could see him being a contributor down the line. I love Craft's toughness and defense, but I don't know if he is quick enough or good enough on offense to stick. And I tend to go big over small when making those calls. Unless there is an obvious need.

I also agree on the SF spot. I went in to last season thinking that Barnes and Iguodala should start, with Thompson off the bench as a 30+ MPG sub. Thompson is now knocking on the door of being a true star. Iguodala is aging, but still good. I think Barnes is the key to this whole thing. I think Jackson destroyed his confidence by jerking him and out of the lineup. Maybe it was deserved, but I know it impacted him. A year before he was playing key minutes and giving the Spurs all kinds of trouble. This past year he did next to nothing. I think the guy still has talent. I think Kerr will give him some consistent minutes at both the 3 and 4 spots, depending on matchups. If he can give them some production, and the bigs stay healthy, the Warriors could be right there.

[jayjaysee]

Agree with Old Rem.

Though I can't see AI being benched at all.. He's just too talented for that.

I do think the ideal rotation puts Curry/Klay/AI together for about 20 mpg, puts Curry/Livingston together for 8-10 puts Livingston/Klay for 8-10.. AI/Livingston together doesn't seem like a great fit to me, but maybe I'm off on that?.. their minutes together can definitely be limited thanks to Rush/Barnes/Green also being off the bench..

I'd like to see Livingston and Green take AI/Bogut's spot in the starting line up as the first rotation.. I think a Curry/Livingston/Klay/Green/Lee line up would be so hard to match up against.. When AI comes back, he would be fresh and ready to be primary ballhandler until Curry comes back in and I think we all know how great the defense is when Klay/AI/Green/Bogut on our the court together..

[turk3d]

Good analysais. GSW had for years.. a pattern of turning over half the roster.. and they needed to stabilize a bit.
The projected roster/depth is pretty accurate, with Nedovic and McAdoo a bit unsure. Nedovic has to show progress in Pre-Season or GSW will be looking to give him away..or buy him out. I think Aaron Craft can earn a spot.
Kuzmic hardly played for GSW but is a real C and averaged 11+ rebounds in D League. GSW will hope he's better, that Ezeli is durable, 100% recovered.. and has learned a bit.

With no SF averaging 10+ points.. GSW will look at that. Iggy is fine but may do more as a 6th man, a 2/3 swingman. That only happens if Barnes or Green steps up. I'm interested to see how Rush does. When with GSW he was a good "3 and D" guy. Having Rush on the floor with Curry and Klay could be interesting.

I was unsure out of their partial/non-guaranteed guys who would stay, if any of them. I like McAdoo the most because his potential is so great. I could see him being a contributor down the line. I love Craft's toughness and defense, but I don't know if he is quick enough or good enough on offense to stick. And I tend to go big over small when making those calls. Unless there is an obvious need.

I also agree on the SF spot. I went in to last season thinking that Barnes and Iguodala should start, with Thompson off the bench as a 30+ MPG sub. Thompson is now knocking on the door of being a true star. Iguodala is aging, but still good. I think Barnes is the key to this whole thing. I think Jackson destroyed his confidence by jerking him and out of the lineup. Maybe it was deserved, but I know it impacted him. A year before he was playing key minutes and giving the Spurs all kinds of trouble. This past year he did next to nothing. I think the guy still has talent. I think Kerr will give him some consistent minutes at both the 3 and 4 spots, depending on matchups. If he can give them some production, and the bigs stay healthy, the Warriors could be right there.

Impressive with your knowledge of the Warriors (not being your home team). You hit all the major points. Just to add a little, Nedovic is not a SG (he was drafted as a PG and has no outside shot so no way will he ever play 2 for us with Klay and then Curry being able to swing over to 2 on occasion). In addition, both Livingston (as you pointed out) and Rush can play SF as well. And right now I'd say that Craft has the inside track on him @ PG (with Nedo currently being injured and not showing us much if anything in SL this year).

I think there's a reasonable chance that JO will be brought back (there's talk that the GM has been in some preliminary discussions with him) which I'd be happy with considering our Center situation. Also, Barnes is now indicating he intends to improve on his rebounding, which leads me to believe that he thinks he may be getting more minutes at the 4 and I think you're absolutely right, health is going to be the main factor as to how well this Warriors team is able to perform this year probably with Bogut (who now appears healthy according to recent reports) the key imo.

[old rem]

Agree with Old Rem.

Though I can't see AI being benched at all.. He's just too talented for that.

I do think the ideal rotation puts Curry/Klay/AI together for about 20 mpg, puts Curry/Livingston together for 8-10 puts Livingston/Klay for 8-10.. AI/Livingston together doesn't seem like a great fit to me, but maybe I'm off on that?.. their minutes together can definitely be limited thanks to Rush/Barnes/Green also being off the bench..

I'd like to see Livingston and Green take AI/Bogut's spot in the starting line up as the first rotation.. I think a Curry/Livingston/Klay/Green/Lee line up would be so hard to match up against.. When AI comes back, he would be fresh and ready to be primary ballhandler until Curry comes back in and I think we all know how great the defense is when Klay/AI/Green/Bogut on our the court together..

I'm not saying bench Iggy..really..I'd still think he gets about 30 min...at both the 2 + 3. Note how Barnes...9 ppg..is said to have "done nothing" buyt he matched Iggy's scoring in fewer minutes. Iggy .. when playing.. get's tendinitis in kis knees. His numbers declined over the year, and declind yearly for about 6 years. When he's RIGHT..yes he's good, but I say games he had maybe 5 pt, was a step slow overall.. his matchup outscored him....by plenty. Barnes... may never be who we thought but GSW has to INVEST.. to givre him the chance. Dray Green.. meanwhile played so well that when all the diust settles.. he could beat out BOTH Iggy and Barnes (just not yet)

I'd tend to NOT try to get a lot of minutes out of Iggy or Bogut. I'd rather have them play 30 min well than play 35 and end the season subpar. While Nedovic is under contract.. GSW will be looking at the last 2 spoots in PreSeason.. with Nedovic unceertain. Odds are the guys who are #14,15 won't play much. With Barbosa and Rush,and Livingston.. there's G dept. Rush plays some F..wqhich means depth there. GSW will want to get good play from Ezeli and Kuzmiic, can use Speights and Lee as C subs too. If McAdoo,or Craft or any rookie makes the team... he may spend some time in Santa Cruz so he does not rust on the bench. GSW MIGHT elect to sign a veteran C backup....possibly JO if he'd play at Vet minimum. Otherwise, McAdoo and Crafyt could be finalists for a spot.

I saw a pattern that GSW wants to build a stable core....get away from revolving door. So far.. that's what's a theme. As to the Love deal... had Love been at least average on D.. they might have done it. They saw it as upgrading Lee and the cost of losing Klay.. was questionable.. even were it a 3 player deal. Minny did want MORE..plus dumping contract junk on GSW. The math....you lose a defense guy..you lose TWO scorers for one.
Who replaces Klay on Defense...please do not say Kevin Martin.

[jayjaysee]

... guy..you lose TWO scorers for one.
Who replaces Klay on Defense...please do not say Kevin Martin.

I'm confused why Minn was brought up.. But I do agree with everything besides that.

I actually see Iggy and Bogut sticking around 26-28 mpg during regular season unless they both look beyond 100%. I see Lee playing center with Green at PF for 4-6 mpg (don't hurt me).. Ezeli playing 14-20mpg depending on how he looks.

Iggy getting his minutes limited by Barnes, Rush, and Livingston obviously.

And the answer to Klay replacement would be Iggy, Barnes and Livingston IMO.

Curry 34 / Livingston 14
Martin 28 / Livingston 18 / Rush
Iggy 28 / Barnes 20
Love 28 / Green 20
Bogut / Ezeli / Love

Depending on the team Martin would line up against the worst PG-SF for his minutes on the court.

Clearly it wasn't a move the Warriors wanted to make, but Curry/Iggy/Livingston/Green could have covered it. Very few teams line up three players that can create their own shot to make Martin's defense look horrid while on the court with the Warriors very good defensive players.


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[old rem]

Martin is 31 now.. has 3 yr at $7 mill per. He's almost unmovable as is and that gets WORRSE. He sucks omn D..Love sucks on D..that lineup.. is a fail on D. Curry is okay on D BECAUSE Klay covers the best G and Curry casn handle the OTHER guy. If Curry has to D the BEST G.. that's a fail. GSW could seldom afford to PLAY Martin.. but otherwise who scores aside from Curry + Love?

GSW would have done Lee + Barnes and maybe add a pick. NO Martin...maybe C Brewer.. That's the line...and Minny wanted a lot more. With Love UNSIGNED.. it would be STUPID...very STUPID.