What the hell are we trying to accomplish?

[floppymoose]

If the Heat end up landing the next Lebron because they sucked this year, then the Shaq trade will go down for the ages as a stroke of pure genius.

I wish the Heat the best with that (seriously). Warriors had great draft picks for years and completely screwed the pooch.

[Twinkie defense]

I might be down with 2 years of genuine contending for the Championship, then rebuilding. But deals that get you in that position don't exactly grow on trees... the Shaq and KG moves come to mind.

So absent that, incremental improvement combined with cap flexibility and quality young prospects seems like a very good plan. And the Warriors do have a talented young core in Beidrins and Ellis, some vets who have not only trade value but talent and who aren't exactly ancient, some intriguing if green talent in Wright and Belinelli, plus no bad contracts to speak of (just one more big year of Adonal's buyout), their TPE and room under the lux tax threshold.

I'd like to see the Warriors try to make the team better through trades, make the playoffs again, maybe even move up in the seeding, and if they advance out of the first round and don't get embarrassed in the second, I'm perfectly happy.

Sure I want a Championship, but that's not gonna happen this year, and I don't see how trading Baron or starting Beli, Wright, and O'Bryant are going to move the Warriors closer to that goal.

As far as trades go, it takes two to tango. Hopefully the Warriors find themselves in a situation like the one that got them Baron, or Jackson and Harrington. But don't forget other teams are trying to do what's right for them, too.

[Sleepy51]

I might be down with 2 years of genuine contending for the Championship, then rebuilding. But deals that get you in that position don't exactly grow on trees... the Shaq and KG moves come to mind.

So absent that, incremental improvement combined with cap flexibility and quality young prospects seems like a very good plan. And the Warriors do have a talented young core in Beidrins and Ellis, some vets who have not only trade value but talent and who aren't exactly ancient, some intriguing if green talent in Wright and Belinelli, plus no bad contracts to speak of (just one more big year of Adonal's buyout), their TPE and room under the lux tax threshold.

I'd like to see the Warriors try to make the team better through trades, make the playoffs again, maybe even move up in the seeding, and if they advance out of the first round and don't get embarrassed in the second, I'm perfectly happy.

Sure I want a Championship, but that's not gonna happen this year, and I don't see how trading Baron or starting Beli, Wright, and O'Bryant are going to move the Warriors closer to that goal.

As far as trades go, it takes two to tango. Hopefully the Warriors find themselves in a situation like the one that got them Baron, or Jackson and Harrington. But don't forget other teams are trying to do what's right for them, too.

Despite the details you and I might disagree about (which for me are about the best way to achieve an entertaining and competitive season THIS YEAR) I agree wholeheartedly with your overall perspective.

[turk3d]

I might be down with 2 years of genuine contending for the Championship, then rebuilding. But deals that get you in that position don't exactly grow on trees... the Shaq and KG moves come to mind.

So absent that, incremental improvement combined with cap flexibility and quality young prospects seems like a very good plan. And the Warriors do have a talented young core in Beidrins and Ellis, some vets who have not only trade value but talent and who aren't exactly ancient, some intriguing if green talent in Wright and Belinelli, plus no bad contracts to speak of (just one more big year of Adonal's buyout), their TPE and room under the lux tax threshold.

I'd like to see the Warriors try to make the team better through trades, make the playoffs again, maybe even move up in the seeding, and if they advance out of the first round and don't get embarrassed in the second, I'm perfectly happy.

Sure I want a Championship, but that's not gonna happen this year, and I don't see how trading Baron or starting Beli, Wright, and O'Bryant are going to move the Warriors closer to that goal.

As far as trades go, it takes two to tango. Hopefully the Warriors find themselves in a situation like the one that got them Baron, or Jackson and Harrington. But don't forget other teams are trying to do what's right for them, too.

I think you're right about this Hester and I'm with you on this one but would like to add something. Although I agree with you that we'd be foolish to consider a championship this year, I think the possibility could exist next year (at least in terms of goals), but there is only one way it could happen, and that is by developing our young players who have potential. In order to be a playoff contender, you have to have depth on your roster.

One of the most encouraging things to me coming into this season was our "apparent" depth. Part of that depth I envisioned came from our youth, particularly our draft picks. Unfortunately Nellie hasn't taken advantage of it and has little desire to develop it. With a deep core, including some veteran role players, this is how you can develop your youth. By not playing them this year, Nellie is retarding their growth as well as the advancement of the team imo. Now is the time when you get those guys into the fire, even if it's only for a few minutes a game (unless they totall suck).

To be quite honest, none of those guys have been tested enough to allow a fair assessment of them. By sitting them all the time, we will have wasted a year of experience so that coming into next year they will "effectively" still be rookies. By this philosophy, there is no way this team will be able to do much serious challenging either. That will be potentially Baron's last season with us, and after he leaves who knows, it might be a while before we are in that position again. After he's gone (and if we are not serious contenders next year, it's likely he will be) then we promptly go back into rebuild mode unless Biedrins and Monta (if we still have them both) develop into superstars or close to it.

We need to develop our youth while we are still devoted to winning this year. Not even bothering to play POB and just giving up on Lasme (without really giving him a shot) is really bad because if these two can play, they could have been two nice pieces to add to our depth chart both playing positions which we have need.

[Left*My*Heart]

I would hope that Cohan and Company want to win a championship.

I would guess that there are probably fans of 25 other teams asking the same question. How many teams have a legitimate shot of winning an NBA title this season? There are two teams in the East and there are maybe four in the West that have a shot.