Baron OPTS out!! Clips get BD for 5/65 (page 35)

[Yi Jian Lian]

Josh Smith ain't coming, quote me.

[Chris Cohan]

Josh Smith ain't coming, quote me.

I certainly hope you're right.
This kid has all the makings of a colossal mis-signing.

I may eat that later but so be it.

[Coxy]

Josh Smith ain't coming, quote me.

I certainly hope you're right.
This kid has all the makings of a colossal mis-signing.

I may eat that later but so be it.

Well have to agree to disagree on this one and agree that i'm right. Josh will be beast in the right situation. DPOY is not out of the question next year.

[killbuckner]

The fact that the Warriors haven't even brought Josh SMith to town would sure seem to indicate that they aren't going to make a move for him.

[turk3d]

The fact that the Warriors haven't even brought Josh SMith to town would sure seem to indicate that they aren't going to make a move for him.

If they do, it'll be through a S & T with Atlanta, not an outright signing. * We need to just wait until the Brand situation is resolved, and then we'll see.

Al + Pietrus S & T + Warriors #1 2009 (lottery protected) + Warriors #1 2011 + 3 Million cash for Smith S & T.

[killbuckner]

Turk- why do you think that? I'd thinkt he Warriors would certainly rather sign Smith to the max and hope the Hawks don't match rather than give up a couple first round picks... The odds of the Hawks matching a max contract with a max signing bonus are 50% at best

[turk3d]

First of all, next year's pick (2009) is lottery protected (when we probably are most vulnerable so if we have a sucky year, then we are still in the running for a top pick. As for the 2011 pick, with all the young talent we've stockpiled and with the projection that we'll be making a move for a top flighy FA (this particular trade scenerio almost insures we will by moving Al I don't expect that pick will be worth all that much (if we're still lottery by 2011) then we'll just have to suck it up for a year but I don't see how with a necleus that consisted of at a minimum:

Ellis, Jackson, Wright, Biedrens, Smith, Wright, Randoplh, Belinelli, Bukie + Iguodala or Maguette? (by trading Al, I think we would still have plenty of cap room) + 2010 FA + 2009 (lottery pick if we falter).

Edit: We need to try to give Atlanta incentive to do a S & T and take back Al for us (who has only 1 or possibily 2 years at the most) in order to allow us to pick up that other FA we want this offseason which won't put us seriously close to lux. I think this does it. It allows us to obtain Smish, but at the same time preserve our cap space to a degree + keep all our young assets. This is the only way I personally would go after Smith since I think the cost will be too high if we want to just outright sign him. The Hawks (if they are not willing to spend on him) just might do this rather than losing him outright to other bidders. The draft picks are what might be enough for them to do it, presuming they allow us to make this year's lotto protected.

[WarFan]

I hadn't seen these quotes from Lepper's blog last week before and I couldn't find them in here either, but it's the only direct quotes I've seen from anybody:

Don Nelson had this to say at Monday’s press conference for rookie picks Anthony Randolph and Richard Hendrix: “Matt Barnes and Cro, those guys will not be back, so there’s going to be some minutes there (at the forward spots). The team is going to take on a different shape, a different look. So there will be more opportunities for our youth.”

Chris Mullin didn’t necessarily agree, but did say it wasn’t realistic to think the Warriors could bring back both Barnes and Mickael Pietrus. And he said Patrick O’Bryant is as good as gone.

For his part, Barnes said, via text message: “(Nelson) is the boss. I would love to be a Warrior. I owe so much to Nellie and to the organization. But with the tough season I had last year, it doesn’t look like I’m wanted. . . . This is a cold game and a tough business.”

As for the point guard . . .

Here’s a Nelson quote that I couldn’t get into the paper due to language restrictions: “Opting out of a $17 million contract, that’s ballsy. Nobody can say Baron doesn’t have balls.”
...
“We’re grown-ups, and we understood that it was a possibility,” Nelson said. “We didn’t think it would happen, but it did and we’ll deal with it.”

It's interesting that they were already ruling out bringing back Barnes, Croshere and O'Bryant but not Pietrus.

http://www.ibabuzz.com/warriors/2008/07/01/well-well-well/
(Sorry if this was posted somewhere and I just missed it)

[FNQ]

POB has looked like ess in workouts... apparently gets winded extremely easily, got tired against Brian Butch and some other scrub... I'd still give him a contract and some small floor time... at least try and give the kid a reason to play. Don't think he'll ever get the legit chance though, as no team has the same long term investment the W's should have had. Bummer too, those are some excellent tools he has.

A Pietrus signing would ruin a good offseason for me... it would almost certainly be a multiyear deal... that would be nothing short of tragic.

[darobster17]

The only way Pietrus should be signed is if he agrees to a sign and trade deal. If the W's FO is seriously thinking of Pietrus in the W's long term plan, the W's organization is down right idiotic.

The W's new marketing slogan should be: Come play for us and We'll help resurrect your NBA career. It's a great timeout????

[turk3d]

Trade filler.