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They drafted a rail thin PF in Anthony Randolph (...Brandan Wright, anybody?), they lose Baron to the Clippers, they sign Corey Maggette, they lose Pietrus to Orlando, they sign Turiaf, they lose Matt Barnes to Phoenixthey trade for Marcus Williams, and now they have matched the Clippers offer to Azubuike. Off the top of my head, their lineup looks something like this:

Biedrins/Turiaf
Harrington/Wright
Maggette/Azubuike
Jackson/Belinelli
Ellis/Williams

The above lineup is probably very incorrect, but that's probably the best GS has to work with. I don't see them being very good at all next year. I think midway through the season Mullin will realize this, blow the team up, and trade Stephen Jackson to the Rockets. No but seriously, I'd be very disappointed with this offseason if I was a Warriors fan.

And they've yet to re-sign Biedrins or Ellis and arent apparently close either.

They also have Evans (not that the team would be any better...)

They didn't think they'd lose Baron and now they're in major scramble mode. But...all they really need is a PG and they have a nice young team that will be competitive and has promise for the future. And guess what,they have the pieces to trade for one.
Harrington to Chicago for Hinrich.
Better yet Stephen Jackson for Luke Ridnour/Earl Watson. OKC gets a SG who plays D,so Durant can move to his natural SF. Their coach does wonders w/PGs,maybe he can rehabilitate a Ridnour.
One of their youngs for one of Memphis young PGs.
They do have some options-if,and its a big if,they're smart.

King Roosk wrote:They drafted a rail thin PF in Anthony Randolph (...Brandan Wright, anybody?), they lose Baron to the Clippers, they sign Corey Maggette, they lose Pietrus to Orlando, they sign Turiaf, they lose Matt Barnes to Phoenixthey trade for Marcus Williams, and now they have matched the Clippers offer to Azubuike.

GS, outside of Biedrins, is horribly thin up front. It's obvious their strategy is trying to fill that in through the draft (or should I say, the past 50 bajillion drafts), instead of overpaying for a big in free agency (*cough* Adonal Foyle *cough*). Unfortunately none of them has panned out.

Also they didn't even offer Baron, Pietrus, or Barnes contract extentions so they didn't lose these guys, they were expecting them to leave. The reason basically was GS tried to get into the KG hunt last year, and they did, but they just failed to make it happen. Then this off-season they tried to move on to plan B and tried to get Arenas or Brand, both of which didn't pan out. They ended up overpaying Maggette, which pretty much all Warrior fans thought was dumb. I can only imagine it was a cop-out to appease fans since they didn't get any of their big name targets but it's likely going to have the opposite effect.

The Turiaf signing helps GS up front, and the contract is about right (slightly over 4m/year for 4 years). And the Williams signing I thought was probably the craftiest thing out of management I've seen in a while. They traded a conditional first round pick for him. Remember Williams was touted as a lottery pick before all the work ethic issues. Maybe he will turn it around with a 2nd chance.

Basically the Warriors are still pretty young. If they can resign Biedrins and Ellis for reasonable contracts so they have enough room for 1 big name player they have potential. I think that's the reason why there's this back-and-forth right now for their extentions. You can see pretty clearly from all of management's moves that they are determined to save enough cap room for a big name player.

They are trying to build a contender...and well they have. While I don't think they can not play defense and win...they have a shot as the Lakers proved this past postseason. Good, efficient offense will get you quite a ways...even to the Finals.

Iggyemu wrote:They are trying to build a contender...and well they have. While I don't think they can not play defense and win...they have a shot as the Lakers proved this past postseason. Good, efficient offense will get you quite a ways...even to the Finals.

They were not legitimate contenders before Baron Davis, and they certainly aren't contenders after his departure. The Lakers comparison is a ludicrous one; I just don't see the parallels. The Lakers have (arguably) the best player in the game, a scoring presence in the post, and a deep bench. GS has a bunch of short guys who can score the ball, and one true center...that's it.

I originally listed the acquisition of Maurice Evans, but I couldn't find any articles verifying it so I wasn't sure if I was right or not...but there ya go. None of these signings put them over the top in my opinion. Monta Ellis will be damn good this upcoming year, but unless they plan on going super small, or benching either Maggette or SJax, then they won't have a true PG in the starting lineup.

Biedrins/Turiaf
Harrington/Wright
Maggette/Azuibuike
Jackson/Evans/Belinelli
Ellis/Marcus Williams

I just don't see that working.

GS will stink next year. I guaran-friggin'-tee it. Baron drove that team. Whether they can ever be a contender in the near future however is simply if they are ever able to get that big superstar they are so eagerly trying to obtain. They are going to have the cap room, but actually getting that superstar to sign is a different story.

Compared to HOU though HOU looks better. Both teams no longer hold long, bloated contracts, but HOU has the stars to contend both now and in the future. GS is going to stink until they can get that superstar.

Warrior fan here, hopefully with some insight to clarify the situation in the bay.

The focus by the media and most fans has been on the departure of Baron Davis; the follow up move to get Maggette has been widely panned as well. I'll start there.

Baron Davis

Baron Davis, when healthy and motivated, is a fantastic player. A super star point guard who could blow by anyone, post up any other point guard, defend any backcourt player, catch fire from 3, and carry a team- we saw this the first half of the season; the world saw it in the playoffs.

But.

But Baron Davis was not always healthy, nor was he always motivated. The second half of the season, it was quickly becoming apparent he was neither. It may have began the prior offseason when he did not get the "max" type contract extension he wanted ($15-20M) and felt he deserved. It likely worsen when he was snubbed from the All-Star team. And when he was forced to play huge minutes in losing efforts toward the end of that futile run to make the playoffs...only to be benched by the coach in a crucial game against the Suns...the straw broke.

Some say the Warriors should have paid a bit more than they paid Maggette to keep him, but it's clear (Mullin has recently revealed as much) that the Clippers got a hometown discount. It's no secret Baron wanted to return home to Socal, and after failing to get megadollars from GS, he settled for mere "good" money and "stupid" years (really? 5 years?) to play for Los Angeles.

The Warriors were rightly worried about his health, and more subtly worried about his influence over the youngsters (Ellis, Wright, Biedrins, Randolph, Belinelli, etc). He's gone through coaches before as a bit of a prima donna,;his lack of health was partially because of conditioning and dedication. Not the role model you want to commit to long-term.

Some context: The Warriors were overachievers with Baron Davis the past couple years. The lack of defense and streaky shooting meant fans could never really shake the feeling we were getting by on smoke and mirrors- even when things were going well. This past season we learned the cold truth that it really wasn't a solid foundation to build on; more to the point with Baron's contract we'd never be able to get the depth we needed; even more to the point with Baron controlling the ball and sucking the air out of the room, Ellis and Biedrins would never develop into the cornerstones they were envisioned to be.

So ultimately...while I appreciate what Baron did for the Warriors and will never forget the great 1.5 years...I am not unhappy that he left. Instead, I am curious, excited and cautiously optimistic.

Bay Area fans should know by now (but they don't) that it's not about who you lose- it's about how your team looks at the end of the day. Fit matters. Youth and upside can be rewarding. How quickly do people forget that we lost a popular and big-name player in Jason Richardson- and won more games afterward- because the emergence of Ellis allowed us to play even faster with an even more efficient scorer at the 2 and because kelenna Azubuike off the bench proved to be, on a per-minute basis, as good as Jason Richardson. Combined, Ellis and Azubuike more than offset what Richardson brought and the Warriors were a better team for it.

The Oakland A's lost Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Tim Hudson, Jason Isringhausen, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito...and won more games. Why? Roles opened up for talented youth, and the kids rewarded the team with production, and the team rewarded the fans with wins. It's not who you lose, it's who you got left.

Now, on to Corey Maggette.
I'll say it bluntly: he's not overpaid...at least not compared to his peers.

Jason Richardson
Richard Jefferson
Michael Redd.

All are swingmen, roughly the same age as Maggette. All have defensive issues, all have had some health issues, none of been consistently on winning teams.

Look up their respective PERs. Look up their respective contracts.

Guess what?

Maggette has the highest PER by a slight margin. He makes $20M less than Richardson or Jefferson; he makes $40M less than Michael Redd.

So explain to me how Maggette is "overpaid" when comparable players all make significantly more without any accompanying advantage in production. Sounds like a bargain to me.

The other perspective you might see as "overpaid" is that the competing offers for Maggette were MLE offers, roughly $33M over the same 5 years, or $17M less than the $50M we gave him. In this respect, one might legitimately ask why the Warriors had to pay that premium.

My answer: You aren't going to convince a free agent to pick GS over SA/DET/BOS-type teams by coming in with an offer just above theirs. The Clippers, after Brand left, could have offered something around 5 years, $40M-ish.

Now, Mullin could have come in lower, but there's no guarantee that would have secured Maggette.

Had Mullin lost out on Maggette, the alternatives would have been Josh Smith, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala, etc...all of whom are restricted free agents. As we all know, it's extremely difficult to pry away restricted free agents thanks to the combination of offer-matching and Bird rights.

Furthermore, you can only make offers for each one one-at-a-time; each time it freezes your large cap space by the 7 days it takes for other teams to match or reject. Conceivably, the Warriors could have made huge offers with their cap space frozen for 3 weeks and come away with nothing. That's a pretty big gamble to make for such slim odds.

Faced with that alternative, I cannot blame Mullin for acting quickly and grabbing Maggette. Recall the Warriors had about $17M to spend; Maggette's $8.5-ish starting salary left us another $8.5M left to spend before hitting the salary cap, at which point the rest of the money would have been left to Ellis and Biedrins' extensions....the next topic.

Ellis and Biedrins gave the Warriors a unique advantage thanks to their "cap holds". As a quick refresher for those who aren't cap-savvy, the league places cap holds on a team's salary cap for each team's free agents. They are placeholders that freeze that amount of salary until the player is resigned, signed elsewhere, or renounced. Typically the cap hold is 200-300% of the player's last year salary.

Ellis was a second round pick; Biedrins was an 11th pick. Each projects to make a starting salary of around $9M, but Ellis' cap hold was around $2M while Biedrins' was around $7.4M. Because their cap holds were less than their expected new salaries, the Warriors could maximize their assets by spending their pure cap space on outside free agents and then using their Bird Rights afterwards to sign Ellis/Biedrins and go all the way up to the tax threshold. Bottom line...fans have no reason to be worried that the deals aren't done yet; they should be happy that management has figured out the correct order of transactions to make full use of their cap space.

Recent comments by Mullin that things are "not close until the contract is inked" must be taken in context. With the Brand deal blowing up in the Clippers faces and Evans backing out of a deal with the Warriors (thank goodness), Mullin literally is saying that a deal is not closed until the paperwork is signed and filed with the league office. We have the power to pay Ellis and Biedrins more than any team in the league at this very second and for the rest of the offseason and there's been no reason to think we don't want to.

As for the team this upcoming season...as I said before, I am optimistic. The lack of a pure point guard has been overblown. Nelson's system does not rely on a floor general running set plays and such. His key has been floor spacing and scorers who can capitalize on mismatches. Ellis isn't a pure point guard, but he has certainly proven he can create the necessary separation to get his shot off on virtually anyone, and his shooting percentage and scoring average bears that out. Maggette, one should note, is one of the most efficient scorers in the league (compare his 59% True Shooting Percentage with Baron Davis' 52%). Taking shots away from an inefficient scorer (Baron) and giving them to two more efficient scorers (Ellis and Maggette) will make the team better offensively. Though Maggette is not a defensive stopper...Baron was mailing it in on that end of the floor for much of the season anyways, so it's hardly a huge downgrade.

Specifically, Maggette averages around 9-10 free throw attempts per game, shooting them at 80%. All NBA fans could tell you the Warriors took far too many 3's last year, which is why the offense was so hit or miss. Well, Maggette had a career year from 3P range last year, but he takes far fewer (roughly half) 3's than Baron did, and is committed to attacking the rack. Ellis is also a slasher with an improving (and already much improved) midrange game. Neither is a 3P chucker. This, as I mentioned, will make the offense better.

Our other problems last year were lack of depth and lack of frontline size. Those problems have been corrected, and corrected intelligently. It seems like the Warriors have two sets of bench players to rely on:

On one hand, you have the athletic and talented but raw group of Belinelli, Hendrix, Randolph, and Wright; these guys have tons of upside but haven't played enough high-level basketball to be entirely trusted yet. Fortunately, on the other hand, you have young veterans like Azubuike, Turiaf, and Marcus Williams. These guys are fairly known quantities who are huge improvements on Austin Croshere, Troy Hudson, Matt Barnes, and Mickael Pietrus.

Someone mentioned Pietrus as a "loss"...well, when you consider that we will no longer have to start a 6'7 power foward, you might reconsider. Now, instead of forcing swingmen types like Barnes or Pietrus or the oft-injured Croshere/Webber in to back up Harrington and Biedrins, you have legitimate big men options like Hendrix and Turiaf to rebound and defend and block shots or pure length and athleticism in Randolph and Wright.

The new role players don't just add depth, but they fit the system while being young and talented enough to improve.

In sum, the goals this offseason were quite clear:
1. Overall dedication to youth.
2. More efficient offense less dependent on 3's
3. Improve depth with role players who fit
4. Improved interior defense.

To me, we've done all 4.

Will we be better next year than last? Hard to say for sure, since the conference is changing. The Kings, Blazers, and even Clippers should be better, so will this drag everyone toward the middle or will those guys just leapfrog us? I dunno, but I can't wait to find out.

King Roosk,
Taking a page from the Stevenson,Bonzi book on how to negotiate,Evans turned down the $3mil+ offer saying he wanted a little more. Ooops!

Yeah, I'm as puzzled by their moves as any. I'm a big Warriors fan and they definitely have a bright future with Ellis, Biedrins, Randolph, Wright, Bellenelli and others, but when Baron left, you'd think they'd pack it in and build around their young core, maybe go after a Josh Smith or Andre Igoudala player with the capspace, but they go after an older Corey Maggette who they have no need for and plays the exact position as almost their best player in Jackson, overpay for strictly a hustle/energy player in Turiaf and then decide to match Azubuike's offer who won't see too much time especially if the Evans signing turns out to be true.

Instead of having one of the brightest futures in the league (which they still have, but far less than what they potentially could have had), they're probably in the nightmare situation in which most teams hate to be in. Not good enough to make the playoffs (especially in the west) since they don't compete enough defensively and not bad enough to get a high lottery pick. They could potentially be in the same hole where they get the 13-14th pick in the draft again.

Honestly, like mentioned above, I think the Warriors panicked when Baron opted out. It wasn't a surprise that both parties were far apart in what they wanted (especially with the benching of Baron in the game where they still had a % chance to make the playoffs), but I don't think anybody expected Baron to opt out of over 17 million guaranteed dollars and that caught the Warriors off guard and felt they had to sign the best FA left (or at least the one that was most attainable). If they had gotten a guy like Igoudala instead of Maggette/Turiaf combo, then they would have had a great off-season IMO.

An

Ellis
Iggy
Randolph
Wright
Biedrins

and likely higher lottery pick if they traded Jackson/Harrington for capspace/picks/younguns, they'd have one of the brightest futures in the league behind Portland. But that's all depending on if they signed a guy like Iggy or Josh Smith.

Throughout the puzzling moves, I did like the Marcus Williams trade, I think he'll be a player that'll thrive in their system and if gets consistent minutes could be one of the better candidates for Most Improved Player. Maybe, I'm a little to high on him, but he's a big PG with good passing ability that's a potentially nice fit next to Ellis, would be near perfect if he was better defensively.

On the subject of the Warriors, they need to fire Nelson, he's severely hindering the growth of Biedrins with his inconsistent minute patternss because of his infatuation with run n gun and small ball lineup. I think Biedrins under a right coach (the system is fine) could potentially be one of the top C's in the game averaging nearly 17 points, 12 rebounds (he's a terrific rebounder, especially on the offensive glass) and above average defense.

They are trying to build a contender...and well they have. While I don't think they can not play defense and win...they have a shot as the Lakers proved this past postseason. Good, efficient offense will get you quite a ways...even to the Finals.

Really? They're too young, and poor on the defensive end to be a post-season team, let alone a championship contender. I'm one of the biggest fans of Ellis around, I think he'll take the next step and possibly be a 24+ point per game scorer on ridiculous efficiency but I don't think at this stage of his young all-star potential career, he's ready to be a leader and take a team to the promised land.

The Lakers like roosk said are completely built in a different way. They have a big that's a threat for 25+ points everytime he steps on the floor, veteran leadership with guys like Fisher, versatile all around players like Odom, a terrific bench and oh that Kobe Bryant fella who I might even concede to be (as hard as it is for me, considering I've felt Duncan has been the best past couple of years) the best player in the game and the league's MVP.

They're not even comparable IMO.

Regarding why Maggette (28) to go with the early 20's Ellis/Beans/kids...

You don't want to put the entire weight of the team on them this early, and I think Maggette will help shoulder the load offensively. He's also an excellent rebounder at the 2/3, which further addresses a team need.

Mullin has commented on Maggette's work ethic being a good example for the kids, and Maggette himself said he'd embrace the role of mentor.

While he was not a facilitator on the Clippers, Warriors asst. coach Keith Smart pointed out that the Clippers system did not provide the opportunities that the Warriors system will. It's not really complicated - the Warriors set a high pick with mobile, athletic bigs, who use the speed advantage to get to the open space. Maggette barrels toward the bucket, and it won't be a hard pass to make to drop it off to a big.

Nice posts optionzero. I wasn't real sure what they were thinking myself, and am still not sure that assessment is going to pan, but it's a very good one nonetheless.

Iggyemu wrote:They are trying to build a contender...and well they have. While I don't think they can not play defense and win...they have a shot as the Lakers proved this past postseason. Good, efficient offense will get you quite a ways...even to the Finals.

Hey Iggy, does that whole Detroit thing count as TMac asking out?

before the trade deadline:
bjax and harris for sjax right

----

King Roosk wrote:I originally listed the acquisition of Maurice Evans, but I couldn't find any articles verifying it so I wasn't sure if I was right or not...but there ya go.

looks like hawks just signed mo evans before GS did
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/spo ... 7&cxcat=21

King Roosk wrote:They drafted a rail thin PF in Anthony Randolph (...Brandan Wright, anybody?), they lose Baron to the Clippers, they sign Corey Maggette, they lose Pietrus to Orlando, they sign Turiaf, they lose Matt Barnes to Phoenixthey trade for Marcus Williams, and now they have matched the Clippers offer to Azubuike. Off the top of my head, their lineup looks something like this:

Biedrins/Turiaf
Harrington/Wright
Maggette/Azubuike
Jackson/Belinelli
Ellis/Williams

The above lineup is probably very incorrect, but that's probably the best GS has to work with. I don't see them being very good at all next year. I think midway through the season Mullin will realize this, blow the team up, and trade Stephen Jackson to the Rockets. No but seriously, I'd be very disappointed with this offseason if I was a Warriors fan.

They're making the same mistake that a lot of teams make when their star unexpectedly leaves. They scramble around trying to find replacements and often end up over paying players who aren't worth it. Only thing I disagree with was your comparison of randolph and wright. Wright is a true pf, yes randolph is rail thin but he could potentially(i know he's very tall) be a sf. He can bring the ball up the floor like a pg and he's extremely athletic, him and wright aren't the same type of player. I just don't understand how you let pietrus and barnes go yet think MAGGETTE is the answer especially when you have Stephen Jackson who can be your sf. I'm still trying to figured out what maggette did for the clippers that has made him such a coveted free agent. By the way, stephen jackson would be EXACTLY what we need so hopefully mullins does trade him

Sigh.

People still count Barnes and Pietrus as "losses"? And you have the gall to question why Mullin thinks Maggette is better than either of them?

Barnes just got a league minimum deal with the Suns. Why? Because he's a career journeyman and no more. He had a terrific year for us as a reserve forward a couple years ago and was atrocious this past year. Barnes is not quick enough to play SF, nor strong enough to play PF. His decision making is highly questionable for a veteran of his experience, and he's not young enough to claim "upside" anymore. There is a reason there was little demand for his services and a reason that he was bouncing around the league so much: he ain't that good.

Pietrus is also not a significant loss. While he sporadically showed athletic flashes, his basketball sense was sorely lacking. His foul rate was atrocious- people keep harping on him being a "good defender", but that's wrong. He has "potential" to be a good defender, but he never actually got there. All the physical tools are there, but he consistently blows rotation assignments, picks up ticky tack fouls that send the other team into the bonus or give them extra possessions when the shot clock is winding down. Offensively he has no handle or midrange game whatsoever, and his 3P shot was inconsistent. Throw in the fact that he's injury prone as well and frequently whined about wanting to get traded (as well as demanding a ridiculous full MLE deal or better) and it's easy to see why he was let go without the least bit of fight.


On the other hand, as I have mentioned before, Maggette is a considerable upgrade. He's consistently posted PER's in the 18-20 range. His efficient offense (much improved 3P, lots of FTA, good midrange game) will be a welcome addition.

I'm gonna repeat a point you clearly missed out on: Maggette is not overpaid.

Jason Richardson: 5 years, $70M
Richard Jefferson: 5 years, $76M
Michael Redd: 6 years, $90M

Corey Maggette: 5 years, $50M

Maggette had a better PER than any of them. While PER is not the be all and end-all stat (no stat is), it is useful as a rough measure of production...and it says the Warriors got a pretty good deal.

Recall that $10M is not superstar money, it's not even fringe all star money. The franchise types, Kobe, Garnett, Shaq-prime, get double that (or more); the fringe All-stars like Rashard Lewis and Jamison get $12-15M.

So again. Tell me how Maggette is overpaid.


Look, I didn't come here to pick a fight, I just wanted to answer questions I saw posed. Yet if you're going to bash a team, at least take a second or two and educate yourself on what the heck you're talking about.

OptionZero wrote:Sigh.

People still count Barnes and Pietrus as "losses"? And you have the gall to question why Mullin thinks Maggette is better than either of them?

Barnes just got a league minimum deal with the Suns. Why? Because he's a career journeyman and no more. He had a terrific year for us as a reserve forward a couple years ago and was atrocious this past year. Barnes is not quick enough to play SF, nor strong enough to play PF. His decision making is highly questionable for a veteran of his experience, and he's not young enough to claim "upside" anymore. There is a reason there was little demand for his services and a reason that he was bouncing around the league so much: he ain't that good.

While he sporadically showed athletic flashes, his basketball sense was sorely lacking. His foul rate was atrocious- people keep harping on him being a "good defender", but that's wrong. He has "potential" to be a good defender, but he never actually got there. All the physical tools are there, but he consistently blows rotation assignments, picks up ticky tack fouls that send the other team into the bonus or give them extra possessions when the shot clock is winding down. Offensively he has no handle or midrange game whatsoever, and his 3P shot was inconsistent. Throw in the fact that he's injury prone as well and frequently whined about wanting to get traded (as well as demanding a ridiculous full MLE deal or better) and it's easy to see why he was let go without the least bit of fight.


On the other hand, as I have mentioned before, Maggette is a considerable upgrade. He's consistently posted PER's in the 18-20 range. His efficient offense (much improved 3P, lots of FTA, good midrange game) will be a welcome addition.

I'm gonna repeat a point you clearly missed out on: Maggette is not overpaid.

Jason Richardson: 5 years, $70M
Richard Jefferson: 5 years, $76M
Michael Redd: 6 years, $90M

Corey Maggette: 5 years, $50M

Maggette had a better PER than any of them. While PER is not the be all and end-all stat (no stat is), it is useful as a rough measure of production...and it says the Warriors got a pretty good deal.

Recall that $10M is not superstar money, it's not even fringe all star money. The franchise types, Kobe, Garnett, Shaq-prime, get double that (or more); the fringe All-stars like Rashard Lewis and Jamison get $12-15M.

So again. Tell me how Maggette is overpaid.


Look, I didn't come here to pick a fight, I just wanted to answer questions I saw posed. Yet if you're going to bash a team, at least take a second or two and educate yourself on what the heck you're talking about.

I don't have a problem with maggette being considered an above average player, I have a problem with the warriors thinking they need him and that he's going to make them a playoff team. Maggette would have been a great addition to a team that is already successful. Also, Pietrus is not a significant loss. I didn't say him or barnes were BIG LOSSES. But it's not like the warriors couldn't have tried to use pietrus more. Maggette isn't overpaid, but he's not going to get them into the playoffs. He's and overrated defender, yes he has a solid jumper and he's a good rebounder, but as far as players that can go 1 on 1 and create their own offense multiple times in a game they still only have 1, monta. Again, what did he do for the clippers? When they made their playoff run sam cassell was executing that offensive show. I understand what your saying, in a league where turiaf is getting nice contracts, whats wrong with 10 mil a year? Nothing, but signing him doesn't make the warriors a playoff team. I can see them 2 years from now being a team thats missed the playoffs and randolph will probably be ready by then. What if he plays sf? Also I see you brought up PER, well he also had a higher per than VC,t-mac, and iggy, you think I'm choosing maggette over them, nah! I do agree with a lot of your points though, if monta can shoulder most of the scoring load and distribute, s-jax plays well, and maggette can improve their perimeter defense, keep improving his 3pt shot and make their up-tempo game even better(which should be easy), then it's a good signing. But I think all of those things must happen for them to be successful.

First of all, I do not believe the playoffs are out of reach. As I have repeatedly mentioned, the Warriors moves have addressed many of the problems we had last year.

As far as "players that can't create their own offense"...none of the guys that we lost, besides Baron, could do that. Barnes, Pietrus, POB, Croshere, Troy Hudson couldn't do it. Baron could, but he took it too far be pounding the rock and hoisting 7 3's a game despite being a crappy shooter. Boo hoo, he's gone.

Second, failing to make the playoffs does not render the Maggette/other signings into "bad" signings. If our core players are Ellis/Biedrins/Wright/Randolph, then our front office should make moves with an eye toward supporting them.

Maggette, contrary to your again flawed assertion, is a player that creates his own offense. You don't average 20 a game if you can't, and when you're racking up 10 FTA's per game, I think you're creating offense just fine, especially if you actaully hit those FTs...which he does. So again, you're mistaken.

Turiaf is an excellent passer for a big man, with some midrange J in his arsenal. That also makes him an excellent fit in a spread offense.

Most of all, those guys will help Ellis and Biedrins. Without a Maggette, Ellis would have to take ALL the shots (since, as you tried to argue, no one else can). With Maggette, the offensive load is spread out more. That both of them score efficiently will make the Warriors a BETTER TEAM.

Biedrins was the sole post defender, rebounder, and regular shotchanger worth mentioning last year. Turiaf adds another shotblocker and interior presence. I wish he rebounded a bit more, but you can't have everything. Check out what Varejao and Milcic got, tell me he's overpaid as well. Your own Luis Scola, who's around 3 years older than Turiaf, is getting just $1M less annually.

Your entire premise is oh.my.god.wtf.bbq the Warriors didn't add any superstars to carry them into the playoffs.

Sorry you feel that way, but so what?

The Warriors made themselves into a better team, and we won't know if they're doomed to miss the playoffs this year.

If the Clippers, Blazers, and Kings are truly better, then that's fewer free wins for everyone and increased competition. Maybe they won't steal too many victories from the Lakers or Hornets or Jazz (the West's Top Three), but they'll surely cut into the win totals for the Suns, Mavericks and Nuggets, who were our competitors in the bottom of the playoff race. You won't be seeing any near-50 win teams missing the playoffs next year.

I'm not saying maggette can't create his own shot, or get to the line. The point is he's not a player that you can give the ball to in the fourth quarter, he's a scorer, but not a go to scorer. Which means monta has to be that guy, if he is, then they're fine, magette can be the solid 2nd scorer that he's always been, get to the line, and help them with rebounding, which turiaf will do also. You talk as if not making the playoffs with new players won't be a dissapointment, you sure? Is maggette getting paid an outrageous amount of money, no, is he going to be a solid player for them, yes. I'm just saying like I said before there's going to have to be more than maggette being maggette to make them successful. I still don't think turiaf and corey make them better than utah,sa,phoenix,dallas,houston,portland,new orleans, or denver which leaves them out of the playoffs, if thats not a bad thing to you then its all good.

Alright OptionZero, stop taking offense...there's a reason I posted this for discussion on the our board and not your board. Here's the bottom line: The recent Warriors were capable of going as far Baron Davis was willing to take them...Baron Davis is no longer a part of that team. Signing Corey Maggette does not replace Baron Davis at ALL. Maggette is a nice scorer, but the way Baron ran that team and inspired that team was too unique to be replaced, especially by a Corey Maggette. GS has a lot of offensive talent, but they still don't have a post scorer, they don't have a true PG (unless you count the unproven Marcus Williams), and they lost their best distributor in B Diddy.