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The Golden State Warriors, as anyone who are fans of or follow the team know, are a team of speed that doesn’t have a large number of big men on their team.? With the draft in a few days, the team – like most other teams in the NBA just before draft day – is looking to improve their roster.? To recap, the Warriors traded Jason Richardson for the rights to Brandan Wright (the #8 overall pick); last week,?team vice president Chris Mullin stated that he had inquired about moving around in this year’s draft and as of this writing is checking out all trade possibilities.? Mullin – this is old news, but relevant – is of the belief that the Warriors are one good player from being a playoff mainstay; because no one in the draft at the Warriors’ draft position can help them in that quest, the only options out there are either a trade or free agency.
A trade does carry some risks: they have a $10 million trade exception (courtesy of the Richardson deal) that they must use before June 30; what the exception does for Golden State is allow them to acquire a player with a salary of $10 million or less – by trade only – and is an incentive for a team looking for salary cap relief.? And there are?players out there who could fit that scenario – Ron Artest, Leandro Barbosa, Boris Diaw and Tayshaun Prince come to mind.? Should the Warriors allow their exception to expire, they can still sign a player, but at a much heftier price tag.? If they went that route, they’d have to trade a “name-brand” player – and with the Warriors’ current situation, Al Harrington is the likeliest to depart Oakland.
Why Harrington, you ask?? For several reasons; the Warriors do not have many tradeable assets if they want to keep Monta Ellis, Andris Biedrins and Wright.? We know that Baron Davis isn’t going anywhere, not to mention that Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes are unrestricted free agents – available to any bidder at this point.? Also factor in that Stephen Jackson, despite coming off a very good season, is rather risky for some of the other league GM’s.? Which brings us back to Harrington.? Harrington is due to make a hair over $9 million next season; while he has been the “good soldier” as part of Warriors coach Don Nelson’s “roller coaster” last season, one has to get the feeling that Harrington himself thought that he was being underutilized in Oakland.?
Another factor that may play in Harrington’s favor is that he switched agents and probably would be the first to tell you that a change of scenery may benefit him; however, Mullin seems not too keen on that idea, as the Warriors have very few big men who can rebound (besides Biedrins).? As it were, any team that wants Harrington would have to give up a quality player in return.? all of these scenarios aside, Mullin has simply been cryptic about the Warriors’ intentions, saying, “Hmm … under contract, heck of a player, I anticipate him being here.? Al’s played a lot of different positions throughout his career, and that’s real valuable, especially for us. … Do you want more?? I think players always want more, teams want more.? Realistically, the guy’s a heck of a player and has been pretty much everywhere he’s been.”? Make your own conclusions, but knowing Mullin’s track record, the possibility of Harrington being shipped are at least 50% as of this writing – and getting larger by the day as the draft fast approaches.?
Warriors In Trading Mood? Mullin Isn’t Saying
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The Golden State Warriors, as anyone who are fans of or follow the team know, are a team of speed that doesn’t have a large number of big men on their team.? With the draft in a few days, the team – like most other teams in the NBA just before draft day – is looking to improve their roster.? To recap, the Warriors traded Jason Richardson for the rights to Brandan Wright (the #8 overall pick); last week,?team vice president Chris Mullin stated that he had inquired about moving around in this year’s draft and as of this writing is checking out all trade possibilities.? Mullin – this is old news, but relevant – is of the belief that the Warriors are one good player from being a playoff mainstay; because no one in the draft at the Warriors’ draft position can help them in that quest, the only options out there are either a trade or free agency.
A trade does carry some risks: they have a $10 million trade exception (courtesy of the Richardson deal) that they must use before June 30; what the exception does for Golden State is allow them to acquire a player with a salary of $10 million or less – by trade only – and is an incentive for a team looking for salary cap relief.? And there are?players out there who could fit that scenario – Ron Artest, Leandro Barbosa, Boris Diaw and Tayshaun Prince come to mind.? Should the Warriors allow their exception to expire, they can still sign a player, but at a much heftier price tag.? If they went that route, they’d have to trade a “name-brand” player – and with the Warriors’ current situation, Al Harrington is the likeliest to depart Oakland.
Why Harrington, you ask?? For several reasons; the Warriors do not have many tradeable assets if they want to keep Monta Ellis, Andris Biedrins and Wright.? We know that Baron Davis isn’t going anywhere, not to mention that Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes are unrestricted free agents – available to any bidder at this point.? Also factor in that Stephen Jackson, despite coming off a very good season, is rather risky for some of the other league GM’s.? Which brings us back to Harrington.? Harrington is due to make a hair over $9 million next season; while he has been the “good soldier” as part of Warriors coach Don Nelson’s “roller coaster” last season, one has to get the feeling that Harrington himself thought that he was being underutilized in Oakland.?
Another factor that may play in Harrington’s favor is that he switched agents and probably would be the first to tell you that a change of scenery may benefit him; however, Mullin seems not too keen on that idea, as the Warriors have very few big men who can rebound (besides Biedrins).? As it were, any team that wants Harrington would have to give up a quality player in return.? all of these scenarios aside, Mullin has simply been cryptic about the Warriors’ intentions, saying, “Hmm … under contract, heck of a player, I anticipate him being here.? Al’s played a lot of different positions throughout his career, and that’s real valuable, especially for us. … Do you want more?? I think players always want more, teams want more.? Realistically, the guy’s a heck of a player and has been pretty much everywhere he’s been.”? Make your own conclusions, but knowing Mullin’s track record, the possibility of Harrington being shipped are at least 50% as of this writing – and getting larger by the day as the draft fast approaches.?
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