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Jordan should have retired from basketball completely in '98. No Wizards, no GMing. Nothing. Just more Hanes commercials.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...PG6HQO9QI1.DTL
THE WRIGHT MOVE
Warriors send Richardson to Charlotte for No. 8 pick, set stage for more deals
Janny Hu
Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, June 29, 2007
In one of the most memorable draft nights in franchise history, the Warriors ended the Jason Richardson era in Oakland, added a promising power forward in Brandan Wright and set the stage for other potential moves to be made this summer.
Golden State sent Richardson, long considered its emotional heart, to the Bobcats on Thursday in exchange for the rights to North Carolina's Wright. The Warriors also drafted shooting guard Marco Belinelli of Italy at No. 18 and UMass forward Stephane Lasme at No. 46, while sending 36th pick Jermareo Davidson to Charlotte as part of the Richardson trade.
"It was a long, busy day," Warriors vice president Chris Mullin said. "But we made some big moves and it's really going to help improve the team."
Another big move, however, could still be coming. Because the Warriors also netted a $10 million trade exception from the Bobcats, they now become a major player in this summer's trade market. The Warriors now have the ability to absorb contracts up to $10 million while offering a team instant financial relief.
But first, the Warriors had to rearrange their own roster. Mullin, who acknowledged speaking to Minnesota this week presumably about Kevin Garnett, did that Thursday by dealing away Richardson for Wright, despite insisting that the popular sixth-year guard would not be moved.
The Warriors had floated Richardson's name in trade talks with other teams, and Mullin said Thursday that the chance to pick up Wright, a 6-foot-10 forward he believes is tailor-made for coach Don Nelson's system, was simply too much to pass up.
"I'll miss Jason of course," Mullin said. "He's one of my favorite guys, my favorite players. It's a hard thing to see him go. But when you need to improve your team, sometimes you got to make tough decisions."
In Wright, the Warriors get one of the most highly regarded power forwards in the draft. The slender 19-year-old averaged 14.7 points and shot 64.6 percent in his only season at North Carolina.
Wright is known for his ability to run the floor, as well as his rebounding and help defense -- both areas the Warriors have been critically lacking in. Mullin said he had been targeting Wright all along, preferring him to Chinese forward Yi Jianlian, whom Golden State was roundly believed to be coveting.
Yi, though, was just a smokescreen, and once the haze cleared, Richardson was gone, and Mullin insisted Wright was here to stay.
"We think he's potentially a star," Mullin said.
"I think I fit in great," Wright added. "They like to use a lot of fours, a lot of pieces. I'm excited about this situation."
Not to be overlooked is the huge financial relief the Warriors receive by trading Richardson, who was owed $50 million over the next four years. Because Charlotte is under the salary cap, Golden State was able to make the deal without taking back the equivalent of Richardson's $10 million salary for this season.
Instead, the Warriors netted a trade exception worth that amount they can now use in future trades for the next year without sending back any players. (Under league rules, salaries in any deal must come within 25 percent of each other unless a team has cap space.) They also dropped significantly below the luxury tax level, giving the Warriors added flexibility in the trade market.
Whether that means they can go after a player of Garnett's stature -- and salary -- while using the exception remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, with their own No. 18 pick, the Warriors selected Belinelli to add another scorer to their backcourt. The 6-6 guard, known for his athleticism and shooting ability, averaged 16.4 points and a .544 field goal percentage for Climamio Bologna this past season. The fifth-year pro also posted 12.9 points per game in Euroleague compe ion.
Mullin raved about Belinelli's ability to knock down shots and said the 21-year-old had "a good feel for the game" both offensively and defensively.
"He's a young shooter, slasher, scorer, and athletic guy I've watched for a few years," Mullin said. "He's going to fit our system perfect. He's another guy to go out there and put the ball in the basket."
Jordan should have retired from basketball completely in '98. No Wizards, no GMing. Nothing. Just more Hanes commercials.
I give Mullin a lot of credit.
Other than Foyle, Mullin dished out a lot of bad contracts to Dunleavy, Murphy, Fisher, and JRich. And he was able to correct his mistakes and unload all of them. He got some pieces to fit Nellie's style and it paid big dividends.
What he did to Jordan/Bobcats was highway robbery.
Steve Kerr needs to take notice.
Skip the bad early contracts and go for the shrewd trades...by shrewd I mean just offer Jordan some Kibble and Bits for Okafor.
I still don't see why KG would okay a trade to Golden State if he refused to go to Boston.
Golden State and Boston are night and day, and considering Golden State got just as far as the Suns in the playoffs, why wouldn't he consider going there?
GS > Boston.
...plus KG maintains his off-season home in L.A., and the Bay Area is a whole lot closer to L.A. than Boston is.
Because Golden State never had a real shot at getting close to the championship. And they still wouldn't even if you add KG to the roster (which would cost Ellis, Biedrins, plus others). Garnett's a smart guy, I doubt he'd commit to Golden State when he could just explore any option he wants as a free agent.
Just to play Devil's Advocate, I remember reading where someone compared this trade to when Nellie traded Mitch Richmond to the Kings for Billy Owens, who was supposed to be another "do-everything-made-for-Nellie" player who ended up being a bust.
G.S made it to the playoffs in the West,and beated the Mavs in the 1st round,while Boston..............................Well,That tells alot.
Nellie will never lead this team to . If they really are going to contend they need a better coach with a real gameplan. They certainly are getting some good pieces.
I don't think their owner wants to "contend". I think he wants an exciting, inexpensive young team that will put fannies in the seats. Nellie has done that everywhere he's been.
On another note: Mully did ass rape Jordan on this one. Even SAS was screaming at him (MJ) on the draft show when this was announced, and he's one of the biggest MJ homers in history.
How does Golden State acquiring a trade exception in the deal equate to Charlotte being screwed again?
I don't understand how they got screwed twice, if they had been over the salary cap they would have had to send almost ten million dollars worth of salary back to Golden State to get Jason Richardson, which means they would have had to have sent more than just the draft pick.
Exactly. If you want to believe that trading Brandan Wright for Jason Richardson means the Bobcats got screwed, fine. But, Golden State picking up the trade exception means nothing in terms of how it affects the Bobcats. The Bobcats did NOT lose the trade exception. It was created because the Bobcats were way under the salary cap and could absorb Richardson's contract without giving anything else other than Wright. Now, if you want to say Golden State made a shrewd move that gave them another bargaining chip, ok. Again, it does not screw Charlotte a second time.
Bobcats had the cap space to go after Chauncey. I am glad they made these moves because they are probably not going to go after him now.
Yeah, that's one -possible- bullet avoided by Detroit FO. Hmm, does Orlando sound good to Chauncey ? Their PG line up sucks, it's warm, and decent teammates should Grant Hill resigned with them.
Jameer Nelson sucks?
They don't have a top 10 point guard, but Jameer Nelson, Carlos Arroyo, Keyon Dooling is a solid point guard group. Not the best, but there are plenty much worse.
The Magic need a bonafide scoring star at the wing. I'm sure they'll be making runs at Rashard Lewis and Gerald Wallace. And, I'm sure they'll at least inquire about Vince Carter's willingness to field an offer.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Magic approach Billups, but I think their priority is a wing player.
Yeah Rashard Lewis in Orlando makes alot of sense.
If Orlando gets him, they improve a thousand fold.
Atleast compared to Chauncey. I admit i haven't seen a lot of Orlando's PG in action aired in my country's NBA games show, but if Orlando wants to exploit the parity/suckiness of the eastern conference for 1 or 2 yrs shots of becoming champs, i think they should make a run at Chauncey -he's still a top 5 PG of the league in my book.
From, perhaps 2 Orlando 06-07 season games i've watched. Nelson is decent -but nowhere near DeRon, Tony, or CP class. Carlos Arroyo seems content with fat contract that he has right now, without bothering to show up much, and Keyon Dooling is simply a disaster @PG spot if your bigman wants some touch down low in the block.
they did get screwed twice it reminds me of a jenna jemeson porno
No Good FA will consider Bobcat and so trade is the only way to get some good players and they start to need to build up a team with good players (or at least good trade assets) to keep Okafor happy.
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