Delete.

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At least its not Ecko.

 

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[h1]Belinelli Nearly Came To Raptors In Trade This Season[/h1]Jun 05, 2009 11:24 AM EST
From the trades that very nearly happened department, the Raptors had a deal done with Golden State last season that would have sent Joey Graham to the Warriors for guard Marco Belinelli.
Belinelli was almost on his way to the airport to come to Toronto and told friends he was being traded, but then the Warriors backed off and killed the deal.

 

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[h1]Warriors loaded at wing, but still looking?[/h1]

Rusty Simmons, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, June 5, 2009

(06-04) 21:56 PDT -- Anthony Morrow, the league's most accurate three-point shooter last year, was concentrating on a series of agility drills with strength and conditioning coach John Murray on Thursday. The Warriors' wing, though, had to wonder what was happening on the other court at the team's Oakland facility.

Two days after Louisville wing Terrence Williams said the Warriors are interested in selecting him in the June 25 draft, they worked out another wing, USC freshman DeMar DeRozan on Thursday.

The Warriors will also evaluate Louisville wing Earl Clark and Wake Forest's James Johnson as part of a six-player workout Saturday. Arizona power forward Jordan Hill will work out individually next Friday.

It all makes for an interesting start to the workout portion of the pre-draft evaluations for the Warriors, as they're already loaded at wing. They have Morrow, Kelenna Azubuike, Marco Belinelli, Jamal Crawford, Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette to play the shooting guard and small forward positions.

The consensus is that the Warriors need either a point guard to spell Monta Ellis or to allow him to move back to his natural off-guard spot. The company line has been that Ellis can become a true point guard, but that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning at a high-speed pace.

The Dallas Morning News suggested that the Warriors might trade Jackson. The Warriors' link to trading for Chris Bosh hasn't slowed, despite Toronto saying its goal is to keep the power forward. And, every couple of weeks, Baron Davis is reportedly offered back to Golden State.

The Warriors haven't confirmed any of the reports, but general manager Larry Riley did have a jocular suggestion for the media to figure out who they're going to draft and what moves may coincide with the pick.

"We'll just let you guys vote," Riley joked.

DeRozan, a 6-foot-5 1/2 19-year-old, didn't seem at all intimidated by the chance of entering a positional logjam in Golden State. The athletic wing, who dunked for the first time in the sixth grade and showed off a 38 1/2-inch vertical leap at the combine, said he is ready to compete.

"Just because they have a lot of players at my position, it doesn't mean anything," DeRozan said. "A lot of players come in and takes people's spots."

DeRozan has already worked out for Toronto, which has the No. 9 pick, and has scheduled workouts with Oklahoma City (No. 3), Sacramento (No. 4) and Minnesota (No. 6).

He left Oakland thinking it was a real possibility that he could return.

"I get a feeling that coach (Don) Nelson is really interested," DeRozan said. "He talked to me, told me I did well and said he'll see me soon."

[h3]DeMar DeRozan file[/h3]
Height/weight: 6-feet-5 1/2, 211 pounds

Position: Guard/forward

Statistics: USC freshman, 2008-09, 33.4 minutes, 13.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 16.7 percent three-point shooting

E-mail Rusty Simmons at rsimmons@sfchronicle.com.

 

[dland24]

After losing season after losing season, we STILL have no direction. We are gonna draft a wing.....I know it. I dont see any team changing players beingavailable at our pick......lets package it with Crawford. Why not right?

 

[paul is on tilt]

I'm still hoping the wings we keep for the future are Ellis, Belinelli, Morrow, and Buike. I'd wave goodbye to Jackson, Maggette, and Crawford.Hopefully we can somehow deal those 3.

Anybody know who Dallas newspapers suggested we trade Jackson for?

 

[paul is on tilt]

You know whoever Nelson picks, that guy is going to rot on the bench

.

I remember some people saying that we should just package our pick with Jackson, Crawford, or Maggette to entice someone to take them on. I don't see thatas a bad thing, especially with a lot of people saying that this is a weak draft.

But dland, I know how you feel. I also feel that the Warriors are going to draft another wing player. I just have that feeling

.

 

[daprescription]

In the perfect world, the Warriors could package the pick with Jackson (no team would take all three, even Jackson is a reach), then trade Maggette/Crawfordfor Ben Wallace, then buy out his contract and he retires. I bet Mark Cuban would take Jackson... Jackson/7 for Jerry Stackhouse (buy out).

 

[paul is on tilt]

I think Cuban would take Jackson, too. I'd do that Jackson for Stackhouse, but a part of me wants us to get more. Josh Howard? Maybe a change of scenarywould do J-Ho some good. The other guy I'm interested in is Brandon Bass, but I'm sure he's a FA, right?

 

[paul is on tilt]

Oh, and for the record, I didn't mean both Stackhouse and J-Ho for Jackson. We'd obviously have to include another player.

Maggette?

BTW, I didn't check their contracts to see if it works.

 

[kl9]

Originally Posted by Paul Is On Tilt

Luong, did you ever find info on that Phoenix Suns cheerleader?

Unfortunately not...damn it.

I have a feeling it wasactually an ugly cheerleader than turned around quick enough to look hot.

Originally Posted by acidicality

u mean KL9. Luong is behind bars.

Jerk.

[Paul]

[/Paul]

 

[paul is on tilt]

Originally Posted by KL9

Originally Posted by Paul Is On Tilt

Luong, did you ever find info on that Phoenix Suns cheerleader?

Unfortunately not...damn it.

I have a feeling it was actually an ugly cheerleader than turned around quick enough to look hot.

 

[lazyj10]

TK continually beating a dead horse...maybe he's a NTer.

[h2]Warriors draft conundrum: Will Don Nelson get his way (and his type of player) no matter what?[/h2]

* From the Twitter backfiles last night: My favorite Game 1 stat from the Laker blow out victory… Kobe Bryant had as many made FGs (16) as Orlando's Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston COMBINED. In 25 fewer attempts.

This all seems fairly obvious and I do deserve to be blasted for typing this and admitting it at the same time.

Every team heading into every draft faces four basic scenarios-draft for position-need based on the coach's wishes, draft the best raw talent (possibly against the coach's wishes), force a compromise or move the pick for a veteran.

Old story. Nothing new. Same scenarios in 2005 when the Warriors took Ike Diogu for position/coach need over a better athlete like, say, Danny Granger or Gerald Green, same again last year when they took Anthony Randolph as a pure talent over more finished products like Kosta Koufos or Courtney Lee.

Happens all the time. It's just that… this year's Warriors' draft is a particularly interesting juncture in the weird and stormy recent history of the franchise:

* It's GM Larry Riley's first draft (Chris Mullin's first draft, took Andris Biedrins in 2004-telling moment);

* It's Robert Rowell's first draft after admitting he was taking over basketball oversight (though we can guess that he has had true power over this in the past, and all money questions always lead back to hoops oversight, anyway, but at least now he's admitting it-and will double-back and blame others at some point, obviously, 'cause he's RR!);

* MOST IMPORTANTLY, it's Don Nelson 2.0's first draft without Mullin-or anybody else who could possibly be in position over-rule the ol' coach-around to temper Nelson's more flighty, short-term inclinations.

That's a biggee, and Nelson has been very visible around Warriors HQ during the ramp up to draft preparations, far more active than in past seasons, when he didn't pop back in from Maui until much closer to draft time.

No hiding it: It's going to be hard for anybody to dispute that Nelson's the No. 1 decision-maker heading into the draft and will make the main calls in the war room on June 25.

Given that… We know that Nelson isn't thinking about the long-term and hasn't thought about the long-term one iota since arriving here in 2006, well, except for the long-term payout he could finagle out of Rowell, and who knows, that might go on into infinity.

So Nelson as Big Kahuna in the war room is almost certainly going to lead to short-term decisions; all the better to get him to the all-time wins mark as quickly as possible and better for him to avoid any future confrontations with the teenaged-talents that he can't stand.

Nelson won't want to draft any more players like Anthony Randolph or Brandan Wright, and Riley has already suggestd as much. They want a four-year collegian, if possible, and barring that, I'd bet Nelson would like to trade the pick for a veteran.

Nelson also only wants his type of player: Seasoned, shoot/pass perimeter player, with defense not much of a priority and with rebounding ZERO priority and with NO proclivity to talk back to the Kahuna.

But is that kind of stance healthy for the Warriors, who aren't exactly one player away from knocking off the Lakers, Jazz or Nuggets?

Let's look at the big-picture options, as they currently present themselves, obviously with major potential switcheroos possible over the next three weeks… (I won't be making too many value judgements in this item. I'll save that for later, as things develop. Just doing this today to present the options, as I see them.)

For the purposes of this discussion, I'm presuming that ideal Warriors' choices Blake Griffin and Ricky Rubio will not be available for the Warriors to pick and that non-ideal Warriors' choices Haseem Thabeet and Jordan Hill probably will be gone, too.
-Best position pick: Pure point guard/

* Examples: Jonny Flynn, Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson.

* Benefits: The Warriors do not have a pure PG on their roster and that's a killer, especially for Nelson who has had his best recent moments with Steve Nash or Baron Davis running and organizing the helter-skelter offense.

This is a bad draft, overall, but it's a great draft if you need to get a PG-tons of 'em, of all sizes and speeds, and Nelson must be quite happy to imagine any one of 4 or 5 of them running his offense.

I don't think Nelson wants Monta Ellis to be his PG, or really even wants to keep faking it, and on this issue I agree.

* Problems: Are these guys really the most talented choices at the 7 spot? Flynn and Lawson are tremendous playmakers, but they're both about 6-0, which means they'd both be terrible in a defensive tandem with Ellis.

Holiday is 6-3 and a defensive-minded guy, so he might fit nicely with Ellis, but he's young and headstrong (problem for Nelson), very raw (BIG problem), didn't play the point at UCLA (behind Darren Collison) and is represented by Dan Fegan (uh oh for Warriors).

* Potential solutions: If Nelson falls in love with Flynn or any other small guard, the Warriors better have a plan to trade Ellis. (And go with a Flynn-Morrow backcourt or something like that.) And they might.

* Most likely pick from this category: I'd say Flynn, who could remind Nelson of a smaller Baron Davis. If that happens, first or second question for Riley at the podium: What are you going to do with Monta?

-Best athlete available/

* Examples: DeMar DeRozan, Tyreke Evans, Earl Clark, James Johnson… all explosive and at times erratic players in their short college stays.

* Benefit: These players always have the highest chance to turn into NBA stars, and you can always fit a star into a roster. Nelson has successfully found the BAA, and made him a star, in the past-Sprewell, Nowitzki.

* Problems: No. 1, these guys are mostly wing players and the Warriors, as always, have a ton of wings on the roster, some of them very highly paid (Stephen Jackson, Ellis).

These players also tend to be very young, occasionally very skinny, and they take time and need nurturing; in case you need reminding, Nelson is not thrilled with that process, and hasn't been since a guy named Webber came along in the early-90s.

Nelson is 69 wants to win now and doesn't have much patience to work young raw talent into his system. He will fight the BAA pick, since he almost certainly won't be around to coach a teenager into his NBA prime.

* Potential solution: Evans and DeRozan are so talented that Nelson might relent-plus, Evans can possibly be a big PG alongside Ellis.

* Likeliest Warriors pick from this category: Evans, if he hits his jumper in any private workout and if Nelson can envision him as a point guard. That would take the pressure off of either moving Ellis to PG or moving him to another team.

DeRozan might be the most talented, and that has to tempt Rowell/Riley… except he's young and he'd somewhat duplicate Stephen Jackson, Anthony Morrow, Marco Belinelli and Kelenna Azubuike. Four-shooting-guard line-up?
-Compromise fit: Older play-maker/

* Examples: Terrence Williams, James Harden, Stephen Curry, Gerald Henderson… all middle-sized players seasoned by several prominent seasons in college.

* Benefits: These guys can possibly plug right into an NBA rotation and pass and shoot, which is all Nelson wants out of a rookie, and he always finds time for wing players, even when his roster is jammed with them. Can Curry guard power forwards?

* Problems: With the possible exception of dead-eye shooter Curry, none of these guys projects to NBA stardom. Do you want to be drafting complementary players at No. 7? Would the Warriors be solving their roster issues with a player like Williams or would they just be delaying the inevitable (too many complementary guys)?

* Likeliest Warriors pick from this category: Williams is a four-year collegians (PERFECT FOR NELLIE!) who also might be a large play-maker in Nelson's system.

I think the Warriors would go this route IF AND ONLY IF Nelson can convince himself that a Williams/Ellis combo could fake the PG position and if Riley can't convince Nelson to take a stab at a larger talent-Evans, Flynn or Holiday.

Don't know how that debate will go inside Warriors HQ. Might come down to a Rowell call, if he's up to make it. Or else it'll just be Nellie at the Wheel.

-Trade the pick/

* Examples: Trade down to mid-round and pick up one of the above-mentioned compromise players who shouldn't go as high as 7 or a few others (perhaps Eric Maynor or Jeff Teague) and save money.

Or trade the No. 7 pick in a package for a difference-making veteran.

You know the Warriors want to talk to Toronto about Chris Bosh, who has indicated that he will test free agency in 2010. You know the Warriors have things to offer, if they're willing to: Randolph or Wright, Ellis, the No. 7 pick, Biedrins.

If the Raptors decide they have to move Bosh, and if the Warriors are willing to give up a significant package and risk the chance that Bosh could leave as a free agent after one season… You'd have to believe the Warriors would be one of Toronto's first calls.

Also possibly out there: Amare Stoudemire.

* Benefits/problems: This gives the Warriors a way out of the pick-a-guy-who-might-duplicate dilemma… A power forward obviously would not duplicate anything the Warriors currently have, but a PF is not available beyond #1 in this draft.

Does Nelson roll the dice and give up the heart of this team's future to try to land Bosh, possibly only for a walk season?

He's the Kahuna. He gets antsy all the time-even when the Warriors were decent, Nelson was edgy. I think this is going to be all-time edgy time. Nelson's presence at Warriors HQ (IN EARLY JUNE!) is evidence of all of that.

 

[bangdak]

dallas wanted jackson for like josh howard and stackhouse i believe.
the only thing nice about that deal is the two expiring contracts?
its still a jam at the wing.
i like the idea of packaging crawford+corey+#7 draft pick, but i doubt a team would want to pick up those contracts.

 

[daprescription]

Originally Posted by Paul Is On Tilt

Oh, and for the record, I didn't mean both Stackhouse and J-Ho for Jackson. We'd obviously have to include another player.

Maggette?

BTW, I didn't check their contracts to see if it works.

It's strictly a salary dumb. I wouldn't take Howard, he's overrated imo.

 

[daprescription]

I <3 phad thai, just thought I'd share lol.

 

[nothingtol0se]

thai food in general is

 

[kl9]

^ No lie...Lunch on me DP!

I've actually been craving for some Thai food lately...

 

[boys noize]

Thai food is AMAZING.

Pad thai, pad see ew, kra prow, panang curry, etc...

 

[lazyj10]

Actually going out for Thai tomorrow near the Oakland Hills. Not sure the name of the place.

 

[boys noize]

Anyone been to Osha in SF? There's a couple locations but the 2nd St. one is my favorite. It's pricier than most other Thai places and some would say"bastardized" since it's not entirely straight-from-the-motherland authentic Thai food. Regardless, it's still one of my favorite place tograb dinner with some friends.

 

[lazyj10]

The one on 2nd Street catered a lunch for us, overall, pretty good.

 

[kl9]

Last Thai restaurant I went to was Chaabas (sp) and the other one on Irving in San Francisco.

 

[foshizzle]

Is my computer tripping or is this still the NBA draft thread???

If I were the Warriors I would trade down and try to get Patty Mills and Sam Young.

 

[eagle 0n]

Originally Posted by Boys Noize

Anyone been to Osha in SF? There's a couple locations but the 2nd St. one is my favorite. It's pricier than most other Thai places and some would say "bastardized" since it's not entirely straight-from-the-motherland authentic Thai food. Regardless, it's still one of my favorite place to grab dinner with some friends.

The one by the ferry building is pretty cracking around lunch time. Food is good as well.

 

[acidicality]

thai food is appreciated