The Golden State Warriors have hired Rick Welts as their president and chief operating officer, the team announced Monday night.
Another piece to the puzzle. Phoenix has been a winning franchise for a long time and adding Welts will help Golden State. Lacob and Guber seem to be making all the right moves. Now if the lockout would end...
Everyone has been saying that Klay Thompson's drafting means that Monta Ellis is leaving. Here's a good article from BDL with a more measured take. Given that I don't think the Warriors can find a good C or SF in a trade, there's no point in trading Monta at this time. Thompson will play the SG/SF reserve role and give more rest to Monta and Wright who play close to 40+ minutes each night. If he can reduce their minutes to about 35 each night, that will help the W's in the long run by reducing injuries and allowing the starters to play more "peak" minutes than have stretches of being gassed on the court. Plus, I don't see a Curry/Thompson backcourt being any good next year. Monta may eventually go but not next year unless there's a blockbuster trade that brings in a significant upgrade to their front line.
This was somewhat expected. Not sure how he'll fit in since the Warriors have Ellis, Wright and Reggie Williams at SG. Again, not a ton of expectations so we'll see how this turns out when/if the season gets started.
NBA Draft is going on now. First three picks were pretty much as expected - Irving, Williams, and Kanter. Cleveland's second pick at #4 is Tristan Thompson from Texas. Somewhat of a reach since most draft boards had him in the 6-9 range. Maybe the contract issues of Jonas Valanciunas scared them off. Toronto who picks 5th is high on Brandon Knight so Valanciunas might slip to 6th to the Wizards.
UPDATE: Guess I was wrong... Toronto chooses Valanciunas at 5th.
So here we are again... NBA Draft time. The interesting backdrop to this year's draft is whether there will even be a season in 2011-2012 given the labor negotiations. Let's assume there is and see what the W's might be able to procure.
Across the board, experts say this is probably one of the weakest draft classes in a long time. Therefore, there's really no place to look but up regarding who the Warriors would get. Given the uncertain tenure of Monta Ellis, you could say a play at SG/SF might be in order. However, I'll assume they get a quality SG/SF if they trade away Monta. The big glaring hole is probably at center. Ekpe Udoh has a ton of potential but he'll never be an offensive threat. He could develop into a solid defensive center but at 6' 9", he'll always be a little undersized to guard the better centers of the league. Andris has fallen off the face of the earth and I don't think anything can bring him back outside of a change of scenery. However with a bloated contract, he may be difficult to move. So what options are available at the 11th pick? Some draft boards have Lithuanian phenom Donatas Motiejunas available. He's gifted offensively but is a beanpole and would be pushed around by bigger NBA C/PF's. Also, he's a liability on defense (but nearly all the W's are). Finally there is a question re: his commitment/desire/work-ethic. I fear without a strong coach (not sure if Mark Jackson will be one or not) he'll regress and won't continue to improve year after year. Another player with lots of question marks but a ton of hype is Bismack Biyombo from the Congo. He has the makings to be Mutumbo-esque but feels like another version of Ekpe Udoh and I'm not sure the W's want to double up at the same position with two virtually identical players. At the end of the day, I don't hold out too much hope for this pick given the lack of depth in this draft and the W's drafting relatively late. But then again, I didn't have much hope for the W's pick last year and he's turning out ok.