Posts for Tag: vladimir radmanovic

Warriors Sign Free Agent Forward Al Thornton

via nba.com

This is a wait and see kind of signing. I remember when Thornton used to torch the Warriors when he was with the Clippers. He's fallen off the face of the earth with his exile to the Wizards but let's hope a change of scenery will improve his numbers. It'll be interesting to see where he'll find his minutes. He'll most likely come off the bench to spell Wright and could fill the same niche that Corey Maggette and Al Harrington had a few years ago. He could bolster a thin bench that only really has Reggie Williams and Vladimir Radmanovic.

So it was basically Stephen Jackson for Vladimir Radmanovic?

“Raja

The tboubled Golden State Warriors just got guard Raja Bell(notes) from the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday and it's already looking like they might not even get to see him play at all this year. He's apparently planning to have wrist surgery and could mean he's out for the season, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

He reportedly has a partially torn ligament in his left wrist and only miss four or five weeks if the wrist isn't in terrible shape. But if he needs to have screws put in, his whole season is likely lost. "I'm going into it, assuming it will be a big surgery," Bell said. "If I wake up and it's not, it's icing on the cake."

Golden State apparently knew about Bell's scenario when it made the trade that finally cleared Stephen Jackson(notes) out of California.

Source: San Francisco ChronicleNew Window

Related: Stephen Jackson, Raja Bell, Charlotte Bobcats, Golden State Warriors

Unbelievable...

Stephen Jackson trade in more detail ... I actually think both teams lost

I've been busy at work but also haven't had time to digest the Stephen Jackson trade to Charlotte from this morning. Basically, I don't think there were any winners in the deal. Of course, in the short term, Stephen gets out of a very dysfunctional situation and the Warriors have the cloud of poor team chemistry removed. However, take a step back and you'll notice that both teams lose out.

For Charlotte, they'll get an indiscriminate scorer who will work Larry Brown's every last nerve. How many walk up brick three's do you think Larry will take before he says enough? Also, Charlotte has no clear leaders that can stand up to Jackson. When he was in San Antonio, it was clear that he was a role player on a team with superstars. In Charlotte, he'll be one of the go-to guys along with Gerald Wallace (who ironically plays the same position ... no butting heads, I'm sure) along with a bunch of young players who he can "influence". For the Warriors, they're basically getting salary relief but not soon enough to make a big difference in the 2010 free agent class. Bell's $5.3M contract ends this year but Radmanovic's $13.3M (over next two years) contract doesn't expire until 2011. Adding insult to injury (pun intended), Bell, who is a good defender and decent 3 point shooter, is playing with a nagging wrist injury. And don't get me started about how useless Radmanovic is.

All in all, something had to be done. I don't know if the Warriors get better or worse because of this trade but if nothing else, it could mean more minutes for Morrow and Randolph. I'd rather see them play and improve than watching an aging B+ player pollute the minds of a young team.

Did the Lakers just steal Ron Artest?

I cannot believe that Ron Artest just committed to the Lakers for 3 years and $18.6M or 5 years for $33.5M. Does anyone else think that Ron Artest is woefully underpaid? The above deals value him between $6.2M and $6.7M a year. Here's a list of other players making about that much:
 
Nazr Mohammed - $6M
Vladimir Radmanovic - $6M
Tim Thomas - $6M
Jerome James - $6.2M
Marquis Daniels - $6.8M
Dan Gadzuric - $6.2M
Luke Ridnour - $6.5M
Jared Jeffries - $6M
Chris Wilcox - $6.7M
Etan Thomas - $6.8M
Mike James - $6.2M
Marko Jaric - $6.5M
Darko Milicic - $7M
Brian Cardinal - $6.3M
Antonio Daniels - $6.2M
Earl Watson - $6.2M
 
In an interview with ESPN, Artest stated that he had earned a lot of money over his career and wasn't really going after the money any more. Still, I think given that he's the only player since 1999-2000 to average 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals per game and is probably the best wing defender today, someone should have given him a lot more.