After Lin went crazy against the Nets and Jazz, many Warriors fans were up in arms about his release. The Warriors had released him to make a slightly larger contract offer to DeAndre Jordan. This seemed like a dumb move because Jordan was a restricted free agent, and a few million dollars wasn't going to make the Clippers not match the offer sheet. However, after thinking it though, there may be another reason that the Warriors let Lin and Williams go:
The Warriors wanted to sign all their rookies, including the second rounders
In the NBA, the most players you can have on a roster is 15. The Warriors thought Jeremy Tyler, Charles Jenkins, and Chris Wright had better upside than Lin and Reggie, so they removed them from the roster so they could sign the rookies. Looking at the decision from this perspective, it does not seem like that crazy a decision after all. It will probably be a few years before we can render a final verdict on this decision. If Tyler, Jenkins and Wright turn out to be good NBA players, then it will actually have been a good move by the Warriors. If not? Well, then it can become another entry under "bad Warriors front office moves." There is a reason that Tyler, Jenkins, and Wright dropped to the second round, after all.
Of course, this may not have been about roster space at all, because Warriors amnestied Charlie Bell. They could have just waived him if they only wanted the roster space, so maybe the Warriors were seriously thinking about making a run after a restricted free agent, which you should never do. As always, the Warriors front office leaves more questions than answers.
This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!
0 recs | 37 comments
Here's why it never made sense:
1. DeAndre Jordan isn’t very good.
2. He wasn’t worth the money we were offering.
3. There was no chance the Clippers wouldn’t match.
4. And we gave up assets to do it, while knowing about the first 3.
GovernorStephCurry - February 7, 2012
everything he said, plus
this is wrong
Warriors should be doing one thing or the other. If we are honestly trying to win now, I’ll take proven NBA contributor (Reggie) or solid backup PG (Lin) over any sort of second round prospect.
Yeah, if we are trying to win 3-5 years down the road, maybe this move makes sense, but as far as conformance with the stated goal of 8th seed or bust, this move still doesn’t make sense (at least for this season)…Reggie was an extremely solid contributor off the bench
Duby Dub Dubs - February 7, 2012
what was the reasoning for not resigning Reggie?
Didn’t he only get about $3-$4 million per? Same with Tolliver, I think.
salary_cap - February 7, 2012
he only got 2 yrs/5 mill
bigkino217 - February 7, 2012
The way the FO sees it...
Rush> Reggie
in the “end” it works out…
However, once teams start throwing him 5 mil a season during free agency this year, then Reggie>Rush, which ultimately then falls into the category of “stupid Warrior moves”
dandubz - February 7, 2012
except they let reggie go before they traded for rush
bigkino217 - February 7, 2012
Right, but I’m sure they let reggie go knowing they would bring in a replacement. Clearly this replacement would be valued greater than Reggie. Also, I’m thinking they had some background knowledge that Rush was available….
dandubz - February 7, 2012
I'm just throwing that out there
Maybe the Warriors are secretly rebuilding. I think we’ll find out by the trade deadline – if a bunch of players get traded we’ll know Lacob was lying and he was actually preparing to rebuild (which is what should be done).
doubleteapot - February 7, 2012
Disagree with #1 and 2 — I think DJ is pretty good, especially given his tender age, and is probably worth $10M or so. (He’s already a much better player than Kwame Brown, who we gave $7M). As for #3, I don’t think any of us (expect possibly Ridah) can say for sure what the Clips’ “don’t match” threshold was. You have to assume there was one.
Totally agreed about #4, though I would amend it to say something like “we gave up assets on an outside chance that we might be able sign a pretty good young center by overpaying slightly.”
Sleepy Freud - February 7, 2012
Overpaying silghtly? Nah. Restricted FA’s don’t change teams on slight overpays. You have to really overpay them to get them. If it’s a slight overpay, the Clips match and look to trade him down the road.
Missing Barry - February 7, 2012
Compared to the rest of the centers in the league...
…DeAndre is very good! He’s no Dwight of course, but who is? In my opinion, there are 4 types of centers in the league:
1. Great (which right now, is only Dwight Howard)
2. Good (which I would put DeAndre in)
3. Bad (which most of the centers in the NBA are)
4. Andris Biedrins
The fact is there aren’t many great centers in the league PERIOD so it wouldn’t hurt to have one of the good ones. I do agree with your #3 point though. I’m pretty sure the Clips would’ve matched anything.
JonDoe - February 7, 2012
DeAndre has the potential to be in that good category, for sure. What makes you think he’s there right now, though? He’s pretty bad offensively, even if he does finish. Defensively….well, the potential is pretty sky high. He blocks shots, and does some other nice things. Doesn’t consistently know where to be on the floor, though. Not convinced he’s anything more than an average defender overall right now.
Missing Barry - February 7, 2012
I lol’ed.
Rec’d!
Sleepy Freud - February 10, 2012
4. Andris
Which is exactly why they tried to get these others guys, and did get Kwame. They know what we know. Biedrins is not a starting center, Im not sure if he is even an NBA center anymore. What I do not understand is why they continue to start him.
felix botticelli - February 10, 2012
Who cares? He’s playing 18 minutes a game, and he’s 9th on the team in total minutes played. He’s being played like a backup.
Missing Barry - February 10, 2012
Reggies the missing piece keeping us from 9-12
tafkasam - February 7, 2012
LOL
Sad but probably true
doubleteapot - February 7, 2012
Brown, Udoh, Biedrins
Lee, McGuire, Tyler
Wright, Rush, Thompson
Ellis, Reggie, Jenkins
Curry, Lin, Bell
It really isn’t much of a difference. It definitely is a slightly deeper bench, but with some repetitive pieces also it lacks Robinson(who is pretty fun to watch) The thing is the whole off-season was a slue of incompetence, besides the excellent Rush trade. If I were the FO I would have blown up the team by trading Ellis for expirings or a draft pick of some sort. I would have amnestied Biedrins and I would have probably signed Brown to the same deal to get to 85% of the cap space. This might be a hated maneuver by many people who own season tickets, thus I believe the FO was told to not make certain people mad and at least look like they were trying to be competitive.
I think the fact that fans keep going to the games despite having a bad team is the reason why the team has not been blown up already. if there was desperation on the owners behalf to win in order to sell tickets a lot more would have been done already.
brutusbrutus - February 7, 2012
they don't like
good and cheap players (lin and williams).
nelliesux - February 8, 2012
The new owner and FO seem to have taken their best shot at improving the team as currently constructed.
And should be appreciated for this effort. Now that step one in the process was tried it will be interesting to see after this season what they do next.
I believe that they are looking at every option as they should. It is easy for us fans to scream Tank! and Blow up the team. but then we did not just spend 450 mill for this deal….
Only In Fairfax - February 9, 2012
I marvels me that they thought they had a chance of landing DeAndre Jordan. And even if they did, who do you think he would rather play with? Curry and Ellis or Griffin and Paul??? Sorry, it WAS a mistake, and it will continue to be a mistake the next time Curry is out with another ankle injury.
centerre - February 9, 2012
What’s weird is the team’s reason was to open cap space to go after a center. But, the order of signings and Lin’s released happened in this order:
Lin released Dec 9
Jenkins signed Dec 9
Contract offer to Jordan Dec 11
Thompson signed Dec 13
Tyler signed Dec 13
Why sign Jenkins before offering the contract to Jordan? Could the team have offered more if Jenkins was unsigned at the time?
sportsguy950 - February 9, 2012
Jenkins was a draft pick. Pretty sure they put him into the salary cap calculation before he’s even signed.
Missing Barry - February 9, 2012
not 2nd rounders who don't have guaranteed contracts (i think)
bigkino217 - February 9, 2012
Second rounders don't have cap holds.
Spider Jerusalem - February 10, 2012
Unsigned second roudners don't count against the cap.
First rounders count against the cap once their drafted. Second rounders count against the cap once they are signed.
sportsguy950 - February 10, 2012
Meant to reply to Missing Barry
sportsguy950 - February 10, 2012
Why sign Jenkins before offering the contract to Jordan?
That’s Mark Jackson’s boy from New York is the reason why he is here instead of Lin. Its a good point to why the W’s offered him before offering Jordan. They could have waited until Jordan’s situation was finished.
sonny parker - February 11, 2012
Bottom line: Proven miscalculation by the FO.
dinohealth - February 10, 2012
come the warriors were not serious about signing anyone. if they were they would have amnistied beidrens. With the extra cap space, they would have over paid for chandler or jordan. As a result, they signed no one, wasted their amnisty, lost Lin, and now have the fans scratching their heads. What has larry riley and jerry west done except trading for brandon rush????
sonny parker - February 11, 2012
What has larry riley and jerry west done except trading for brandon rush????
the Kawame move was very good Too bad he got hurt.
Skeptic con Urquell - February 11, 2012
Kwame was a reach though he did out perform AB. My question is are you signing him long term? again patch work signing.
sonny parker - February 11, 2012
My question is are you signing him long term?
haha, No Id definitely not have signed him to a long term, he played a lot better than I expected.Now I wouldn’t extend him until he’s shown he’s healthy. I think they did a good job on recognizing his potential at the time though. I hope they realize how much difference a competent big made and pursue another.
Skeptic con Urquell - February 11, 2012
Acquired Jeremy Tyler, Charles Jenkins, Klay Thomson, Kwame Brown, Nate Robinson, and Dominick McGuire.
Ronaldinho - February 11, 2012
No doubt about it Kwame has played like capable back up but not the long term answer. Quality big men are hard to come by and if you have an opportunity to get one you better do it. Shooting guards and small forwards are the easiest to replace…take note Riley.
sonny parker - February 11, 2012
So you agree it was worth the risk to give up Lin to slightly improve our chances of getting Jordan?
Ronaldinho - February 11, 2012
Again if the warriors were serious Lins salary was not going to make a difference. Wasting the amnisty on bell was the real mistake. Im not bitter for losing Lin but happy for him. Lets face it he would not have got the playing time on the warriors. Klay is a good player and Rush was a good move.
sonny parker - February 11, 2012
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