| Warriors Still Missing Something Authored by Payam Jahromi - January 30, 2007 - 10:58 pm
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I’m not talking about the lack of another big rebounder alongside Andris Biedrins – that is obvious and it’s a problem the Warriors will have all season.
No, I’m talking about the heart of the franchise the past few seasons: Jason Richardson.
He’s been the forgotten man this year with a knee injury and broken hand and hasn’t been healthy for new coach Don Nelson.
It’s easy for fans to have a short memory and forget how valuable Richardson can be to this team, but the Warriors need a healthy J-Rich if they want to be truly competitive. He brings so much to the table and is the most consistent scorer on the roster.
The Warriors will have a plethora of swingmen when Richardson returns, but no matter how Nellie divides the minutes, one thing is for sure: If Richardson is fully healthy, he’ll get his normal 37 or so minutes a game.
As mentioned earlier, they still need another rebounder and defensive presence in the frontcourt to compete with the top teams in the west, but I don’t think Dwight Howard is available.
In the meantime, a starting lineup of Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, Richardson, Harrington and Biedrins with Mickael Pietrus and Jackson coming off the bench sounds good to me. Much better than we’ve been used to.
The Trade
Like most Warriors fans, I felt the Warriors got the better end of the deal. They dumped more salary and got better players. The team who gets the best player in a multi-player trade usually wins the deal. The best player is Harrington.
I’ve heard a lot about how Ike Diogu may be the gem of the deal. And although that may be true (and only time will tell), Diogu wasn’t playing for Nellie. He didn’t play much for Mike Montgomery. And in five games with the Pacers, he’s averaging six minutes a game. I’m not exactly sure why, but there’s a reason for it.
Bottom line: Until Diogu becomes an all-star caliber player, it’s safe to call the Warriors the winners of the trade.
The Road Trip
Through four games since the trade, the Warriors are 2-2 and have looked much better.
The true test will come on the upcoming eight-day, six-game road trip, where they need to win two or three games to stay in the playoff hunt.
For me, I’ll take 2-4 on the trip. I know that doesn’t sound very optimistic considering all six games are winnable, but let’s look deeper. Two of the six games are on the second night of back-to-back games, so I’m counting those as losses. In the other four games, I think 2-2 is a reasonable expectation.
For a team who has won four of 19 on the road, two out of six is not bad.
RealGM Fantasy Basketball Challenge II
We’re halfway through my second fantasy hoops challenge (where I challenged 11 other Warriors’ forums posters) and I have a good shot to take my second title, currently in second place behind Run and Gun but with a ton of games in hand. Moose jams, who finished second last season, is in third.
Questions or comments? Email me at pjahromi@sbcglobal.net |
