The goal behind any move is to get your team closer to winning a title, not does this deal make your team a little better in the short term? Why do I hate this deal so much? If you’ve been a Warriors fan for the last 10 years, you should know why. You all have your opinion and I have mine, but within the next few years I believe we will look back and it will show that the Warriors got the raw end of this deal. Here are my thoughts on this deal, add your comments if you want to refute anything I have to say.
- Getting rid of Anthony Randolph will haunt us in the same way the Mitch Richmond and CWebb trades have haunted us. People don’t think that AR and Stat will mix well in NYC, but Stat played center for the Suns the majority of his career, so I think he’ll be just fine playing center in the Eastern Conference against much lighter/shorter centers opening the door for AR to play the PF position. The Knicks also have the ability to surround him with better players until he matures because people actually want to sign with them. But, the biggest difference is that AR will finally have a coach in D’Antoni that will know how to coach/use him and not try to fake out the team with crazy mismatches or yanking him after his first mistake.
- For a team to succeed you either have to be good in the draft, savvy in free agency or be a destination where players want to go. The Warriors strike out on all counts and the addition of Lee kills two of the three. David Lee makes the Warriors good enough to not make the playoffs. You know what that gets you? Years after year of getting the 10-14 pick in the draft. This was the Warriors system in the 90’s, they always played well enough to not make the playoffs and you know who they ended up with? Juggernauts like Todd Fuller, Clifford Rozier, Adonyl Foyle, Jeff Foster. They also just nuked whatever cap room they were going to have for the next few years with the addition of Lee’s bloated contract to the already albatross contracts of Monta Ellis ans Andris Biedrins. So the only thing the Warriors can fall back on is being an awesome destination city. Too bad the front office ruined that.
- David Lee doesn’t play defense very well. He may be good pick and roll partner with Steph, but it doesn’t matter, the amount of times he’s gonna get burned on the other side of the court, his output will be a wash. Randolph would have also been a good pick and roll partner with Curry once he was coached right, but he would have also been a difference maker on the other end. You have to allow young players to grow together and to build that chemistry.
- You throw around 6 yr./$80 million contracts when you are close to a title or when you can bring on a player that will make a difference. The Warriors are no where near a title and Lee is not a difference maker. The Warriors are in a rebuilding mode and if you don’t think they are, you are delusional.
- There was a rumored trade of Kevin Love and the #4 pick for Randolph and the #6 pick. If the Warriors front office turned down that trade, they should all be thrown into prison. I was happy at the time the Warriors didn’t give up AR, but if I knew this would have been the outcome, I would have pulled the trigger on that trade in a heart beat. Would I rather have David Lee and Ekpe Udoh or Kevin Love and DeMarcus Cousins for Anthony Randolph? That’s such a tough decision. Oh wait, no it’s not. You go with the younger tandem with the bigger upside. Except for when the team’s being run by a bunch of morons.
- The Warriors could have tried to pick up Josh McRoberts or B.J. Mullens or drafted Greg Monroe. All of them are similar players to Lee and wouldn’t have cost the Warriors at least $10 million more a year for the next 6 years and a potential cornerstone player. But that’s the Warriors M.O.; always go with the worst scenario.
- Lee is 28 years old. Randolph is turning 21 soon. That’s a 7 year difference. AR has 7 years to become a 20/10 guy and at a fraction of the price that they just signed Lee for.
- Larry Riley wanted to show people he was a good GM and that he can improve this team in the short run. He knows he’s not going to be the GM once this team is sold, so his only bet was to dupe any future employers into believing that he made moves to improve the team because now they’re winning a few more games than last year. He wasn’t going to dupe teams by having a rebuilding team, so why not trick them by getting a few more wins from more NBA ready players like Udoh and Lee and killing any long term potential this team had. “See my moves won the Warriors a few more games because they already have 2 more wins than this time last year.” And you know what, there are enough stupid teams in the league that will actually believe his b.s. and will give him a job. That’s what irks me more than anything, dumbasses like Riley will continue to work in the NBA, while you could probably pull a kid off the street and they’d be able to do a better job than him.
When you have one of the most loyal fanbases in all of sports, you reward them for their patience by letting them watch players grow into the player they all envision him to be. You allow the fans to grow with the team, I truly feel I was robbed of that. I wanted to look back and remember that the team sucked for 20 years, but I stuck with them and I watched Curry and Randolph become the players they are now. I would have been happy to go through that, because you’d have a connection with the team. That’s why the Oakland A’s don’t have many fans, once you become invested in a player the team ships him out, that’s not how you make a connection with your fanbase. Thanks for taking that away from my Golden State. I’m pissed right now, but once this team is sold, I’ll be right back rooting for them and I’ll just remember this time as another way of the Warriors front office screwing over the fans. But, everytime I see AR making an All Star team or every highlight they show on ESPN, I’ll become bitter again about what could have been. I guess it’s the badge of a Warriors fan…
Welcome to the Warriors David Lee, now you can bitch about Steph blocking you in practice instead of on live tv.
