This is a part two of sorts from My Only Thought’s from the 49ers Super Bowl Loss. It’s official, to me anyway: the run is over. (I’ve taken a news break from the 49ers the last couple of months and will do the same for the Warriors and basically all of sports.)
This team was better than last year’s team, and had more wins but for a group of 4 Hall of Famers over their peak, we can clearly see this team can’t get better from the core. To go out to the Kings the way they did last night, they don’t have the switch either. They basically didn’t have anything left. They were basically healthy, after a year of good Spurs-like minutes moderation. The Kings were missing two huge players in Huerter and Monk.
Sometimes it ends, and that’s ok. We’ve hit the end. Here’s what I’d do, as painful as it is.
- Let Klay go. He’s going to get a huge deal for an up and coming team, like the Magic. He deserves it. If he wants to take an undermarket price to stay, the Warriors should agree.
- Let Chris Paul go. He was here to help organize the offense when it was too much on Steph. In the Kings game, it’s clear he wasn’t enough. Like Klay, he can be of more value to another team.
- Draft Bronny James with their second round draft pick and challenge Lebron to come for a lesser salary. I’m not sure where this pick is and if the Lakers might take Bronny with a #1 to keep LeBron.
- Andrew Wiggins played well in the last two months and I think he’s not lost anymore. But he was really inconsistent the last two years due to personal and physical problems. If there’s a solid trade package that he can be put into, let him go, but his salary is OK.
- Pay Kevon Looney’s partial guarantee of $3M instead of the full $8M. I love Looney but he’s become Roy Hibbert-ized for this generation of basketball. Warriors need to create full financial flexibility.
What remains:
- PG Stephen Curry
- C Draymond Green
- PF Jonathan Kuminga
- SG Brandin Podziemski
- SF Andrew Wiggins
- SG/SF Moses Moody
- C Trayce Jackson-Davis
- PF Gary Payton II
Bronny James is on a 2-Way. Only Steph, Draymond, and Wiggins make significant money. LeBron has a player option next year, so he can just walk or the Warriors can package Paul/Wiggins to the Lakers / other teams in a trade. I would prefer LeBron take less money (he has said he would and this would allow the W’s to pick up another player) and the Warriors keep Wiggins. Pick up depth with the remaining cap flexibility – either wing or big. I do like keeping Usman Garuba as the developing third big man – he proved he could was a NBA-ready defender in Euroleague as a 19 year old.
It’s not yet known if the Warriors will have a #1 draft pick this year, and they could trade that for help (they have enough youth) or use it if they have it.
I Spit Hot Fire 