So, it's unusual enough that Britain produces any basketball talent. But a British general manager? Well, that was a hell of a brave new world. Yet, in October of 2012, that was where I found myself. A little backstory. I'd been working for several years as a part-tme academic, part-time journalist, part-time analyst, moving to the Bay Area a few years after university to accept a posting at UCLA. I'd worked with the Lakers, the Kings, and particularly the Golden State Warriors.
Of the three, I liked the Warriors. God knows why; I only lived through a microcosm of what most had experienced in my few years rooting for them, but between the dismantling of We Believe, Monta Ellis and mopeds, and the shaky start to the Lacob/Guber era, they frustrated me enough to last me a lifetime. With that in mind, when Bob Myers shocked everyone by quitting mere months into his tenure as GM in early October 2012, and I somehow turned up on a list of candidates, my first reaction was excitement, but it was immediately followed by anxiety. Would I be the propagator of yet more Warriors misery? was I ready for this?
In truth, I probably wasn't. But I decided to throw myself to the tempest anyway. Even if I screw up, it's not like it'll be a disappointment.
Introduction to the Golden State Warriors
Bill Simmons called the Warriors "the most tortured franchise in professional basketball". Once upon a time, the Warriors were the inaugural NBA champions with Joe Fulks, then the home of the great Wilt Chamberlain for six seasons, then the team of Rick Barry and Nate Thurmond. Then, apparently someone somewhere flipped a switch, because from Barry on the Warriors suffered every bit of mismanagement, misfortune and mistaken mishap that can befall a team. They have made the playoffs six times since 1977, never making it past the second round. They've had their moments - Run T.M.C., We Believe, exciting prospects from Joe Barry Carroll to Chris Webber to Gilbert Arenas to Monta Ellis. Every time, it's ended in disaster.
The Warriors are currently on the rise again, though. The new ownership seems somewhat more competent than the previous one, and there's a lot of talent on the roster; Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are two of the best shooters in the league, David Lee is a 20/10 big man in any given year and Andrew Bogut is maybe the second-best defensive center in the league (albeit when healthy). Let's take a look at the roster I've been handed.
Warriors Roster, Opening Day 2012/13
PG Stephen Curry: The numbers don't really tell the full story with Curry, since he spent most of last year injured and off-form. The fourth-year PG is one of those players who can do most things well but one thing great, and for Curry it's the best thing to be great at - shooting. He's averaged around 47% from 3 a season over the last few years, and is probably the current NBA player most likely to make it to the 50-40-90 club in the next couple of years. He's a little lacking on defense, and he's good rather than elite as a distributor, but he's a great player to have. His rookie deal is out this summer, but I'm confident of keeping him at a reasonable price, and he'll be an important piece for us going forward.
SG Jarrett Jack: acquired in a three-team trade in the summer, Jack had a big season last year after replacing Chris Paul, averaging a career-high 15/6/4 at the helm of a talent-starved Hornets team. Jack is an underrated, if not amazing, guard, and I like him a lot in a rotation with Curry and Thompson, though I'm not sure how much of a future after this year he has; we'll probably make a bid to re-sign him, but he's already 28 so I'm not sure if I want to keep him long-term, particularly if he impedes Klay's development.
SF Harrison Barnes: Barnes was one of the most hyped and most critiqued players in the 2012 draft in equal measure. The athletic small forward was a high school phenomenon and ranked #1 in most rankings coming out of high school, but was somewhat underwhelming in two years at North Carolina and, while it was still acknowledged that he would be a top-10 and probably a top-5 pick, there were a lot of question marks over whether he'd be a bust. For me, Barnes isn't a star, but he should be a solid enough professional player. That being said, I'm not keen on him as a foundational guy - ultimately he's a scorer, and doesn't complement the back-court we're looking at long-term. I expect to see him gone before the end of his rookie deal.
PF David Lee: Lee is the only current Warrior to make an All-Star team, and it shows in his game; he's a guy with a fairly complete game and can be a 20/10 guy in any given season, even if he probably needs to be paired with a defensive center to shine. He'll be big for us for a couple of years; that being said, he's an expensive player at $15m a year for his age 31 and 32 seasons, and replaceable enough that he could be sold high if the opportunity allows.
C Andrew Bogut: The former #1 pick has had a torrid few seasons with injuries, but has more than proven that he can be one of the best defensive centers in the league, and they're not exactly that common of a commodity right now. A lot will hinge on him staying fit after a few injury-prone years, but I truly believe he can be a big piece of success for us short-term. Long-term? He's out of contract in two years, so we'll likely re-sign him following that; he has his flaws, particularly on the offensive boards, but there aren't many better options in the NBA so it'll take a big opportunity opening for him to go.
PF Carl Landry: Landry signed with us for $8m over two years in the summer, and I'm glad, because he's going to be important backing up David Lee off the bench as a big man who can rebound and put the ball in the net. He averaged 12/5 in just 24 minutes on Jarrett Jack's Hornets last year, so I'm hoping that he can pair with Klay Thompson or Jarrett Jack to form the core of a potent second unit for the team.
SG Klay Thompson: To misquote Jalen Rose, if Curry is the original, Klay is the remiiiiix, baby. The second-year SG had a great rookie season last year, shooting 41% from 3, putting up 13 points in 24 minutes a game and seeing an uptick in productivity after Monta Ellis was traded to Milwaukee mid-season (averaging 18 points as a starter in the last two months). Thompson has the potential to be a great scorer in this league, and average at best at most other things, but given the scarcity of shooting guards in this league that's enough for me. Curry/Thompson should be a foundational combination going forward, though it'll make a defensive guard a big priority on the bench. He's going to have to battle Jarrett Jack for the spot in the short-term, though; Mark Jackson is high on Jarrett Jack as a better complement to Curry.
SF Brandon Rush: Rush is yet another guy who can be an absolute force from 3. Acquired at the start of last season, he shot an insane 44% from 3 for us last year, and was rewarded with a 2/$8m deal over the summer. He's also a pretty good defender despite standing at a relatively short 6'6", and I think he could be a plenty productive piece for us.
SF Draymond Green: Our second-round pick in the summer, the Michigan State graduate is a player who was underrated by many but probably overrated by others. He's ready to come into the NBA, but he's never going to be anything more than a 9th or 10th man, and honestly I'm just hoping we can get some good performances out of him early on and flip him to some NBA GM who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'upside'.
SF Richard Jefferson: Jefferson is...ugh. We basically took on Jefferson's contract over Stephen Jackson's, effectively adding another year of $10m for a marginal player, in exchange for the 30th pick in this summer's draft. The one-time 23/4/3 player scored just 9 points a game last season, and while he's a hard-working veteran guy and has developed a decent spot-up game he's just not a particularly useful player anymore. He'll be flipped to a team at the first available opportunity.
C Festus Ezeli: Ezeli is that 30th pick I mentioned. Ezeli is our second-best center, but that isn't saying much, and while he'll be a decent role-player and has about the best contract you can get for a NBA player I will have no adversion to using him as a cog to make whatever deal work at some point. I don't know when he'll be gone, but it'll happen sooner or later.
SG Charles Jenkins: I really don't know how to feel about this guy. He's young, a very underrated player, cheap, should develop into something fairly nice. Yet at the same time he's one of my more tradeable pieces and seems like he'll be a victim sooner or later of trade turnover.
C Andris Biedrins: What the hell happened to Andris Biedrins? The Latvian center went from putting up 12/11 in 2008 to completely collapsing and averaging less than a bucket in 15 minutes per game last year. Much has been made of Biedrins' apocalyptic free-throw shooting, and a common argument has been that the big man lost his confidence; others have pointed to the departure of Don Nelson and the failure of Biedrins to fit into the new gameplans. In any case, he's dead weight at this point and we're just waiting to get his $9m a year off the books the year after next.
C Jeremy Tyler: Will start the season in the D-League. Tyler was a big deal coming out of high school, went abroad instead of playing college ball, didn't do well, and ended up coming to the Warriors as a second-round pick last year. He's young, athletic, but I don't think he's a guy who will really go anywhere long-term.
SG Kent Bazemore: Will start the season in the D-League. Ugh. Bazemore, a defensive specialist in college basketball who went undrafted last year, has nothing at the NBA level. He can't shoot, pass, rebound, or even defend against NBA players. He has a two-year minimum deal, but he'll be gone as soon as I can find someone willing to take him.
Staff
HC: Mark Jackson: Mark Jackson had a rough start to his coaching career last year, presiding over a 23-43 season for the Warriors. I don't particularly like Jackson going forward; he's not demonstrated much in the way of NBA coaching acumen. His job is safe as long as he's winning, but I'm prepared to be pretty trigger-happy with him.
AC: Michael Malone, Pete Myers, Jerry DeGregorio
November 2012
Schedule
November 1, 2012 NEW ORLEANS W 106-93 (Bogut 20/13/3/2/2)
November 3, 2012 @ Toronto L 92-109
November 4, 2012 @ Brooklyn L 96-101
November 6, 2012 @ Memphis L 95-113
November 8, 2012 DENVER L 98-110
November 10, 2012 MEMPHIS W 119-88 (Bogut 27/9/1/2/2)
November 12, 2012 @ Sacramento W 116-90 (Jack 23/8/7/0/0)
November 14, 2012 MINNESOTA W 98-86 (Lee 24/8/1/0/1)
November 16, 2012 DETROIT W 101-89 (Lee 25/13/7/0/3)
November 18, 2012 @ Los Angeles (C) W 113-92 (Lee 21/7/2/0/5)
November 21, 2012 PORTLAND W 128-110 (Bogut 31/10/1/3/2)
November 24, 2012 CHICAGO L 98-106
November 26, 2012 @ Philadelphia W 95-89 (Curry 20/6/3/0/1)
November 28, 2012 @ Washington L 100-120
November 29, 2012 @ Boston L 94-112
Month: 8-7, Season: 8-7
Transactions
26/11/2012
TRADE:
GOLDEN STATE
PHO PG Kendall Marshall 1,919,160
PHO PF Markieff Morris 2,005,560
PHO 2013 2nd round pick(PHO)
PHO 2014 2nd round pick(PHO)
PHO 2015 2nd round pick(PHO)
PHOENIX
GSW SF Draymond Green 850,000
GSW C Festus Ezeli 1,020,960
GSW SG Charles Jenkins 762,195
GSW C Jeremy Tyler 762,195
SIGNING: Ben Wallace, 1 year, minimum.
SIGNING: Jordan Williams, 1 year, minimum.
ASSIGNMENT: Jordan Williams to the Santa Cruz Warriors.
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An...interesting month, to say the least. After a handy opening-night win, we lost four not-particularly-difficult games on the trot before putting together a six-game winning streak. Bogut came up with some surprising performances at time, although was usually either explosive or quietly solid with little in between. Lee provided some typically memorable performances; one of his best, a 35/10 game (on just 18 shots at that), was actually in the losing effort to Chicago. The backcourt proved fairly streaky, and more worryingly never carried the team to a win when the frontcourt was off its game (which wasn't the case vice-versa), and Klay hasn't really been the second-unit spark we were seeking (though he's looked good when he's started), but there's still a lot of good to be taken from the month.
Off the court...well, I certainly wasn't expecting for things to move this quickly trade-wise, but I'm happy with the results. Green was struggling to get into the team with Barnes and Rush ahead of him; a few teams noticed and made enquiries, but Phoenix posed the most interesting proposition. They'd taken Kendall Marshall in the draft, but were clearly regretting it after a number of frustrating performances primarily stemming from his major lack of scoring ability, and made it known that they were willing to move him for some backup at the 3; there were rumours it was a move to light a fire under the newly-acquired Michael Beasley, but I don't pay attention to all of that. I resolved to use this opportunity to dump some of the dead-weight on the team, and ended up agreeing a deal that shipped away not only Green but fellow rookie Ezeli and sophomores Jenkins and Tyler, taking back in exchange troubled sophomore big-man Markieff Morris and three second-round picks. Time will tell on this deal, but at worst it's a marginal deal with marginal players and marginal picks, and at best, well we've got a Rondo.
The move opened up a couple of roster spots, and we moved quickly to fill those. With only Bogut and Biedrins available at the 5, we brought in 16-year vet Ben Wallace to back them up; the 37-year-old put up worse numbers than Biedrins on offense last year, but like Biedrins he can still rebound, and unlike Biedrins I think he can do some good things for us on post defence and the like. In addition, we signed D-Leaguer Jordan Williams on an one-year deal, immediately assigning him to Santa Cruz; Williams put up decent numbers in limited minutes last year in New Jersey, and has the upside to be a competent role player if called upon.
