THE SPORT COUNT

Following on from our recent features on teams without a future (the Raptors and the Kings), we’ve come to the latest in the installment: the inimitably run Golden State Warriors.

"I treat this little fella better than most of my rookies."

First things first, I’m adding a fairly large caveat to this feature: I am not going to mention Don Nelson.

We’re talking about the future of the team, and — at least, theoretically — you can fire Nellie. Whilst his decision making and constant mind games with his playing personel is one thing, we’re going to focus on the playing staff and how this rag tag band can possibly be transformed into a contender.

On initial inspection, the Warriors seem to be a team with a bright future. The unique skills of Anthony Randolph, the scoring and up-tempo potential of Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis, and the creepiness of Fritzl-in-the-making Andris Biedrins, make an entertaining, and promising, core. Surely a lot of teams out there with aging veterans cobbled together for one last roll of the dice would covet the Warriors’ outlook? Think again.

Let’s look at some of the salary facts. Whilst there’s no glaringly obvious Eddy Curry or Zach Randolph on this team, cumulatively there have been enough woeful contract decisions to seriously hamper the team’s long term flexibility:

#1: They currently owe Stephen Jackson — a man who has openly declared he doesn’t want to play for them — $36 million over the next 4 years. Not much to pay for your mercurial captain? Well, he’ll be 35 by the time this contract is expired… alarm bells ringing yet?

Jackson’s contract is close to untradeable, but he’s by no means the worst asset on the team, in contract terms.

#2: $40m over 4 years. That’s how much money they owe Corey Maggette; one of the most dispensable scoring 3s in recent history. This is the guy that KG once congratulated after a blowout loss with the elegant insult, “way to get your numbers”. In the context of this current environment of fiscal responsibility, it’s incomprehensible that Corey Maggette got this contract last year. It’s bewildering to pay that much for a solid 18 ppg at a bad clip, and nothing else.

#3: Now, the third piece of the puzzle. Monta Ellis. While he’s exciting, and — at his best — could be a good deal on his $11m per year deal, he’s hardly the guy you want to build around. He injured himself by engaging in contractually prohibited activity in the offseason directly after getting overpaid. He has openly declared that he “cannot” play with the team’s first round draft choice. He once finished second in a chilli eating contest rumoured to have been instigated by Adonal Foyle. You get the picture that he isn’t exactly a young franchise player in the making.

In fact, with Ellis, Jackson and Maggette — three guys who think of themselves ahead of almost anyone else — and SVU suspect in the making, Biedrins, the Warriors have nearly $41m dollars committed through to 2013.

The good news is they’ll still have room for a max/near max player. The bad news is that they’ll need to field a team of 5 players — including the bench — to succeed in doing this.

Posted by: James

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