Just found in the Web. Pretty interesting read. I already miss Nick. But I'm also looking forward to seeing Jamison in the Mavs' uniform
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Article Last Updated: Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 4:41:57 AM PST
Trade should get stamp of approval
WHEN IT COMES to re-inventing themselves, the Golden State Warriors are Bill Parcells with a sprinkle of John Daly and a dash of Dennis Rodman.
The Warriors are a team of 10,000 transactions and a thousand face-lifts. But, you know something, they got it right this time.
Let's boil their latest deal down to the last 10 seconds of an NBA game. The score is tied and the Warriors have possession. Who should get ball, Antawn Jamison or Nick Van Exel?
C'mon, there's no question. Van Exel has the guts of a cat burglar. Next to Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson, who in the NBA is better in the clutch than Van Exel?
Jamison is one of the nicest guys in sports, and he has pogo-stick jumping ability and an uncanny shot release. But in big games, he plays small.
Case in point: On April 4 the Warriors had to defeat visiting Portland to have any playoff hope. Jamison scored 12 points in a loss. The next day he scored 41 against Denver.
That was typical for Jamison. He led the Warriors with a 22.2 scoring average, but he loaded up on the Denvers and deflated against the Portlands. The Warriors paid him like a marquee player, but that role last season clearly belonged to Gilbert Arenas.
Now both of them are gone and Warriors fans are crying: Oh, no, here we go again. Why should we pay money to watch the NBA's No. 1 changing act?
Well, look at what the act has become. With Jamison, Danny Fortson, Chris Mills and Jiri Welsch, the Warriors had the NBA's second-best offense but also the league's absolute worst defense. And they were 38-44 basically with Forston, Mills and Welsch as non-entities.
Thank God for Mark Cuban, the only NBA owner who would save the Warriors from the burden of all those overloaded contracts, thereby leaving them $20 million under the cap in two years. But ask yourself this: Would you pay $12 million a year, which the Warriors were prepared to do with Jamison, for basically a complementary player?
The answer is obvious. The only problem with this deal is
the Warriors didn't receive enough value in return. Van Exel now becomes the Warriors' best player, capable, at 32, of averaging 25 points per game. Chris Mullin recently met with Van Exel, two lefties, and Van Exel apparently has dropped his opposition to joining the Warriors.
But Avery Johnson, Popeye Jones and Evan Eschmeyer? Can Johnson and Jones still play? Eschmeyer is a No. 3 center. Couldn't the Warriors have gotten another live body from Dallas, a young, active forward such as Eduardo Najera?
Unless the Warriors find a qualified backup at forward, don't oversell the team's chances. But if they do find their man, then they have a shot at bettering 38 victories.
Acquiring Van Exel eases the loss of Arenas, whose quickness and fearlessness will be missed. But collectively the Warriors can survive his departure. Here's how:
The team has four solid guards -- Van Exel, Jason Richardson, Bobby Sura and Speedy Claxton. Van Exel offers scoring and Claxton passing at point guard. And they add versatility: Van Exel also is a shooting guard who could pair with Claxton.
Richardson reportedly is working hard on his skills in Los Angeles this summer, unlike Larry Hughes, Arenas' new teammate in Washington, who failed to improve during the off-season as a Warrior.
The Warriors will have Erick Dampier, Adonal Foyle and Eschmeyer at center, which is acceptable because it maintains the status quo.
What happens at forward, though, holds the key to the season. Mike Dunleavy played the same position as Jamison, but made less money, and so he stays. Now Dunleavy starts, and we'll see what he has to offer.
Dunleavy and Troy Murphy will each get more shots with Jamison gone. The two aren't great at creating opportunities off the dribble, but they can at least hit jump shots.
And Dunleavy adds a dimension with his passing and court savvy. Dunleavy, Claxton and Sura could give the Warriors their best passing game since the Rick Barry era.
Forward Mickael Pietrus, their top draft pick, specializes in defense, a welcome plus against Karl Malone and Peja Stojakovich. But the Warriors still need an additional scorer up front.
Maybe the Warriors have no more chance of re-inventing themselves than does Gray Davis. But one more time: Van Exel or Jamison, the clock's winding down to 0:00, the ball's in the air...
Give it some time. The deal will make sense.
Dave Newhouse can be reached at (510) 208-6466 or by e-mail at
dnewhouse@angnewspapers.com