Why the Golden State Warriors Should Stand Pat Over the Summer

With the Warrior’s questionable decision to draft Ekpe Udoh, the roster they are left with is definitely unbalanced.  Holes at the three position and at backup point guard have left many to speculate that more moves are in store for the team.  Specifically, given the logjam of lanky, young, unproven players at the four position, many think one of either Udoh, Brandan Wright, or Anthony Randolph are going to be a piece of a trade for a three. 

General manager Larry Riley went on the record saying that over the summer the team would like to find a three.  I think that for a variety of reasons, almost any trade Riley might make would be ill-advised, and would caution him before he pulls the trigger on any deal that might come his way.

One reason  to stand pat is that Riley is a basically a stand-in GM until the team is sold, and is not really in a position to see the things from the view of what is best for the Warriors in the future.  However, I think that regardless of the ownership situation, the Warriors would be best served by holding onto the majority of their players. 

I say this not because I think our roster is fine as is.  We definitely have too many power forwards, and need a legitimate starting three.  No, I think we should hold onto most of our guys because most of our guys our undervalued right now. 

I would say that our five most likely guys to be traded our center Andris Biedrins, one of the redundancies at the four (either Udoh, Wright, or Randolph) and Ellis.  Of those five assets, only Ellis is coming off of a good year, and is valued by the rest of the league at basically his maximum worth.  Udoh is an unknown, but I think we reached at for him with the sixth pick and would be unlikely to receive anything of much value in return.

Most importantly, if we traded Randolph, Wright, or Biedrins, we would be selling low.  Randolph and Wright have never been healthy and gotten significant, sustained playing time.  Given that time, I think they would put up good numbers, increasing what we could get back for them in a trade. 

  A lot of people seem to have given up on Biedrins, but I remember two years ago when he was an automatic double-double and was steadily improving his game.  There was a time when that contract looked like a bargain.  The Warriors should give him a chance to return to that level and then decide if we want to deal him or keep him.

So based on this point of view, the only player we will get equal return for is Ellis.  And I would be OK with trading Ellis away for a solid three.  I also think that the team will be alright covering up the small forward spot with the roster  we have. 

This is a team accustomed to playing with a whacky rotation:  Corey Maggete as the late game power forward, Ellis at the three, and Devean George at the five.  I think we can get by with a combination of Reggie Williams and Anthony Morrow as undersized small forwards and Anthony Randolph as an oversized one.  At least for awhile.

That’s not a scenario you would want if you have hopes of winning a title.  But the for the Warriors, I think it is better than to play some promising young talent out of position than trading that young talent for just to patch a hole on a roster that’s not going to content this year anyways.  It’d be like a really fat chick spending all her money on a boob job.  Sure it’ll help, but there a lot of other moves that should be made before that one. 

Just as the girl should focus on dropping a few lb.’s before getting the boob job, the Warriors should see exactly what kind of talent we have before trading it away.  And who knows, maybe the girl, once skinny, wouldn’t need a boob job after all… just like Anthony Randolph might be the baller small forward we’ve needed all along.