NBA Trade Rumors: Dealing for Andrew Bogut Worth the Gamble for Warriors

The Golden State Warriors have been in need of a capable center for what feels like a very long time.

And now it sounds like they may actually be able to get one.

It would be nice if it were Dwight Howard, but the idea of the Warriors trading for him was a pipe dream the very moment it was conceived. The Warriors are, however, circling a potential deal involving Howard's team, the Orlando Magic, one that would deliver unto them their oft-dreamt-of center.

According to a late-night report from Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, the Warriors and Magic are trying to hammer out a deal that would send Monta Ellis to Orlando, with the Milwaukee Bucks joining in the fun and sending Andrew Bogut to the Bay Area.

Berger classifies the potential deal as "complicated," and he reported it is still "under discussion" regarding what the Bucks would get out of the deal and what the Magic would give up in it.

From the sound of things, the only parts of the deal that are in place are Bogut going to the Warriors and Ellis going to the Magic. Suffice it to say the deal is nowhere near completion if this is the case.

But we know for a fact that the Warriors want a big man, and we know for a fact that the Magic want a sidekick for Howard. And thanks to a report from Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated, we know that the Bucks are at least open to trading Bogut.

So the pieces fit together—at least until they all fall apart, anyway.

But Warriors fans and members of the front office have been dreaming for a center to come and rescue the team. They can allow themselves to entertain notions of how things would be changed if the Warriors were to acquire Bogut. 

Theoretically, things would be changed for the better.

Bogut is not Howard, but he's exactly the kind of center the Warriors have been searching for since, seemingly, the dawn of time. He's big, he's tough, can score around the basket, rebound, defend, block shots—you name it. With Bogut in mix, the Warriors' opponents would no longer treat the paint like a playground. There would be a formidable presence where there wasn't a formidable presence before.

Dealing for Bogut has its risks, though—especially if the Warriors do indeed have to give up Ellis. Bogut has a hard time staying healthy, and the ankle injury he suffered this season could potentially keep him out of action the rest of the year. The Warriors could execute this trade and get no immediate payoff.

That would be a tough thing to sell to the fans with Ellis, the team's leading scorer and one of the most popular Warriors in recent franchise history, walking out the door. 

The Warriors would have to sell the idea that they'd be going all-in on Bogut in the seasons to come. Sure, the Warriors would be out a talented scoring guard, but they will have acquired a center that the team could build a defensive-minded playoff contender around. Bogut could be the key piece in a plan that the Warriors don't currently have the personnel to execute.

This would be risky, but it's a risk worth taking for the Warriors. The current group of players they have right now has a very low ceiling. Instead of tinkering with it, the Warriors might as well take significant chunks out of it and replace them with other significant chunks, as it were. 

If the plan doesn't work out, the Warriors will have to start all over again from scratch. Seeing as how starting all over again from scratch is already a realistic possibility for the Warriors, they basically have nothing to lose in a theoretical Bogut experiment.

Sounds good. All the Warriors, Magic and Bucks have to do now is figure out the details.

I'm sure that won't be difficult at all.