5 Under-the-Radar Free Agents Warriors Should Target This Offseason
The cost of NBA championship contention is steep. After reeling off two world titles in three seasons, the Golden State Warriors embark on this offseason facing the difficult task of roster-building on a budget.
The good news is the infrastructure should remain historically strong. All-Stars Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are already under contract, and barring a dramatic departure from expectations, former MVPs Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant should both have new deals in short order.
The free-agency path from there is uncertain. The collective costs of Curry and Durant could determine how much of the supporting cast can be retained.
The Dubs could have as many as 10 free agents, meaning in all likelihood there will be multiple roster vacancies to fill. But with very little money to do so, Golden State will court ring-chasers and sift through the clearance bin of players either past their primes or working to re-establish their values.
Nothing about that sounds sexy, but these five under-the-radar targets could provide substance nonetheless.
Jodie Meeks, SG, Unrestricted
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On the surface, Jodie Meeks shouldn't be hurting for free-agency suitors. Not when his biggest strength happens to be the primary focus of today's NBA.
The 29-year-old is a marksman. His career 37.6 three-point percentage would have trailed only the Splash Brothers on this season's Warriors, and even that's not a perfect reflection of Meeks' touch. He converted 40.9 percent from distance on 3.8 attempts a night this season and hit 40.1 percent on 5.2 per game in 2013-14.
If his hoops narrative stopped there, he'd have his pick of eight-figure pacts this summer. But injuries have sabotaged his value, potentially putting him in the Warriors' price range on a one-year, prove-it arrangement.
He missed 22 games in 2014-15, and that was by far the healthiest he's been in recent years. He's played just 39 games and underwent three surgeries—two on his foot, one on his thumb—over the two seasons since.
Oakland could be the perfect place to re-establish himself. The Warriors wouldn't need him to play major minutes or step outside of his role. He'd get a fluorescent green light and the opportunity to feast on catch-and-shoot jumpers. Without proper spacing on the shooting-starved Orlando Magic, he hit 43.6 percent of his catch-and-fire threes—10th among players with three-plus attempts per game, just behind Klay Thompson.
Assuming Ian Clark bolts the Bay in free agency, Meeks could quickly settle in as a spark-plug sniper.
Anthony Morrow, SG, Unrestricted
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Anthony Morrow and the Warriors joined forces before. Golden State grabbed the undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech in 2008, then watched him lead the NBA in three-point shooting as a rookie (46.7 percent) and outshoot then-teammate Stephen Curry as a sophomore (45.6 percent to 43.7).
"I'm not saying he's with these guys...but just going by how they shoot, he's right up there with the Reggie Millers, Chris Mullins and Ray Allens," then-Warriors assistant Keith Smart said in 2009, per Janny Hu of the San Francisco Chronicle. "He can shoot with those guys."
That feels like a lifetime ago, for Morrow and the Warriors. The 6'5" shooting guard will turn 32 before the start of next season and wasn't a full-time player this past one. After never having converted fewer than 37.1 percent of his long-range looks, his perimeter success rate plunged to 30.8.
But Golden State knows he can stroke. Anyone with a stat sheet can see that. Even with his recent struggles, his career three-point percentage sits at a robust 41.7, the seventh-highest mark over that stretch (minimum 500 attempts). The downturn will be the biggest determinant of his next deal, but his track record should ensure another contract will come his way.
His three ball is threatening enough that he can make an impact without accruing any stats. That's important, because offensive opportunities could come few and far between. He's dead weight on defense, but if the Dubs can hide him, they'll benefit from his presence the other way. A good guy to have in the locker room, he also has a history with Curry going back to their high school days in Charlotte, N.C.
Nene, C, Unrestricted
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Unlike the first two players listed, Nene is no reclamation project. That's the title he took into last summer, when he settled on a one-year, $2.9 million deal with the Houston Rockets after completing a five-year, $67 million contract.
The Rockets already revived him. Their spread-out, small-ball system breathed new life into the 34-year-old, who shot a career-best 61.7 percent while flushing more dunks than he had since 2010-11 (95).
"This place, was a blessing for me," Nene said, per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. "They brought me back. They brought the real Nene back."
But his return to Houston seems far from guaranteed. The Rockets are on their annual big-game hunt. They will reportedly meet with All-Star free agent Chris Paul, an executive told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times, and have discussed trading for Paul George with the Indiana Pacers, sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein. Internally, they're focused on working out another extension with James Harden, per Feigen.
With the Rockets' attention elsewhere, someone else could swoop in and steal Nene. It'd have to the right team, though, a win-now contender who could limit his minutes and provide him the same type of spacing.
Assuming he isn't exorbitantly priced—a safe bet given his age and injury history—the Warriors should hound him. He could do the same grunt work as Zaza Pachulia, since Nene already thrives in screen assists, post-up defense and pick-and-rolls. Only, Nene would also bring more athleticism, better jump-shooting and far superior point-blank finishing (70.8 percent shooting in the restricted area to Pachulia's 59.5).
Thabo Sefolosha, SF, Unrestricted
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It seems less a question of if the Warriors will need to reinforce their wings, but rather how much adjusting they'll need to do. The departure of either Andre Iguodala or Shaun Livingston would create a void on the defensive end. Losing Clark would subtract some of the squad's shooting.
Thabo Sefolosha could potentially help on both fronts.
He'd definitely help the defense. The 6'7" swingman—who ranked seventh among small forwards with a 2.27 defensive real plus-minus, per ESPN.com—has the size, smarts and skill to get plugged into Golden State's switch-happy scheme. And while his distance shooting has declined of late (32.9 percent over the last three seasons), he had a two-year run of 42.2 percent sniping alongside Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City.
Adding Sefolosha now is buying low, which is about all the Warriors can do with their cap constraints. The question is whether the 33-year-old has just regressed or simply bottomed out.
"After injury concerns struck during the tail end of the season and he became virtually unplayable throughout the Atlanta Hawks' first-round loss to the Washington Wizards, fears that the defensive ace is past his prime have become fully justifiable," Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal wrote.
Golden State's interest in Sefolosha could hinge on its roster makeup. If defensive versatility is a need, he's worth a look. If spacing is the greater concern, there might be better options out there.
Tiago Splitter, C, Unrestricted
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Remember how far from relevance JaVale McGee found himself last summer? That's about where Tiago Splitter sits now.
He's missed 120 games over the past two seasons and at least 23 in each of the last four. Before his 2016-17 season debut in March—which was preceded by an NBA Developmental League stint—he'd gone more than a year without playing, following hip surgery with strains to his hamstring and calf.
But he could be a gamble worth taking. While he's 32 years old, he only has 355 NBA games on his odometer. He's an efficient scorer from close range, an active presence on the glass and a sturdy interior defender. He's also well-versed in movement-oriented offenses, having spent his entire career under Gregg Popovich and two of his disciples, Mike Budenholzer and Brett Brown.
"He's just a blue-collar workhorse that is an elite screener, an elite roller," Brown said, per CSN Philly's Steven Tydings. "I know in my Spurs days with him, he was as good as we had coached on the assist from the roll."
The Warriors sort of lucked their way into a workable center rotation this past season. McGee went from afterthought to dependable rotation piece, while Pachulia and David West tag-teamed the physical duties. But all three are bound for free agency, meaning one or more might need replacing.
If Splitter can get healthy, he could not only fill one of those spots, he might even be an upgrade.
Statistics used courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball Reference.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @ZachBuckleyNBA.
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