John Paxson, Chris Mullin Can Solve Each Other’s Problems

John Paxson and Chris Mullin have problems. Paxson needs to free up enough cap room to sign Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng.  Mullin has plenty of cap room, but he has no point guard to run his team.  Paxson needs a power forward who can score down low.  Mullin has a power forward.  Paxson has a point guard.

Monta Ellis puts Mullin in a bit of a bind. He’s a unique talent and is the future of the franchise. Davis was the perfect point guard to pair with him because he was big enough to man up shooting guards, and let Ellis take the smaller points.

With Davis gone Mullin is faced with two choices. He has to let Ellis play out of position and let Nelson run some kind of point by committee, or he needs to find a replacement point that’s big enough to D up shooting guards.

Enter Kirk Hinrich, who’s been playing the same role for Ben Gordon in Chicago.

The Bulls made a mistake signing Hinrich and Nocioni to long-term contracts. Both players aren’t living up to them, and now, by winning the draft they can’t sign Rose and afford to keep Gordon and Deng. Someone has to move.

So bring in Al Harrington. He can score down low and he can run the pick and roll with Rose, slashing to the basket or dropping back for threes. If he doesn’t work out he’s a free agent next year. Pay the luxury tax for a year and let him sign somewhere else.

For the Warriors Hinrich is a risk salary wise, but he allows Monta to stay in his natural position. Monta would become the alpha dog in Davis' place. It would give the Warriors a starting line up that would include a budding all-star (Ellis), a borderline all-star (Jackson), and two top ten players at their respective positions (Hinrich and Biedrins, look it up).

This would leave a mix of Wright, Belinelli, Randolph, and Hendrix to fill out the lineup along with Azubuike (who should be re-signed), and possibly Barnes. If the Warriors are lucky they could convince Pietrus to re-up (He won’t, there’s too much bad blood there.), and if they’re very lucky they just might be able to stumble into Corey Maggette.

Pick up the phone, gentlemen.