Warriors owner Joe Lacob insists the team never really had a two-timeline approach, which makes the recent trade for Chris Paul easier to understand, writes Madeline Kenney of The San Jose Mercury News. Golden State gave up 24-year-old guard Jordan Poole in exchange for Paul, who turned 38 in May and has a long history of injuries, especially in the playoffs.
Lacob called the trade a “multi-faceted decision” and said management considers every move with the goal of producing a championship-level team each year. The trade provides future financial flexibility because Paul doesn’t have any guaranteed money beyond the upcoming season, and Lacob hinted that moving Poole became a greater priority after he was punched by Draymond Green during last year’s training camp.
“We had to change something,” Lacob said. “While it’s a short-term move, Chris Paul is a fabulous Hall of Famer who will I think certainly help our second unit, help our first unit if he plays there, wherever he plays, he’s a tremendous guy.”
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Lacob said no talks have taken place yet regarding an extension for Klay Thompson, Kenney adds. Lacob is optimistic that a new deal will be worked out and said he wants to see Thompson, Green and Stephen Curry spend their entire careers with the organization. Lacob added that he also expects to “figure something out” with head coach Steve Kerr, who is entering the final season of his contract.
- First-round pick Brandin Podziemski was disappointed by his performance during Summer League and the team’s lack of success, per C.J. Holmes of The San Francisco Chronicle. Podziemski shot just 26.3% from the field and 21.7% from beyond the arc as the Warriors went 0-5 in Las Vegas and 1-6 overall this summer. Holmes observes that the rookie guard had trouble finishing in the lane against larger defenders. “We didn’t win a game (in Vegas), so it’s tough,” Podziemski said. “I think individually I played pretty bad, but that’s why it’s Summer League, and that’s why we have time to grow and develop until October.”
- Curry made a hole-in-one Saturday and holds the lead at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in Nevada. During the playoffs, Curry told Baxter Holmes of ESPN that he loves golf, but doesn’t plan to pursue the PGA after his basketball career ends. “It’s a very time-intensive sport and to be very good at it and practice and what I heard these pros go through, it’s different,” Curry said. “I don’t know if I’m ready for all that. But I know I’ll be good enough to compete in those other events that are fun and competitive at the same time.”
I wish they just said “Yeah the 2-timelines plan was supposed to win us a ring, and it did, in the first year. Now we don’t have to stick to it.”
Anything other than what happened makes more sense.
The two timeline plan was entirely media invented. Nobody from the team ever said two timeline until well after the media established the narrative.
What happened doesn’t make sense to you because you’re a complete and utter moron.
Meyers messed up by drafting players that were way to raw to play in the NBA. Its OK with 1 but not 4. Contending teams need a solid bench to win. Watching the summer league it wasn’t that the warriors young players were bad just besides the recent draft picks, Santos, Quiones and davis the rest were bad players. Too many easy buckets by the opponent.
Could J.R. Smith participate in a celebrity golf tournament? Last I heard, he was on the NCA&T golf team since he was using his college eligibility after returning to school but couldn’t use it to play basketball since he was a pro.
I like that CP3 will run the second unit and can get the best out of younger guys and role players but at that cost it’s crazy.
Personally I would’ve preferred they added depth.
Imagine some kind of deal where they give up Poole and got back players like Otto Porter, Chris Boucher and maybe something else.
Porter was great for GSW a year or so ago and Boucher would’ve been solid as another impact big that could offer some shooting and rim protection.
You had to take whatever you could get to dump Poole. They can worry about the fit later and I’m sure Chris Paul will make it happen in a positive way. He’s played with James Harden so he knows how to give up The Rock and run to the corner.
Everybody says that Summer League is meaningless. It is my belief that they should play BEFORE the draft. Even if it is just a couple of games for all of the players. The Podziemski kid from Golden State is a prime example. If the draft was tomorrow, no way Golden State takes that kid after watching him play last week. Cam Whitmore doesn’t fall to #20, and Charlotte takes Scoot and not Brandon Miller. Podziemski has no shot at ever being able to finish in the NBA. Completely overmatched athletically. Good passer with solid vision and instincts, but that is about it. The shooting numbers from college 48% FG and 43% 3pt from college can be thrown out the window. Golden State has typically been among the better drafting teams in the NBA. However, Podziemski, Wiseman, Moses Moody, Pat Baldwin ….. All bad picks. Kuminga still has a shot. The rest of the NBA is quite happy with Golden State’s draft misses. They were picking high enough with enough picks to have added ample firepower via the draft to Steph, Klay and Draymond. Instead, trying to squeeze the last juice out of Chris Paul.
You put way too much stock in summer league. Teams like the warriors with an established championship core never win summer league games, that’s not the point of summer league. Whitmore legitimately should not of been drafted higher, showing up against rookies isn’t an achievement.
It’s not about winning or losing Summer League games.
How is showing up, and playing well against fellow “rookies” not an achievement?
Podziemski – great example. He played in a weak league. He is a guard, with limited athleticism, yet his led his conference in REBOUNDING. Now, playing against bigger, stronger, more athletic players, you can clearly see how he is overmatched athletically.
Whitmore would not have fell to #20 after answering some of the questions that caused his stock to fall. He did it against the players he was competing against in the draft.
Podziemski was picked for his all around game not driving to the basket. If you watched the games he was working on his play making not his shooting. He does have a lot of athleticism. Still almost had 7 rebounds a game. More than Whitmore had who is much taller. Never get excited about the summer league games against same 2 way and rookie players.
Whitmore played against MUCH tougher competition. How is a 3 point shooting guard leading the Conference in scoring. Shows how weak the league was.
The history of summer league is littered with guys who lit it up and then stunk when the real NBA games started and were never heard from again and guys who played poorly but eventually figured things out. As for the Warriors being “among the better drafting teams”, what drafts are you looking at? The Warriors have been living off the Steph, Klay, Dray draft picks for far too long. Since then it has been mediocre at best. Looney and Poole turned out well given where they were picked but the rest of the 1st rounders (Jones, Evans, Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody, Baldwin) have been underwhelming and they have not hit on any of their 2nd rounders despite repeatedly touting guys as steals and sleepers (McCaw, Bell, Smailigic, Paschal, Jessup, Mannion, Rollins) who they publicly claimed were high on their boards could have been 1st round picks.
Never said any of these guys were headed for sure stardom. I said … They should have ALL the draft guys play like this BEFORE the draft.
Guys do 3-on-3 workouts with teams. Light stuff. Draft Combine is just measurements and drills. It’s real purpose is just to sell ads on TV. It is not college tape. It is not doing drills that you have been practicing for weeks.
Line them up. Let them play. Then do the Draft.
You want athletic guys, you draft Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga. You want guys that know the game and how to play but are limited athletically, you draft Brandon Podziemski.
@Gary: Lumping Moody in with Kuminga is flat wrong. Moody is not all that athletic and has mentioned that he is working to improving his athleticism. Anyone who has watched him play and knows what they are seeing can see he does not move laterally very well and does not have much bounce (his long arms make up for that a little). Kuminga is in a different class athletically – probably in top 5% of the league.
Good call Michael Pietrus. You’re right. I should have substituted James Wiseman’s name for Moses Moody. Would have made more sense.
Warriors are traditionally terrible at drafting but hit on three guys that built a championship core. Outside of those three we are terrible. Like previously stated the mistake was drafting project players instead of guys ready to contribute as role players immediately. They should have traded some of those picks for future assets. They were said to be high on Haliburton during that draft but felt like 2 was too high to take him. Then why didn’t they trade down? Bob myers is overrated
Everyone on the planet including the Warriors new that Podski had limited athleticism. Well so does Ty Jerome. What they like about Brandon is his size at 6-5, his shot, his vision and passing ability and creativity.
He’s not going to the hole and finishing strong very often in the NBA and as I said, everyone on the planet knows that. They need a guy who can spot the cutter and get him the ball or drive and dish. Not drive and finish.
Spot on. He also had very little help in summer league. Santos and Quiones was the only 2 guys from last year G team playing until the 2nd rounder took over in the last 2 games. There was a lot of bad defense in those games. Playing with Curry and Thompson on the floor the defense can’t sit inside the key to guard.
You can like all that about Brandon. He cannot perform against size and athletes. It has been proven. His freshman year at Illinois he sat on the bench only getting spot minutes. Couldn’t get on the floor! This was on a team that was desperate for shooting. He transferred to the WCC against limited athletes and played his game. He played NOBODY last year.
I have been watching Podziemski since high school. I well know what he can and cannot do. I used to make my living off of basketball. I know Brandon. I know his Dad. Pat Baldwin’s Dad, Pat, Sr. has been a good friend of mine for over 20 years. Pat, Sr., who is a college coach, made one mistake with Jr. …. Pat Jr. was not allowed to play in the post in high school. His coaches were forbidden from allowing it to happen. He is a PF and not a wing. Channing Frye and not Kevin Durant.
I should also mention that Podziemski and Baldwin were teammates on the same Nike Travel Team heading into their senior year.
Yes that’s all very interesting and you make great points. We’ll see if he can translate his game to the nba. Half of it is knowing what you can and can’t do and playing within those limitations.
Golden State seems to love kids from Milwaukee. Jordan Poole is from Milwaukee. Podziemski is from Milwaukee. Pat Baldwin, was originally a Chicago kid, but moved to Milwaukee before high school (Dad was head coach at UW-Milwaukee).
How can you say there was no 2 timelines(rebuilding) when you had Poole, Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody, Rollins, Baldwin, not to mention 2 other 2 way players on the roster? Warriors almost got away with it had they drafted Halliburton instead. The painful part is that Warrios have nada to show for all those assets. Need to pray that Kuminga and Moody will pan out but wouldnt be surprised if they are shipped out as well.
The two timeline thing is a bit overblown. There were several factors involved in why they ended up with what was essentially a win now group of players and an unplayable group of teenagers on their roster. In the end the players they chose was the problem. In a parallel universe they pick Halliburton, Franz Wagner, Trey Murphy, and Jaylin Williams and are in a much better position for the present and the future.
Warriors went from bright future to all their money tied up in over 30 year olds within 2 years…
CP3 is a bad bandaid fix…
You would have kept Jordan Poole?
I think dumping Ryan Rollins guaranteed money was a plus and I think you probably had to include Patrick Baldwin in the deal to help Washington go through with it. Then you have the money so preferably it would be a guy in his final year so enter Chris paul. You get a very good point guard out of it. I think it’s a win for the Warriors. You don’t agree?