The Warriors have officially waived forward Rudy Gay and swingman Rodney McGruder, the team announced following the conclusion of Friday’s preseason finale (Twitter press release).
Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link), who first reported the cuts, say that Golden State will open the season with just 13 players on standard contracts for added roster and financial flexibility, and will plan to add a 14th man within the first two weeks of the season. That player will likely be signed to a non-guaranteed contract.
Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, a team is permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for up to two weeks and up to 28 total days in a given season. That means if the Warriors don’t fill that 14th roster spot until two weeks into the season, they’d only be permitted to dip to 13 players again for up to 14 more days for the rest of the season.
Gay and McGruder, both NBA veterans, were believed to fighting for a single roster spot, but neither player earned significant playing time during the preseason. Gay registered four points and seven rebounds in 15 total minutes across two contests, while McGruder appeared in just one game, putting up eight points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.
Given that the Warriors will need to sign a 14th man soon, they could circle back to Gay, McGruder, or Javonte Green, who was also waived this week. If the team isn’t enamored of any of those vets, it could look elsewhere on the free agent market. Promoting a two-way player to a standard contract and then signing a new two-way player would be another option.
Gay and McGruder will clear waivers on Monday, assuming they go unclaimed.
Warriors are waiting for a big man to get waived. Someone who falls through the cracks that will serve their needs a little more than a 6-6 forward or a 6-8 forward.
It’s also possible they hold out for a pure shooter but tough to find those guys at this point. Maybe a role like Otto Porter Jr played a couple years ago. Good rebounder, nice three-point shot, minimum contract.
I watched Rudy Gay play one of those games and cringed – he’s a shell of himself today. At this stage (and age), he looks like if he played a 5 minute stretch in a game, it would take the first 4 minutes just to actually get loose.
Happens to the best of’em… solid career!
Yes I keep telling guys when I play that there’s a fine line between warming up too much and reducing my game time Effectiveness because I’m worn out already !! lol.
So I don’t warm up anymore, I just run the first game and that’s the warm up. By game 2 and 3, I’m all good, and by game 4 I’m done, call it a day. Well, now you know what to look forward to but at least you have a little strategy to help deal with it.
So basically they are in the market for everyone. Expert take.
Reno, a good big man or a nice shooter. That’s not everyone. They don’t need any more point guards and they don’t need any more shooting guards. They’ll take a wing guy or a big man.
What do they need another big man for? Steph looked pretty good at the 5 yesterday!
You can have size without having a 7fter. Dubs seem to prefer 6’8-6’9 dudes for their center spot; guys that can guard forwards just as well as bigs, while not being liabilities on defense if they get switched onto guards in PnR. Most teams have their PG call for a screen to have a big guard them on the perimeter, which is where the bigs are either too slow or so clumsy(Zaza) that nobody knows what’ll happen.
However, a guy like Biyombo, Bazley, Robinson-Earl, or Khem Birch would be nice fits in that 6’9/230-245lb range. Tony Bradley, Nerlens Noel, and JaVale McGee are the 6’10+ guys, though I’d prefer Nerlens over anyone right now. 6’11, 230, 7’5 wingspan, big enough to be a modern JaVale on offense while being a shot blocker on defense that’s quick enough to play a few minutes here and there on the perimeter. Uses length to block shots and deflect/steal balls in the passing lanes, and isn’t so big that he’d slow down the transition or be a liability defending PnR’s in the 5-10 minutes he’d get.
Kerr, Meyers, and Dunleavy seem to prefer guys that can switch over lumbering bigs. Prototypical center for the Dubs has never been a Wiseman type, but a Bam Adebayo/Giannis/pre-2020 Ben Simmons type. Think 6’8-6’9 Draymond Green. Those guys are hard to come by though, so they should settle for a lob threat/shot blocker/athletic freak in Nerlens Noel to compliment the trusty all-around guy in Loon and the savvy/bigger+younger Bjelicia in Saric.
I’d see a Loon/Saric/Nerlens trio as something similar to a Zaza/West/JaVale, though Looney is a better player than Zaza, they both make their money with their IQ as opposed to 3pt shots or athleticism.
If JaVale McGee entered the league today, he’d look like Nerlens Noel. The NBA is losing spots for 6’10-7ft 250-280lb guys that aren’t Joel Embiid. No more Nikola Pekovic or Roy Hibbert. If you’re 7ft, can’t shoot or pass, then you’d better be able to run in transition, catch lobs, and defend bigs and forwards. Noel would excel with the Dubs.
Think Steph/Klay/Wigs/Dray/Noel, or a lockdown lineup of
Steph/GP2/Wigs/Dray/Noel? Even Phoenix would have trouble scoring on that lineup, although I’d prefer to have Jrue Holiday over CP3, we got what we got, and this roster would really be complete with a 6’11/230lb lob-threat/shot-blocker/fast break starter/finisher.
If it were still Bob Meyers, they’d probably sign Juan Toscano Anderson, which isn’t a bad move, but I’d prefer Nerlens Noel, and make him a better version of what JaVale McGee was for us. JaVale never led the league in steals per game♂️
Good news; Hardaway and Richmond are in this weekend for a session…
I think Nelly was one of the first to start the small ball stuff. Tom Tolbert playing Center in the playoffs. Rod Higgins too.
Larry Smith was actually a very good small ball Center but wouldn’t re-sign with golden state because he got tired of playing out of position. Great rebounder great defender but didn’t want to play center.
Webber left to because of that too
Yes and when we traded him who did we get in his place? Tom Gugliotta and the three first round picks back. Warriors of the ’80s and 90s were often one step forward, two steps backward.
As predicted. Rudy Gay was horrible last year and should have retired 2 years ago. McGruder has never been good. There was never any point in having one of them take the last space on the bench that would be better given to someone who, if nothing else, *might* have potential to help the team now or in the future.
McGruder actually looked pretty good in the last pre-season game.
Anyone good enough just to make it to an NBA camp can occasionally “look good” – especially to the untrained eye of the casual fan.
That must be me. I’m just lucky to have such experts around to educate me.
Warriors need to have Kuminga and Moody play as much as possible early in the season to give them confidence. They along with Wiggins have the greatest upside potential. Wiggins need to be #2 option on the team instead of 4th-5th option. The less CP3 plays the better. He needs to stay fresh, healthy and accept the role Livingston played.
Trey Johnson and Liam Robbins are decent undrafted centers that are free right now
Trey Jamison*
I hope they didn’t cut Rudy because he is GAY !!
I don’t think so because he’s been Gay his whole life. He was an amazing player with the Grizzlies in the early years. Great size, great scoring on the wing, good defender. Fundamentally sound and never hurt you.
I’m almost tempted to delete my response and not give yours any attention, but here it is.