Turtle Power!

With Corey Maggette signing with the Warriors, he can now pair with Al Harrington to form the first all Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtle frontcourt in NBA history.

I’m actually a fan of this move. Granted, I’d rather have Brand, but he was never coming to GS. My second choice would have been to keep Baron, but a $65 mil deal is pretty rich for a guy with a lot of baggage, and he probably wouldn’t even have stayed if we matched the Clipper’s offer. Maggette gives us a dimension that we didn’t have last year: somebody who will consistently get to the free throw line. Our starting lineup — with Monta, Sjax, Maggette, Al and Biedrins — suddenly becomes pretty good from the line, whereas it was shaky with Baron in there.

Our offense is now very balanced and dynamic, with Monta using his midrange game and getting to the rim, Sjax and Al bombing away from outside, Biedrins cleaning up inside and catching passes, and Maggette slashing through defenses. If we’re able to snatch away Turiaf from the Lakers — I’d put our chances at about 40% right now — we’d add the toughness and rebounding that we really needed last year. The Millsap / Brandon Bass-type force. Hopefully Richard Hendrix and Brandon Wright can provide some energy as well.

Are we done? We’re still in the running for a backup PG. One with range and experience would be preferable. I don’t think Keyon Dooling is the answer. As stupid as it may sound, I think someone like Jason Williams would really fit the bill. Yes, he hasn’t improved in years. Yes, he can’t defend anyone. But he can run the offense, make plays, shoot the 3, and get out on the break in Nellie’s system. And he’ll be cheap. He’d take the pressure off of Monta, who will be our starting PG next year. Carlos Arroyo is another option, but he’s more of a halfcourt-type PG.

I heard Barnes is gone, which I’m sad about. He brought a lot of intangibles. But he wasn’t worth a long-term contract. I’d really like to bring back Kelenna Azuibuke and (obviously) lock up Monta and Biedrins. I’m not crying any tears over losing Pietrus, as long as we re-sign Kelenna.

Projected Lineup:

PG: Monta Ellis, <player to be signed>, CJ Watson

SG: Stephen Jackson, Kelenna Azuibuke

SF: Corey Maggette, Marco Bellinelli, Anthony Randolph

PF: Al Harrington, Brandan Wright, Richard Hendrix

C: Andris Biedrins, <Rony Turiaf>

Are we a playoff team? Who knows. People are sliding the Blazers into that 8th spot, but I think we have as good a roster as they do (Monta/Sjax/Maggette/Biedrins >= Roy/Aldridge/Oden). We’ll see how things shake out in an offseason that has become much more interesting than I expected. I’m still not ruling out the possibility of a deal that lands us Kirk Hinrich and a big man (Nocioni?) for Al and someone else (Brandan Wright?). That makes a lot of sense to me.