Luther is okay, but we need size at PF (and backup C) which Taft would provide. Also, if you recall, I added that we deserve a second rounder in a strong draft next year in the deal. That would free the Rockets up to use Juwon Howard as trade bait for a SG. No matter how you look at it, Luther is too small to be a SG and he does not have the skills to be a PG. If we could use Luther to get a decent SG, I would be more in favor of that than Taft. Incidentally, I would be ecstatic to get Troy Murphy, but we have no assets to match the value. Trouble is, our roster is so thin that, wherever you plug a hole, you get another leak somewhere else.
Sounds like a good trade for the rox. I have also been a big fan of Pietrus. It would be sweet if we can land him.
The Warriors are apparently shopping Murphy but have no takers because of his horrendous contract. Mullin is determined to shake up the roster and erase his recent rash of bad signings from the books (i.e. Fisher, Foyle, Murphy, and Dunleavy). Mullin certainly hears the rumblings from the fans and media to dump Murphy. I am a current GSW season ticket holder and have watched Murphy for a couple of years. He is soft, slow, and the ultimate fantasy basketball player. He puts up decent stats but doesn't really make his teammates better or affect the outcome of the game. If he could learn to be less of a stat hound and more of a team player, he could fit in with Rockets. I doubt the Rockets would welcome his ridiculous contract and I am almost certain Van Gundy wouldn't like his defense effort/ability. However, he could provide spacing and alleviate some of the low post double teams on Yao. Also, check out this posting from a local Warriors website that proclaims an insider played ball with assistant GM Rod Higgins. Not sure how credible this source is, but it does make sense with everything else I am seeing and hearing out here: Good friend played ball with Higgins yesterday and got some information about the W's. I believe that this is what Higgins said, but can't be sure that Higgins was telling the truth: (1) Somewhat bad news- Higgins mentioned how he was exhausted from being on the phone all the time in the past couple of days. Warriors are desperately looking for third team in Harrington deal. ATL does NOT want Murphy and his salary and will not take him and a 2-team sign and trade. Thus, Warriors have been on the phone with almost every team trying to push Murphy. Guess everyone else realizes how bad Murph's contract is. Hopefully these guys can pull something out of their ass. We have to move Murphy at all costs IMO. (2) Warriors wanted to keep around D Fish but he wanted to start (!) and demanded a trade. Not sure how true this is, but I always got the impression that D Fish was really bitter about not not being the starter here (whether Speedy or Baron) and never embraced the veteran/leader role. If you read articles on why he left the Lakers, it was to start and be the man. I guess Utah is the one place he even has a shot at starting in the league. But I do not think Fish was happy about going to Utah. Maybe W's were pissed and sent him to NBA hell. http://forums.warriorsworld.net/main/msgs/1202608.phtml
Since you are a GS fan please tell me more about Pietrus. Also, in your opinion as a fan would you be happy with the following scenarios: 1. JHo and RyBo (throw in for salary cap) for TM followed by a Pietrus for the big TE and our unprotected 07 first rounder? Just curious.
I guess I'm getting used to Rockets fans, but I immediately guessed from the trade title that it would be Pietrus/Murphy for crap/more crap.
What else do we have to trade? I don't think a TE and a inprotected 1st is a supposedly good draft in crap though, personally.
I'll say it again, if you really want TM, the only way i think we could do it is in a three-way deal with Atlanta, swapping Juwan/Harrington/Murphy. Bottom line, Ii don't care for either Murphy or Howard but atleast with Murphy we can spread the floor and he can pull more rebounds than Howard. Its the lesser of the two evils.
Pietrus had a terrible year this past season and was hurt for awhile too. He took the starting job from Dunleavy when Mike went to the bench but squandered his opportunity. He is a good defender and nice spark-plug type player off the bench for maybe 20 minutes tops. His game is 2 dimensional, however, as he chucks 3's and drivers hard to the cup. Not a playmaker, but athletic and exciting. He is looking to cash in big time as his rookie contract is entering his last year. At the beginning of the year, he told the media that he should be starting at the 2. Laughable, since the GSWs had J-Rich. He was also flattered to be mentioned in the Artest sweepstakes because his "value was high around the league." He would be a nice complimetary piece, but will cost too much in the long run. He wants higher than MLE $. Also, GSWs won't trade Pietrus at this point for 1st rounder. I personally wouldn't take J. Ho and Gundy's boy for Murphy. The GSWs should be able to get more as his name came up in the Artest, Chandler, and now Al Harrington sweepstakes. The GSWs want to get Diogu more time and have Taft back him up although a cheap veteran PF would help.
