[h1]Kawakami: Lottery is over; it's time for Warriors brass to go to work[/h1]
WARRIORS HAVE MANY AVENUES REMAINING TO SEEK IMPROVEMENT
By Tim Kawakami
Mercury News Staff Columnist
Article Launched: 05/21/2008 01:36:22 AM PDT
They had to wait to see if the Lottery Gods would bless them, and now the Warriors know the answer: No.
No Derrick Rose, very probably the NBA's next dominant point guard.
No Michael Beasley, who could have been used in 1,001 different ways on the post and perimeter by a coach as gifted and devious as Don Nelson.
Now they know, now Chris Mullin can give his lottery representative Mitch Richmond some grief, and now the Warriors can go about the rest of their off-season.
They still need one or two rising All-Star-level players, preferably a big man and a big point guard.
So now the Warriors - unlike the Chicago Bulls, who cashed in on a 1.7 percent shot of winning the No. 1 pick - are going to have to work for it this summer.
Hey, the Warriors had only a 1.09 percent chance to move into one of the first two spots at Tuesday's lottery and had a humongous near-certainty that they would remain in the 14 slot, which is what happened.
They won 48 games. They already have some good young players. They didn't deserve or desperately need one of the prime picks in this draft.
But Mullin couldn't start plotting his moves until he knew the lottery outcome - for example: Why worry about Baron Davis' future if the Warriors were about to land Rose?
Now Mullin knows. He has the 14th pick in the June 26 draft, he has a $9.9 million trade exception that will expire four days later, he has two valuable restricted free agents to re-sign (Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins) and he has Davis' opt-out deadline coming up.
Settled in at Pick 14, here are the next important questions for the Warriors:
• Can they find a difference-maker from among a thick group of similarly talented players who figure to be selected anywhere from 11th to 20th?
It's impossible to forecast draft night, but it's likely that, if they stay at 14, the Warriors will be looking at:
UCLA guard Russell Westbrook, Kansas forward Darrell Arthur, Stanford center Robin Lopez, West Virginia scoring forward Joe Alexander, Florida forward Marreese Speights, Nevada center JaVale McGee, Arizona guard Chase Budinger, Syracuse forward Donte Greene and French forward Nicolas Batum.
If Mullin doesn't fall in love with any of those players, he might want to jump higher in the draft, which leads to . . .
• Would the Warriors be willing to give up Brandan Wright or Marco Belinelli to move up five, six or seven slots to get a shot at Indiana guard Eric Gordon or UCLA forward Kevin Love?
Tough question, because Mullin remains sky-high on both of last year's draftees and yet, you never know with him.
Gordon doesn't figure to play point guard in the NBA, but he might team nicely with Ellis as matching combo guards. Love isn't an up-tempo big man, but he's a rebounder and passer, which means he could be an excellent complement to Biedrins.
• If they won't or can't trade Wright or Belinelli, can the Warriors use the exception to move up a few slots to get Love or Gordon?
For example, the Warriors could offer to take Bobby Simmons' $9.9 million contract off Milwaukee's hands, if the Bucks switch their eighth pick for the Warriors' 14th.
That's not a fair trade - the Warriors probably would need more from Milwaukee than just a six-slot jump, but you get the idea.
• If they found a way to get Gordon, would they have any long-term plans for Davis?
I'm not sure they have a ton of future thoughts about Davis beyond the coming season anyway, but if they landed Gordon, the Davis clock would really start ticking down.
• Could Mullin use the exception to acquire a veteran player straight up from a team making a salary dump?
Again, that would involve a giant increase in the Warriors' payroll, which would have to be approved by ownership, but Denver's Marcus Camby and Seattle's Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox almost certainly will be available this summer, and each would fit into the trade exception slot.
• Assuming this is Nelson's final season, should the Warriors make sure the core is set up for one more playoff run instead of doing heavy long-term repairs?
That might mean staying away from a young, big non-shooter such as McGee or Lopez. That might mean placating Davis for another season. That might mean taking a ready-made player such as Arthur or Alexander with the 14th pick.
Most of these questions would have been rendered null and void if the Warriors had lucked out and hit the lottery Tuesday. But they're the Warriors - those kinds of things never happen to them.
Instead, they have questions and decisions and salary issues . . . which is what the Warriors are used to.
