Jasikevicius Finally Understands Golden State

Posted Sep 10, 2007 10:36AM By Tom Ziller (RSS feed)

Lithuanian guard Sarunas Jasikevicius -- one of those players who's an MVP in Europe but for some reason can't escape the bench in the NBA -- tells ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan he doesn't understand the Golden State Warriors. The Dubs, he says, have had a variety of opportunities to trade Saras to various teams with various types of return packages offered. They haven't bitten.

Don't worry, Saras: You understand the Warriors perfectly.

This is what they do. They make things harder for themselves. There is no easy summer for Golden State. Look, they just ran rampant through a 68-win team in the playoffs, which followed a tremendous second half of the season. Only two roleplayers were on the free agent market. It should have been an easy summer -- you re-sign one of said roleplayers, you pick a frontcourt player with your late-teens draft choice, you get ready for 2007-08.

Instead... they traded their best scorer for a kid who may not play 500 minutes this year, spurned the straw whom stirs the drink (err, Don Nelson) by refusing a nominal pay raise, haven't made an effort to extend Monta Ellis' contract, have ignored Baron Davis' claims to an extension and generally pissed off the fanbase. You don't understand Golden State, Saras? No, you understand them just fine. This is who they are, this is what they do. I'd be worried if the franchise had an effective summer where nothing went wrong.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-10-2007 @ 2:56PM

Matt said...

What I don't understand is if Sarunas was so unhappy why he decided to pick up his $4m player option. With the Warriors.

I'm being facetious. I do understand, he's full of crap.

9-10-2007 @ 2:55PM

hmmm, my HTML tags didn't work. Here's the link:

http://tinyurl.com/32532v

9-10-2007 @ 3:00PM

Tom said...

This is an excellent point, Matt: In know in these proceedings can Saras make himself look pitiable. Similar situation to Spanoulis, actually, just handled diametrically differently.

9-10-2007 @ 4:13PM

Jon Shocker said...

Matt's right. He could have opted out but he took the money. Can't have it both ways.

9-11-2007 @ 1:54PM

Justin said...

1) Ellis is not eligible for a contract extension until next summer.

2) They have had discussions with Baron about an extension. Ignored? No, being cautious about it considering Baron's past.

3) Trading JRich for Wright allows them to a) re-sign Ellis next summer without hitting the luxury tax and b) adds a frontcourt player with the most potential from last years draft.

Also, the fanbase is not pissed off, go check the various message boards and see the consensus.

9-10-2007 @ 4:48PM

Collar said...

"Jazzy Cabbages" smells a little rotten. He could forgo the option and play in Europe if the demand for his services is so high.

9-10-2007 @ 4:51PM

dave said...

Ah come on Tom, be a little nicer to the lovable Pacific Division foes that stole your annual playoff spot.

Clearing Jason Richardson's salary couldn't have come at a better time. The 20+ PPG that he carried won't just disappear, you know there are enough players on this team to pick up the slack. There might be fewer electric alley-oops, but Nellie-ball should be back come October.

9-10-2007 @ 4:53PM

Jon said...

No I'm sorry Tom Ziller.. you don't really know anything about Golden State.. we are headed in the right direction..

We eliminated the bloated contracts of mike dunleavy, troy murphy, j-rich and adonal foyle..

We have the future in monta ellis, andris biedrens, brendan wright, and marco bellinelli..

Nelly will come back.. it's a very good summer for us..

Mullin is more cautious now with the money he hands out.. this is a good thing

9-10-2007 @ 5:11PM

Ishwar said...

Tom, your hate on the Warriors shows your lack of knowledge about the Warriors. As far as you're concerned, Gary St. Jean is still the GM and all the moves made by the team don't make sense.

They traded Jason Richardson away to clear up space, like someone said earlier, and they got a young 6'9" forward from UNC with huge potential and someone who fits into the Warriors' style. What did they do wrong there? You address that they haven't extended Ellis which they can't even do right now, but they're actively working on it by freeing up space.

They have not ignored Baron Davis' extension at all. It's been discussed and both parties have agreed on discussing it later.

You don't even bring up what the Warriors have done positively which includes, as mentioned before, clearing up space to avoid the luxury tax in the future, bringing in a veteran forward with lots of playoff experience and a nice shot in Austin Croshere, and drafting sharp shooting Marco Bellinelli who could possibly take over a large chunk of Richardson's minutes.

Either you're bitter about something or you got a gig where you write about something you have no credentials for. Read up on the Warriors management and find reasoning behind their moves before you completely trash them.