Dunce caps for the Warriors

[Celtic4Hire@xxxxxxx]

Dunce caps and salary caps behind Warriors' deal 
It may save money, but not the team 

Gwen Knapp   Sunday, August 17, 2003   

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For the next two seasons, watch the Warriors with a hand ever ready to cover 
your eyes. 

Don't bother reciting the motto of Red Sox and Cubs fans. "Wait till next 
year" isn't patient enough. The trade Golden State arranged Friday dictates an 
attitude of "Wait till the year after next." Other than putting a Speedy and a 
Popeye on the same roster, the Warriors didn't distinguish themselves. 

They gained little, if anything, by sending Antawn Jamison, Danny Fortson, 
Chris Mills and Jiri Welsch to Dallas for four of the Mavericks' backups. The 
best player they got in the deal was Nick Van Exel, whose strength -- 
occasionally lighting up the scoreboard in big games -- won't be of much use here. 

But the reason to tolerate the trade is the very thing that made Dallas so 
eager to pull it off. Of the elite teams in the Western Conference, only the 
Mavericks hadn't done anything to improve in the offseason. The Lakers, Spurs and 
Kings all upgraded substantially. 

Dallas is owned by Mark Cuban, one of the antsiest men in pro sports, and 
coached by Don Nelson, who builds teams the way Picasso painted. You're not 
always sure what he's up to, but it's definitely artful. Those two men were not 
going to stand still this summer. 

For the Warriors, last season's baby steps toward contention had already been 
reversed by a salary cap mess that gave them no chance of re-signing Gilbert 
Arenas. Now, L.A., San Antonio and Sacramento have moved so far out in front 
that the Warriors can't even consider competing with them anytime soon. 

Their biggest challenge right now is unsnarling their salary cap, and this 
trade allowed the Warriors to shed some payroll that was going to encumber them 
for years. 

The club is unlikely to promote the deal to its fans on those terms. After 
all, it has tickets to sell and its own delusions to maintain. The official line 
will be that the Warriors gained what they needed in Van Exel, a point guard 
who was a starter for many years, and got rid of someone they didn't in 
Jamison, a small forward who they think can and should be replaced by Mike Dunleavy. 

But if there is real savvy behind this trade, it lies in the fact that Van 
Exel has only three years left on a contract paying about $11 million annually, 

whereas Jamison has five years to go at an average of close to $14 million a 
season. They also will save roughly $2 million a year, and other assorted 
headaches, by getting rid of Danny Fortson. 

(For Dallas, there is no savvy here, unless Jamison's arrival frees the 
Mavericks to ditch one of their many other free-shooting, defensively deficient 
players for a big man who can cope with Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal and 
Sacramento's shiny new truck, Brad Miller.) 

While he is here -- assuming no other trades are in the works -- Van Exel can 
give the team a lot of the energy that Arenas provided. It's worth 
remembering, though, that Arenas' big year still left the Warriors six games below .500. 
It's even more worth remembering that Van Exel's prodigious talent has never 
outweighed his outrageous attitude. 

In an autobiography, O'Neal wrote angrily of Van Exel's behavior as a Laker 
during the 1998 playoffs, when L.A. was one game away from being swept by Utah. 

After what turned out to be their final practice, the Lakers gathered for a 
huddle, put their hands together and did the ritual cheer, "1-2-3, team." 
According to O'Neal, instead of saying "Team," Van Exel yelled out his vacation 
plans: "Cancun." 

If only his skills could be attached to the will of the other point guard the 
Warriors got in the deal, the highly respected Avery Johnson, Golden State 
would have a winner. Johnson functioned as a quasi-assistant coach for Dallas in 
the playoffs, when Van Exel scored a remarkable 19.5 points per game. But 
Johnson is 38, and Van Exel is who he is. 

He may change, but it's far more important that the Warriors do. The current 
management team, which helped put the club in its salary cap vise, may not do 
any better remodeling the roster than it did while building it in the first 
place. But their chances improve if they commit to a long-term plan. 

That means: No more signing the Fortsons of the NBA to fat deals because they 
look good at the moment and help placate discontented fans. No panicking when 
the team flounders and somehow, the Speedy Claxton-Popeye Jones combination 
isn't enough to excite an audience. And no turning against Eric Musselman if 
the team moves backward for a while. 

The coach did a better job with the Warriors last season than anyone else had 
done in years. It's hard to imagine his getting more out of this season's 
team, but perhaps the Warriors can exploit the new vulnerability in Utah or 
streak through nonconference games against the pitiful East. On those days, you 
might actually be able to watch without ever covering your eyes.