The Golden Opportunity: Taft Article (No more updates)

Signings Around the League

Like many off-seasons, teams are always busy trying to acquire new free
agents by throwing money at players to help bolster their rosters. Here
are some of the most impactful free agent signings this off- season.


Toronto Raptors

Acquired: Amare Stoudemire (10.73m/6yrs), Yao Ming (9.02m/5yrs)
Grade: A+

Analysis:
GM Brain Colangelo has already begun to work his off-season magic with the
bottom-dwelling Toronto Raptors. In addition to having one of the biggest
steals in the draft by picking up Rodney Carney with the 18th overall pick,
the Raptors have been bullied almost every year in the paint since their
inaugural season. This time, however, the bullied have become the bullies,
as Toronto now holds two of the best young big men to ever come to the NBA
in years. Yao and Amare immediately change the dynamics of the Raptors, going
from a perimeter oriented team to one that was outmuscle and crush almost every
team in the paint. Don't forget about the Raptors two other big men, Chris Bosh
and Charlie Villaneuva. This trade limits the development of these two stars in
the making, but Stoudemire and Ming greatly make up for it.

Enter the paint at your own discretion.

Charlotte Bobcats

Acquired: Keith Van Horn (6,02m/2yrs), Ronald "Flip" Murray (3.13m/5yrs)
Grade: B+

Analysis:
The Bobcats lost thier most legitimate scorer in Kareem Rush, but he was not much
of an offensive threat anyway. Instead, the Bobcats put their cap space into
good use by acquiring two solid scorers in Van Horn and "Flip" Murray. Both of
these players are known to be able to put the ball in the basket, which is
something that the Bobcats struggled with last season. Van Horn's age is
starting to catch up with him, but he's still a reliable threat offensively.
Ronald Murray is an explosive slasher to the basket that should be able to create
a lot of shot opportunities for himself and for others. Murray does seem a bit
on the inconsistent side, but during his tenure with Seattle he was never given
a legitimate chance to play big minutes.

Van Horn and Murray are capable scorers that fill a need.

Houston Rockets

Acquired: Nene (5.02m/4yrs)
Grade: C+

Analysis:
Houston had one of its' biggest losses when they lost Yao Ming, their promising
7 foot centre to the Raptors. Houston immediately tried to make up for it
by signing Nene, a rugged big man that has a lot of potential. Some people
might call this quality signing, but this free-agent signing looks a lot like
a lame move to try and patch up one of their biggest losses. Nene definitely
won't be growing into a dominant 7'6 giant and begin attracting millions of
Asian fans anytime soon.

Nene's a solid player, but Yao attracted way more fans and has more
potential.

Last edited by Its_asdf on Tue Jun 20, 2006 12:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

OMG! raptors have the best inside defense nice update its going to be an interesting year/dynasty.

Trades Around the League


Although there were eye-popping free agent deals being thrown around, the
NBA teams did not seem to have much interesting in exchanging players with
other teams.

Sacramento and New Orleans

Kings acquire: PJ Brown
Hornets acquire: Corliss Williamson
Beneficiary: Kings (duh)

Analysis:
This trade does not have much of a strong impact, but Sacramento does get a
big man vet in exchange for an undersized power foward, which is something that
the Kings have already in Kenny Thomas and Abdur-Rahim. Both PJ Brown and Corliss
Williamson are aging and both of their contract's expire after this season, but
PJ Brown is still the better player right now and the Kings were in need of a
rebounding big man to bolster their front court.

The Kings handsdown walked away as the winner of this deal
even though the trade wasn't a huge one.

Golden State and Milwaukee

Warriors acquire: Jamal Magloire, Joe Smith
Bucks acquire: Mike Dunleavy, Derek Fisher, Adonal Foyle
Beneficiary: Warriors (financially), Milwaukee (talent-wise)

Analysis:
After drafting Ronnie Brewer and James White and Dunleavy falling out of favour with
the Warriors, this trade seemed like the logical one to make for Golden State. In
addition to getting rid of Mike Dunleavy, the Warriors also managed to unload Derek
Fisher and Adonal Foyle. Foyle and Fisher are serviceable role players at the moment,
but they made way too much money for their productivity on the court. Jamal Magloire
and Joe Smith are both big men that have huge expiring contracts worth around 15-16
million together. This opens up a lot of financial flexibility and Magloire immediately
fills a hole in the Warriors' frontcourt.

There are noticeable flaws on the part of this trade for the Warriors though. Talent
-wise they got almost nothing out of this trade; just two big men with expiring contracts.
Although Magloire is a nice addition to the front-court, he doesn't look like he'll be
re-signing with Golden State next off-season and that brings Golden State back to square
one on their big man issues next season.


Fisher, Foyle and Dunleavy will not be missed, but Magloire is only
a short term solution to the Warriors' problems.

Last edited by Its_asdf on Tue Jun 20, 2006 11:39 am, edited 3 times in total.

Really cool dynasty. You are pretty popular for your dynasties here and this is the first one I will follow, and Im looking forward.

Ronnie Brewer is good, but I think a C would have been better, O`Bryant for example. But that is a matter of taste, so nice draft anyway.

Yeah, O'Bryant would've been a nice addition, but I don't think he's worth the 10th pick.

Where is the J-Rich screen at the first post?
Good luck with Brewer, sounds like a good draft for you

I didn't want to add too much clutter to the page so I took it off.

I'm too big of a Brewer fan not to pass on him.

Thanks man...if you're doing a 29 game season, just go ahead and send it at the midpoint after 15 games. There's been some improvement since last year's shout outs...and we've also added a playoff stat(well almost it's in the works...I'll be working on it tonight too)

Awesome...

No problem man, I think its great that you're able to link up the NBA Live dynasty community in the way that you do. I love reading the statiscal breakdowns and whatnot.

OMG! raptors have the best inside defense nice update its going to be an interesting year/dynasty.

Yeah. If only the Raptors could do this in real life.... *sigh* Only in Live can the Raptors be this good....

wow.... the raptors are stacked

wow raps just need to upgrade PG and are champs for sure, too bad that bosh is gonna be on the bench now

Good dynasty keep it up

Awesome stuff!Brewer was my favorite college player, i guess because im from Arkansas, but yea, nice choice!

Please .dbf edit so the Raptors have Ming at C, Amare at PF, Bosh at SF and Villanueva at SG .

Nice trade for you, you got rid of Dunleavy and 2 huge contracts.

Just saw your dynasty... Good to see JJ Redick in Dallas!!
And btw, your graphics suck

Man the Raps are gonna nail this season, I agree with Jugs, you'll have to do some DBF editing, I say make Bosh a SF, and then CV will have to be a 6th man I suppose....

wow.... the raptors are stacked

Yeah, if that doesn't win the championship lord knows what will.

wow raps just need to upgrade PG and are champs for sure, too bad that bosh is gonna be on the bench now

Good dynasty keep it up

Thanks man. Your Warriors dynasty is shaping up nicely as well.

Awesome stuff!Brewer was my favorite college player, i guess because im from Arkansas, but yea, nice choice!

Yeah Brewer! He's also one of my favourite players in the draft because he was compared to Marquis Daniels.

Please .dbf edit so the Raptors have Ming at C, Amare at PF, Bosh at SF and Villanueva at SG .

Nice trade for you, you got rid of Dunleavy and 2 huge contracts.

Villaneuva can not play SG, but I did DBF edit Bosh's position to play SF thanks to you and cwebbiverson for helping out a DBF n00b.

Just saw your dynasty... Good to see JJ Redick in Dallas!!
And btw, your graphics suck

Heh, the funny thing is, I'm playing Redick in my first game. He's not very high on the Dallas depth chart though, he's got Richard Roby ahead of him.

I know, I know, the graphics are terrible. You can thank my graphics card for that. If I turn up the graphics to something half decent I can't even play the game.

Man the Raps are gonna nail this season, I agree with Jugs, you'll have to do some DBF editing, I say make Bosh a SF, and then CV will have to be a 6th man I suppose....

Yup, everything is in check. Bosh is now a SF and CV is the sixth man PF coming off the bench. I doubt'll he'll get any minutes though.

Here's a brief update before I play my first game against Dallas:

GOLDEN STATE OPENING NIGHT ROSTER

Roster is looking pretty good How big a role is Smith going to have for you? Are you gonna try limit his minutes to develop the younger players more?

Not bad roster, good trade for Magloire.
Go Brewer

Warriors Stumble in Opener (109-93 Mavericks)


Warriors Boxscore
Mavericks Boxscore

First Quarter: 30-26 Dallas

The Warriors started off the game on the right foot; they were making jumpers,
crashing the boards and making Dallas work for every point they were getting.
Golden State sizzled in the first few minutes, knocking down 2 three pointers
and hitting 4 of their first 5 shots. However, Golden State began playing
lackadaiscally and when their perimeter jumpers weren't falling they became
discouraged at both ends of the court. The Warriors lost their small lead and
Dallas would eventually lead by four by the end of the quarter. THe hot shooting
by Golden State cooled down to 43% as Dallas shot 63%.

Second Quarter: 58-43 Dallas

The momentum swung drastically this quarter. Jason Richardson sat out for a few
minutes but as he did the Warriors crumbled. A 10-0 run was immediately made by
Terry and Stackhouse, who scored all 10 of the points through easy uncontested
layups. The lead was pushed to 16 as Terry continued to lead the Maverick push.
By the time Richardson came back on he was not prepared for Dallas' defence as
Josh Howard swarmed him and Richardson struggled to get his shot off. Just as
Terry subbed off and Golden State was hoping to make a run, Devin Harris reeled
off 10 points to end a dismal quarter. The poor shooting for the Warriors now
dropped to 31% while Dallas still shot over 50%.

Third Quarter: 88-68 Dallas

Struggles continued to come Golden State's way. Ronnie Brewer, the Warriors'
first round draft pick struggled on offence and was outsmarted on almost every
play by the savvy vet Jerry Stackhouse. Troy Murphy and J-Rich began to pick
up some momentum in this quarter, scoring 9 points and 8 points respectively,
and they were keeping the deficit from growing any larger than 20 points.
Almost no one was producing on the court except for Murphy, Magloire and Richardson.

Fourth Quarter: 109-93 Dallas

Jason Richardson and Magloire continued to make things happen for the Warriors.
The Dallas lead was fluctuating throughout the entire quarter, but when Jason
Terry and Devin Harris were paired to together in the backcourt, they ran circles
around Golden State. Golden State would get as close as 98-88 with 3:35 remaining,
but Jason Richardson and Magloire ran out of gas and Terry nailed a three pointer
followed by two Devin Harris layups to seal the game. Baron Davis had 10 points in
this quarter, but most of them were garbage time jumpers when the outcome was already
decided.

Post Game Comments

"We cannot make only 47% of our free throws. The effort and concentration just wasn't there, especially in the second quarter" - Troy Murphy

"They simply outplayed us, we let them run a layup drill." - Jason Richardson

"I was a little too nervous. I should have been able to handle the pressure." - Ronnie Brewer

"This win shows us that we can win games through sharing the ball and we don't have to rely on Dirk every play" - Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson

"The un-sung heroes this game are Josh Howard and Nowitzki. They could barely miss a shot out there" - Player of the game, Jason Terry

Pictures


Dirk quietly grabbed 14 rebounds and 15 points for their first win of the season

Ronnie Brewer got schooled by Stackhouse all game long
Baron Davis breaks down Josh Howard
Young point guards Devin Harris and Monta Ellis battled it out
Ellis shows his end to end speed by going coast to coast
Josh Howard was diving everywhere for loose balls
Magloire had a nice Warrior debut with 17 points and 6 rebounds
Jason Terry got to the paint at will
The first points of Golden State's 06-07 season were a pretty one by J-Rich

Last edited by Its_asdf on Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

Roster is looking pretty good How big a role is Smith going to have for you? Are you gonna try limit his minutes to develop the younger players more?

I don't think he'll be playing that much, I'd much rather use Biedrins or Diogu.

Not bad roster, good trade for Magloire.
Go Brewer

Thanks.

Anyways, I know that recap is kind of bad, but I'm just trying out a different format.

Bad luck on the loss, Josh Howard was on fire and mah man Dampier got a double-double.

The recap is not bad. It is interesting to read each quarter recaps.
Hard loss to Dallas, hope you will do better next game

Tough loss but this is really good so far.

Good work dude, i think you need to run the Primacy Fixer Cwebbiverson made, Dirk took limited shots.

Tough loss but you are the Warriors lol, maybe you were forcing it a bit with Brewer? 3-11 aint that good

Davis' Clutch Layup Give First Win for the Warriors (109-107 Warriors)


Warriors Bxoscore
SuperSonics Boxscore

First Quarter: 25-18 Warriors

Danny Fortson injured his knee 7:04 into the quarter when Jamaal Magloire ran
into him during a layup attempt. The Warriors took advantage of this and led
throughout the entire first quarter and shot 11/18 from the field. It was a
classic shootout from both teams, with Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen each leading
the Sonics with 6 points by the end of the quarter, but the story of the quarter
was rookie ROnnie Brewer. Brewer had scored 9 points off the bench and played
an important role near the end of quarter, energizing the team and breaking the
stalemate back-and-forth pace.


Second Quarter: 48-47 Sonics

Sloppy play and quick shots by the Warriors resulted in an 11-4 run by the Sonics
to tie the game at 29-29. Rashard Lewis started to cook up the Warriors on offence
though, as he reeled off 13 points, keeping the Warriors from pulling away and knocked
down a three pointer at the first half buzzer to give the Sonics their first lead of
the game, 48-47. The Sonics only shot 40% from the field compared to the Warriors
who cooled off a bit with 47%, but they made 4 three pointers (3 by Lewis) to keep up
with Golden State.

Third Quarter: 80-73 Sonics

It was Ridnour's turn to wreak havoc on the Warriors. Ridnour blew by Baron Davis
and Monta Ellis at will and scored 14 of his 19 points in the third quarter. The
Sonics' biggest lead was 63-54, but that deficit was quickly erased when J-Rich
nailed a pull up jumper, dunk and Baron Davis went coast to coast for a layup.
Troy Murphy also played effectively by scoring 10 points and grabbing 3 rebounds
this quarter, but the Warriors' efforts were outdone singlehandedly by Ridnour
as Seattle scorched the net with 63% shooting.

Fourth Quarter: 109-107 Warriors

Things got interesting in the fourth quarter as Golden State quickly erased the
7 point Seattle lead. The Warriors finally took an 84-82 lead by capping off
their run by a nasty dunk by James White that had even Seattle fans on their feet.
The Sonics weren't phased by the shift in momentum. Instead, they countered with
a huge run of their own fuelled by three point plays by Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis.
Chris Wilcox also had all 4 of his offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter and made
some timely putbacks to create a 94-86 Seattle lead with 3:35 remaining. The Warriors
tied the game once again at 100 apiece after Richardson and Murphy threes and a short
turn around jumper by Brewer. With only a minute and a half remaining, Davis took
over. Despite shooting only 3 of 11 from the field, Davis made a long 2 pointer
and made a crucial steal that led to an open mid-range shot by Richardson. Davis
split a pair of free throws but the lead was 105-102 for the Warriors. A Lewis
three ball tied the game up and Richardson re-took the lead with a layup. Ray
Allen made a tough pull-up bankshot to tie the game once again, but the Sonics
failed to communicate on defence and Baron Davis easily ran down the court to
hit a reverse layup over Luke Ridnour with 1.2 seconds left. Wilcox missed
the three and the Warrriors managed to claw back into the game by forcing 8 turn
-overs on the Sonics.

Post Game Comments

"Davis was shooting terribly, but we had faith in him down the stretch to make the right plays for us." - Jason Richardson on Davis' big plays

"Ronnie really helped us in the first half. He played some good defence on
Ray Allen and made some smart decisions with the ball." - Warriors coach Mike Montgomery on Ronnie Brewer

"We got lost on two crucial plays (the wide-open shot by Richardson and the Baron Davis layup at the end of the quarter), but give credit to their defence. They came out agressive in the fourth." - Ray Allen on how they lost in the fourth

"J-Rich pulled me aside during the practice after the Mavericks game and told me to keep my head up. I just knew that my shots would start falling as soon as my team gained confidence in me." - Ronnie Brewer on his outstanding performance off the bench

"He's so hard to stop because he's so explosive and once he gets that one step on you, you know he's going to dunk on you or hit that three ball." - Rashard Lewis on his scoring battle with Richardson.

Pictures


The player of the game, Baron Davis, winning it for his team

Luke Ridnour hit everything in the third quarter...
...But Magloire sends it into the stands on this play
Richardson shrugging after making a three pointer
Ridnour with the fancy pass
J-Rich had the dunk of the night with this 360 slam
Rashard Lewis got it done inside...
...And outside
Fortson came back to the game after his injury and scored 10 points
Ronnie Brewer took advantage of his length
White played minimal minutes, but he dunked the ball with his head at rim level.

Nice Recap Baron came up stroong in the clutch nice dunk by James White

Bad luck on the loss, Josh Howard was on fire and mah man Dampier got a double-double.

Dampier licks my nuts.

The recap is not bad. It is interesting to read each quarter recaps.
Hard loss to Dallas, hope you will do better next game

I'm just experimenting with my recapping style, I know it isn't the best, but I wanted to make it more brief than my previous recaps.

Tough loss but this is really good so far.

Thanks.

Good work dude, i think you need to run the Primacy Fixer Cwebbiverson made, Dirk took limited shots.

Tough loss but you are the Warriors lol, maybe you were forcing it a bit with Brewer? 3-11 aint that good

Yeah, I downloaded the primacy fixer and there are noticeable differences in game play . I Brewer's struggles had more to do with myself. I made him settle for too many perimeter shots even though he's more of a slasher and uses his height over shorter guards. I think I've gotten the hang of him and expect some bigger things from him.

Nice Recap Baron came up stroong in the clutch nice dunk by James White

Thank you.

nice pics and great job getting the victory

this is nice, good luck afterwards, look over at my dynasty and tell me what u think

Hanson Helps Warriors Hold on in Home Debut (106-104 Warriors OT)

Warriors Boxscore
Pacers Boxscre

First Quarter: 25-13 Pacers

The Pacers quickly jumped to a 15-3 lead in the first quarter, capitalizing on
absolutely horrendous shooting by the Warriors. The Warriors had combined
to only make 31% of their shots while also turning the ball over 6 times. The
Warriors' leading scorer was Ronnie Brewer with 4 points while Jermaine O'Neal
punished Golden State inside by scoring 12 points.

Second Quarter: 51-38 Pacers

Desperate for a spark-plug to intiate the Warriors' offence, Mike Montgomery
subbed in the seldom-used Terrell Hanson and James White. Hanson played
effectively in the post by scoring 8 points, tying Jason Richardson for
the player scoring the most points in the second quarter. However, Indiana
still retained a 51-38 lead by capitalizing on Golden State's 11 turnovers
by halftime.

Third Quarter: 69-61 Pacers

The Warriors turned the corner by the second half as Jason Richardson continued
his offensive outburst by scoring 9 points and shaving the Indiana lead to single
digits. Indiana suddenly were playing how the Warriors were playing in the first
half, turning the ball over numerous times and shooting only 38% from the field
but still had an 8 point lead.

Fourth Quarter: 88-88 Tie

The Golden State onslaught and the Pacers' shooting woes continued in the fourth.
Richardson nailed a three pointer in the pocket to tie the game at 80 with only
a few minutes remaining. James White was fouled and split a pair of freethrows
to give the Warriors their first lead of the game, but it was short lived as
Indiana traded baskets with Golden State on a few posessions to reclaim a one
point lead. Jamaal Tinsley then lost the ball with less than a minute remaining
and Mickael Pietrus ran down the court for a windmill dunk to reclaim the lead
with 33 seconds remaining. Stephen Jackson missed an ill-advised three pointer
and James White was fouled at the other end. White split the free throws again
and Jamaal Tinsley missed a running layup with only 4.2 seconds left, but Austin
Croshere got the offensive putback to tie the game. The Warriors were going to
overtime!

Overtime: 106-104 Warriors

Indiana regained their shooting touch in overtime, hitting their first 6 field
goals and Sarunas Jasikevicius hit a three pointer to give Indiana a 101-98
lead. Ronnie Brewer hit a pull-up three pointer of his own to tie the game,
but Jasikevicius scored 3 more of his 10 overtime points. Golden State's
prayers were answered when Troy Murphy hit another three for the Warriors.
Jermaine O'Neal was double teamed and the ball was stripped off of his hands
by Davis, who quickly ran up the court and tried to shoot a pull-up jumper
with 3.6 seconds remaining. Davis missed, but Hanson got the offensive
board and tipped the shot back in to win the game for the Warriors.

Post Game Comments

"Hanson was great out there. He had so much confidence in himself and he helped us stop Jermaine O'Neal." - James White on Terell Hanson

"I was expecting a miss, not because I didn't have faith in Baron, but I was taught never to give up on a play. No one put a body on me even though I'm 7 feet and I just got a hand on the ball and I knew I could use my athleticism to tip it in." - Terrell Hanson on his game winning tip-in

"I was fouled on the last play. Baron Davis got a piece of my arm when I was doubled but the refs didn't call it." - Jermaine O'Neal on how he got stripped in the final moments.

"We turned the ball over a lot in the first half, but we settled down and we put pressure on them." - Jamaal Magloire on the Warriors comeback

"Me and Hanson were rebounding like crazy and I think that gave us more opportunities to run the fast break and get easier baskets." - Troy Murphy on his 20 rebound performance.

Pictures


Terrell Hanson came up huge when his team needed him.

Baron Davis splitting the defence
Ronnie Brewer continued to show his inside scoring touch.
Jasikevicius scored 10 of his 12 points in overtime, keeping the Pacers in the game
No one could stop Jermaine O'Neal in the paint
Jason Richardson had a less explosive game tonight, but still scored a season-high
Troy Murphy had an insane night on the glass
Croshere follows up the Tinsley miss to send it to OT
Pietrus' game-shifting windmill on the fast break during the fourth

Last edited by Its_asdf on Sat Jun 24, 2006 10:54 am, edited 4 times in total.