Although the Warriors aren’t closing the door on the possibility of filling all 15 slots on their standard roster to open the 2023/24 season, the team seems unlikely to carry more than 14, says Anthony Slater of The Athletic. That means that once the Dario Saric signing is official, Golden State will probably just have one standard roster spot left to fill.
There’s no rush to add a 14th man though, according to Slater, who explains that the club already addressed its top two offseason priorities by adding a steady veteran guard (Cory Joseph) and a frontcourt player who can shoot (Saric). Slater expects the Warriors to exercise patience from here on out rather than looking to sign another player right away.
As Slater observes, there are already a few buyout candidates on rosters around the NBA, and more could emerge if certain star trade candidates get moved and roster shake-ups occur. The Warriors may be reluctant to commit a guaranteed contract to a 14th player without knowing which other veterans will reach free agency.
Slater identifies veteran forward Rudy Gay as one player worth keeping an eye on, since the Warriors have had interest in him in the past. He’s being traded from Atlanta to Oklahoma City, and the Thunder seem unlikely to hang onto him due to his age (37 next month) and a roster crunch in OKC.
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Slater hears from team sources that Golden State would also be OK with the idea of making the 14th roster spot available in a training camp competition. If the club puts that spot up for grabs, it might make Lester Quinones more inclined to accept his two-way qualifying offer, recognizing that he’d have an opportunity to earn a promotion to the standard roster before the season begins, Slater writes.
- While the Warriors don’t appear to be in love with any of the free agent centers currently on the market, they’re certainly not opposed to adding another player at that spot. According to Slater, the team looked into veteran bigs like Mason Plumlee or Alex Len early in free agency before both players re-signed with their respective teams.
- General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. confirmed on Monday that the team is open to adding another center, either using a standard roster spot or a two-way slot. However, Dunleavy cautioned that it’s hard to find big men who fit the Warriors’ system and stressed that they don’t just want “somebody who’s tall” (Twitter video link via Slater). “We’ve got to be careful with the way we play, the way the league works,” Dunleavy said. “… You’ve gotta be skilled. You’ve gotta have feel. You’ve gotta know how to play.”
- The Warriors looked into the idea of trading for Kenyon Martin Jr. before Houston sent him to the Clippers, league and team sources tell Slater. Golden State has a trade exception that would have fit Martin without any outgoing salary required, but those negotiations never reached the final stages.
Nerlens Noel would fit the Warriors decently. Defense, IQ, decently athletic, can get him on the minimum. He’s still not even 30 yet. Gorgui Dieng has shown some ability to shoot and pass, and he’s still a slightly above-average defender. Dwayne Dedmon was solid with Miami before getting his minutes cut and getting pissed, and he was excellent the year before.
Other than that you have… Derrick Favors? Taj Gibson? Whiteside? Bringing back Cousins who can’t defend at all anymore? Try and lure Dwight back from Taiwan?
Mike Dunleavy made it clear (again) the other day for all you people still obsessing over the signing of a tall guy just to have a tall guy on the end of the bench about what the Warriors think about that: “Just bringing in someone who is tall?…you’ve got to have skill, you’ve got to have feel, you’ve got to know how to play”.
Thing is, height doesnt slow down. This GSW roster without bigs is going to get annihilated by the Nuggets and Lakers.
You CANNOT have a f’n NBA Basketball team where no one is tall. Kerr refuses to coach tall players, he had Wiseman and Wiseman is awesome. Kerr is an imbecile who is wasting Curry’s career.
FIRE KERR.
Like clockwork.
As is your reply guy (and not to mention utterly worthless, and not containing a basketball take, ergo, posting replies like this is breaking TOS) post here.
Just look at the silver lining, when Kerr DOES get fired, you will never see me say anything bad about anyone ever on here ever again. You have my word.
Agreed. As someone who used to play (UC Davis), and who was schooled in basic fundamentals & team ‘fit’, I can categorically and absolutely state there are more 7 foot duds out there than proficient players. I coached, also, and good “bigs” are hard to find…let alone teach!
I agree, there are a lot of 7 foot duds out there, but my point is Kerr wants ONLY smalls – he wants to win with Curry and 4 Steve Kerrs, totally delusional and egomaniacal. Poole going off in the Finals vs the Celtics ruined Kerr forever. That’s just wrong to think 3-guard lineups can beat anyone, and it wont ever be done on a regular basis ever again. Kerr proved this by refusing to try and succeed with Wiseman, only playing him with 2-way scrubs and not the top 4.
Kerr wins with Bjelica, but he literally tried to replace him with DiVincenzo, and lost literally because of it. Kerr saw Poole and a 3 guard lineup stun the Celtics, but every team with dominant bigs just laughed at it. Why cant any of you see this?
He tried to replace him with JaMychal Green, who is an inch shorter than Bjelica, but he didn’t work out because he doesn’t have any offensive game and isn’t capable of playing in a faster system. DDV was replacing Damion Lee. Which he succeeded at.
Expecting Kuminga and Lamb to step up and replace Porter was also reasonable.
@EonADS: Thanks for your insightful…as opposed to an obsessed…’take’ on this. Four facts: 1) Steve Kerr has won 4x the number of ‘ships this team has EVER won since moving to The Bay; 2) that other title (1974-5) was one of the biggest upsets in NBA history; 3) fanatics… from where “fans” is derived…often have myopic, narrow-focused, short-sided and selective-amnestic memories; and 4) to misstate factual history…as you so aptly corrected…is disingenuous: to a fault. Give it a rest!
@dirtrider The Warriors 1st Ring in the Bay had a 6’9″ Center. They got him by trading away Nate Thurmond for Clifford Ray and cash, to save the franchise. The Warriors never won a Championship when they had Wilt Chamberlain and Nate in the Front Court.
Yeah, I was a HUGE Ray (plus George Johnson) stan!
I think 8 Rings has a poor picture of the amount of say so Steve Kerr has. Bob Myers didn’t even have all the say so. If your are in fact a Warriors fan 8 Rings… you would know Joe Lacob is all in their business. Joe drafted Wiseman knowing Kerr preferred smaller skilled bigs. Doesn’t mean it just automatically works. Wiseman is soft and until he puts on some weight and grows a pair he won’t bang with guys his size so then what’s the point of being 7′? I like the way McGee played with our lines ups but Looney isn’t the exact same. I like him for different reasons. 20 reb games are no joke. Finding another guy to fill roles is tough this late in free agency.
@Randy V: I also appreciated JaVale’s game with the Dubs during that era. Back then the pick-and-roll was alive and well! I agree w/ your take on Myers & Lacob.
@ Pietrus: Which is why I brought up bigs who have those attributes instead of just “LOL sign Tacko Fall” or some other young big. Noel is a skilled switchable defender, Dieng is an experienced veteran who can pass and shoot plus his rebounding and defense, and Dedmon is a skilled defender and rebounder. Even the leftovers I mentioned are more than just “tall”.
Eon, I like that you listed specific bigs and what they are good. You didn’t just say get a big like others. So I’m not sure why Pietrus posted as if you just said get a big. Eon, who else can you think of. What are Bols attributes? And this might be crazy cause no one mentions him-Meyers Leanard. I only watch GSW so I’m not as familiar with other players like you are but I can remember Leonard torching GSW once. Anyway Eon, good post.
Leonard isn’t a good fit for the Warriors imo because he’s primarily a pick and roll guy and doesn’t play good defense because he’s 6’6″, which is abjectly tiny for a Center, and he isn’t mobile enough to play other positions. He can spot up, maybe cut a little, but that’s all the Warriors would like. They’d prefer a wing over him if that’s all they get.
Bol Bol, I could see working decently. But only if he got more experience. He’s not a bad player, but he’s turnover and foul prone, which would be exacerbated in GSW’s system. Not very high IQ, which is mainly down to lack of experience (nine college games and this past season was the first where he had a consistent role). He has potential as a finisher off cuts similar to or better than Looney, but he doesn’t do so enough. Mostly just lobs and defense. His offense is just super raw.
Meyers Leonard is 7 foot. And has a decent defensive rating. That’s why I brought him up. There’s an article on this site that has a link for available free agents and Leonard is listed with centers so I researched some of them. He caught my eye.
…somehow I mixed up his height. What the heck. I have no idea how I did that. Regardless, he still isn’t a good defender. He’s played on good defensive teams, but his outcomes and defensive rating have almost always been worse than his team’s. Also still not a good fit for the team. Everything else I got right xD
Seriously, that’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done. How’d I do that xD
Dedmon is nearly 34yo and relied on being able to run up and down the floor to be effective. The reason people want Nerlens Noel is because he can rebound, get lobs/tip-ins on offense, and both act as a shot blocker/rim protector on defense AND he’s been athletic+long enough to not be a liability on the perimeter in the Dubs’ switch heavy defense. Noel has never been with a group that boasts defenders like GP2/Wigs/Dray, as well as Moody and Kuminga. Nerlens has often been “the” defender on teams, whereas if he signed with the Dubs they very well could have the best defensive 5 in the NBA. A CP3/Moody/Wigs/Dray/Noel 5 would be extremely long and annoying. You’d have guys like Steph/CP3/Joseph/Dray sending outlet passes to Noel/Moody/Wigs/GP2/Kuminga after those 7ft+ wingspan guys get steals/blocks/deflections.
Plus, the less amount of time in the regular season guys like Dray/Wigs/GP2/Loon have to defend 7ft/250lb bigs, the better/fresher those guys will be to do the things that make them special in the first place.
Noel is a fit because of how he’d fit with Dray and Wigs. On defense, he’d be the closest thing the Dubs have had to fill the Kevin Durant role on defense, and KD put the Dubs defense over the top due to his length. athleticism, and ability to guard players on the perimeter without ending up on Shaqtin’ a Fool.
AGREED, time for the Nerlen Wall to go up in SF. Nerlens has never been on a team with defense or offense like the Dubs right now. His athleticism on defense helps him from being put on an island if he’s on the perimeter and he won’t be asked to do more than rebound or finish lobs on offense. But his defense in a lineup with guys like GP2/Wigs/Dray, Moody, Kuminga, and Steph or CP3 would just be frightening for other teams, given the IQ, length, and fast break threat with either Steph/CP3 running point.
He’s the perfect big for Wigs and Draymond, but I think a Steph/Moody/Wigs/Dray/Noel lineup would just be a pain in the a** for any team. Moody’s 6’6 w/7’2 wingspan, Wigs is 6’7 & 7’2, Dray 6’6 & 7’2, and then Nerlens gets to go for blocks, steals, rebounds, and catchlobs from Steph, CP3, Joseph or Dray.
Perfect fit. Kinda like a modern version of JaVale on offense, while offering a lot of what KD was able to do for GSW on defense.
More athletic than guys like Chriss, Boogie, Zaza, West, Bjlecia, JaVale, Bogut, Cauley-Stein, and Loon, so
” it’s hard to find big men who fit the Warriors’ system and stressed that they don’t just want “somebody who’s tall”
Completely wild how all my rage at Kerr was vilified all along. Stever Kerr really does want an entire roster of under 6’6″ guys. Holy crap. Fire this idiot immediately, stop wasting Curry.
Half the Warriors roster is 6’6″ and above. Wiseman is not ready to play on a team that is trying to compete for a Ring. He needs time to develop. The Pistons are perfect for him; they aren’t going anywhere. They knew it would be difficult when they took him. They brought in a coach just for him. But, COVID-19, knee injury, lack of college playing time went against him.
Also, as fast as GSW plays the game and the complete lack of pick and rolls in their system, 80% of all bigs can’t even play for them. Like, they’d be useless. They’d be screeners and occasional blocks and that’s it; they’d even struggle to rebound effectively. Big men have to be able to switch on defense and attack off of non-standard actions to work in a motion offense. Even Looney is exceptional in that he doesn’t need to post up or catch lobs to score, he’s a big who can cut to the basket efficiently and attack in transition as the trailer.
Sidenote, that same factor is why Chris Paul is a weird fit in GSW, but that’s a different matter. Maybe the ability to switch up the pace will help them get the most out of their bench.
Also, the last true big the warriors succeeded with was Bogut, who was also an elite cutter. Maybe Zaza, who was elite in transition. Same story. Bigs have to fit the system in GSW to work at all.
@Eon; Actually, GSW might have a resurgence of the pick-and-roll/lob game with Chris Paul: at least in the second unit. Could really shake things up for the Dubs
Potentially, but I wouldn’t bank on it. It’s very much a half-court strategy, and hasn’t been a part of their game since the mid 2010’s. CP3 might run more with the second unit, but I don’t think it’ll become a primary part of their strategy. Lobs, absolutely, but that’s always been something they do at least sometimes.
It’s all about luxury tax! Warriors didnt even sign single 10 day contract last year, and waited til the very last week to fill the 15th spot. :(
They didn’t need to sign a 10-day guy they had the two-way guys Ty Jerome and Anthony lamb.
Most teams use the 10-day contracts to get a close look at a guy they think might be a useful player down the road. That is how the Warriors got clued in on Payton and what he could do in their system.
Point is becauae of luxury tax, Warriors can not take any chance of any minimum vet contracts. Usually teams will fill up their roster and if one or two players dont work out, just release them and sign another player. It’s kind of suffocating to not be able to sign some players. Hopefully, Warriors can resolve luxury tax issues somewhat going forward to maintain roster flexibility.
Airplane Jones would be an ideal pickup for Warriors.
I’m Available at minimal cost to fill the 15th roster spot.
I specialize in DNP
Jackson, you’ve posted that many times. Unfortunately, DNP doesn’t stand for Does Not Post.