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Time to admit mistake on Jason Richardson-Brandan Wright trade
POSTED July 30, 11:53 AM

J-Rich: Sorely missed

It’s easy for an NBA analyst, sideline guy, radio talk-show host or sportswriter to take credit when he’s right. We hear it all the time … “I knew that guy was going to be good,” “I predicted that team would win the title,” “I told you months ago that trade wasn’t going to work.”

It’s harder to admit you’re wrong. So, I got to remembering some things I blew it on _ like picking the Lakers to beat the Celtics in this year’s NBA Finals or thinking Danny Fortson was going to really help the Warriors back in the day or saying that Mark Jackson, out of St. John's, would never be a factor in the NBA _ and that Walter Berry would

But it’s time to add another to the list, even if it seems a tad premature: I was wrong to think that trading Jason Richardson to the Charlotte Bobcats for Brandan Wright last June was a good move for the Warriors.

The first mistake I made was overestimating Richardson’s on-court shortcomings and underestimating the intangibles that he brings. In March and April of last season, Richardson’s name seemed to be coming up more and more frequently in the team's locker room.

Players were beginning to wear down and some of them talked about the previous season (2006-07), when a healthy Richardson returned for the stretch run that culminated in a playoff appearance and first-round upset of the Dallas Mavericks.

Of course, Richardson wasn’t around last year, and Wright was no factor.

Richardson’s biggest on-court weakness is his inability to handle the ball and create for others. He’s also an average defender, at best, and he was a terrible foul shooter for the Warriors.


Walter Berry: The Truth

I harped too much on the fact he wasn’t a playmaker and tried to do too much off the dribble. I figured the Warriors wouldn’t lose a whole lot at the position if Mickael Pietrus, Stephen Jackson, Kelenna Azubuike and Monta Ellis got his minutes.

But it wasn’t until Richardson was gone that you realized how much you needed him. He could get you 20 points a game, and you never had to run a play for him. At the same time, he could get you that little turn right, post-up fadeaway from the box anytime he wanted.

It's a bonus when one of your leading scorers can get you points without worrying about having to get him the ball.

I never thought they would miss his 3-point shooting. Richardson shot 38 percent and 36 percent, respectively, in his last two years with Golden State. He shot 40 percent from 3-point range for the Bobcats this year. And he shot 75 percent from the line last season.

The Warriors also missed Richardson’s rebounding. He is a great rebounder for his size, and the Warriors needed all they could get. He played hard every night and was one of the team’s most competitive players. Richardson had a personal stake in the franchise and he played like it.

Richardson came to post every game, which was particularly important because there were times when Baron Davis, the team's most vocal and visible leader, didn’t or couldn’t.

Davis played in 82 games last year and was the unquestioned team barometer. But because he was so crucial to the Warriors, it was virtually impossible for Davis NOT to set the tone. That meant when Davis was going well, so were the Warriors. But when Davis wasn’t going well …

The bottom line is that because Richardson was such a pro and so intense, it helped lessen the team’s overall reliance on Davis. Richardson was key in pushing the team through Davis’ injuries, ejections and random foul trouble.


Fortson: of little help to Warriors

As for the rest of the trade, we know the Warriors did not use the $10 million trade exception they received from Charlotte. You can argue that moving Richardson allowed the Warriors to re-sign Ellis and Andris Biedrins this summer. Fair enough.

But what about Wright?

It is fair to begin expressing concern. And not just because he didn’t play as a rookie _ although that’s part of it.

I’m sorry, you can’t look at it any other way than troubling that Wright couldn’t get onto the court last year for a team desperately in need of frontcourt help, any kind of frontcourt help.

I know Don Nelson’s reputation for not playing first-year guys but c’mon. The Warriors got pounded on the inside last year. Not that Wright is a banger (furthest thing from it), but he’s young, can run and is quick. He should have been able to make things happen, at least.

There are some whispers, too, that Wright isn’t the toughest guy in the NBA and that his pain tolerance isn’t exactly off the charts. Nelson raised the possibility of playing Wright the final week to 10 days of the season, but Wright said his left groin strain wouldn’t allow it.

Wright was mainly ordinary in four games at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas a few weeks back.

It’s entirely too early to give up on Wright. He's got way too much natural ability to not be a contributor. But I don’t see Wright having as much of an impact in the NBA as Richardson.

And I was wrong for not realizing Richardson had a bigger impact on the Warriors.

What a stupid article..............

I mean, I was one of the worst hit when J-Rich left as I loved the guy and felt he was the reliable ying to Barons sometimes absent yang...........ie: the guy who speaks with his game and just gets on with it, is reliable (in a total points/productions sense) and deserved to be around for the good times.

But this is just dumb..............would any of of us trade Monta or Beans for J-Rich? and essentially Maggette, who is a much more offensively skilled version of J-Rich (without the 3 ball of course).

At the end of the day, the trade was what it was...........Im not particularly hopeful of Brandan becoming WHAT we need, and this for me is the biggest downside, as Brandan will never be the banging inside intimidator we need him to be...........I can see him being traded in the near future.

Overall, it had to be done, so we could go young and for the future, and also so we could get the full benefit of Baron not being here (if Baron had opted out with us still having J-Rich then we would basically have no cap space and would be pretty f*cked)

So, would any of you guys trade Monta or Beans (one of the two maybe), plus Magette and Brandan for J-Rich??? or even just Maggette and Brandan for J-Rich?.........as that is basically what this guy is saying.

Damn, I wish I got paid to be bored and write pointless crap.

Im getting a little concerned about Brandan myself. He showed flashes of brilliance last season, but he didn't do too much to impress me in summer league. I totally understand that it was just summer league, but summer league or not, it was one of his chances to show what he can do, and i dont think he capitalized. I also understand that they were running iso's for AR and that Marco was chuckin up bricks, but that doesnt mean he wasnt taken shots. He had a decent amount of fg attempts, he just didnt bank it.

The article is right in another sense also, that Brandan is too young to give up on. But i think that if he's not producin by the time his contract ends, that we'll just let him go. Until then, we'll just have to wait and see whether or not if this was a GREAT trade, cuz it already is a good trade because it gave us enough cheddar to keep monta and andris.

Steinmetz is butt hurt that he might be getting bounced from the broadcast this season.

But he even admits how wrong he's been at the beginning of the article - what reason do we have to believe that he won't continue to be wrong.

J-Rich is still a beast and I wish him the best, but since trading him the W's have been able to get a young stud at a position of need, sign two of their bright young stars with the money saved, and still managed to win six more games without him than with him.

The timing on this is kind of strange. What made him suddenly decide this now?

I don't really get it. Pointless!

Unless this guy knows something that we dont know, he is a complete idiot. If you want to complain three, four years from now, fine. Brandan Wright has not gotten enough consistant playing time to be completely evaluated. This may be the year that Wright will show his stuff. We may know what we have in him after this season, but how can he say anything about Wright now? Just another idiot.

Yea, this guy's article is way too early. Maybe after this year we can make that determination, whether or not Nellie plays him.

Correct me if I'm wrong (I feel that I am), he averaged 2.6 RPG, 4 PPG, and .6 BLK/G with 9.9 MPG. When averaged out over 48 minutes he had 12.6 RPG, 19.4 PPG, and 2.9 BLK/G. Math seems right, but the numbers look waaay too high. Am i doing it right?

All i know is that give wright a season to mature. If he doesn't up his production with more PT then obviously we'll get an answer.

Steinmetz Rebuttal to comments of his article:

Because Jason deserves it, more talk about the Warriors trading Richardson
POSTED July 31, 10:53 AM

J-Rich: Still loved

I received tons of feedback regarding my post about how trading Jason Richardson was a mistake. They seem to be running about 60-40 against. More important is that it’s still obvious that J-Rich is missed and respected around here.

I’d like to respond to a few of the criticisms and complaints. And by the way, the comments were excellent. Just real good stuff.



GENERAL COMMENT OR COMPLAINT: If the Warriors had Richardson last season, Monta Ellis wouldn’t have blown up and become the player he became; Richardson would have halted Ellis’ development.

REBUTTAL: Some are forgetting that the starting five for the Warriors during the latter half of the 2006-07 season was: Baron Davis, Ellis, Richardson, Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington.

In other words, you could make a case that Richardson helped Ellis’ development _ by playing the small forward position. Ellis also won the NBA's Most Improved Player award with Richardson on the roster.




Monta/J-Rich combo works

GENERAL COMMENT OR COMPLAINT: Richardson was too limited of a player to be getting the money he was getting.

REBUTTAL: C'mon. Corey Maggette is too limited of a player to be getting what he’s getting; Andris Biedrins is too limited of a player to be getting what he’s getting. You can play that game all day. And who knows? You might be saying it about Ellis.

As I stated in my post, Richardson’s inability to create and handle was a killer. But if you’re going to criticize him for that (and I did) you must acknowledge that he created another way _ by getting double-teamed in the low post. That’s how he went about his creating.



GENERAL COMMENT OR COMPLAINT: Writing “Fair enough” to the idea that trading Richardson “allowed” the Warriors to re-sign Ellis and Biedrins is insufficient analysis and not acknowledging a significant part of the trade.

REBUTTAL: Let me tell you why I wrote “Fair enough,” and glossed over that particular issue. I was actually doing the other side of the argument a favor by giving you that one. But it is not a strong argument.

By rationalizing that trading Richardson "allowed" you to keep Ellis and Biedrins you’re forgetting why the Warriors said they had to make the deal: Because their cap situation needed fixing and going over the luxury tax has never been an option.

What kind of banana is Brandan?

So, I don’t think you can claim that as a positive aspect of the trade and yet ignore the preceding signings, trades, etc., that put the Warriors in the positon they say they were in.

You can, however, make a case that by trading Richardson it put the Warriors back at Ground Zero financially. Trading Richardson wasn't the only way to get there.

The Warriors might have fans believe that they HAD to trade Richardson to keep Ellis and Biedrins, but I don’t buy that simplicity. There had to be more than that one option.



GENERAL COMMENT OR COMPLAINT: When you get right down to it, Richardson is a third or fourth banana.

REBUTTAL: I don’t disagree with that. But I don’t think Brandan Wright is going to be any better kind of banana.

We haven't even seen Wright enough to make a judgment. Not only that, if we didn't let go of Jason, we wouldn't have the luxury to re-sign Monta, Biedrins, Azubuike and go out and pick up Turiaf and Maggette. Stupid article.

im not gonna lie losing j-rich hit me hard.

b diddy
j-rich
jax
harrington
biedrins

i mean that roster is insane! the reason why we finished 42-40 that season was because that trade was done half way into the season. if we started the season like that this year we couldve made the playoffs again.

but still we have to look for the future. imagine this

monta (developed pg skills...hopefully)
marco (ginobli type without the flop)
randolph (him at sf? watch his dribbles. hes a taller odom)
wright (give him time)
biedrins (rebounds and blocks?)

I agree somewhat to what the article is saying. How long are we going to be labeling Brandon Wright a project? He clearly isnt ready for this season, especially if the Summer League is a predicament. We saw already that Marco B and Randolph have it... those guys can ball... AND THERE PROJECTS TOO!!!

The point is, how long will we have to wait for wright? 1 year or 3? If its the latter part, the deal clearly wasn't worth it as then Wright would land on free agency status and establish a whole mess. All that time on waiting for Wright, we could of had or J-Rich or trade him for an actual need. Wright might be a player who by the time develops, we might not even have... making it not worth it!

On the bright side, if he doesn't work out in the next 1-2 years, we have team option to waive him. I believe so. Same with Belli and Randolf.

I was one of the most disappointed people on here when JRich got traded for BWright. I was one of the few who understood and supported the trade back in 1991 of Mitch Richmond for Billy Owens, as Owens was multi talented and filled a need, going on to play well his rookie season and then unfortunately being injury riddled from then on, and Marciolionis being a very good replacement at SG. Most people on here completely disliked that trade from the RunTMC days but were very positive on this trade of JRich for BWright, though I had stated the guy was at least three years from being a capable contributor. I became a bit more positive about BWright because he could definately be the guy that fills the PF need for the team and still do by the way, but he seems out of favour and if he didn't perform well in the Summer League, then it doesn't look good for his future as an nba player. I still have hope for him but he has to get oppportunity and that likely won't happen this season again so waiting will again be the trend.

In all, JRich almost had to go in order to keep Monta and Biedrins BUT if you look now, Maggette just got signed for 10 million a season, for five seasons, and that is slightly under what JRich is getting, so really, JRich could still be here and it would have no affect on the team's financial situation. This maybe shows more how Maggette is not a good fit and shouldn't be here but also shows how things have changed.

BWright could still be good on the team and worth the trade but right now it is looking highly doubtful

Comparing BWright and JRich is pointless. Two different players, two different positions, etc...
That trade was not meant to be a great player for an equally great player trade.
We traded away one of our best players (who had a huge contract) for a hopeful future contributor and some cap space. Not the best trade in Warriors history, but I suppose there was a fianancial strategy to it.

I'm not concerned about Brandon at this point. I think he's going to have a good year. He's plenty tough, he just needs minutes.

j3kk wrote:im not gonna lie losing j-rich hit me hard.

b diddy
j-rich
jax
harrington
biedrins

i mean that roster is insane! the reason why we finished 42-40 that season was because that trade was done half way into the season. if we started the season like that this year we couldve made the playoffs again.

but still we have to look for the future. imagine this

monta (developed pg skills...hopefully)
marco (ginobli type without the flop)
randolph (him at sf? watch his dribbles. hes a taller odom)
wright (give him time)
biedrins (rebounds and blocks?)

i dont agree that if we started this year with last years core we would have made the playoffs. theres no way that all of BD, monta, jax, AND jrich would have scored 20ppg.

i definitely agree with you, though, in that if we didnt trade jrich, we'd have to have been making moves to win a chamionship now as that core was gonna get older with little potential untapped. right now we have a VERY young core with TONS of untapped potential, and that fact that they are already pretty good is damn scarry.