GSW Hoops Fan wrote:Wow, reading this makes me think that W's are interested in bringing back Rush:
http://www.csnbayarea.com/basketball-golden-state-warriors/warriors-talk/Jerry-West-works-with-Brandon-Rush?blockID=692094&feedID=2799
It’s not every day you get 10 minutes of individual instruction from Jerry West, one of the greatest players to ever play the game.
But Warriors forward Brandon Rush was the lucky player on the receiving end of that expertise after the team’s Wednesday morning shootaround.
“That was definitely a big thing to hear from him,” said Rush, who is averaging 9.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game this year. “He gave me a few pointers on what I need to work on and offered to work me out during the summertime.”
West is a Warriors minority owner and once in a while will pop into a practice. That’s what West did, imparting specific wisdom to Rush.
“Using your body well, how to draw fouls, how to create space,” responded Rush, when asked what West told him. “Just a quick tutorial on how to do those things.”
Read more: Jerry West works with Brandon Rush
Tune to SportsNet Central at 6, 10:30 and midnight on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area for more on this story
It would be a MAJOR statement.
If the Warriors resign Rush and somehow acquire a decent, blue collar backup big, it will change the culture from the penny-pinching, salary sympathetic Cohan Warriors (who, like the A's, practically employ their hardcore fan base into being salary savvy stat-crunchers) and instead command a different message: "If you have talent and you show that you will work hard to be valuable here, you will get paid. No questions asked."
Look at their first big purchase; giving the okay to sign-and-trade David Lee. Lee is a splitting point to the fans due to his salary. No one can honestly claim that Lee is a bad piece to have, but those who needle on his paycheck have begun to chirp like baby birds for Lee is become a plus-defensive player (because he's being paid like a star when the honest truth is, if David Lee wasn't an offensive catalyst, he wouldn't have a job; his major contributions on the floor show up far more often on the offensive end, so he is thus being needled on for his average to slow-footed defense).
But what did Lacob see that Cohan wouldn't have looked for?
He saw a vocal leader that plays his ass off, injured, hobbled, sick, or tired, to the point of dragging his dead body up and down the floor, never walking like a "superstar", never bitching about the high levels of contact that he's taking inside (not like KG or Pau Gasol or any other "star post player" would). A guy that gives you between 8 to 15 rebounds like clockwork, in an era where Golden State's former starting centers (Andris Biedrins and Adonal Foyle) were averaging 6 to 7 a game. He saw a bulldog that hits the ground, wrestles for loose balls, and bodies centers without BITCHING like every other 6'9" guy averaging over 15 points that
doesn't wanna play center (lookin at you, A'Mare, Bosh, Lamar, ZBo, etc). And he saw this guy doing it with nightly averages of 19 and 10 on 50% shooting.
And while all the fans were scaring themselves into fits trying to comprehend how their team was gonna pay $13 million per for this guy, Joe Lacob went out and got Andrew Bogut for big money. He committed the team to Stephen Curry knowing that a fat extension is coming down the pipe. He plucked Nate Robinson (a high value, class A free agent) off the employment line midseason (hint: when was the last time the Warriors signed a FA the level of Nate DURING the season??). He took Richard Jefferson on because the team needed veteran help and he would rather pay through an extra year than contaminate this locker room with Stephen Jackson. For God's sake: He gave Kwame Brown $7 million!!!
And he has said, time and time again, that money is not an issue here. They'll spend what they need to build a winner. "We don't care if we have to pay a little luxury tax", so be it if it means a contender.
And he got boo'd on Chris Mullin night.
If they resign Brandon Rush. And take on a high draft pick for $2 or $3 million. And bring back Dominic McGuire on a 3-year deal for less than $10 million,, that is a
HUGE STATEMENT.
And first and foremost, it's a big middle finger at every one of you anti-fans who boo'd him.
And secondly, it's a statement that this team is going straight to the playoffs next year.