Finally. Nuff said.

Looks like the Warriors are letting Anthony Morrow walk. At a time when the fortunes of the team were looking up, they lost a pretty good piece of the puzzle. Granted, Morrow is not a premiere player but he served a very important role - dead-eye outside shooting (he was one of only 4 guys last year who shot more than 45% from 3PT land).

Ever team needs a guy who just hangs on the perimeter to knock down open 3's. With David Lee as an above average passing big man, Monta Ellis driving and kicking out, plus Curry creating open shots, the Warriors needed a guy just like Morrow. Plus at only $4 million a year, he's great value considering guys like Reddick and Korver were getting $5M - $7M. Compounding the issue is that the Warriors signed Dorell Wright, who by all measure (other than height) is inferior to Morrow, to the same exact three year $12M contract. He scores less, grabs fewer rebounds, and doesn't shoot as well from the floor or the free throw line. The only way I can envision the Warriors letting him go is if he expressly asked to leave and the Dorell Wright move was in reaction to that. Two steps forward, one step back.  At least we get a trade exception out of it.

So this was announced yesterday. Overall, it's a net positive for the Warriors. They give up some good role players in Turiaf and Azubuike and one potential star in Randolph. However, Turiaf has most likely reached his ceiling (being a good back-up center), Azubuike is coming off a pretty horrific knee injury, and Randolph has a lot of maturing to do before he can reach his full potential (which is not a guarantee). No one would ever mistake David Lee for an impact star player. He puts big numbers up on a bad team but last time I checked, the Warriors were not a great team. Lee will get his numbers but let's just hope that a few extra wins come along with them.

I spent most of the day dealing with work and iPhone 4 pick up so didn't have much time to do my usual NBA Draft research. This year's draft seemed a little ho-hum. Besides Wall and Turner, there wasn't much in terms of sure fire pro talent. Favors and Cousins have potential to be great but also could turn out to be the next Tyrus Thomas and Eddy Curry. Wesley Johnson is somewhere between Rudy Gay and Corey Brewer. In other words, either slightly above or slightly below average.

As for the Warriors' pick, Ekpe Udoh at #6, I can't really get too excited one way or the other. There's no one picked after him I thought was better and he does fill very specific needs - defense, rebounding and shot blocking. He won't be asked to score much (which he can't) and can learn behind Randolph and Wright. In the end he was a safe pick in a weak draft with no real upside but no big downside either. The W's weren't going to find salvation in the draft any way. The bigger impact will be when the team is sold to a better owner who has a different philosophy than current management's "break-even" mind set.

The Warriors just pulled off a trade with the Bucks. Baffling is the only word I can think of. I understand the motivation of it was primarily financial but you couldn't get at least something serviceable in return? Charlie Bell and Dan Gadzuric will offer ZERO impact on the court. If the W's resign CJ to back up Curry (which they should) where does that leave Bell? And Gadzuric has been disappointing for a long time even when he was at UCLA. The only saving grace with Gadzuric is that his contract comes off the books next year but Bell is on the hook until 2012.

What bothers me the most about this deal is that Maggette had value. He wasn't a disruption in the locker room, did what he was told, and in general played well. 20 points and 5 rebounds from a 2/3 swingman is nothing to sneeze at. Plus he got to the line a lot (and shot a decent %) which meant he often put the other team in foul trouble. If you're going to give away your 3rd best player, at least get immediate cap relief or something in return like a good rebounder which the W's sorely need. Baffling.....

Lottery is over and the Warriors got a little hosed dropping from a projected 4th pick to the 6th pick. Fittingly, Washington won the lottery as the late Abe Pollin's wife represented them, wearing her husband's 1978 championship ring for luck.

So what does the 6th pick translate to? Most boards have the following players rotating between the 4-6 spots - Wesley Johnson (SF), Greg Monroe (C), or DeMarcus Cousins (PF/C). Good thing is that all these players fill needs for the Warriors. The biggest issues they had (besides injuries) were rebounding and a solid post up player. Monroe and Cousins will provide solid rebounding with Cousins being the slightly better offensive player. Johnson is more of a wing player who can rebound so would be less of a fit for the team. Like last year, I don't have a ton of expectations for the pick but would prefer Cousins, but what do I know. I wanted Jordan Hill over Stephen Curry...

NBA Draft Lottery starts in 5 minutes. Warriors have a 10.4% chance of winning though I'm not sure they'll need John Wall. Evan Turner sounds like a much better fit given that the W's have their backcourt set. We'll see.........