NBA: 13 Western Conference Trades That Need To Happen Before The Deadline

Dub Nation Gets the Sauce

Coming up with a trade for Golden State is like when you were a little kid and had that ‘place the wooden shape in the same shaped hole’; but it was like reading Chinese and you couldn’t figure out why the circle wasn’t going in the square hole even though now it’s obvious.

Okay, maybe it’s not exactly like that, but it really is hard to come up with even hypothetical trades for Golden State. I ‘traded’ Zaza in Part 1 for Kyle O’Quinn, but every trade feels like a stretch because it’s not like Golden State needs to get better; they’ve proven they can ‘make do’ with their roster as is….. and the combined record of 119-17 over their last 136 regular season games.

If Golden State did make a trade, I don’t think they need to do anything flashy, they’re still feeling the backlash from Kevin Durant smartly signing with Golden State. If the Warriors traded Thompson for LeBron or something nuts I think the NBA would literally just spontaneously combust.

What they could do is this:

Golden State is the best team in the league, but why not trade potential for potential? Javale McGee is on a one year (and the NBA’s current +/- leader), as are Pachulia, West, and McAdoo. While the Warriors will own the rights to match any offer any team makes for McAdoo (which they should), there’s also this guy named Wardell Curry who’s going to be an unrestricted free agent who will eat up a lot of cap room (and presumably KD when he opts out for a new deal); and bench mainstays like Iggy and Shaun Livingston. While the Warriors will have no trouble luring free agents, I still think they need to be thinking long-term even though they will retain KD and Steph.

By moving Jones they may watch him flourish on the Suns (who are set to potentially lose Len in free agency, Chandler in a trade, and/or P.J. Tucker in either), but the Suns need to be betting on potential and get rid of guys collecting dust on the bench.

Now Alan ‘Big Sauce’ Williams could be the next big thing. Read these stats, and then read them again:

Alan Wiliams’ per-36 numbers from the 2015-16 season: 15.4 PPG, 20.1 TRPG

Alan Wiliams’ per-36 numbers from this season: 15.8 PPG, 15.3 TRPG

If Williams actually averaged those numbers, no current player would be matching both of those numbers. The only player that’s averaging anything close to the rebounding number is Whiteside at 14.0. Drummond averages 13.9 and Jordan averages 13.7. Then it ‘drops’ with Howard’s 12.9.

The PPG leaders at the 5 position makes it even more interesting – only 5 centers are averaging equal to or more than 15.5 PPG; Turner, Whiteside, Brook Lopez, Marc Gasol, and KAT.

Now, am I saying that Alan Williams is going to be a HOFer? No. But when a guy’s per-36 tells you he could average 20 boards a game, you should pay attention. If Golden State nabs him and he gets some playing time, then they might try to retain him instead and let McAdoo go.