The Warriors roster currently stands at 13, and with Festus Ezeli out until at least December, the Dubs have three open spots on their active roster. Marreese Speights and Jermaine O’Neal provide more size and depth in the paint, but the Warriors only true backup point guard is unproven rookie Nemanja Nedovic. Toney Douglas and Kent Bazemore can run the point in emergency situations, but Douglas has shifted between the 2 and the 1 for most of his career, and Bazemore only recently started running the point.
With that in mind, the Warriors should seriously consider targeting an experienced backup point guard for one of their remaining roster spots. Their recent salary cap gymnastics give them very little wiggle room – they’ll almost certainly need to find a player willing to play for very little– but there are still a handful of remaining options.
Beno Udrih
The 31-year-old Udrih most recently played for the Orlando Magic, and could provide solid production off the bench. With Orlando, Udrih averaged over 14 points and 8 assists per 36 minutes, and he has nine full years of NBA experience under his belt. With Mo Williams and Brandon Jennings locked up, Udrih is probably the best remaining free-agent point guard. The major barrier to signing Udrih would obviously be his salary – Udrih’s last contract ended at over $7 million per year.
The latest rumors have Udrih considering offers from Barcelona in Spain and Fenerbahce in Turkey. The Warriors would have to hope that Udrih doesn’t want to go abroad and is holding out for NBA offers – and also that no teams can offer him a better deal to remain stateside.
Jamaal Tinsley
Tinsley, who last played for the Utah Jazz, is certainly on the decline. He was never exactly a speed demon, and at 35, he couldn’t beat your grandpa off the dribble. Still, he averages over 8 assists per 36 minutes, and he’d likely be available at a price the Warriors could afford.
Last we heard, Tinsley is drawing interest from the Charlotte Bobcats. The Warriors could definitely offer a better team dynamic than Tinsley could find in Charlotte, but he’d have to accept a reduced role (Tinsley started 32 games last season for Utah, and wouldn’t come close to that with Golden State). Charlotte could also potentially offer more money, so Tinsley is only realistic if he decides to forgo salary and playing time to suit up for a contender.
Keyon Dooling
Dooling is only in his early 30’s, and could definitely have gas left in his tank. He’s certainly affordable (he earned $1,352,181 in 2012-2013), and he would no doubt have something to prove after being assigned to the D-League while with Memphis last year. Dooling is one of the more realistic targets for the Warriors, but it’s hard to project how productive he would be – the last time he played over 50 games in a season was back in 2010-2011.
Baron Davis
We’ll be up front – we haven’t heard anything about Baron coming back to the Warriors, or even to the NBA. Since Baron’s alien adventure last month, he’s played about a minute and a half in a Drew League game in Los Angeles (which ended with him losing $50k to rapper The Game). Baron’s had a long enough career that blowing $50,000 isn’t going to keep him up at night, and it sure doesn’t look like an NBA comeback is the first thing on his mind.
If Davis was truly serious about getting back into game shape (he would have needed to get going on that, like, months ago), we could see a scenario where the Dubs offered him the veteran’s minimum to provide leadership in the locker room (and maybe some nifty passes during garbage time).
With the Warriors desperately trying to stay under the salary cap, and Baron closer to Nellie-shape than game-shape, there’s only one scenario in which they’d consider bringing him back – B-Diddy signing a 10-day contract so he could retire a Warrior.
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