Warriorsworld.net hooked up with Matt Steinmetz who is the Comcast sideline reporter and insider/analyst on Golden State
Warriors telecasts, for a Q&A on the Warriors offseason, future as well as his thoughts on Warriorsworld.net.

 

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What’s the latest with Monta Ellis and his contract extension? What’s a realistic contract for him? Sign and trade a possibility? Ditto for Andris Biedrins.

How’s this for a bad start … quite frankly, I haven’t been that curious about these contract situations. No news is good news. To me, Ellis and Biedrins not re-signing with the Warriors would be more of a shock than Baron Davis leaving.

Nothing is outside the realm of possibility, but Chris Mullin has made it clear from a while back that he was going to re-sign these guys. If there were going to be any monetary constraints they went out the door once Baron left.

I fully expect both to be back, although when it becomes official … who knows? There are benefits to doing these deals later rather than sooner. As for money, I’m not big on predicting because I do believe the adage that it only takes one team … and that a player is worth what one team pays him.

What are realistic contracts for them? I’d say Ellis is probably trying to get $10 to $12 million per year and the Warriors are shooting for $8 to $10. And for Biedrins, he’s trying to get $8 to $10 and the Warriors are trying to get him for $6 to $8.

Your thoughts on Baron Davis’ departure

I’ve written a lot on this on my webpage at 

http://www.examiner.com/x-441-Golden-State-Warriors-Examiner .

That’s my first shameless plug. In general, I believe that the point guard is the most important position on the court and the Warriors had a pretty damn good one for the past few years.

Without getting into the pros and cons of his game, Davis has been the biggest difference-maker on the Warriors since I’ve been around this team, 15 years or so. Sprewell, Hardaway, Webber, Mullin. Sorry, I think its Davis.

I just think losing a player of Davis’ stature is a significant blow, and I don’t see the Warriors making the playoffs next year if Monta Ellis is the starting point guard playing 30-plus minutes per game there.

Now, if the Warriors find a way to get Billups in here or even Kirk Hinrich, then you’ve got to take another look and reassess. Though off the top of my head I wouldn’t be ready to proclaim that team better than last year’s team, either.

Until the Warriors make another move, I don’t see how anyone can maintain this team is better than it was last year.

Did Baron leave on bad terms with the organization? How was his relationship with his teammates?

Baron didn’t leave on bad terms with Chris Mullin, I know that. As for his relationship with teammates, overall it was good. Baron could be a little temperamental at times and certainly high maintenance, but that’s not unlike most stars.

I would say he was generally inclusive, and overall to the good.

Corey Maggette at 5 yrs. $50 Million. Did the Warriors overpay? Was it a panic move?

I hesitate to use the word overpay because, well, the Warriors paid him. That said it would have been much, much better if they could have gotten him for the mid-level or just above.

But chances are he wouldn’t have come to the Warriors for the mid-level. I’ve heard the deal might be closer to five for $45, but I just don’t think Maggette is a $9 million or $10 million player. He’s a little too one-dimensional for that kind of money.

I won’t call it a panic move. I think you could make a case it was a logical move. They just lost a 20-point per night scorer in Davis (forget about position for a minute) and they went out and got a 20-point scorer, one of the few like that on the market. The problem is there’s still that point guard issue.

Randolph has looked good early in the summer league. Do you see him cracking Nellie’s rotation?

Ordinarily I’d say no way, but for some reason I think Nelson just might try to play this kid. From what very little I’ve seen of him, I like him.

I agree with the person on the board who said Randolph resembles Jalen Rose. I thought the same thing but wouldn’t dare print that after I saw it here. So, you know what they say … give him poster credit.

However, a resemblance is a resemblance and at this point I don’t think Randolph is a 3. He may become one. But not right now. More than one person has told me about a move Randolph made in the summer-league opener (didn’t see it; flying) on Jason Smith, where he took him from the top of the circle and got an “and-one.”

They used that example of why Randolph is a 3. I don’t see it that way. Jason Smith is a 7-footer. That’s the kind of guy Randolph should have an advantage over on the perimeter.

Until and unless he can do it with a 6-foot-6 defender on him, let’s hold off on talk he’s a small forward. I know Nelson has said he’ll play small forward but what Nelson says in the summer often isn’t what he says in November.

Who will have the biggest impact: Wright, Belinelli or Randolph?

Good question. Toss up between Belinelli and Wright, and for no real reason I’ll take Wright.

How would you rate Chris Mullin during his tenure in the front office? Good, bad, why?

I think in general it’s been good. First of all, it’s almost as if he’s had to deal with two different kinds of rules.

When he first began, Mullin spent a lot of money for players such as Dunleavy, Murphy, Fisher and Foyle. They might not have been great signings, but they were signings that at least represented a philosophy of trying to keep a core together for a few years and grow with it.

I also give him a lot of credit for the timely recognition of a non-successful transaction and taking decisive action. Too many GMs cut off their nose to spite their face, holding onto to an obvious losing hand just to stay in the game until the end. I hate that more than the mistake.

In the past year or so, I don’t think there is any doubt the Warriors have taken a more cautious approach to signing players. Not that they’re unwilling to dole out money, just that they’re being far more deliberate about doing it.

There have been things Mullin would have liked to have done that he couldn’t get done, let’s put it that way. However, no one knows if those things would have helped his reputation or hurt it.

It seems obvious from all his public quotes about Baron that he would have liked to keep him around.

The luxury tax is a factor, no doubt. Simply put, the Warriors aren’t going to go over it. Has that limited them? Absolutely, most teams in the NBA, however, operate under the tax, including the San Antonio Spurs, who have won five titles in 10 years. I think you can be successful under the tax and I don’t think going over the tax ensures success. In fact, we all know that to be true.

What are some of your favorite Warriors moments?

Well, obviously the 2006-07 playoffs were memorable because of the novelty and excitement around everything. I wouldn’t say it was a favorite though because I was a little too freakin nervous on TV to really enjoy it. But here’s one:

I was actually in a bar in New Orleans when the Warriors clinched Game 6 against Dallas. I’d probably been to the previous 500 games the previous 12 years at the arena, but I wasn’t at that one.

In early January, before the trade, I had made flight reservations for early May. Warriors weren’t going anywhere again, right? It was a trip I’d made a couple times in years past. Of course, the Warriors got hot late in the season and made the playoffs.

Well, I figured I wouldn’t be going on the trip to the Jazz Festival and that was fine by me. I’d been hanging around this team for 12 lousy years so the playoffs were fine, too. Playoff basketball or Van Morrison _ that’s a win-win.

Long story short, we were done with our broadcasting duties by the Game 6 clincher so I was able to make the trip and be back in time for the start of the Utah series. It was the first and only time I ever watched the Warriors as a true, unadulterated fan. What can I say? I’m never really able to be a fan when I’m working, if you know what I mean. I might have an interest in a game going one way or the other but never fan.

But I was that night … 2,000 miles from the Bay Area and the Warriors playing their biggest game in decades. I purposely chose a near-empty bar to watch it and sent away my fair-weather-basketball-fan buddies because I needed to lock in and focus.

It was the most perfect game to finally be fan. Pretty tight first half, blowout in the second. I was wound up all night, cheering on every possession, cursing at times and just generally doing what fans in the arena were doing.

By the end of the game, the bar was full but for some reason nobody was bothering the guy shouting and pumping his fist at the end of the bar (me). I know that’s probably a weird recollection, but it’s the one I have.

It was actually cool enough to finally be a fan for one night that I didn’t even miss being there.

Take us through a day in life of Matt Steinmetz on game-day. There’s more to it than just wearing makeup and holding a mic, right?

Not that intriguing, really. I do a lot of reading and watching of games when I’m not “doing” a game. I love basketball and don’t consider what I do a job. Away from the arena, when I’m not doing the family thing, I’m watching basketball, talking basketball, playing basketball, reading about basketball or writing about basketball. That’s basically my preparation.

As for makeup … put it this way: I never wore any until I saw Walt Frazier applying it before a game. That meant it was OK.

Your thoughts on Warriorsworld.net?

So many thoughts. First of all, it’s great site. No doubt about it.

I firmly believe that if I want to consider myself a so-called “expert” on the Warriors, then I absolutely must pay attention to the site. How could I possibly pretend to know what I’m talking about if I choose not to hear what fans are saying about players and the team?

Everyone in the organization knows what Warriorsworld.net is … secretaries, salesman, support staff and even presidents and vice presidents, directors and managers. Over the course of a season you’ll hear people talking about something on the site and invariably someone will say: “I don’t read that stuff.”

That’s a joke. Everyone reads it.

Here’s a quick story to ingratiate me with the board (although that ain’t never going to happen with Mac, Diehardwarrior or Shank). A few years ago, some coaches were talking about a particular opinion on the board. One of the coaches dismissed the board as a bunch of “know-nothing fans.”

He was quickly shot down by two other coaches who said that a lot of the stuff on the board had merit and that of all the fans the people on this board knew way more and paid way more attention to what was going on than all others.

“Sometimes,” I remember hearing a coach say “…Those SOBs know a little bit too much.”

Right now, Mac, Diehardwarrior and Shank are muttering: “No kidding we know more than other fans. All you do is state the obvious.”

Sometimes the obvious needs stating. Keep up the spirit.

 

Special Thanks to Matt and check out his work @

http://www.examiner.com/x-441-Golden-State-Warriors-Examiner