Warriors Make Big Trade before Regular Season begins
Guess Who's Coming Home?
Remember, this guy?
Oakland, CA. (AP Press) -- The Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards have completed a huge trade on the eve of the regular season. The Wizards will send star point guard, Gilbert Arenas to the Warriors in exchange for rising star Monta Ellis, steady power forward, Matt Barnes, and backup center Adonal Foyle. The move will certainly come as a surprise to both Wizard fans and Warrior fans alike. The trade seems to be a sign for Washington fans that their team had peaked with the big three and were not going to be able to win a championship in the near future. Ellis and Caron Butler will be the cornerstones for the future of the franchise.
It seems that Washington and coach Eddie Jordan have grown sick of Arenas' antics and his on going threats to opt-out of his contract. Jordan and Arenas have not publicly announced any sort of feud, but it is widely believed the two don't get along. The Wizards organization also felt that Arenas would leave the team especially with the team still having a big gap in the front court.
Without any prospects of solidifying those positions, the Wizards instead chose to go after Ellis and Barnes. Many believe Ellis will be a superstar in this league, and is already following a similar path to Arenas. Both we drafted by Golden State in the 2nd round and after not playing much in their rookie seasons, both captured Most Improved Player Awards in their sophomore season.
Barnes, a former journeyman had seemed to have found a home in Oakland. However, naturally the Wizards coveted him in such a big deal, so he will now have to stay in Washington for a while. He is a solid forward who can play either the 3 or the 4. Foyle was thrown in to match salaries.
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Later in the afternoon, Gilbert Arenas and Coach Don Nelson sat down with the media for a press conference about his return to the Dubs.
Reporter #1: Gilbert! Gilbert! How does it feel to back in the Bay Area?
GA: On one hand it feels great to back in the Bay, but other hand I am slightly disappointed that things did not work out in Washington. It really came as a shock to me . Maybe I scared the Wizards organization when I said I was going to opt out after the season, maybe they thought I couldn't recover from my knee injury, but nevertheless, I thought I was going to be a Wizard for life. I am looking forward to putting on my Warrior Jersey again though, haha.
Reporter #2: Coach, do you think Gilbert and Baron Davis will be able to co-exist in the backcourt?
DN: Technically we will have 2 point guards, but Gilbert is really more a shooting guard or at least a point guard that loves to shoot *laugher*. If you remember from back in the 2002-2003 season, Milwaukee started both Gary Payton and Sam Cassell in the backcourt and that midseason trade sortof helped rallied the team to earn a playoff spot. Obviously, Matt and Monta played big parts in our last season success, but we needed to take a risk in order to put us in position to improve from last season.
Reporter #3: Gilbert, are you excited to play for Coach Nelson's run-n'-gun style? Is this the type of offense you feel like you can thrive in the best?
GA: Haha, yea for sure. Me and Baron are actually good friends, and he always made me feel jealous about how stagnant (well relatively) our offense was compared to them. I'm going to average like over 32 points this year!
Reporter #4: Coach! How deep do you think you guys can go in this year's playoff now?
DN: Well, obviously the goal is to get at least to the Western Conference Finals. I think Gilbert can replace a lot of what JR was able to do last season. Meanwhile, Marco can fill in the spot the Monta played last year, being a combo guard who produced a spark for the team off the bench. I know he's disappointed that he isn't the starter anymore, but as a rookie, I think it will only help him if he plays off the bench. Thanks guys, but I gotta go.