All Star Break = Evaluating Assets

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the All-Star game is coming up, Jeremy Lin has been the new story of the NBA and the Miami Heat are quietly dominating the NBA. The odds of them winning are 5:1. They’ve won the last eight games by at least 12 points.

And if your a Golden State Warrior Fan, then you know that Stephen Curry left the game on Wednesday with a right foot injury. While X-Rays were negative (yay!), Curry will be skipping the All-Star festivities this weekend. He was scheduled to participate in the Skills Challenge. However, according to some Warrior executives, he will not be missing any important game time, come Tuesday night when the Warriors visit the Indiana Pacers. So that’s good news.

And as for the trading deadline, its approaching and approaching fast. What are the Warriors to do? What do they need? In my humble expertise, the Warriors need several things. One, they need another big man. While Ekpe Udoh has been a nice surprise and given a boost off the bench, it was disappointing to see Beidrins’ to start again on Wednesday. The Warriors need another big body as Kwame Brown continues to miss time with his torn pectoral.

I also think they need another guard. It’s nice having Nate Robinson deliver instance offense, but besides him, there is no real other scoring punch in the second unit. Along with Curry going down quite frequently this season, if Robinson were to move to the starting line-up, not only would the Warriors have the shortest starting back court, they would lose their scoring in the second unit. Klay Thompson has been pretty good in this compact season without training camp, but he is too inconsistent. And for a rookie, it was as if you were waiting for him to hit some type of rookie wall. The same thing applies to Dorell Wright who is very up and down on scoring. One night he leads the team, the next three games he has a big donut hole. If he could sustain some type of scoring when Ellis and/or Curry is sitting, then it would be less worrisome. But he isn’t and he doesn’t.

There have been some grumblings that the Warriors are still interested in bringing Dwight Howard in. They believe that they could convince him to sign an extension and not just be a rental. But what are the Warriors willingly to give up IF Howard is shipped here? It will come at a high price and not knowing if Howard would sign an extension, it may be safer to make smaller deals and keep this core. Both Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry has been in the headlines as trade bait but with some baggage. The more injuries Curry has, the less likely a team will want to trade for him. And if teams are less likely to trade for him, there is no way the Warriors can move Ellis without destroying basketball here in the Bay Area. But trading Ellis at this time is fairly dangerous as well. With Curry looking less durable, are they willingly to hand over the franchise to an oft-injured player? Plus Ellis is small for his position and does not defend very well. Do not look for teams like Chicago or Miami (even though they have no room for him there) to be a landing spot. Those teams play defense which Ellis does not do well.

Lots of things to think about heading into this weekend. Let’s see what big trades happen between now and the trading deadline. But enjoy the All-Star game and festivities. It gives both fans and players a free weekend and enjoy some friendly basketball.