Remembering the José Calderón era
The Golden State Warriors signed veteran point guard Jose Calderon for a few hours before letting him go in favor of Matt Barnes.
There are players that define franchises for long stretches of time. The Los Angeles Lakers’ name cannot be said without mentioning Magic Johnson and “Showtime.” There’s the Bad Boy Pistons and Michael Jordan’s Bulls. Tim Duncan’s dominance for San Antonio and LeBron James’ villainy in South Beach.
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For the Warriors, their golden age of basketball will always have the José Calderón era. It was a simpler time. Well, it started off as a simpler time until Kevin Durant’s unfortunate knee injury complicated everything.
Following an ugly win over the Brooklyn Nets, the Warriors let go of point guard Brianté Weber. Coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors decided to prioritize offense more than defense. Weber can do a lot of things on a basketball court, but shooting is not one of them.
So the Warriors came to an agreement with veteran point guard Calderón. They would sign him after he’d reach a buyout with the Los Angeles Lakers. The hope was that he could be a veteran leader that could regain his shooting form that he’s maintained throughout most of his career.
Golden State couldn’t sign him right away because they had to wait for him to clear waivers. So they waited and in the middle of their waiting, Durant went down with an injury. The Warriors now had a hole on the wings.
So they acted quickly and decided to take their roster in a different direction. They gave Matt Barnes a call and announced that they would be adding him instead of Calderón. They needed a forward, not a third string point guard.
Golden State is a top-notch organization so they gave Calderón the best deal possible. They signed him, as they had promised. Thus began the short-but-powerful era.
The Spanish vet was on the league’s top team for a whopping two hours. The team then sent him on his way, $415 thousand dollars richer. This ended the short-but-powerful era.
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While Durant’s injury is the last thing the Warriors would have wanted, it’s nice to see that the Dubs came to their senses. Calderón would not have really helped this team. Perhaps Matt Barnes saved Kerr from himself, who enjoys playing end-of-bench guys who are way past their primes in important situations.
Maybe the Warriors are cursed. They didn’t lose a game with Calderón on the roster. Since releasing him, they’ve lost all their games.