Steinmetz blog: Turiaf becomes a Warrior one year after th..

Ronny Turiaf becomes a Warrior one year after they really needed him.
POSTED July 18, 11:42 PM


Ronny Turiaf is a nice free agent signing for the Warriors, but they
needed him last year.

Or this upcoming year ... if Baron Davis were still around.

Acquiring Turiaf for more tha $4 million per season would have been a
much better signing if he were coming to the Warriors we've come to
know for the past two seasons.

If you’re adding Turiaf to a 48-win team, like the Warriors were a
year ago, he’s the kind of player who could have made a difference.
Bring back everybody from last season's squad and the Turiaf
acquisition makes things interesting.

All of a sudden, the overmatched Warriors on the interior have an
energy player up front willing to bang with the opposition. Maybe even
Andris Biedrins can play more aggressively, not having to worry about
picking up early fouls.

You could even start talking realistically about 50 wins. After all,
the Warriors were the worst rebounding team in the league last season,
and Turiaf would help with that. The Warriors also got punished by
opposing power forwards at the defensive end, and Turiaf would be able
to help there, too.

But the Warriors are no longer the 48-win Warriors of last season. Not
without Davis. So, while Turiaf is going to help the Warriors stay
closer on the boards and help them match up better with the Paul
Millsaps, Carl Landrys and Amare Stoudemires, it’s not going to make a
discernible impact in the bottom line.

As it stands now, the Warriors aren’t as good as they were when they
ended last season. They’ve lost Davis and Kelenna Azubuike, for all
intent and purpose, and replaced them with Corey Maggette and Turiaf.

That’s a net-minus anyway you look at it, even if the Warriors got
better inside.