Bringing in point guard a must for the Warriors

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The other night after the NBA draft lottery, in which theWarriors secured their No. 7 pick, owner Joe Lacob was asked what kind ofplayer his team needed. He gave a well-reasoned, general answer and touched onvirtually every position.When it came to point guard, he saidmaybe (the Warriors)could use an additional one.Give Lacob credit for being purposefully vague there. Because,make no mistake, the Warriors need a point guard. It is their biggest area ofneedalong with another big body up front.RELATED: Lacob: "We're going to look at everything"
When people talk about the Warriors acquiring a smallforward or looking to upgrade at the three spot, theyre not necessarily wrong.But priorities being what they are the Warriors absolutely should look to thoseother two areas first.You might like to do better than Richard Jefferson andDorell Wright at small forward, but its the most experienced and deepestposition on the team. And when you assess the entire Warriors roster, gettingbetter at the small forward is more a luxury than a necessity.So, for now, lets concentrate on the point guard position.Theyve got Stephen Curry, who missed most of the year with a very problematicright ankle. After that, theres Charles Jenkins, with one season under hisbelt (actually less, if you factor in the lockout). He is improving but stilllearning the position. Nate Robinson doesn't figure to be back, nor is he the type of backcourt player the Warriors need for next season.In short, the Warriors dont have a true point guard undercontract.In addition, keep in mind the Warriors are prepared to startKlay Thompson at shooting guard, a second-year player who showed promise butsomeone who only started getting big minutes the last 30 games of theseason.In other words, theres a lot of unknown and inexperience inyour starting backcourt right now.Lets all keep our fingers crossed and hope Curry is healthyin 2012-13. He played just 23 games last year. But one way to try to keep Curryhealthy would be to limit his minutes.Fact is, it simply wouldnt be responsible to expect ordemand or want to play Curry 36 minutes a game. How about not evenclose?The Warriors owe it to themselvesand to Curry __ to reallywatch his minutes, particularly early in the season ... Maybe something like 28or 30 or possibly 32 minutes per game.You see how he does for a whilenot to mention see how heproducesand you go from there. But it just doesnt make sense to run Curryout there on opening night for 38 or 40 minutes.One way to sneak in some extra minutes for Curryand takea little stress off the ankle, toowould be to play him a little more atshooting guard. Thats a little less pounding, not to mention youre involvedin fewer plays and in less traffic at the offensive end.At this point, you dont know if youre going to haveBrandon Rush to back up Thompson, but even if you do, there could be times whenyou could find stretches of shooting guard minutes for Curry.After all, he is the best shooter on the teamand one ofthe best in the NBA, quite franklyso it might be nice if the Warriors had aguy to set him up every once in a while.Point is, the Warriors have to get another playmaker inhere, and youve got to believe Lacob and his front office knows it. Otherwise,theyre really rolling the dice.RELATED: Seven options at No. 7Its not that Jenkins might not turn out to be a competentbackup point guard down the line, its that youre really taking a chance if youreready to give him heavy and consistent minutes and perhaps the biggest role ofall the substitutes.You could make a case that a backup pointa third guard,in other wordsshouldcould play upwards of 25 minutes per game for theWarriors next year. Think about it, youve got the 16 or 18 minutes Curryshouldnt be playing every night and another six to 10 minutes at shootingguard.Jenkins, like Thompson, had some nice moments during anabbreviated stint in 2011-12. But Jenkins has even farther to go than Thompson.Thats why it would be a real leap of faith for the Warriors to hand over thosekinds of minutes to Jenkins.After all, Jenkins has played only 51 total NBA games and in19 of those games, he logged 10 minutes or less.Look, nobody is saying that Curry still cant be the pointguard of the future, and nobody is even saying Jenkins cant be your backup intime. But at least heading into the upcoming season, you better believe theWarriors are going to bring in another point guard.Theyd be foolish if they didnt, right?Sonow that Ive convinced you the Warriors need a pointguard, which of the following free agents ones would you pursue: Andre Miller,Kirk Hinrich, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Delonte West, Goran Dragic, Raymond Feltonor Randy Foye?Or do you have someone else in mind?

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