Warriors: troubling signs in free agency

So much of what goes on in free agency is unknown. Yes, youeventually find out where players are heading and for how much. But you dontalways hear details such as which other teams might have been involved in thepursuit or whether another team offered more money or not.Its often hard to tell when teams emerge in negotiationsand when teams fall out of them. Sometimes, you dont even know if a team wasinterested in a certain player or not.With that, some troubling signs are showing up for the Warriors -- at least as it pertains to free agency 2012.Its not that the Warriors havent signed a big-time freeagent. Nobody expected that given that theyre over the salary cap.
The cause for concern is that players who Golden State likelyhad its eye on -- particularly when it comes to the guard position -- are signing elsewhere. And at salary cap friendly prices.
Andre Miller, Jason Kidd, Kirk Hinrich, Brandon Roy andChauncey Billups all agreed to very sensible contracts in the past week. Or putit this way -- sensible enough contracts that the Warriors could have, or shouldhave, been in the ballgame.Heading into free agency, the Warriors figured to have 5million -- or their full mid-level exception -- to use. Yet just two daysinto free agency, Warriors general manager Bob Myers indicated the team wasunlikely to use all of that amount.The Warriors won't use that money because they are less than 5 millionunder the luxury-tax threshold, and ownership wants no part of the penalty for exceeding it. So, Myers suggested the Warriors didnt quite have 5 million tospend, and that it might be more like 3 or 4 million -- give or take.While that certainly wasnt positive news for fans, itshouldnt have put them on the sidelines, either. But thats where the Warriorshave seemed to be thus far. Here are some of the deals to date:Andre Miller: re-signs with Denver forthree years, 9 million.Jason Kidd: signs with New York for threeyears, 9 million.Kirk Hinrich: signs with Chicago for twoyears, 6 million.Brandon Roy: signs with Minnesota for twoyears, 10.4 million.Chauncey Billups: re-signs with the L.A.Clippers for 4.3 million.Of those five players, the Warriors only seemed to be in therunning for Roy.It seems apparent that the Warriors either didnt make a runat those players or that the offers they made werent competitive. Anotherpossibility is that the Warriors made competitive offers, but players arechoosing to go elsewhere.Regardless of which it is, its not an encouragingsign.There is still time for the Warriors to find a backup guard infree agency. But a lot of good ones already have signed with other teams -- and whatsmost hard for Warriors fans to swallow is just how little theyre signingfor.