The Golden State Warriors are leaving no stones unturned when it comes to making an impactful trade, even looking in places you wouldn’t necessarily think to find good talent. Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle reported today that Warriors’ GM Larry Riley is looking at Injured Reserve lists across the league, scouting out any pieces that could make the W’s better:
“When you’re looking at what you can do to get better, you have to consider the possibility of what an injured player today might be able to do when he returns…A lot has been done down that road, and more will be done.”
Riley can’t explicitly name names of players who the Warriors are looking at, but two names that comes to mind are the Houston Rockets’ Yao Ming and the Portland Trail Blazers’ Greg Oden, both of whom have had their fare share of injury related heartache in their NBA careers. Still, there is no way to predict if a player can come back from devastating injuries (a la Grant Hill), so if the right deal can get done, maybe its worth a shot.
“It’s not a secret. We have either got to get the players we have to play better in and around the basket, or we have to get somebody else. That’s really where we are, so I might as well say it.”
Dang Larry, tell me how you really feel.