At minimum, he’ll provide some scoring
There were all sorts of crazy rumors floating around the Warriors this week. Something about the flighty Nick Young, and an off-the wall mention of Jamal Crawford. What happened for real, on Tuesday, made a lot more sense.
Omri Casspi, who will sign a one-year contract at the NBA minimum salary, will connect beautifully with the Warriors and their fans.
Examining his career statistics, you’re hardly blown away. He’s been a bit of a vagabond: two stints in Sacramento, twice waived by the New Orleans Pelicans, time spent in Houston and Minnesota, and two miserable seasons in Cleveland while LeBron James was starring in Miami
(although Casspi fondly remembers such Cavaliers teammates as Shaun Livingston, Marreese Speights, Luke Walton and Klay Thompson’s older brother, Mychel).
Then again, Warriors fans well remember a December evening against Sacramento in 2015, when Casspi lit up Oracle Arena with 36 points, shooting 13-for-18 — including 9-for-12 from three-point range. That’s not quite him; he’s more of a complementary player, and that will definitely be his role as a 6-foot-9 forward off the Warriors’ bench. But he can shoot, his unrelenting energy is infectious, and as a man in search of contentment in America, he just might have landed, finally, in the right place.
Born in Holon, Israel, Casspi had been a full-blown star with the Israeli national team when he joined Sacramento as the 23rd overall pick in the 2009 draft. As the first Israeli to play in the NBA, he told reporters, “Back home, when we are young, everybody tells us: ‘You’re not going to be the most talented guys, or the tallest guys like the Serbians, the Croatians, the Montenegrans. We have to bring something extra. Go out with bruises.’ This is me.”
At the onset of his second stint with Sacramento in 2014, with a horrific war in progress back home, he spoke of returning to Israel in a qualifying tournament for the European championships. “Everyone is scared and on edge,” he told the Sacramento Bee. “You can hear when the missiles connect with an incoming rocket. The whole house trembles. My sister and my parents, we just run to the nearest bomb shelter. Believe me, this is just terrible.”
A year later, Casspi invited DeMarcus Cousins, Iman Shumpert, Chandler Parsons, Caron Butler, Tyreke Evans and other NBA players on a trip to Israel organized by the Omri Casspi Foundation. They visited Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea — “my side of the world,” he said, with friendships built to last. To this day, Casspi calls the often-troubled Cousins “my brother for life. We have a special bond.”
The rumors have yet to become reality. And it must be a relief to Warriors fans that, when it came to Young and Crawford, the rumors were no more than that.
Crawford has phenomenal ballhandling skills and can get ridiculously hot from all spots on the floor. He’s also 37 years old and a lifetime 35 percent shooter from three-point range (36 percent with the Clippers last season). Young — amazingly, endorsed by Draymond Green and Kevin Durant as a potential teammate — is a selfadoring charmer who calls himself “Swaggy P,” loves the social whirl and celebrates most every made shot with “worship at my shrine” body language. He also threw his last pass about five years ago. That’s an exaggeration, but he averaged one assist for the Lakers this past season, exactly in line with his career average. Give Swaggy the ball, and you won’t be getting it back.
Casspi, in the fine Warriors tradition, will be more than happy to share.
Elsewhere in the NBA:
Free agent Gordon Hayward’s choice of Boston was a smart call. He had no chance to play in the Finals if he stayed in Utah, and Miami’s roster simply doesn’t measure up. The Celtics can start Hayward, Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Horford and Jae Crowder, with Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart (if he isn’t traded to clear cap space) coming off the bench, plus a potential sleeper in Ante Zizic, a 6-foot-11 Croatian center (and 2016 first-round draft pick) who starred in Europe and is ready to join the team.
Brown is among those who applauded the Celtics’ decision to draft Tatum instead of Kansas forward Josh Jackson, whose game is too similar to Brown’s. The ex-Cal standout was told he could take the summer off but insisted on playing in the Utah Summer League, and Brown racked up 29 points and 13 rebounds against the 76ers’ team Monday night — a game won by Tatum’s 20-foot jumper with five seconds left. Not that there any great truths to be told in July, but as the clock ran out, Brown blocked Markelle Fultz’s driving layup and Tatum came up with the ball.
No worries yet for the Warriors as they monitor Cleveland’s activity. Jose Calderon, the new backup point guard, is a defensive liability. Shumpert has been offered in trade, deemed too expensive now that Kyle Korver has agreed to resign. Until the Cavs get serious about defense, they’re a significant notch below the Warriors — and no, acquiring Carmelo Anthony (through buyout or trade) wouldn’t address the issue.
What a switch for Travis Schlenk, who left the Warriors’ championship-driven front office to become the general manager in Atlanta, a costcutting team in full rebuilding mode. Just two years ago, the Hawks were a powerhouse with Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Jeff Teague, DeMarre Carroll and Korver at the forefront. All five are gone. (The Hawks barely reached out to Millsap before he agreed to a contract with Denver over the weekend.)
George Hill, Zach Randolph, draft picks De’Aaron Fox, Justin Jackson, Frank Mason and Harry Giles — things are looking more interesting all the time in Sacramento. Definitely worth a trip for Bay Area fans who haven’t seen the team’s new arena.