Bucher: "Mumble Mumble Ron Artest Mumble Mumble Golden State Warriors"

It's been mentioned in the comments to the footnotes thread and battered around the email tubes a bit, but I've finally come across a transcript of Ric Bucher's ESPN radio discussion of a Ron Artest to Golden State rumor, thanks to Golden State of Mind.

There was some weird rumor floating out there that the Warriors would make a run at Ron Artest. What was proposed out there doesn't work as far as numbers are concerned, but that's another team. The Warriors are another team that I could see going for broke and signing Chris Webber wouldn't be the end of it.

Golden State's in a crazy position with remarkably few salary dollars tied up next year. Chris Mullin's strategy this past summer was to provide maximum flexibility for next summer, when Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins are due extensions. If Golden State wants Artest, they have plenty of expiring contracts to do it. And yes, many indications -- from Mullin and Don Nelson's eternal compliments on Ron, to dude's friendships with Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington -- confirm Golden State would want Ron.

The question is how much talent they'd be willing to give up, and how much talent Geoff Petrie'd hold out for. Imagine a Nellie lineup with Artest.

Davis/Jackson/Artest/Webber/Biedrins
--or--
Davis/Ellis/Jackson/Artest/Webber
--or--
Davis/Jackson/Artest/Harrington/Webber

Those all look like Nellieball lineups. Both Biedrins and Ellis seem less vital than in current incarnations.

Mullin has repeatedly seemed to indicate Biedrins will go nowhere; some murmured Andris as the tripping point in any Kevin Garnett (I don't buy this). At any rate, yanking Biedrins seems impossible.

...

I think you see where I'm going with this. Likely? No. Possible? Yes.