My thoughts on the Warriors-Pacers trade

By Adonal Foyle, with Chris Navalta

A few days ago, the Warriors made a blockbuster deal with the Indiana Pacers, getting forward Al Harrington, swingman Stephen Jackson and guards Sarunas Jasikevicius and Josh Powell in exchange for forwards Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy and Ike Diogu and guard Keith McLeod.

This deal came as an absolute shock to me. But I think it's always a shock when there are that many players involved in a trade. It takes a little time and a lot of effort and that's a very complicated thing to do. But I was very impressed that the Warriors were able to pull something of this magnitude. And I think, more than that, they made a fundamental change in the structure of the team. They felt they needed to go another direction and I think they feel very comfortable with that. They were probably discussing this deal for quite a while. But right now, it just feels like it just happened very quickly. But yes, I was shocked. I didn't think something was going to be done until around the All-Star Break.

Coming off the first practice with the new guys, I think our new teammates will work great under Coach Don Nelson's system. Nellie likes to run and put the ball up. Harrington certainly knows how go after the ball. He's certainly a good shooter and a good scorer on the high back. If you're a scorer and you're an offensive player, you're going to love Nellie's system. These guys have a good understanding of the game and also have a good understanding of the defensive principles. So, I think they're going to be very, very effective in this system.

Of course, having to say goodbye to four teammates is never easy. I've been with these guys (Dunleavy, Murphy and Diogu) throughout their whole career. Their only team has been with Golden State. For the past six years, I've say on the plane next to Mike. In our most recent road trip (to Los Angeles), I sat on my seat, looked over and Mike was no longer there. I placed my bags on his seat and lowered the tray in front to put a drink. I basically kept his seat occupied during the flight so I could mourn this loss the right way. When you spend six years sitting next to the same guy on the plane, laughing and watching movies, then you look back and see Troy either lying down in the back or talking to the pilot to see if the flight is going to be smooth, and then there's Ike arguing with someone about some sort of philosophical principle of some sort, and then to see that they're no longer there, it's very strange. But I know that's part of the business. At the same time, losing a teammate kind of detaches yourself. It gives you this numbing feeling because these are guys you considered as part of your family over the past six years. And now, the family is broken up. It certainly puts things in perspective. But I feel they will thrive with their new team as well and I wish them all the best of luck.

You know the Warriors are going to continue to do what they can in order to make this team successful. So, I can envision another possible deal do go down sometime before the trade deadline.