Dominic McGuire Hoping He Remains a Warrior. He’s Not Alone in that Hope
By Marcus Thompson
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012 at 11:35 pm in Uncategorized.
Warriors forward Dominic McGuire, an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, had zero hesitation when asked if he wanted to come back to Golden State next season.
McGUIRE: “Hell yeah. Without a doubt. No question about it. I would like to be back here. Hopefully I found a home. We’ll see what happens.”
The San Diego native put together a performance on Tuesday that makes the feeling mutual for many Warriors fans. In 29 minutes off the bench, he totaled 4 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks. And that doesn’t begin to illustrate his impact.
With Stephen Curry and Nate Robinson out, coach Mark Jackson turned to McGuire – and not rookie Charles Jenkins – to run the offense down the stretch. McGuire’s sure ball-handling was part of the reason the Warriors tied a franchise record with just 5 turnovers on Tuesday. With McGuire at point, the Warriors committed just 1 TO in the fourth quarter (it wasn’t his) and had their most-efficient offensive quarter of the night: 29 points on 57.1 percent shooting (for the game they shot 42.9 percent).
What’s more, McGuire was matched up against Pau Gasol a lot. (FYI: McGuire is 6-foot-9, 235 pounds. Gasol is 7-feet, 250 pounds). In 39 minutes, Gasol had 19 points on 8 of 16 shooting with 4 offensive rebounds. Hardly as dominating as you’d expect considering he was being checked by a small forward.
McGuire also successfully defended Kobe Bryant and Ramon Sessions for stints.
After the game, Mark Jackson raved about McGuire.
JACKSON: “It’s shocking to me that a guy like him was at home waiting for a phone call without a job. Anybody that wants to win and wants to develop a culture of winning – the phone should have been busy every time you tried to call. Everything we’ve asked him to do, he’s done it. The guy has played every position for us. When I hear a coach say that, I’m like ‘Oh, he’s exaggerating.’ But this guy has played every position for us offensively. He’s defended every great player we’ve faced – whether it be playing 20 minutes, 30 minutes or just 10 seconds at the end of the game. He’s a winner. He’s an absolute winner. We are fortunate to have him and hopefully we can keep him around.”
It was Warriors GM Larry Riley whose call got answered. He wound up signing McGuire to a non-guaranteed deal for $915,852.
McGuire is in his fifth season and on his fourth team. He’s played for Washington, Sacramento, Charlotte and the Warriors – so he doesn’t know much about winning at the NBA level. Still, McGuire has been a jewel of a find for a Warriors team purporting to be serious about defense. Lately, McGuire has been able to show some other parts of his game, mostly his ability to facilitate and create.
He’s won over his teammates with his toughness and swagger. They love him in the locker room for his jokes (He can talk trash with the best of them. Don’t get him started about dominoes), his competitiveness and his refusal to back down.
DAVID LEE: “The biggest thing with Dom is he’s a great locker room guy. He’s a guy who’s going to give a lot of effort every time he’s on the floor and he provides a lot of stability for us, especially defensively. He’s done an unbelievable job and I personally hope that he’s here for a long time to come.”
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March 27th, 2012 at 11:37 pm
Glad they lost, I’d rather see a show and a loss #tankin
March 27th, 2012 at 11:43 pm
It would’ve been interesting to see the outcome of the game had Charlie been in the last 4-5 minutes. Nevertheless, I too hope Dominic McGuire is back.
March 28th, 2012 at 12:31 am
I agree. 1of the few warriors who play D. Good D!
March 28th, 2012 at 7:36 am
He’s a difference maker whenever he’s on the floor and he plays with incredible heart. Great athlete. We’ve got to keep him.
March 28th, 2012 at 8:56 am
McGuire is a beast! The dubs need to resign this guy next season, he is an all around player but could get better offensively maybe during the offseason. He is really solid defensively and can rebound.
March 28th, 2012 at 9:03 am
I hope he gets signed too, this is a terrific role player, his over-the-top defensive style is a joy to watch. One thing I notice is players from other teams hate being guarded by him, they make faces – you can see this visibly on the court. It’s a ” geez, I got this guy guarding me now, it’s going to be along night with him hanging all over me”. He just spoils the game for these guys that like to thow up 20 shots a game. Yes, ink Dom immediatly.
March 28th, 2012 at 10:23 am
One thing he can’t do, though, is shoot the ball. Dude has an ugly shot.
March 28th, 2012 at 10:50 am
They need to trade DWright in the off season. He needs a fresh start and the Ws need his cap space.
March 28th, 2012 at 11:57 am
Just putting this out there. I’m not a Riley fan, and it’s been acknowledged that the Warriors have basically been running the GM position by committee this year.
But…
If fans are going to crucify Riley for perceived bad decisions like letting Lin go, they should be giving him the same amount of credit for bringing in guys like McGuire and Rush.
March 28th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
His shot is the last thing I care about. We have enough people who can shoot the ball. We need him back for his hustle and defense. Love that guy. He doesn’t complain about guarding bigger guys, he just does work.
March 28th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
I remember how poorly this signing went over on this blog. Funny stuff.
JAMES POSEY!
March 28th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
#5 they wouldn’t have needed to sign a fringe player like mcguire had riley actually put together a real team in the first place. look, i like D’s hustle and physicality, but he’s a product of a FO scrambling for pieces (like nate and kwame as well). these are not “building blocks.” let’s not fool ourselves, ok?
March 28th, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Marcus, where is the $$ going to come from to resign both Rush and McGuire? With the trades plus current roster payroll gives us no cap space at all. Is that a correct assumption? Do you have any ideas about this;
March 28th, 2012 at 4:14 pm
Love Big Dom…he impacts the game without taking a shot…him and B-Rush are both better than Wright but Wright aids the tanking process so he starts…Check out my new blog for Warrior fans and Laker haters… love it, like it or rip it…all feedback is appreciated. trappedingoldenstate.blogspot.com/
March 28th, 2012 at 4:28 pm
We should keep them, Rush will be more expensive, but McGuire should sign back with us for not too much!
March 28th, 2012 at 4:33 pm
We need to keep players around so we can actually have some team camaraderie
March 29th, 2012 at 7:01 am
[...] end, had zero hesitation when asked if he wanted to come back to Golden State next season. McGUIRE: “Hell yeah. Without a doubt. No question about it. I would like to be back here. Hopefull…Contra Costa Times Dominic [...]
March 30th, 2012 at 7:48 pm
No joke. On most nights, McGuire has a greater positive effect on the game than Stephen Curry, who is the purported franchise cornerstone.
McGuire is a two-way player. He is the kind of guy you absolutely LOVE playing with whether its a street pick up game or an NBA game.