I can't believe that Chad Ford actually gave some love to the Warriors. He actually nailed it when he says that staying healty is the key for the Warriors making the playoffs. I personally like the fact that he put the Warriors as a sixth seed, but realistically eight or seventh is more realistic. I'm just happy that people are starting to notice that this aren't the bumbling Warriors of old but a up and coming team. [red]Please do not post Insider articles. [/red]
Is Chad Ford rating us 6th a good thing or a bad thing? He isnt the most accurate analyst when it comes to making predictions... Still, its good to see us getting some recognition, 6th seed isnt very much of a reach IMO.
First of all, I'm pretty sure that's an Insider, and your not allowed to copy those. Second, Ford still works for ESPN? I thought he was leaving?
I agree that it is hard to tell if it is a good or bad thing being rated 6th but if you notice on the begining of the article Ford is implying that the reason the Warriors will make the playoffs, is because the west is so weak.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bobcats:</div><div class="quote_post">Second, Ford still works for ESPN? I thought he was leaving?</div> The way i understood it was that he wasn't leaving totally but rather just downgrading to being a minor writer. He still writes articles occasionally.
Has the Kings as the second best team in the West and the Mavericks seventh, which pretty much sums up his thoughts.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sir Desmond:</div><div class="quote_post">Has the Kings as the second best team in the West and the Mavericks seventh, which pretty much sums up his thoughts.</div> Its not that far out of the realm of possiblilty assuming he was taking into account the fact that division leaders are the top 3 rated teams. Neither is Dallas being 7th, though I wouldn't bet on them being that low.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Duckmyster:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree that it is hard to tell if it is a good or bad thing being rated 6th but if you notice on the begining of the article Ford is implying that the reason the Warriors will make the playoffs, is because the west is so weak.</div> I don't think Chad Ford said, "the Warriors will make the playoffs because the west is weak", he said that three major Western conference teams got "weakened" (Suns, Mavs, Sonics), so the Warriors have a legit shot barring any injuries since they do have chemistry, a franchise player, and a lot of stockpiled talent. The west is still strong considering they have a huge championship team still in its prime and a lot of the league's best 20/10 big men still there. They lost Shaq and Webber, but who knows where both of their careers are going through the course of a regular season at over 30 years of age. The west still has franchise bigs or inside scoring at the PF/C spots that can rebound like Duncan, Garnett, Amare Stoudamire, Yao Ming, Kenyon Martin, Elton Brand, Zach Randolph, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer, Shareef Abdur Rahim. Contrast that with the East and you got a few guys like Jermaine O'neil, Shaq on the downside, Webber on the downside, Chris Bosh, Ben Wallace/Sheed on the downside combo, Emeka Okafor, Dwight Howard, Zyldrunas Illgauskus on the downside, Tyson Chandler/Eddy Curry combo. The West IMO is still bigger and more dominant inside even though they don't have Shaq anymore. The Warriors have a pretty mediocre variant of the 20/10 PF/C required to compete out in the West (more like 15/10 with no inside scoring, but still #5 rebounder in the league for rpg). If Murphy had any high % post game with playmaking abilities or trips to the foul line or he contested shots like a sound defender would, I think we would have been to the playoffs a lot sooner. I'm not blaming Murphy, but if you think about how many teams continually made the playoffs, it was because they had a 20/10 big man who could score inside, a good point guard, and a decent shooting guard that could score and pass. Here was last year's playoff teams. San Antonio Duncan (+Nazzy Mohammed), Ginobili (+Bowen's defensive ability), Parker Dallas Dirk, Finley (+Marquis Daniels/Josh Howard), Terry Houston Yao(+Juwon Howard), McGrady, Sura Seattle crap load of good rebounders, Ray Allen (+Rashard Lewis), Luke Ridnour Denver Martin(+Marcus Camby), Miller (+Carmelo), Boykins (Sometimes Karl would go with Miller at the 2 and boykins at the 1 lineup and add in another big dude in Marcus Camby) Phoenix Amare Stoudamire, Joe Johson (+Qrich), Steve Nash Sacramento (before trade) Webber(+Brad Miller), Christie, Bibby Memphis (before Hubie Brown quit) Gasol, swingmen depth, Williams + Hubie Brown coaching factor All these guy's shooting guards either made their money on offense or defense and chipped in at least 3 assists a game, could handle the ball, plus had decent point guards that could pass and shoot, and had big men that could draw doubles inside or set the tone on the glass. The Warriors have lacked a lot of those elements in rebounding, inside scoring, a point guard that can make plays successful, a shooting guard that could behave like a secondary point guard. I'm not saying Jrich is a bad playmaker, but he could be so much better if he had a way to reliably break down defenses so he could intiate plays sort of like T-Mac, Ray Allen, Ginobilli, Christie in his prime, Joe Johnson do. The guys who didnt make it were missing a few things obviously or had some injury problems. If Kobe had a better point guard and somebody to dump it to, Lakers would have been all right. If Garnett had some better help coming from the guard spots that were motivated to play the Twolves would have done all right. The Clips would have done all right if they had a healthy Shaun Livingston, Marko Jaric to set up Brand, Jaric, Kaman, Simmons. Portland could have been better, but there's just too many problems with chemistry and their shooting guards all went down with injuries, Zebo got hurt, Shareef got hurt, and D-Miles looks like a big mistake. New Orleans was just plain was awful and had 3 of their allstar players get hurt with Bdiddy going down, Magloire breaking his finger, and Jamal Mashburn getting hurt. Utah Jazz looked good but they suffered similar injuries to Ak47, Boooozer, and lost their best point guard to the Pistons. Plus Harpring got hurt. The Warriors just didn't have a great point guard to make up for the absence of a decent to good big man with Erick Dampier leaving and no true point guard that could do a little bit of everything like shoot, pass inside, or truly run a team with leadership. Plus Jrich wasn't your prototypical 2 guard either and same with Murphy's power forward skills. The warriors IMO just had too many players with no true position or awkward set of skills for their physical abilities. Jrich was too small to play forward, so I guess the idea was to get Dunleavy who played more like a guard and flip-flop with each other. Jamison played more like a power forward while Murphy plays more like a small forward with some guard skills. He is too slow and limited skillwise to be a good future power forward, but when considered a center, he isn't strong or good enough defender or backdoor playmaker to hang with most nba centers. Then our point guard spot just didn't have all the skills to be successful like the ability to see the floor well, handle the ball, shoot, drive. NVE was the closest thing to a point guard that could make the big men play a lot better, shoot, pass, drive some, but he was always hurt and unmotivated. Then when we had Claxton he was okay, but he got hurt an awful lot and the only way he could create his offense for others was to drive and he didn't pass much when he was on the move. He couldn't post up, he couldn't stretch defenses by shooting, and he wasn't as good of a finisher or shooter against a lot of the league's best perimeter or shotblocking big men compared to the guys the playoff teams had. Then our centers were either too raw or unmotivated, both not having very much offensive talent or any decent set of hands. The playoff bigs won't drop many passes.
chad ford says a lot of things that are pretty crazy. and i think picking the warriors to be 6th is a little optimistic. i also think he didnt give dallas or memphis enough credit. lets just say if they end up being the 8th seed, there will be a party at my place. don't get me wrong if the warriors stay healthy and and gel, i definately think they CAN be the 6th seed, but thats still a pretty bold prediction.
