Slow start has Dunleavy Wondering What's Wrong

His ball handling may not be as good, but he has a great first step and can get to the rim quite well, especially with his athleticism. Dunleavy is a good ball handler for his size, however he is slower and not as athletic so I feel it kind of goes to waste since he can't find a way inside and bash on the rim.

 

Pietrus has a decent first step, but he turns the ball over when he puts the ball on the floor. He's a year away from being that type of player. He's a pure wing player, slashes to the hoop without the ball and hits the outside shot.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting CohanHater:</div><div class="quote_post">I guess it depends on the matchup. Pietrus absolutely cannot dribble the ball. He looks terrible with the ball in his hands so far. As long as Baron's limping around, I think Dunleavy should be out there, although I love Pietrus' heart. I really haven't had a problem with Monty's rotation. He's been sticking with the hot hand for the most part. It's just tough to have Pietrus and Richardson in the game at the same time because you don't want Fisher in there with a small guy next to him. I think ideally, Monty would like to go small more often, however we played the Knicks and Bulls on back to backs on the road. That's really a lot more difficult than it sounds. Especially for a West coast team going out east.</div>

Pietrus looked pretty good with the ball it's just his decision making sucks. He makes up his mind before reacting to the defender. I've never really seen him dribble off his feet or just lose the handle all of a sudden like we see with Jrich. Pietrus' just doesn't have a ballhandler's instincts on where to go or how to fake someone out. Also he jacks up a lot of ill-advised shots, but at least more of them go in the basket than any other player would taking those shots (aside from Jrich/Baron).

 

I like Murphy's quote:

"People's expectations really increase once you sign a long-term contract," Murphy added. "You get guys that are good all-around players, and all of a sudden, they go from guys that are scoring 10, 12 points a game to people wanting them to score 20 a game, and it's just not them."

I don't like Dunleavy's quote:

"What is there to press about?" Dunleavy said after practice Monday. "We got a great group of guys, a good team. I just signed a new five-year extension. What do I have to worry about?"

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Dunleavy is a good player. But he has a lot of holes in his game, and I don't know why he got such a big contract. Take away the end of last season's performance(and many the last three weeks of the season before) and pretty much Dunleavy has never been that great of a performer. Each year he has been very iffy to the coaches, both Musselman and Montgomery. Mike Montgomery was giving Dunleavy less minutes last year than what Musselman gave him before then. I don't know where the performances have come from to get such a big contract, especially when the cap right now is already very tight. It will become much tighter when we see the great potential we have in other players with our rookies, Biedrins, and Pietrus.

I don't know, maybe Dunleavy's contract isn't very bad. I think this is the time that I feared would come after the Fisher and Foyle signings with such big contracts, especially with Fisher. When I first heard about the Fisher signing I thought it was a joke at first. But he seems to be playing well right now, so maybe I won't bash Fisher. Now we are filled with a lot of big contracts on nice solid players, and now we are back facing ourselves at where we were before the Jamison trade and that whole roster change. As I hoped before the Jamison trade, I hope now, in that I hope and wish that there is some possible way in which we can keep all of these players on our team for many years to come. But maybe Mullin and management could have put us back in the hole, that I thought they wanted to get away from after the Jamison/Van Exel deal.

But on Dunleavy's game. If he can make his shots he is a good valuable player. Problem is that you could say that about almost every player that plays the game. Also Dunleavy is not a player that makes others better. I hear a lot of people say this, but I don't agree with this statement or opinion. Which player plays better consistantly because of Dunleavy? I really don't think there is one. I don't think the big men-Foyle or Murphy- play better with Dunleavy. And I don't think Jason Richardson or Baron Davis play better because of Dunleavy. I agree that Dun can make some good passes and get some nice assists, once in a while, especially with his good size. But in his career he averages less assists per game than even Jason Richardson does. Add to this that we now have a great PG in Baron Davis and maybe some young rookie PG's who can become very productive in Ellis and Miles, and I don't think Dunleavy's "great" ball handling skills are going to do much.

If there are plusses to Dunleavy and his basketball game, they are that he has good size which gives him good court vision and advantages fighting for rebounds. Also with his height he could(key word) cause a few mismatches and advantages if he could use his "great smarts" or learn how to make his height an advantage and then to actually exacute. Outside of these plusses he is an OK player who is still quite streaky with points, creating plays, and playing decent defense-since often he will disappear during many minutes during the game.

Also with how often Pietrus has been getting to the line, it seems like he can dribble well enough, and most importantly create something, even if it's not the prettiest. I wish Dunleavy attacked the rim with his great skills once in a while that everyone has seen.

And I am not sure what was going through Dunleavy's mind for the meaning of his quote. He signed a five year extention and now has nothing to worry about? Sounds like a Dampier-like quote. But I don't know, quotes are quotes and don't always mean so much, because how the question was asked, I think is also important... but kind of iffy...but yeah whatever. This is Dunleavy. These are the same discussions that have been coming up ever since he was drafted by the Warriors.

I hope Mullin knows what he is doing.

 

There are some interesting comments I would like to respond to but I dont want this to be too long.

1. If someone goes from making $4.5m per year to $9m per year and their average was around 13pts per game, dont you think it would be logical to expect them to significantly increase their scoring in order to validate that contract? I mean if they continue to only score 13pts per game why did they deserve such a big raise. This contract is supposedly based off potential. Potential for what? Potential for him to score 8pts per game? That is what he is doing right now!

2. Yeah Dunleavy's quote sounded like something we all thought Damp would think but dare not say. I think it was probably taken out of context though.

3. My question is this: When is Pietrus going to start over Dunleavy? Pietrus is averaging more points in less minutes than Dunleavy. When will Pietrus deserve a crack at the starting SF spot? If Dunleavy is playing so bad what is he doing to deserve starting right now? I think Monty needs to consider it right now. With Dunleavy playing like crap, the Warriors have played like crap. Even though we are 3-2 I believe we should be either 4-1 or 5-0 right now...

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
1. If someone goes from making $4.5m per year to $9m per year and their average was around 13pts per game, dont you think it would be logical to expect them to significantly increase their scoring in order to validate that contract? I mean if they continue to only score 13pts per game why did they deserve such a big raise. This contract is supposedly based off potential. Potential for what? Potential for him to score 8pts per game? That is what he is doing right now!</div>

Was Dunleavy Re-signed to boost scoring? He was on a rookie contract... I think that he needs to get his FG% back to where it was at the end of last season and cut his turnover numbers. His strides in defense are actually pretty impressive. I mean, he's still not a good defender by any means, but his +/- against the people he's guarding will probably improve. (He can't keep shooting like this all year)

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">
2. Yeah Dunleavy's quote sounded like something we all thought Damp would think but dare not say. I think it was probably taken out of context though.
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Who knows how this quote was taken or what the actual question was. This is Dunleavy, he still needs to grow a pair, we all know that.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">3. My question is this: When is Pietrus going to start over Dunleavy? Pietrus is averaging more points in less minutes than Dunleavy. When will Pietrus deserve a crack at the starting SF spot? If Dunleavy is playing so bad what is he doing to deserve starting right now? I think Monty needs to consider it right now. With Dunleavy playing like crap, the Warriors have played like crap. Even though we are 3-2 I believe we should be either 4-1 or 5-0 right now...
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Not any time soon. Pietrus is everything you want in a sixth man. He brings energy off the bench and you can put him in at the 2 or 3 depending on matchups.

 

Well said Clif25 and Warriorsfansnc93, I feel the same way. Apparently Tayshaun feels he needs to contribute more after getting a contract extension, he's averaging 18.8 pts a game shooting 58% from the field. They used Tashauns contract as a measure to see how much they should sign Dunleavy, and they gave him almost the same contract.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AnimeFANatic:</div><div class="quote_post">Well said Clif25 and Warriorsfansnc93, I feel the same way. Apparently Tayshaun feels he needs to contribute more after getting a contract extension, he's averaging 18.8 pts a game shooting 58% from the field. They used Tashauns contract as a measure to see how much they should sign Dunleavy, and they gave him almost the same contract.</div>

Yeah and Redd. He got an extension and he has been blowing up!

I will give Dunleavy credit for his defensive improvements and he has hit some big shots, but I am really disappointed in his total offensive production thus far. Now if we had not resigned him we would all be saying it is because he did not get an extension and he is nervous or disgruntled or something. I still say we should have held out and let the open market decide how much his true worth is. And if we did that and Mullin still matched him at this contract or higher than that is on him. But this was way too premature...

 

I think he would play better if he had not recieved the extension so early. He would try to earn a big extension by playing harder and better, as Dampier did. And if he did play really well this season, when he becomes a restricted FA they would offer him around 44 mil because he played well, cause thats a LOT of money. But wait, they already gave him a huge contract extension. I still don't understand the logic Mullin used in extending his contract.

 

I agree with Clif and WFsn93. Not only was Dunleavy's contract worth and market value a controversial subject, so was his being signed this year when we could have waited in the offseason to do it. He doesn't have Dan Fegan as an agent and he's not the type of impact that Murphy and Jrich bring to this team.

I don't think he's worthless, but he sure doesn't drop the hammer enough like some of our bench guys do. A starter is also supposed to set the tone, and he comes off being more of a role player best suited for the bench. The thing I notice he does well is rebound the ball and immediately look for the outlet pass to start the break (or if he's got an open path he starts the break himself). He also scores with either hand, but he doesn't finish a whole lot in contact, he settles for the wide open looks the defense gives him from long range which he misses, and then when taking it inside he never gets the foul calls (refs must think he's exaggerating the calls).

Could he be another softie that is a jack of all trades, master of none? Too early to tell especially the numbers he was putting up last season in April. If we get a solid big man inside, I think his options will increase. It's hard for a guy like him to make everyone better in the way Jason Kidd and Baron Davis do because those guys are quick/skilled enough to take somebody off the dribble and both can post up smaller guys. Dunleavy couldn't even post up a can of soda.

 

Dunleavy CAN post up a can of soda. He practiced it all summer. He can't post up a 40 of Bud,but can shoot over it if it gives him room

 

As I stated in the Knicks thread, I think Dunleavy has simply put too much pressure on himself and now, he has no confidence in anything. It is best he is benched for the time being and let Pietrus shine. Dunleavy will have to start earning his minutes as it will be given to him on a production/min basis. This will be a good thing for him and Pietrus AND more importantly, the team.

I think eventually Dunleavy will earn his starting spot back and we will realize Pietrus, at this point in his career, is best suited as our sixth-man, bringing energy and instant production off the bench.