I've been asking myself why Baron has looked a little less active, a little less aggressive when going to the hole lately. In New Orleans, he used to just roll people over on his way to a two-hand, glass-shattering tomahawk dunk on a big-man's dome. I thought it might be his hammy. It isn't. Baron is getting abused. Against the Grizzlies, it was obvious they were trying to club and hammer him every time he went to the hole (see Dahante Jones). Fitzgerald confirmed my suspicions on the telecast be noting that that's the game plan against GS; hammer Baron, try to rough him up, close on him every time, and make the other W's beat you. Now, we all know Baron is the man. He is almost superman. But not quite. And it's taking it's toll. He still gets to the rack, still finishes with unprecedented magic in the lane, still wills the ball into the basket... but he is getting a bit tired. He's been carrying a huge load for too long now. He needs some help. He needs some strength, some aggressiveness, some physical presence from his teammates. He plays 40+ minutes a night, always with the ball, always trying to make another play happen. He needs someone to get pissed off, to say "this is my mutha-grabbin home court, fools, and you ain't gonna come in here and push us around!" JRich needs to step up, get f'ing fired up, get f'ing pissed off, stop smiling and giving hugs and hand-pounds to the other team, and start playing with a rage. If he really wants to win. But JRich won't be enough. This team needs to pick Baron up. They need to hoist him on their shoulders, protect him in the lane, stand their ground and enforce the paint, and stop getting pushed around. Honestly, I cannot believe Montgomery didn't go get himself an f'ing Technical after what the Grizz put Baron through. He must have bruises, aches, pains, strains and pulls from head to toe. Someone needs to let the league know that ain't gonna happen for free anymore. You see, I'm baffled. I love basketball. I cannot live with losing. Moreover I cannot stand playing with indifference. At open gym, you may be stronger or quicker than me but there is no way you are going to out-work me or catch me sleeping, because I will keel over and die from exhaustion before I ever let my teammates down with lack of effort or desire. The Warriors need to be, well, warriors. They need to step up, show some anger, and get f'ing irate any time they get out hustled. They need to stop standing around the three point line hoping Baron will create more magic, and instead start out-working their opponents with desire to take some of the load off his shoulders. They need to protect the paint, protect homecourt, and play with some friggin tenacity damnit! It's a long season. And Boom Dizzle is almost superhuman. But he needs a little help cause he's getting hammered.
amen to that we need a coach who can light that fire under the team...and yeah, artest would be huge.
amen to that we need a coach who can light that fire under the team...and yeah, artest would be huge.
Great points AllyOop and even better post. I am first surprised and shocked at how many minutes Baron Davis has been playing lately, and really this whole season. And you said the rest about the team. I think one way to get Baron some help is through more PT from the bench. I don't know why this is, but the bench gets no chance to play besides Derek Fisher and I guess Mickael Pietrus, but he hasn't been active in quite a long time. The team has scorers like Ellis, Diogu(though he is more like a starter now), Zarko, Cheaney, and of course Fisher and Pietrus, and heck Biedrins can put up a few points himself. Heck they have so many players, each who could contribute something special, but they don't get the chance. Furthmore, just by looking at the box scores it seems like Montgomery just wants to go with his big six in the starting 5 and Fisher(and then I guess one other big man either Diogu or Foyle), and then just play maybe 5 minutes tops for the rest of the bench, no matter what. The Warriors have such a creative group of players on their roster, that it is strange reading about how bland the Warriors are running their offenses and defenses. Anyway, at the end of last season the Warriors seemed unbeatable, or at least one of the elite Western Confrence teams, when they had the team working together and playing together and then just having whatever Baron contributed just be a plus. But now, it sounds like everything the Warriors do on offense must be what Baron does. Maybe something will change before Baron Davis shutdowns or breaks-down physically.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Clif25:</div><div class="quote_post">Furthmore, just by looking at the box scores it seems like Montgomery just wants to go with his big six in the starting 5 and Fisher(and then I guess one other big man either Diogu or Foyle), and then just play maybe 5 minutes tops for the rest of the bench, no matter what. The Warriors have such a creative group of players on their roster, that it is strange reading about how bland the Warriors are running their offenses and defenses.</div> Honestly, I attribute this lack of roster flexibility to Monty's lack of assertion as coach. When a rookie -- or 2nd year coach -- comes in and deals with a roster of complicated personalities, it's hard to immediately shake things up and redistribute minutes. Further, it's probably been a little hard for Monty to decipher whether his inherited starters should really be starters. He takes over a team whith a "veteran" long-term Warrior in Foyle. Is Foyle really of starting caliber? Is he a legit NBA center? Monty doesn't realy know, because frankly he is a master of college rosters; not pro rosters. IMO Monty has tried to avoid doing anything drastic with minutes because a) he doesn't have the assertive confidence to gamble on conflicts with players by shaking it up and b)has taken a long while to really figure out who deserves what roles. Look how long it took for Foyle to finally be benched for Diogu. I'll bet that move was finally encouraged/imposed by management and assistant coaches as much as it was decided on by Monty. I'm not saying Foyle sucks, but that move needed to happen long before it did. More moves need to be made. Bench Murphy and move Diogu to the 4. You think that will ever happen? It'll take a whole season for Monty to muster up and make that move. In all fairness he has no good center to play at the 5 right now, but if and when GS gets a good starting center, this Ike for Murph swap should be a no-brainer. Mussleman may have rubbed players the wrong way, but quite frankly my retort to that is "Boo hoo." Coaches should get into their players' grills, push them to succeed, and most importantly be willing to jeapordize the "airy, honkey-dorey positive vibes" of the team and make roster switches based on performance. Remember Brian Cardinal and Earl Boykins? they would have never seen the grain of the hardwood under Monty because he'd be way too fearful of making such bold moves. Musselman obviously saw in practice what few others could see; Cardinal and Boykins out-hustling current starters on a consistent basis. IMO, unless Montgomery has a turnaround and GS makes the playoffs, he probably won't be coaching next year. What he should do is can the gentle approach, pretend he's still a college coach, believe that there's no tomorrow and start laying it all out on the line right now. He had it at Stanford; the discipline, the passion, the confidence and assertiveness to chastize players and stand firmly by bold decisions. But here in the NBA he needed someone to hold his hand as he made the Foyle move. It's time he says "the hell with it" and start playing "coach" for real.
F*** Monty We need nellie to run the show....monty just ain't cuttin' it at this level. Taft is a mystery to me....he played so well early on, now we hardly see him. I think Taft and Diogu should be on the floor together.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting scania612:</div><div class="quote_post">We need nellie to run the show....monty just ain't cuttin' it at this level. Taft is a mystery to me....he played so well early on, now we hardly see him. I think Taft and Diogu should be on the floor together.</div> Taft and Diogu on the floor together might be pretty good actually, but in terms of Don Nelson, we'd be playing a small ball type game with all the focus on offense. I'm not sure what's going on with Monty. Great philosophy to the game, no results with the players he's inherited.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AlleyOop:</div><div class="quote_post"> Look how long it took for Foyle to finally be benched for Diogu. I'll bet that move was finally encouraged/imposed by management and assistant coaches as much as it was decided on by Monty. I'm not saying Foyle sucks, but that move needed to happen long before it did. </div> In all fairness, I think Diogu really had to heal up his hand and learn a few things before jumping into the starting position. Look how quickly it took before Diogu moved into the center position that he is way too undersized to play. I think it was quick. Foyle was obviously the worst player of the starting 5 and there were changes made and we started winning a few. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting AlleyOop:</div><div class="quote_post"> More moves need to be made. Bench Murphy and move Diogu to the 4. You think that will ever happen? It'll take a whole season for Monty to muster up and make that move. In all fairness he has no good center to play at the 5 right now, but if and when GS gets a good starting center, this Ike for Murph swap should be a no-brainer. </div> I think one of the reasons we have been losing is not only Jason Richardson's or Baron Davis' or Dunleavy's or Fisher's struggles, but Murphy is such a ball movement killer and he plays no D. He lacks the intangibles that Richardson, Dunleavy, Baron Davis have in terms of spotting other players on the floor and recognizing when to help. The center or the power forward needs to have those abilities in order to get the ball moving inside and out and helping their teammates defend the hoop. Also the fact our best post player and highest I.Q. big man, Ike Diogu, is a true power forward, makes swapping out Murphynecessary sometime in the future. The problem is we lose our best rebounder and a veteran, but Murphy isn't really doing the dirtywork you expect him to do at power forward or center. He's too much finesse not enough defense or inside scoring or playmaking. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting AlleyOop:</div><div class="quote_post"> Mussleman may have rubbed players the wrong way, but quite frankly my retort to that is "Boo hoo." Coaches should get into their players' grills, push them to succeed, and most importantly be willing to jeapordize the "airy, honkey-dorey positive vibes" of the team and make roster switches based on performance. </div> I'm not sure that would help the situation for the long term. Baron Davis pretty much left New Orleans because of the coaching and other things. Jason Kidd wanted his coach out after disagreements. I think Monty is doing a good job managing egos, but after Richardson or Baron Davis, he should be moving around anybody he wants to. Like Diogu at the 4 position, Taft or Biedrins at the 5, Pietrus at the 3. Just as long as Monty and our GM is on the same page and the players are trying to run plays, I'll be happy. I remember once reading in the Mercury that Troy Murphy has trouble running the plays, so maybe him or one of the starters are breaking down any attempt to run a set. Sets work if they are executed properly and all the players know what is going on. Our players just don't execute fast or accurately or they don't execute at all and just stand around. Can't blame the coach if the players are not good at executing. But you can blame the coach if it's the wrong style for these players to be running. We are defintely a bunch of talent that doesn't fit well, I think. Too many weaknesses and not enough strengths to cover those weaknesses. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting AlleyOop:</div><div class="quote_post"> Remember Brian Cardinal and Earl Boykins? they would have never seen the grain of the hardwood under Monty because he'd be way too fearful of making such bold moves. Musselman obviously saw in practice what few others could see; Cardinal and Boykins out-hustling current starters on a consistent basis. IMO, unless Montgomery has a turnaround and GS makes the playoffs, he probably won't be coaching next year. What he should do is can the gentle approach, pretend he's still a college coach, believe that there's no tomorrow and start laying it all out on the line right now. He had it at Stanford; the discipline, the passion, the confidence and assertiveness to chastize players and stand firmly by bold decisions. But here in the NBA he needed someone to hold his hand as he made the Foyle move. It's time he says "the hell with it" and start playing "coach" for real.</div> I agree Monty has to do something to these lineups because they are horrible. We need more guys who can play defense, pass or create for others, and shoot. It's like we don't have guys that can do at least some of everything and do at least one thing well. But most importantly, we need those abilities inside the paint.
