Someone should make this a sticky until we make the playoffs.... I expected great things from this team. Not only did I think they would be a lock for a playoff spot, I thought they would be as good as the Mavericks or Suns. Next year will be different. I am not going to expect anything greater than they have accomplished up to this point until they actually accomplish something. Even if they are halfway through the season and playing well, I will not get my hopes up until they make the playoffs...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Warriorfansnc93:</div><div class="quote_post">I expected great things from this team. Not only did I think they would be a lock for a playoff spot, I thought they would be as good as the Mavericks or Suns. Next year will be different. I am not going to expect anything greater than they have accomplished up to this point until they actually accomplish something. Even if they are halfway through the season and playing well, I will not get my hopes up until they make the playoffs...</div> Agreed, I think we as Warrior fans are perpetually optimistic, despite the teams very poor past. I too vow not to let any success blind me and to always root game by game. Last year the W's played so well, but when they started this year a bit bumpy yet were still winning, we should have known something was fundamentally wrong with the team. I can't even remember the last time the W's put together a complete game with at least 7 or 8 players scoring in double figures. Last year, we were seeing stat lines that were off the charts. Well, this year definitely taught me not to expect anything from the W's anymore. The year they make the playoffs is the year I'll be pleasently surprised (and hopefully not too much older than I am now).
I thought -- with a healthy Baron Davis -- the Warriors could mae the 8th seed. However, I did not think they would be even close to the level of the Mavs or Suns. The Warriors still have what I thought the had -- a bunch of talent. The only difference is last year, at the end of the season, they put it together. This year, they put it together, more or less, for the first 15 games of the season, then they've sucked a$$ for the rest of the season. And sucking a$$ doesn't get you into the playoffs. It does get you a lottery pick, though. Baron's awesome but he got flat-out beat up this year, pounded, hammered, and slugged every time in the paint, because frankly the Warriors have been as soft as pudding in the middle. There's no one in that line-up that scares you. Even if I socked Baron in the dome, what, is Adonal Foyle going to come give me a lecture on the finer points of sportsmanship? C'mon, the Warriors have no power in the middle. Baron Davis is their toughest post-up player, and he's 6'3". Ike Diogu is showing a little promise, but it's too little too late. The Warrior big men have let their franchise point guard get his a$$ whooped this year... and Baron's tough, but he ain't superman. Add to that the fact that, even when he tries to dish out of the quadruple team, you've got Adonal Foyle playing volley-ball with it, or Troy Murphy running back out to the arc to pop a jumper. there's no one that can finish inside. Biedrins has been showing a little promise in this area, but it's too little too late. About 20 games into the season, the scouting report on Golden State was "Fould the ***** out of Baron Davis every time he touches the ball. Double and triple team him, crowd him, slap him, bump him, and hammer him -- make the rest of those fools do something about it." They haven't done jack ***** about it. What, is Dunleavy going to pull his shirt off again and throw down with Dahante Jones when he's mugging Baron for 3 quarters straight? No. Dahante Jones is built like Ray Lewis. Dunleavy's got him by 6 inches but he ain't coming to Baron's side. Baron's on his own there. I'm just tired of seeing the cheese-a$$ Warrior big men play like little boys. Give Baron one thick, strong, legit big man with a little fukin' anger in him, and the Warriors are an 8th seed.
Man you said it, AlleyOop. BTW... deja vu! Again! Imagine if this forum was going on for 12 years, it'd be slapstick comedy with this franchise.... with owner Chris Cohan every step of the way apparently. I don't think we could be like the Mavs or Suns because the Mavs just have better teamwork all around and they have started to play defense. Even before the big three got disbanded, we had no Nashes, Nowitzkis, or Finleys. All those guys can at least hit their shots at a high % mark. All we had was the Jrich and Baron show and everybody else that got hot off them. Even the Suns made follow up moves to get an extra passer, shooter and ballhandler in there. The obvious thing they had was two all-star potential guys in Amare Stoudamire and Shawn Marion. If you think about it, all those forwards kick our asses and Nash has been point guard of both of those teams. He and Jason Terry at least do a good job of shooting a high % when they do get involved and there are other guys who can finish inside and out and do the dirty work. We lack the ability to go inside and other important fundamentals. There's just nothing we have in that game compared to the good teams when playing an 82 game season. And btw Nash has been healthier than Baron this season and every other past season and I think Nash kicks Baron's ass in terms of point guards.
I see Fisher and Dunleavy as generally liabilities. Sure,each has had moments,but Zarko'd have moments if he had enough minutes to add up to a moment. Everyone has to drag Monty's incompetance around like a sled full of bricks. I'm assuming there ARE plays and plans and defenses we are looking at,but when they are pointless and counterproductive,they just look like slop. Are ALL these players dingbats? probably not. Still,it looks so...amateur,so chaotic Where DOES the buck stop? Yep,the coach,because he has to do the strategy,has to see to it that people have fundamentals,execute,give full effort. If he can't manage that...he's no use. Find someone who can do the job,before there's more damage to undo. Do we need an enforcer...a thug? Perhaps. We need a coach who insists the refs don't allow felony assault on our players,and if you need to make some noise,get tossed...so it goes.
Totally agreed with Alley Oop's post. This team has no toughness, no enforcer. That was one of the key things about Artest when there were rumors he would come here; last year Baron brought the team swagger and confidence and even some flashyness but Artest brings you toughness and a take-no-s*** attitude. Right now the closest things we have are probably Dunleavy, who isnt afraid to give someone a decently hard foul if they are getting an easy layup, and Ike who is probably the only intimidating person on the roster. At the Utah game Ike got really pissed at Mehmet Okur and gave him a few words right after scoring on him for the first time under the basket, then Ike mugged Mehmet the entire way back up the floor. That was the closest thing to toughness I've seen in the Warriors all year, and that was just Ike sticking up for himself instead of sticking up for his teammates. Baron definitely has a tough attitude where he doesnt need anyone to fight for him but the big men need to realize that Baron is the man on this team and no one can touch him. Can you imagine if Steve Nash got roughed up like Baron did this season? Amare, and the rest of the Suns bench would be all over whoever was doing it. If we had a guy like Ruben Patterson I doubt Baron would get beat up so much or that Pietrus would get flagrant fouled so much when hes flying to the hoop. This is one of the reasons I'm pimping Josh Boone as the player we draft, hes a defensive and rebounding beast and a nice guy but hes tough (though he could add some weight). I don't know if we necessarily need a "thug" but as long as there is a big body right behind Baron I think he won't get as roughed up.
I don't know what happened to them, they were kicking up dust and giving mother $%^#. They just dropped it, this was there best chance in years.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AlleyOop:</div><div class="quote_post">I thought -- with a healthy Baron Davis -- the Warriors could mae the 8th seed. However, I did not think they would be even close to the level of the Mavs or Suns. The Warriors still have what I thought the had -- a bunch of talent. The only difference is last year, at the end of the season, they put it together. This year, they put it together, more or less, for the first 15 games of the season, then they've sucked a$$ for the rest of the season. And sucking a$$ doesn't get you into the playoffs. It does get you a lottery pick, though. Baron's awesome but he got flat-out beat up this year, pounded, hammered, and slugged every time in the paint, because frankly the Warriors have been as soft as pudding in the middle. There's no one in that line-up that scares you. Even if I socked Baron in the dome, what, is Adonal Foyle going to come give me a lecture on the finer points of sportsmanship? C'mon, the Warriors have no power in the middle. Baron Davis is their toughest post-up player, and he's 6'3". Ike Diogu is showing a little promise, but it's too little too late. The Warrior big men have let their franchise point guard get his a$$ whooped this year... and Baron's tough, but he ain't superman. Add to that the fact that, even when he tries to dish out of the quadruple team, you've got Adonal Foyle playing volley-ball with it, or Troy Murphy running back out to the arc to pop a jumper. there's no one that can finish inside. Biedrins has been showing a little promise in this area, but it's too little too late. About 20 games into the season, the scouting report on Golden State was "Fould the ***** out of Baron Davis every time he touches the ball. Double and triple team him, crowd him, slap him, bump him, and hammer him -- make the rest of those fools do something about it." They haven't done jack ***** about it. What, is Dunleavy going to pull his shirt off again and throw down with Dahante Jones when he's mugging Baron for 3 quarters straight? No. Dahante Jones is built like Ray Lewis. Dunleavy's got him by 6 inches but he ain't coming to Baron's side. Baron's on his own there. I'm just tired of seeing the cheese-a$$ Warrior big men play like little boys. Give Baron one thick, strong, legit big man with a little fukin' anger in him, and the Warriors are an 8th seed.</div> Have you seen Murphy when he gets a T? He's pissed, and he looks big and scary! And he's white!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Air Pietrus:</div><div class="quote_post">Have you seen Murphy when he gets a T? He's pissed, and he looks big and scary! And he's white!</div> What happened to the skinny murph that tried to bash on everyone
Troy Murphy needs to be stronger and athletic. Dunleavy needs too. I think they are nothing in defence.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AnimeFANatic:</div><div class="quote_post">What happened to the skinny murph that tried to bash on everyone</div> That's easy. He got paid!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Husokit:</div><div class="quote_post">Troy Murphy needs to be stronger and athletic. Dunleavy needs too. I think they are nothing in defence.</div> Dunleavy is actually a decent defender, but the problem is all five of our starters are slow laterally moving players and therefore less likely to make an impact on their own like Bruce Bowen or Kobe Bryant. This means the slow or weak leg strength players get killed pretty easily off the dribble and they can't react and get to the angles in time to stay in front. I believe with the new handcheck rules are these days that team defense will be especially important since guys won't be able to play as closely. I think everyone on the team can play team defense except for Murphy. Like Antwan Jamison, the guy just doesn't help out on D despite being very capable. Its why his teammates end up picking up more fouls per game to save a basket instead of Murphy being nearby to help. He could have made more an effort to help out and protect the basket but he prefers positioning for rebounds over lending any defensive help. Murphy occasionally intercepts a pass or saves a basket, but overall his block/steals and intangibles on the defensive end are just lacking compared to Biedrins and Ike. The problem with giving Murphy up is he's our most tradeable asset and he's important for defensive rebounding. So we need to find a trade that gives us something that is valuable enough to part with him. Anytime we have a tall rebounder that can also shoot, that's an asset. Unfortunately, he's just a bad fit for improving the inside scoring on this team, ball movement, and making defensive stops. He doesn't make his teammates any better doing what he does even though he's a solid role player. Even if he puts up big numbers, it doesn't affect the win column compared to when Richardson is out of the game (like in '03 facing off against Denver or '04). This season, without Murphy in the lineup, I remember that our defense held the other team to low 40's field goal % even with Fish/Dun/Jrich/Ike, whereas with Murphy, it seems to do a lot worse regardless if Murphy is playing okay individual defense against his own assignment. If we had the type of shotblock intimidation as the Nuggets or maybe the Spurs, it would make dribble penetrators think twice about going to the hole and make them settle for jumpers. Murphy's replacement, Ike Diogu, is a guy I'm fairly high on. If Ike Diogu can prove to be consistent, then IMO he makes Murphy very replaceable since he can also shoot the college 3, make free throws, rebound some, in addition to blocking shots at the rim, hustling, scoring inside with quick footwork, and passing the ball from the high post instinctively. Part of the reason we've become an high volume outside shooting team is because we're not getting that high post passing or inside scoring production from the center or power forward and its easier to find a scoring power forward than a scoring center. A scoring big man that can also defend and pass is a rare treat. I think Diogu can be a special player even if he won't be a star. He could be though. I don't think Murphy will ever be.
I have news. Derek Fisher to Jazz... "The Jazz and Golden State have reached an agreement in principle on a four-player trade that would bring veteran point guard Derek Fisher to Utah," reports Steve Luhm of THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. "Barring an unexpected hitch, the Jazz will send Devin Brown, Keith McLeod and Andre Owens to the Warriors in exchange for Fisher, a 10-year veteran who has been a member of three world championship teams." What a good trade. Your thoughts?
