GSoM Q&A with Marcus Thompson http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/story/2006/8/10/21513/2825 <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Golden State of Mind: Give me the top 3 reasons why the Warriors failed to make the playoffs last year and what they need to do to fix it. Marcus Thompson: The main reason was that Baron Davis had a relatively poor season. He played just 54 games, several of which he played while hurt. He shot the ball poorly, which made him easier to defend and the Warriors' offense easier to control. He had a real down year defensively, even for someone not known for his defense. Part of it was because of injury, but he gave up big games to players not nearly as talented. And he acknowledged himself he didn't do as good a job leading the team as he would have liked. To put it simply, Davis is a great player who didn't have a great year. I would say reason No. 2 has to be Mike Montgomery. Generally speaking, he just set a poor tone for the season with unsettled rotations, ineffective gameplans and poor player relations. From my perspective, he just never got them to buy into what he was doing and never took control of the team. He certainly didn't figure out how to stop their spiraling defense, never was able to get Mike Dunleavy going, never really got the running game going, and didn't take advantage of Monte Ellis and Ike Diogu soon enough. In hindsight, there were a lot of things he could have done, perhaps should have done, to change things. But he didn't. Reason No. 3 has to go to Chris Mullin. There are other specific reasons I could say. Such as Dunleavy's poor season, Mickael Pietrus' stunted progress, poor home record. But in the end, Mullin assembled a team that didn't match. He left a fairly inexperienced coach with a lot of holes. He banked on some guys who didn't perform. He took some risks that didn't pan out. You might say he's reason No. 1, but he's at least top 3. Golden State of Mind: Given the choice, would you rather make the playoffs this year or tank it and have a shot at the top pick in the loaded 2007 draft? Marcus Thompson: Some say Greg Oden is the kind of guy that might stay in college. Wouldn't it be something to tank the season, get the top pick and Oden stays a Buckeye? I'm never for tanking anything. That's just not the way to succeed. You can't build a winning tradition by quitting. I'd rather see the Warriors do everything they can to make the playoffs and if they don't, or even if they do, pull out all the stops to trade up for No. 1 pick. If Oden comes out. </div>
