Michael Pietrus: "I want to be a Warrior for as long as possible"

Michael Pietrus: "I want to be a Warrior for as long as possible"

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">[imgr]http://www.hoopshype.com/pietrus.jpg[/imgr]You?ve played your first three group games against arguably the three best teams in your group. How do you feel about your performance?

Michael Pietrus: I think we?ve done very well. Obviously it was a tough game against Argentina. But we?ve been able to play well against Serbia-Montenegro and Nigeria. Our approach is that regardless of the opponent, we need to go out there and give the best effort possible. I feel we?ve done that so far and we intend to keep it going that way. We would like to finish in second place in this group and be ready for the knockout stages.

You finish the group stages by playing Lebanon today (Wednesday) and Venezuela tomorrow (Thursday). Some say you will definitely win both. Are you that confident or are you cautious all the same?

MP: Well, these are teams that can cause upsets. We have to be cautious because this is the type of tournament where there can be surprises like when Nigeria beat Serbia-Montenegro in the first game. We don?t know too much about these teams so our goal is to stay focused on our own game, play at a high level and be efficient at both ends of the court. Both games are very important and we won?t take them lightly.

It has to be encouraging to push Argentina to the edge without Tony Parker. Everyone thought that this game was decided before it was played when he pulled out with an injury. And yet you were close until the last few minutes.

MP: Looking back on it now a few days later it?s encouraging, but on the day it was very hard because they had all of their players and we were missing Tony. He is one of our leaders and best creators offensively but we have to play without him and to the best of our ability. We have to keep working hard.

Your shot hasn?t been falling that much in the first three games. Does it affect you or do you just keep shooting?

MP: It doesn?t bother me. As a shooter I know that I?m going to have highs and lows, it comes with the role. So I just keep working hard, take a lot of shots in practice and hope that they start falling in game situations.

Let?s talk a bit about you and the Golden State Warriors. Looking back on last season, do you feel that maybe you underachieved personally?

MP: No, I wouldn?t say that. I?m not too disappointed with the way I played because as a player coming off the bench you don?t really know how much playing time you?re going to get night in and night out, but I just try to be ready every time.

How about as a team? With Baron Davis in his first full season with the Warriors there was great promise and talk of making the playoffs but you missed out. Was that disappointing?

MP: Yeah, that was disappointing because we lost the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. We let it slip away but we?ll do everything we can next season to get to the postseason and we know the fans are behind us and they know we can make it. I?m going to do everything I can to help this team reach that goal and when we make the playoffs, it?s going to feel like we just won an NBA championship. It will be great for me personally, for my teammates who?ve been around for quite a while, for the franchise and, of course, for our great fans.

And for you, this upcoming season is important because of your contract situation.

MP: I don?t think too much about that. I want to be a Warrior for as long as possible. Hopefully I can stay with them for the next six or seven years. My goal is to help them achieve great things and be the best team possible because we have some great fans who deserve to see us do well for them.

What can we expect from France in these World Championships?

MP: Well, we definitely will give our best efforts in every game as we have done so far. The results have been encouraging until now and we have high hopes to go deep into this tournament.

How about Team USA? What do you think about them?

MP: Well they?ve put together a great team with some great players LeBron (James), Dwyane (Wade), Carmelo (Anthony) and the rest of them. They?ve done well up to this point in the tournament and I don?t see anyone stopping them from going all the way to win this championship.

Do you think they can beat a team like Argentina?

MP: Yeah, they have enough talent to hold them off and every other team.

And how about France? What are you aiming for?

MP: We?re just taking it one game at a time. We want to win every game that we play but there?s no point in getting carried away and thinking too far ahead. </div>
http://www.hoopshype.com/interviews/pietrus_wilkinson.htm

 

Despite his lack of bball IQ I still like Pietrus and think that he can be a valuable bench player because of his defense, I just hope we can sign him to like 3 mil/year. He has amazing drives to the basket but the inability to put them in. With a brain transplant he could be a star.

 

Yeah, Pietrus is a good guy. He's definitely a guy who has team pride.

It's just... man, is he hard to watch when he's off. When he's on, he's awesome.

He's just like Dunleavy. Consistently inconsistent and hard to watch sometimes.

Thx. Mr. J

 

He's more bearable than Dunleavy because he's not going to get 9mil a year. I'd like to see how Pietrus plays when he's working for a contract since he's not going to get 9mil spoon fed to him like Dunleavy did.

 

Woops, I wrote Michael instead of Mickael. Sorry 'bout that.

 

Of course he wants to be a Warrior as long as possible. After seeing Foyle get a big ride deal, and Dun get the franchise tag, sh!t Pietrus probably thinks he can squeeze Cohan for about 6 years 147 mils.

 

True that. Keith McLeod must be excited over 2007 payday.

 

Air France is becoming "Airball France" hehe

 

That's what I heard as well.

 

It's nice to hear he feels that way, but I don't share the feeling ;-) I'll be perfectly happy letting someone else try to teach him how to play basketball.

 

He's basically doing the same things as '06 year for the Warriors as he is doing now with team France. Just like Dunleavy he can't buy a bucket when wide open. Then when he drives, he pulls a Baron Davis or a Jrich where he'll make a nifty move based on superior athleticism and can't convert the foul shot. He'll turn the ball over and make some pretty stupid fouls too...

I feel like Dunleavy and Pietrus need to be playing up to their potential if the Warriors ever hope to improve from '04 and '05 year. I just think some guys don't have what it takes though.

 

CR i just don't know what MPs 'potential' is. He's an unbelieveable athlete, but he just doesn't seem to have a concept of how to play basketball. So he can lay thunderous dunks from time to time and hit threes at a pretty mediocre clip. And yes, he's fine in man defense due to his athleticism.

He's like the anti-JRich - an amazing athlete who hasn't improved his game since he came into the league.

I've said it before and I'll say it again..I'd love to have him be the one that helps us dump Foyle.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting DTKennedy:</div><div class="quote_post">CR i just don't know what MPs 'potential' is. He's an unbelieveable athlete, but he just doesn't seem to have a concept of how to play basketball. So he can lay thunderous dunks from time to time and hit threes at a pretty mediocre clip. And yes, he's fine in man defense due to his athleticism.

He's like the anti-JRich - an amazing athlete who hasn't improved his game since he came into the league.

I've said it before and I'll say it again..I'd love to have him be the one that helps us dump Foyle.</div>

Yeah me neither, DTK. I don't know what this guy would be capable of if he had some brains for the game. Maybe Ricky Davis or Josh Howard?

If he gets hot, I hope we can use him to get rid of Foyle. We don't really need a backup SG that struggles at the 3 and can only play the 2 because of his body size and weight. We need a real athletic and finesse small forward that hopefully can play some shooting guard. That was supposed to be Dunleavy, but he just stank it up like Pietrus.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post"> Maybe Ricky Davis or Josh Howard?
</div>

I had been thinking/hoping Michael Cooper, but at this point that seems like fantasy. The guy just hasn't developed his game.

Also, I'm not downing the Ws management for picking him. At the time, he seemed like a good 'project' pick. Had he developed, he could have been a major minutes player. But imho the work ethic, the fire to maximize his potential (JRich for example), just isn't there.....

 

To me, I don't think Pietrus is a type of Howard player, who can do little of everything. Rather, I think he should start as a Bowen type of player, whose role is limited/specialized. Clearly, Pietrus hasn't developed from his rookie year, and in last two years, he did play like a headless chicken. There is no question that his basketball IQ isn't high, and he won't develop naturally like Richardson. And, it's bit disturbed to see him chucking up more and more 3 pts lately. That has been said, he still is a superb athlete, and he is a good defender/slasher, when he barely tapped his talent. In order to gain short term success with Pietrus, his play has to be simple. If you throw him out there without any direction and ask him to just play like last two years, he is bounded to fail, because he simply doesn't know what to do. But, if you made him a specialist and give him a limited role, he can be a very effective player from the bench. Once he gets comfortable with his role and taste success, we may start tapping his potential.

Anyway, next year will be a make-or-break year for Pietrus, Dunleavy and Davis...