<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">THERE'S A two-word response that immediately comes to mind when asked the big question on every Warriors fan's mind today: What makes you believe Don Nelson will do any better than Mike Montgomery? Simply stated: Mike Dunleavy. Say what you want about Baron Davis or Jason Richardson, the future of the Warriors now resides squarely on the shoulders of one of the NBA's biggest disappointments in recent years. Nobody was happier to see Montgomery hired two summers ago than Dunleavy. Their games meshed. The player who figured to benefit most from a back-to-the-basics, college-type approach was Dunleavy, the former Duke star who otherwise might have been a poster boy for Stanford-style basketball. The fact Dunleavy hasn't been even a Top 100 NBA player the past two seasons says as much about Montgomery as it does about the lanky small forward. Neither man ever grasped what it takes to be successful at the game's highest level. Instead of concentrating on making himself a better shooter, Dunleavy spent the past two years worrying abouthis defense and rebounding. Having improved in those areas, the 25-year-old is now adequate in just about every aspect of the game. But to be useful in the NBA, you need to be great at something, not merely good at a lot of things. Ask Chris Mullin. When Nelson first got a hold of Mullin, the St. John's star was in a similar rut as Dunleavy. Couldn't defend anyone. Couldn't rebound. Couldn't beat anyone off the dribble. Couldn't play at that level. Make no mistake about it: Nelson made Mullin. The forward-thinking coach put a one-dimensional player in a position to succeed ? freeing him with screens in the half-court and creating a running game that allowed Mullin to find open space on the run and get his deadly shot off. Nelson's biggest challenge will be doing the same with Dunleavy. He'll play him at point-forward. Heck, probably point-power forward given the Warriors' limited options up front. He'll get him into the open-court fast lane, allowing an adept ballhandler and clever distributor to do his thing. And most important, he'll get a pretty smart kid to understand: Being limited isn't a handicap. It can be an advantage, as long as the one thing you do, you do well. As was the case almost 20 years ago with Mullin, the Warriors will go only as far as Dunleavy can take them. Nelson knows it ? and he'll coach accordingly. Which is something Montgomery never did. </div> Source <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">-Speaking of which, Monta Ellis and Mickael Pietrus become Nelson's Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels ? two critical pieces because of their athleticism. Roll them out there with Davis, Richardson and ... hmm, can Dunleavy play center? Something tells me we're going to find out. -A player Nelson is going to love: Zarko Cabarkapa. Montgomery just never understood his game. -A player Nelson is going to hate: Patrick O'Bryant. Can you say Les Jepsen? -Nelson's greatest lament: If only Victor Alexander had half Adonal Foyle's heart. -Nelson's second-greatest lament: If only Foyle had half Alexander's ability. </div> LMAO at the Les Jepsen crack on POB.
I thought the victor alexander/foyle comments were funny. I think Dunleavy will probably be about the same in terms of inconsistency, but he'll have some of his shot back. Hopefully... The guy is just not that great of a shooter IMO or else he'd be hitting Peja numbers at the foul line.
I'd like to see Dun do well, but don't think he'll be the key piece. He will be one of the main players who need to step up. Under Nellie, he may well surpass Troy Murphy and become the third most important player in the starting line-up. Until then, i think Murphy will give Dun a run for the money. Somebody has to grab boards, make outlet passes and hit from outside. It will be interesting to see if Nelson keeps both Dunleavy and Murphy out there. JRich will be another key piece and he is the mostly likely to become the go to guy. He needs to become a better free throw shooter and be a scorer during crunch time to get to the next level. If he can improve his defensive intensity under Nelson, then he will have become a much better overall player. Then he will be ready to become an all-star. But the most important key piece to make this team go will be Baron. Nellie developed Tim Hardaway and Steve Nash into the players they were and are now today. They are the players that are the field generals on the court. Baron may be more a mix being able to create and pass better than Hardaway, but not as good a shooter as him. He can't beat Nash either, maybe equal him in passing, but he can be the catalyst for the Warriors that Nash is to the Suns. Baron is not a true point, but he can create and pass with the best of them. He's more of a shoot first PG and I can live with that barring he takes good shots. In other words, he is like a hybrid PG that can create, pass and score, but isn't a true shooter like a Gilbert Arenas or Steve Nash. If he can score like a Hardaway, then it may be good enough because he will be able to create and get the ball to the other guys open.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">I think Dunleavy will probably be about the same in terms of inconsistency, but he'll have some of his shot back. Hopefully... The guy is just not that great of a shooter IMO or else he'd be hitting Peja numbers at the foul line.</div> Dunleavy should be able to become a better shooter under Nellie. Dun needs to be set up in certain areas for his shot and learn to take the ball to the rack at times. I'm not sure if he'll become a post up player even with his height. He's more a point forward passer and shooting guard type. After reading the article again, it reminds me of when Dunleavy was in his second year. He made the rook-soph game and expectations were very high for him. But he never delivered on that. So, I don't get why people still have those same expectations. Dun is like the 4th or 5th best player on the team, so why would he become the most important. Under Run TMC, Mullin was the best shooter. I doubt Dun can become that, but maybe he can beat out Murphy and become the third or fourth best player.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">Dunleavy should be able to become a better shooter under Nellie. Dun needs to be set up in certain areas for his shot and learn to take the ball to the rack at times. I'm not sure if he'll become a post up player even with his height. He's more a point forward passer and shooting guard type. After reading the article again, it reminds me of when Dunleavy was in his second year. He made the rook-soph game and expectations were very high for him. But he never delivered on that. So, I don't get why people still have those same expectations. Dun is like the 4th or 5th best player on the team, so why would he become the most important. Under Run TMC, Mullin was the best shooter. I doubt Dun can become that, but maybe he can beat out Murphy and become the third or fourth best player.</div> How can he become a better shooter under Nellie? I mean look at last season, he missed SO many <u>OPEN</u> shots. You don't need a system to shoot better on uncontested shots. An open shot is an open shot. His shooting will probably be similar to his previous year averages around 44%. But don't expect any better than that.
Expect a lot of posting up from the guards, slashing from the 3, and pick and fades from Murphy. It should be an entertaining year at the very least. Let's see what these guys can do when they open it up. Believe it or not, Pietrus actually just became a valuable player on this roster again. I can't think of a better coach for him.
I like the comparisons to Mullin when Nelly got here. I would love to see Dunleavy explode and meet his expectations, but I doubt he will even be close to a Peja type player let alone a dream team type player like Mullin was...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting jason voorhees:</div><div class="quote_post">Dunleavy should be able to become a better shooter under Nellie. Dun needs to be set up in certain areas for his shot and learn to take the ball to the rack at times. I'm not sure if he'll become a post up player even with his height. He's more a point forward passer and shooting guard type. After reading the article again, it reminds me of when Dunleavy was in his second year. He made the rook-soph game and expectations were very high for him. But he never delivered on that. So, I don't get why people still have those same expectations. Dun is like the 4th or 5th best player on the team, so why would he become the most important. Under Run TMC, Mullin was the best shooter. I doubt Dun can become that, but maybe he can beat out Murphy and become the third or fourth best player.</div> I dunno. I maybe pessimistic like AF. I mean we thought Montgomery would make Dunleavy better. We thought Baron Davis would make Dunleavy better. He's just got to make shots because he's been a guy who has been complaining about things, but he's not doing much to help the situation when he can't even do the simple job he's supposed to do. I mean that's his role. It's to shoot, handle the rock and make good decisions with the ball. Lately, he's failed to knock down wide open jumpers even worse than his '04 and '03 years and he's made some pretty questionable decisions with the ball. I think an inside presence and healthy unselfish Baron will help Dunleavy greatly like at Duke, but he's got to shoot. Basketball is almost all about shooting. If you can't shoot, you become a specialist. If one is not a specialist in something other than rebounding/defense/or what not, then they are out of the league because what is it that they do extremely well? Right now Dunleavy's best attributes is that the game comes easy to him in decision-making, but his body and his self confidence aren't where they should be. There's just a huge difference between how he played in college, the type of roll and mismatch he had at the collegiate level compared to the big bad nba where everyone is quicker, stronger or as tall as him with a better meanstreak and confidence level. I am not a prophet, but damn back in '02 I thought Dunleavy would be a bust of Danny Ferry like proportions. That's how much confidence I had in his game. I thought he would be worse than Shane Battier because Battier was more of a star.
Everyone just ask yourself this. How many chances are we going to give a bust? We've given him a chance every season since his rookie season. And at the end of last season we all lost hope in him. But now it's back because of a new coach? Face it, the guy isn't a good role player and quite frankly may never be. Before Nellie came most wanted to trade him away, where did those feelings go?!
