Baron is a Team/Coach Killer?

From Tim Kawakami as posted on goldenstateofmind.com Kawakami says that Baron is one of the most unpopular good player in the league and that Baron might actually wish Monty was still there be cause he "owned" Monty and both of them knew it but no way that happens with Nellie.

Here's the link (told not to cut and paste)

http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/story/2006/9/13/12450/3503

 

Are we taking Kawakami's opinions seriously now??

 

Kawakami's full of crap like 90% of the time. But then again, Baron doesn't really seem like the kind of guy that listens to anyone but himself or maybe somebody like Jrich who is a pretty humble scorer. I don't know how true my perceptions are about Baron's supposed attitude/selfishness because I'm an outside fan like all of you guys. But, I think a true franchise point guard is the kind of guy like Jason Kidd, who despite not being the best shooter in the league, has excellent leadership ability on the floor, will call plays, play defense, rebound, and will generally make guys better without shooting us out of games. It's a bit different for Baron team-wise because he's not surrounded by RJ/Kmart or Vince Carter or whoever the Suns had at the time. I think both Kidd and Baron have similar skill in all the point guard fundamentals, except for shooting, but why does it seem like Kidd is less of a headcase than Baron despite getting in trouble for beating his wife and getting into the same arguments with Byron Scott?

While both Kidd and Baron had their differences with the same coach (Byron Scott) over separate matters, why is it Kidd made teams like the Nets and the Suns a lot better? Health could be an issue, but I think Kidd was the more proven floor leader, even in college, that could stay healthy and fill up the stat sheet with his versatility as a big point guard. Meanwhile, with Baron I think it's really the types of teams he's been going to. He's been hurt a lot and he's on teams that are on a state of rapid decline. I mean the Hornets and the Warriors are teams that don't have much talent, but they need their best most talented and unselfish player to stay healthy. Every team needs to have a triple threat worth double teaming or else it's just 5 guys with various roles that don't fit anywhere because there is no glue. Baron holds this team together, but his health has affected his performance and this isn't the type of team that can have more than one low % shooter. Foyle missing buckets and dropping passes, Murphy being put into a 3-point shooting role or into a triple threat position where he will not pass, or Dunleavy/Pietrus/Fisher not shooting the ball well at all can complicate this whole team's mess.

Where we can improve is to just have Baron healthy like Chris Paul or Jason Kidd was and to find a guy that simulate Kmart's impact inside the paint or Vince Carter's ability to act as a secondary playmaker. Now we guys capable of dribbling and passing as well as shooting, but they aren't performing. If we have two strong guys on the wing or perimeter to do those things in liu of a real point guard, Derek Fisher wouldn't be that bad on offense. If we had a decent center to replace Erick Dampier (midrange in talent) + a star power forward we could start seeing a better fit with how this team's roles are supposed to function in most types of offense (slow or fast and defensively). But all this pressure is on Baron because he's an expensive player and he's better than Jrich as a true guard.

I'm very hopefull for the future because of the prospects, but like everyone else I am worried about Mullin's rookie-ness and his salary cap situation. We may lose a few fan favorites in a Gilbert Arenas type fashion if Cohan won't dabble into the luxury tax line.

 

Oh yeah, hopefully Baron will listen to Don Nelson because man, he's got to learn how to call out plays. If the rest of the team doesn't know what the plan is they're just going to run around and waste the clock and chuck it. Ball movement and execution is going to help our offense find good high % shots and find/maintain tempo. These past few years we haven't been moving the ball or off the ball or executing like a good team will do against tough defenses. And therefore, we weren't in control of the tempo.

 

Yeah, maybe Baron is a little stubborn. I don't know if he is selfsih, but he could be stubborn. If Baron is healthy and can set on getting in premire playing shape, then I don't see how Chris Mullin and Don Nelson wouldn't be able to push Baron Davis in getting into that form.

I think Baron has an urge to compete and win. Thus I don't think there is going to be any problems between Nelson and Baron. This isn't Terrell Owens that we are talking about, who is looking for controversey and looking for attention and being selfish. Give Baron Davis some motivation and get him to focus daily on the tasks and goals at hand, and I think he will improve. I don't think it has anything to do with selfishness. Maybe this is very paridoxical for me to say that Baron has an urge to compete and win, and then say he has a lack of motivation. I just think that he is kind of like the kid with ADD or ADHD. When he is focused and motivated he is brilliant and whatever. Just when he is not motivated, it is whatever will get by. Baron is like a kid with ADD. Being around people like Jason Richardson, Chris Mullin, and Don Nelson to motivate Baron is going to be a good thing.

 

I think Nelson being hired is the best thing that could have happened for Baron. Nellie knows he needs Baron to be on the same page for the Warriors to have any shot at doing anything this season. He demands respect from his players. Obviously Baron isnt going to bow down to Baron but if Baron will buy into his system, which I believe he will because he is such a competitor, he can have a break out season this year and help put the Warriors back in the playoffs. Of coarse, all this talk means squat if he cant stay healthy.

 

What sucks is if we knew ahead of time we were getting Nelson, maybe we could have gotten a cheaper free agent prospect than looking at Al Harrington. What about F Jumaine Jones? He's more of an open court player and one that can play defense. He hasn't really done much in recent years, but he's a shooting threat in games as Jim Barnett will also tell you. It's a bit difficult though since SF/SG are basically like having two forwards.
That means power forward or point guard need to be primary/secondary ballhandlers. The role Derek Fisher was in last season made him primary ballhandler and he's not that good with the ball against quicker/longer defenders.

Another guy who isn't as athletic as Jones could be Casey Jacobsen. He's a shooting guard, but he is tall enough to play some small forward. I don't know if he'd suffer from Dunleavy syndrome, but the guy can score and pretty much do things besides just shoot.

We also could have looked at some summer league guys just in case Pietrus goes down and we need a small forward taller than Jrich (6'4).

 

I don't think Baron got the freedom to play his peak game except that stretch when he just arrived-we ran-won. Later-with the Full Monty-I'd assume that-like me-he was frustrated with trying to turn tin into gold. The Montyball "system" was a bad fit-and would have been second rate tactics with any roster. Guy's were marching uphill with an 80 lb pack and knew it. It's a bit surprising they kept complaints so quiet.

The style Nellie likes-is about the same as what Baron's best at-and that ought to have him-and others - feeling the coach's ideas are an asset. I have had to work for a boss who was inept. It lowers your expectations. Sometimes the crew just finds ways to salvage things as best they can. Sometimes they flip off the fool,go with what works-or maybe give up and let the boat sink. GOOD leadership,GOOD strategy--is a plus and I've seen it on construction jobs,on restaurant jobs,on industrial jobs. Good leaders make TEAMWORK natural.

 

I agree we need strong leadership everywhere because the direction of this club has been lost for too long... Mullin has been responsible for making post-St. Jean era even worse. At least St. Jean did a decent job of cleaning up after the last GM who really messed up things a lot worse than Mullin. If Mullin can't pull things through, we need to get another St. Jean to clean up his mess.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting DTKennedy:</div><div class="quote_post">Are we taking Kawakami's opinions seriously now?? </div>

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">I agree we need strong leadership everywhere because the direction of this club has been lost for too long... Mullin has been responsible for making post-St. Jean era even worse. At least St. Jean did a decent job of cleaning up after the last GM who really messed up things a lot worse than Mullin. If Mullin can't pull things through, we need to get another St. Jean to clean up his mess.</div>

No, St. Jean please! We need a custodian to clean up this mess if hiring Nelson doesn't work.

What's worse than firing a coach is getting rid of the GM. That's like admitting failure and starting all over again. I'm not ready to go there yet. And another COHAN decision.

Until Mullin makes another blunder like re-signing Pietrus for big bucks, then we'll just have to stick with Mullin and hopes he's learned his job. Don't get me wrong, I would rather Cohan hired Jerry West, but you know what happens when he has to make decisions -- the worst. I now believe hiring Monty was his idea. It was too pat that no one else was interviewed.

Second, we know now that Mullin doesn't tell the truth. That's not to say he's a liar, but he'll say what is feasible for him at the time (protect others especially the owner). He knew this team didn't have what it took last season.

Next, Nellie said that he thought this team had the pieces to get to the playoffs. This is different from saying he had to tear the team down and start over. That's fool's gold talking, but I can't expect him to say that we aren't going to the playoffs.

The main difference is we have a coach who can mold things now. Under Monty, the ship was directionless and leaderless. Now, we'll see who stays and who will go in regards to the starters should the Warriors continue to lose again.

At least, we'll have a fun team to watch. For whatever reason, the Warriors have always been a team who did better when they ran. The real test comes when GSW ends up giving up points to their opponents. What will be the true test of their defense is how much of a differential they can maintain between their scoring and the opponents scoring. At worst, we end up cleaning house before Mullin gets the axe. Mullin has had a direct hand at getting his person in at every position and every player in the organization.

 

This offseason probably has been a punch in the gut for Mullin. Because, after making a statement like "There will be a big change", he learned that nobody wants his overpaid contracts, even Murphy, and everybody wants lighter contracts. To make things worse, most of FAs are signing 3 years contracts this season, when Mullin hastely gave up 6 years contracts like AOL giving away their free CDs. In last result, he brought Nelson back, and probably lost most of his control to Nelson, while he takes a backseat.

The real judgement for Mullin will come in two years, when our existing Davis, Richardson, Dunealvy, Murphy and Foyle's contracts will take roughly 55 mils, leaving basically no $ to sign any of Ellis, Taft or Biedrins. Or even worse, if either Pietrus or Zarko turned out to be Nelson's type, we have no room to resign those players. If we can dump the contracts in two years and make a room to resign our young players, Mullin will be remembered as a somewhat bad GM. But, if we can't shed those contracts and force young players to blossom in other teams, he may very well take the honor of being the worst GM in recent Warriors history instead of Twerdzik...

 

Good points all around. I don't think we want to admit failure or wind up with another St. Jean per say, but somebody who has history and experience building a winning organization (to come up and clean this mess and finally choose wisely and make good situations). We need a guy that will think several steps ahead and won't manuever his way into a corner (like this offseason and possibly next offseason as well)

We also will watch Mullin very closely and also what Cohan does in the face of luxury tax and re-signing our own draft picks. That's why any salary capped team + a luxury tax penalty for overspending has fans scrutinizing players that don't perform to what they're being paid (guaranteed for several years with low trade value).

 

I'm feeling pretty optimistic. I think there are no huge problems with the roster except the overpaid deals for Foyle + Dunleavy. The timing and terms of the Dun deal tells me that Cohen accepts the costs of some Lux Tax at some point. Mully did not do the Dunleavy deal with the idea we'd not retain various other talents. No doubt the W's will look for favorable deals to avoid the Lux Tax-but it's not gonna be a hardline barrier

 

I'm glad you are optimistic, REREM I'm half/half depending on what mood I'm in. It's like I imagine the Warriors will be winning some games pretty well with their offense (three balls, good passes, decent free throw %), and some other games they just can't get their offense going to save their lives and they can't play defense either. If there's a lot of teams out there that can beat us in ways that we can't defend and we can't register our "dominant/a-game" offense, then we're cooked. But, we should do better than last year at least if Don Nelson does whatever he was doing for his players and his GM. GM and the coach need to work together just like the coach and the players need to work together. If there's a missing link between the two groups, then it's really hard to stay on the same page.

 

I doubt Mully would have shot his load on signing Dun early and to a real generous deal if the deal was that he'd be letting other-better players walk due to a hard Lux-Tax line.