<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Plenty of minutes were available for Mickael Pietrus in 2005-06 with Mike Dunleavy enduring a nightmare season. Problem was, Pietrus was just as bad as, if not worse than, his beleaguered teammate. Warriors coach Don Nelson watched Pietrus struggle from afar. Nelson saw enough of an undisciplined athlete who "wasn't playing very much or very well," that he admits questioning whether Pietrus would fit into his system. Two days into training camp, he has his answer. "He's going to play for me," Nelson said emphatically after practice Wednesday. "He's really impressed me. He's doing what the coaches ask him to do. He's not trying to play beyond what I see him doing. "He's been the perfect student so far." That's no small praise for Pietrus, whose first three seasons have been marked by injury and erratic play. He began as a defensive standout before getting sidetracked by his desire to be a scorer. The maddening result was an inferior defender and an offensive player who seemed to accrue more turnovers than field goals. Pietrus can ill afford more of the same entering his contract year. The Warriors have until Oct. 31 to extend his rookie deal, and if a new agreement is not reached, he will become a restricted free agent at season's end. How he plays within Nelson's system, therefore, not only determines his future with Golden State, but his demand around the league. Nelson isn't worried. He says Pietrus will see time alongside Baron Davis and Jason Richardson in the Warriors' lineup of interchangeable guards -- more if Pietrus can resist bad habits from season's past. According to Pietrus, that includes shooting too many three-pointers and not getting enough rebounds or free-throw attempts. And so far, he's on the path to correction. "It's not what he's showing me can do," Nelson said. "It's what he's showing me he's not going to do anymore." Pietrus said he would not be disappointed if a new deal failed to materialize before the season. Vice president Chris Mullin said there have been no substantial conversations with Pietrus' representatives and an extension seems unlikely. The Warriors needed to cut Devin Brown simply to stay under the luxury-tax level, and signing Pietrus now would force them to move significant salary before next season to stay under the tax again. "I'm not thinking about that at all," Pietrus said of his contract status. "I'll just let my agent take care of that and whatever happens, happens. As far as I know, I'm a Warrior and I'm happy to be a Warrior." </div> Source
I like Pietrus' team spirit. Is he genuine, though? I hope his game gets better because he's got some good potential to be a starter if he had just been smarter at playing basketball. He's just not very bright sometimes.
<div class="quote_poster">custodianrules2 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I like Pietrus' team spirit. Is he genuine, though? I hope his game gets better because he's got some good potential to be a starter if he had just been smarter at playing basketball. He's just not very bright sometimes.</div> Because of his low IQ, Nelson is making Pietrus a specialist. Which seems like a good idea.
<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Because of his low IQ, Nelson is making Pietrus a specialist. Which seems like a good idea.</div> Yes, he will be a specialist in screwing up plays Actually, I think Pietrus will be okay but he'll have his moments where he's hard to stand because he lacks fundamentals. It's like baseball players that forget to tag up on fly ball with one or no outs and they start running.
This guy can be a great energy booster off the bench. If he can limit his mistakes, mostly mental, than he could help this team out a great deal.
I wonder what this forum would be like if we weren't allowed to use the word "if" when it comes to Warriors players. "You know Adonal Foyle would be a pretty good scorer if he could catch... and if he could not put it off the front rim so much ... and if he wouldn't shoot it over the backboard trying to make a bank shot ...and if he knew how to make layups" "you know Jrich would be a pretty good free throw shooter if he was Ray Allen and not Jrich"
Is it me or does it seem like Don Nelson is going to completely change the dynamics of this team??? Every post I see it seems like he is moving guys out of position, talking about different lineups and stuff. He's really taking the engine apart from the sounds of it.
<div class="quote_poster">phunDamentalz Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Is it me or does it seem like Don Nelson is going to completely change the dynamics of this team??? Every post I see it seems like he is moving guys out of position, talking about different lineups and stuff. He's really taking the engine apart from the sounds of it.</div>What other choice does he have? They obviously aren't winning with playing their "normal" positions. This is just the style of ball that Nelson plays and it just so happens that the Warriors could be a good fit for it.
That's true, Rudeezy. Virtually every Warrior is a tweener of some sort either physically or skillset.
We should give Nelson the benefit of the doubt, sort of. But I gotta say Dun and Murph as our frontcourt scares me. Nelson says they'll be a mismatch for defenders... but what about the other way around? So maybe Dwight for example will have a hard time guarding Murphy. But I am damn sure Murphy cannot handle Dwight at ALL. I'd be a lot more comfortable with Ike and Murph than Dun and Murph.
<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">We should give Nelson the benefit of the doubt, sort of. But I gotta say Dun and Murph as our frontcourt scares me. Nelson says they'll be a mismatch for defenders... but what about the other way around? So maybe Dwight for example will have a hard time guarding Murphy. But I am damn sure Murphy cannot handle Dwight at ALL. I'd be a lot more comfortable with Ike and Murph than Dun and Murph.</div> That frontcourt is kind of sketchy. Funny you say Dwight, don't forget Amare will FEAST on that frontcourt. Assuming he's the same Amare.
Frontcourt is definitely sketchy without Ike. I can't give anyone in the Warriors organization the benefit of the doubt. You ask most people this Nelson hiring is just one big smokescreen to disguise the fact that Mullin hasn't done jack this offseason and he blundered in '04-'05 and '05-'06 to get where we are at today in '06-'07.
I take Don Nelson's scheme to be the opposite of what phunDamentalz sees it. Don Nelson is actually evaluating the roster at hand. This is one thing that Mike Montgomery never did. Don Nelson isn't just focusing the scheme around the highly paid players or the "core players"(for Montgomery those players were Fisher, Jason, Baron, Mike, Troy, and Adonal). He is trying to come up with a scheme so that every single player can benefit and be in the position to produce his best. It may be analyzed as taking apart an engine. But this is because the engine used previously used only half its capacity. With the newly refurbished engine, the plan is to have it functioning and working to its maximum capabilities with all aspects contributing. I agree with the idea of making Pietrus a "specialist" or just a good solid role player. Sure he may make his mistakes, such as the baseball analogy, that Custodian brought up. However he has been one of the main catalysts for success for this team in the past few seasons. I think the one thing that gets us down about Pietrus is just how frusterating it is to follow him and root for him. This is from his speratic injuries, an inconsistant(or streaky) shot, previous court-decisions, etc. However on most nights, at least many nights, Pietrus(hopefully Andris and Ike can soon join in too, along with Monta) is the one player that can really give the Warriors the biggest boost with his superb defense and his streaky shooting. Again, I like what Nelson is doing. I have hope again, that had been lost for the most part the last two years because of my skepticism of Mike Montgomery as head coach. But now I feel more optimistic. Maybe there will or will not be playoffs this year, but I think everything will work much better and smoothly.
Good points, clif. There were times when Pietrus was very custodian-like in terms of energy, but forget the passing and the court sense because he didn't pack it. I guess when he was scoring a point per minute, bringing us from behind when nothing else worked, he got a lot of hype. I was on that bandwagon most definitely. I thought he could potentially be better than Jrich because he's quicker as a two guard and way better defensively against guys like Michael Redd and Kobe Bryant who burn a lot of people. But with Nelson's hiring... it's still a smokescreen to me.
<div class="quote_poster">custodianrules2 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Good points, clif. There were times when Pietrus was very custodian-like in terms of energy, but forget the passing and the court sense because he didn't pack it. I guess when he was scoring a point per minute, bringing us from behind when nothing else worked, he got a lot of hype. I was on that bandwagon most definitely. I thought he could potentially be better than Jrich because he's quicker as a two guard and way better defensively against guys like Michael Redd and Kobe Bryant who burn a lot of people.</div> Me too! Except I was still patient with Jason Richardson too. But I thought Pietrus and Richardson COULD be a good complement on the court, though I think a PG like Baron would have to be the needed third point to really make that due work together, or maybe Mike Dunleavy(like the end of the 2004 season). I guess I still might have a reserved seat on that bandwagon, so I will try to say a few good things about Pietrus so I can rejoin officially when he starts to play well again, and hopefully have the others let me rejoin
<div class="quote_poster">Clif25 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Me too! Except I was still patient with Jason Richardson too. But I thought Pietrus and Richardson COULD be a good complement on the court, though I think a PG like Baron would have to be the needed third point to really make that due work together, or maybe Mike Dunleavy(like the end of the 2004 season). I guess I still might have a reserved seat on that bandwagon, so I will try to say a few good things about Pietrus so I can rejoin officially when he starts to play well again, and hopefully have the others let me rejoin </div> I am never patient with our lotto picks. I'm tired of upside, I want a rookie of the year whatever age that is. If they are ready skillwise they are ready. If they can't produce immediate results because their skillset sucks, it's their fault for skipping college or coming to the nba too early trying to go for money, I get mad at the player and the GM. Special players will get money eventually if they are truly good, they just want to avoid the injury risk or draft stock drops so they leap right in. A lot of them aren't ready. It's terrible. I've changed in attitude quite a bit over these Pietrus and Biedrins type projects. I just want to see some immediate results because I doubt either of these guys are Jermaine O'neils waiting to happen. Only Ike and Ellis seem ready right out of the box even though their nba experience isn't there yet. Maybe some other technical skills need work, but for the most part there's inside and outside presence and not as much liability as Pietrus and Biedrins. If Ike and Ellis should fail... man there's just no hope.
<div class="quote_poster">phunDamentalz Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Is it me or does it seem like Don Nelson is going to completely change the dynamics of this team??? Every post I see it seems like he is moving guys out of position, talking about different lineups and stuff. He's really taking the engine apart from the sounds of it.</div> My view is he's doing some of the rather OBVIOUS COACHING I wanted Monty to do a year ago. I went from "Monty needs a little time-he's figuring it out now..." to " OMG! Monty can't see the stuff right in front of his EYES! WTF? How dopey is this *$*#&@* anyhow
Pietrus has a baseline 3 that's twice as accurate as his other 3's-he has a very quick spurt that lets him rocket past his man---but CAN get miscalled by a bad ref who whistels steps--or a bad ref who lets a defender jump in the path-not be at all set-take a flop. Otherwise--it's finish on the break. Pietrus needs to learn a few more scoring skills- As is-he's like a pitcher with a 96 mph fastball and an okay changeup---not enough-but add a good slider or curve and he's awesome. Pietrus did fine when Baron led us in a month+ of "Nellieball" before the slow death of "Montyball" was re-imposed. Pietrus was never a fit for Monty. Monty needed a taller Fish..not Pietrus.
<div class="quote_poster">REREM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Pietrus has a baseline 3 that's twice as accurate as his other 3's-he has a very quick spurt that lets him rocket past his man---but CAN get miscalled by a bad ref who whistels steps--or a bad ref who lets a defender jump in the path-not be at all set-take a flop. Otherwise--it's finish on the break. Pietrus needs to learn a few more scoring skills- As is-he's like a pitcher with a 96 mph fastball and an okay changeup---not enough-but add a good slider or curve and he's awesome. </div> Pietrus was like a pitcher with a 96 mph fastball and he couldn't understand the little hand signals the catcher was giving him. So instead of pitch out he throws it down the middle with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Bam! Homerun! I think the refs were calling it fair for Pietrus, but Pietrus just doesn't play honest enough to gain the refs' respect when it comes to reach-ins and offensive fouls. The guy is just out of control sometimes even though he always appears that way. Then he can't understand the basic routes for the only thing the Warriors had been good at with Montgomery: inbounds plays. I agree about Pietrus being a monster from the baseline. He and Dun were both 6 for 6 during some games like on fire. But if both those guys launch from deep like 26 feet away, I think only Pietrus has a better chance of not landing it wide right and two feet short or off the back iron and over the backboard. Dun seems that bad for some reason even though Pietrus can be way way off the mark. What really sucks for Pietrus is that Richardson stands in his way, but he could easily beat Dunleavy if he worked on his consistency and his fundamentals. I doubt he'll ever do it, but he'll be a useful backup player like Tony Allen or that Grizzly guy: Dahntay Jones.... maybe... I don't know. We will need all new small forwards come next season...
