<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">OAKLAND - In November of 1991, Don Nelson acquired from the Sacramento Kings what many people thought would be the prototypical power forward for his up-tempo scheme. Billy Owens was a 6-foot-8, 220-pounder who was supposed to be able to handle like a point guard but rebound and defend with the best of the NBA's big men. Longtime Warriors fans know how that worked out: Owens spent three seasons in a Golden State uniform, earning his keep but never quite living up to the advance billing and, most damningly, failing to lift the club out of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Meanwhile, Mitch Richmond -- the player who was shipped out in exchange for Owens -- collected six All-Star berths as a King, prompting Nelson to dub the trade "the dumbest move I ever made." Fifteen years later, Nelson may have finally found the player he had hoped Owens would be. And that couldn't have happened a moment too soon for Mike Dunleavy. Last October, Dunleavy began his fourth NBA season on the high of signing a five-year, $45 million contract extension and ended it on the low of being booed by Arena fans for his inability to be the single-minded shooter Mike Montgomery wanted. Having grown up as a point guard -- until his height dictated a move to the frontcourt -- Dunleavy has always felt he could run an offense. And at Monday's media day, he didn't exactly spare the feelings of either Montgomery or Eric Musselman, saying of his two previous pro coaches that, "I never really felt like I was being used the right way, plain and simple." Nelson, on the other hand, "sees the type of player I am and the way I play, the way I think." Dunleavy spent much of last season trolling along the perimeter and waiting to take a jumper off a kick-out pass from a teammate. The only problem: Dunleavy converted only 28.5 percent of his attempts from behind the 3-point line, the worst figure of his four-year NBA career. "The only thing I've been disappointed in is that I haven't been making as many open shots as I'd like to, because that's where they were putting me, in a position to spread the floor and shoot 3-pointers," Dunleavy said. "But I need to do other things, because when those shots aren't falling, it's just one-dimensional. To be able to handle the ball a little bit more and be more involved would be good." Dunleavy should have no qualms about his level of involvement with the Warriors offense this year. With Troy Murphy moving to center, the Warriors' other options at power forward -- Zarko Cabarkapa and Ike Diogu -- don't offer nearly the kind of versatility that Nelson and executive vice president Chris Mullin envision getting from Dunleavy, who will initiate the offense on at least a part-time basis. "I think Dunleavy's going to do really well in our system," Nelson said. "I'll be surprised if he doesn't. ... That's a unique ability, to play a point guard at a power forward position. I don't know who's ever done that. I've never had a guy who can do that." Said point guard Baron Davis: "Mike Dunleavy, I believe in him, and I think that Coach Nelson is the guy that's going to push him over the top."</div> Source
Well I know why Baron likes Dunleavy. He's the only other guy that will set Baron up to score because he's creative enough. But still... this is Dunleavy's last chance. If he starts whining about something else there is no hope for him and his streaky, "never really good or great at anything" type of game. If Dunleavy is 4th-5th option offense (because he's a glue guy), I can see good things happening, but we need a reliable inside and outside game first or else he's got nobody to throw to. I would like Dun's role to be similar to how Doug Christie or Vlade Divac play to find scorers Webber/Stojakavic/Bibby. The shooting guard and center in the nba finals era Kings can score, but their primary option is to create and find someone else that can nail a higher % from different areas of the floor. Defensively, Dunleavy was really never that great, but I think he's smart enough to recognize how he can compensate despite being so slow. Unfortunately, that's never going to work when he's clearly overwhelmed and the rest of our perimeter defense kind of sucks. JRich is athletic, but the guy is so damned slow moving side to side. Pietrus' quicker lateral movement and overall quickness is the only advantage over Jrich for SG. I'm guessing Nelson will play Piety at SG, Jrich at small forward, Dunleavy at PF to remedy this, but we will still get killed defensively because of being overpowered in the post. Not to mention, we could be outrebounded as there won't be any wide bodies to block out for the rebounders.
If we score 112 a game, I bet the other team scores 113 or more. Dunleavy and Murphy protecting the hoop will be funnier than all those times Shawn Bradley got dunked on. At least Bradley was trying to make a stop. When the other team knows you probably won't block their shot or guard weakside, they're going in aggressive right to the hoop. If I'm an athletic player from the opposing team and I see two pasty, slow, softies under the hoop that don't block shots, I'm posterizing them. My field goal % will skyrocket.
