No, I'm not even going to touch where the W's will end up, but I just thought it was amusing that Phoenix is listed with the No. 1 pick. Oden on the Suns just doesn't seem right. I mean, if they were number 1, there is no doubt they would select him. But what in the world would the team do, it is built to run, and well, even though I've never seen Oden, I just don't see him as running with Nash. http://www.nbadraft.net/
Phoenix with the worst record in the NBA by June would help the Warriors' chance of making the playoffs. Then we'll just have to pray that they get extremely unlucky in the lottery or Oden decides not to enter the draft. With how the Southwest Division is going, it looks like there are 4 teams that will most likely make the playoffs. That means there is at least one team from the Pac and Northwest that will make the playoffs, and probably 1 or 2 other teams from the Pacific division that can make the playoffs(There is the probability that 0 other teams make it from the Pac. Division but I don't see that happening). That means the Warriors will have to keep winning, unlike last season where they started hot and then plumetted in December and January. Also it means that the Warriors are going to be in a very strong fight with LA Clippers, Lakers, Kings, and Suns for one of the top three spots in the division.
<div class="quote_poster">custodianrules2 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah, too early Let's wait until college ball gets in full swing </div> When it comes to Warriors it's never too early to talk about drafts.
<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">When it comes to Warriors it's never too early to talk about drafts. </div> I'm not that pessimistic, AF. Maybe, for like three days I was, after seeing the coach "try" Dun at PF, Murphy at C. C'mon Don, that's like touching a hot stove to see if it hurts.
Nellie has so turned this team upside down,that there's almost anything you could say-and it may be dead right or dead wrong. It does seem we are able to win in a lot of strange and mysterious ways. Lately-given available options-thats been a small lineup and not a lot of subs. I guarantee that ain't the look for the whole year. All the changes....We can't presume to know what we HAVE just yet-or what we need or where we pick. Suns? They have Amare playing below par and Nash hurt. Diaw isn't doing as well as Pietrus lately..and several teams are adopting the "fools gold" running game. The Suns will bounce back-make the playoffs-but they may have blown a high seed.
<div class="quote_poster">REREM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Nellie has so turned this team upside down,that there's almost anything you could say-and it may be dead right or dead wrong. It does seem we are able to win in a lot of strange and mysterious ways. Lately-given available options-thats been a small lineup and not a lot of subs. I guarantee that ain't the look for the whole year. All the changes....We can't presume to know what we HAVE just yet-or what we need or where we pick. Suns? They have Amare playing below par and Nash hurt. Diaw isn't doing as well as Pietrus lately..and several teams are adopting the "fools gold" running game. The Suns will bounce back-make the playoffs-but they may have blown a high seed.</div> Yeah that's true, REREM. Good Analysis. I think the bottom line that Nelson had to try anything to see what his players could do when they're put in situations. It's like preseason how coaches want to see how Dunleavy handles certain matchups in offense or defense, it's how the coach wants to experiment with different plays and players should a key producer go down with injuries. I'm not that happy with the team overall, but I love some of the players and Don Nelson's strategy. He's got the idea that we've needed all along that if a team is not that good (because mainly our big men suck) and our guards are our best "big men", then we need to do the small ball thing. It's still better than Montgomery being essentially powerless under Mullin because he is a rookie too. Montgomery was ineffective with the roster Mullin assembled for him at the very start of '04 and parts of '05 because it was not his kind of team/style. We don't really design teams for the head coaches unless we're talking about Jerry Sloan or a coach GM like Pat Riley or possibly Jeff Van Gundy. If we got inexperienced and ineffective nba coach where it does not fit either way for players and coaches it's just pure turmoil. That was a bad mistake on Mullin's part in terms of choice of head coach and choice of players under that head coach. He should have just stuck with his friend Mario Elie and maybe, just maybe we could have gotten better halfcourt offense if he subbed in some inside scorers with more emphasis on rookies rather than heavy contracts like Foyle/Dun. Maybe there could be more running when the opportunity presented itself after defense, and possibly more favor toward the athletic guys that play bigger than their intended positions. It's speculation, but it was like anything could work better than Montgomery if he was just going to follow what Mullin put in for him and do the Larry Brown/Jerry Sloan thing against the rookies. The GM would not support his strengths as a halfcourt motion offenese coach because we needed defense and an inside player who can catch and stay out of foul trouble. We've seen Larry Brown pull the same weird crap to us fans when he went with weird lineups and avoided what seemed like the most productive promising young players... But I think any of the coaches in basketball like Rick Pitino, Lute Olsen, or whoever HOF basketball guys can do this league if they've got the power as a GM. The coach in college is essentially GM. In the NBA it is quite different. The guys with the money and organization backing make all the choices. Considering that is Mullin and Cohan and Rowell and formerly Twardzick, no wonder this franchise had had its fair share of problems and nobody to stop them. I think any of those HOF coaches could make it in the nba if money /league trade rules wasn't such a large component against them. It sucks how guys like Larry Brown are now outcasts because their players didn't buy into the program. They basically gave up because they knew they weren't good enough as a team and they weren't disciplined and motivated enough to even try. That sounded like the Warriors before they made the starting lineup and tempo change. Now Baron/Jrich, our best players have guys like Biedrins/Ellis to play with instead of Dun/Murph/Foyle/Fish. I agree with that very much and I'm glad Nelson has the experience and the respect to tell Mullin who he is playing instead of four long term contract disasters. Luckily, good drafts (the one thing Mullin has had talent for besides lucking out on the Hornets trade by being at the right time and place) has given Nelson something to work with. Where would we be without Biedrins/Ellis right now? Pietrus is also helping, but when we're thinking long term progress towards building a better team. The outside and inside presence is what we want as well as toughness on both ends of the floor. I think Nelson could point Mullin the right way with his experience as a coach who knows small ball doesn't need to be played if you have good big guys on your team that can dominate the paint at least a few games a week. Now the big question remains, can we keep the guys that will be future building blocks for our franchise? And can we keep enough flexibility in making gm moves so that we don't have to hedge all our bets on the coach trying to find a way to mask our weaknesses? When we play 82 games a season we'll know what kind of team we have. Can it play through injury? Can it sustain consistency on the road or on back to back games? Can it excercise the proper timing and planning to land the right trade at the right time? It's all these little factors that got us missing the playoffs for 12 or 13 straight seasons that got me nervous when things might fall apart. Stability and planning for plan A, plan B, plan C is the key. There needs to be a system in case stuff doesn't happen as planned. I'm sure they are talking about this, but it seems like they can't do anything about it. Like they got no resources, no eyes, no experience sometimes, no insight, no vision. I'm outsider, so I could be wrong, but if I am wrong why does it take so long for this franchise to get in big trouble again financially and not get better each year? It can't be all on Montgomery. Nelson makes a difference, but we essentially have the same guys on our roster minus Fisher and now we're already talking buyout from Foyle who we just signed just two years ago. It is frustrating to know why things happened the way they happened when they could have been prevented a few years ago and we could be looking at momentum once we landed Baron Davis through a trade. That should have been the key year to grab guys that can finish on the drive and kick, get beefier guys that can protect Biedrins once he lands in foul trouble, and get guards that can actually dribble and shoot and make decisions. I can see why some guys don't like Jrich at the SG spot, and I agree why, but I love Jrich nonetheless. Not many players improved the way he did and he should have been taken into consideration on what sort of player we should have been building around in 2004 before we knew what he was capable of. Our franchise still needed a pointguard, another ballhandler, and a PF, center after all
