Wait a minute!? Has custodian lost his mind? Actually, maybe I already have.... being a Warriors fan and all. Now let me start off by saying that I absolutely hate Foyle's crummy hands and granny hops, but maybe he could save Biedrins some fouls and physical wear and tear from guarding stronger C's and PF's. Foyle shouldn't be a starter, but he's the second best defensive big we have. Foyle would essentially keep Biedrins nice and healthy by not having so many post players lean on him. We keep Beans nice and fresh, we got somebody to help us win the opening tipoff, and maybe Beans can work down low against the 6'9-6'10 240 lb power forwards while Foyle takes the midrange jumper against C's. (He is actually decent at this, I believe). But on the other hand, Foyle might be so offensively disrespected, he might be taking more of those jumpers if left wide open because both PF and C could collapse on Beans and nobody but PG, SG, SF could spread the floor with the outside shot (which they will take if the paint is crowded and there's no floor spacing). But... maybe we don't have to be doing that. If we can sometimes hide Murphy or Dunleavy on defense, there has to be a way we can make Foyle score a decent % and catch the ball. All I know is, we can run a lot better if we can alter more shots and hustle down the loose balls to run the other direction. If we can't make stops, then the other team could match our %'s or make up the difference in points by getting the foul line. I think with two strong shotblockers we outta to force more jumpers. I don't think we can do it by just standing around on D waiting for somebody to bail the person out or by just taking charges all the time... The downside of this is the ball movement won't be good and essentially Foyle will be a blackhole because he either drops it or he goes up with it. So the pressure is on to mask Foyle unless he can somehow catch, make an easy score when given the chance, and pass the ball around. His court awareness and game fundamentals sucks, though. Maybe this could buy time for Diogu's return for the bench, but this whole running game will not work unless we have the ability to take better care of the ball, make the most of the foul line and be able to get there, shoot really well every game, and also play enough defense to run the ball out before the other team's defense can get set. That's our biggest problem... When the other team has scored and we can't run it back out because we have to take the ball in. The running game is more about reaction time and quickness and constant pressure on the other team's defense. I don't think we have enough of those players to get the other team on the backs of their heels. But maybe we can D it up? It's a catch 22 here sort of... Foyle being the opposite of Murph. I mean that's why they role players instead of balanced starters. I just hope we can do something defensively so we can avoid the halfcourt situation. We've got no true inside presence except for Biedrins streaking down the middle from the high post toward the basket and the occassional turnover prone postup isolation on the low block.
I know defense ain't Don Nelson's style, but what are we going to do? We don't have three healthy, current all-star perimeter players that can create their own shots and make free throws and do it like a vet. We're second youngest team in the nba probably with some outstanding offensive stats, but we're losing games because defensively we're getting outmatched or guys are injured or we don't have certain skillsets desired in the players that are out there. Sometimes guys are not meshing well and I don't believe it's the system. These players have been together for a while, but they're just not very compatible IMO because the PF role and SF role are too similar with Dun and Murph. And if we bench one and start the other, well we don't have very good PF and SF options right now other than Barnes... There's definitely no PF when Ike is out... It kind of sucks for us! Anyway I feel we have to manage our production a little bit better so we come out on top more times than not. I mean this losing streak has some cause for concern if we don't know what strategy is going to be reliable for us night in and night out, especially on the road or when we start facing back-to-backs. I almost kind of wish we would stop going against the basket ball gods' will to send us back to Secaucus. We're a lottery team trying to pretend to be playoff team (I thought since beginning of the year) and Mullin needs Nelson to save him from something worse than alcohol addiction (the fans' wrath!). Of course maybe the Foyle at C/Biedrins at PF will get us killed even worse, but maybe we wind up with a top5 draft pick in 2007. Either way, more defense with supposedly less fouls on Beans, and better chance of landing some stud in the draft considering Mullin's best talent is to find young, good players. Losing Jrich to injury was a big blow, but it just goes to show how bad we can be without a near-All-star scorer. I mean even fans of Jrich know he's not a franchise player, especially shooting guard. But we need him to be the offensive team Nelson is trying to throw out there.
You make some good points but I dunno...the less Foyle is on the floor the better IMO. I know he's been pretty good this year a few minutes at a time, but I don't believe for a second that success will scale well at all to any real, regular minutes...and I don't think you really believe that either. Andris may struggle some, but he's recently been matched up against some elite big men such as J. O'Neal, Yao, and Duncan, so I'm not going to read too much into it yet. I think some of the problem is that Andris' game started declining at the same time the entire rest of the team regressed. Which is the chicken and which is the egg I don't know but if everyone else is playing poorly that's going to put more pressure on Andris and everyone else. What the heck is he supposed to do when Baron flips up some random clanger from 18' out? It's hard to get in a good position to rebound if your guards are freelancing it and taking poor shots without ball movement. What I'd say needs to happen is: 1. Monta needs to get more aggressive and stay aggressive for all 4 quarters. If that means ceasing to defer to Baron then so be it. When Monta doesn't hesitate to take the ball to the rack, good things happen, and no one can guard him well one-on-one. Monta could be and should be scoring 25+ points a night, easily. I know Nellie is trying to sacrifice his offense for now to teach him PG skills, but I say let him score now while we need it and resume training once everyone is back and healthy. Monta is at his best when he's aggressive, scoring on offense and relentlessly pestering dribblers on defense. When he's passive he loses focus and disappears. 2. Pietrus needs to take fewer shots, a lot fewer. He needs to go back to concentrating on defense and getting hoops on cuts to the rim. 3. Baron needs to get out of his newfound love (again) with chaotic streetball and act like a professional NBA point guard who understands his role. Sometimes this works and makes him look good but more often than not it hurts the team by taking everyone else out of the game. 4. Murphy needs to help more on defense, even when it means sacrificing some personal fouls on his part. 5. JRich and Ike need to get healthy. Nothing but time can fix this, of course. Things the whole team needs to work on: 1. Freethrow shooting. Dunno what to say about this, maybe it will take a miracle. But until this improves the Warriors cannot be any better than mediocre. If they had hit even an average FT%, they would have won a bunch of the games they lost this year. 2. Stop allowing three-point plays. If you make the decision to foul someone going in to the hoop, foul HARD, tackle them down to the floor if you have to, but don't let them get a shot up. And while you're at it, stop making stupid fouls. Andris should not be running at a guard 20' from the hoop putting up a shot with a few seconds left in the quarter (yes, I have seen this). 3. Play fullcourt pressure defense for more than two minutes per game. Generally, good things happen for the Warriors when they do. 4. Push the ball as much as you can every time down the court. Never walk the ball up the court, even if the other team is already back on D. The halfcourt game is death to the Warriors, like Kryptonite to Superman. 5. Never shoot a three-pointer off the dribble and without ball movement first. 6. Stop setting up the zone with Biedrins on the wing and leaving Murphy defending the opposing center under the rim (no idea why Nellie insists on doing this). 7. Don't make an extra pass on the fast break if you don't have to. I've seen the W's lose a bunch of possessions (and momentum) this year doing this. 8. Box out! Always! Even on foul shots! Duh!
I'd like to respond to all 13 of your points here, HiRez. I completely agree with the whole lot! An excellent analysis all the way around, and put well into words. Cheers!
Yeah I agree with HiRez. I was just trying to make a point about defense leading to offense. But it's a catch 22... With Foyle we still can't swing the ball with him being so clumsy and inept. Getting defensive boards would be a challenge if he can't even come up with them with his clumsy hands and two inch vertical, good positioning or not. On a team where the guard action is mostly responsible for creating things, they sure seem to be creating for themselves a lot. Putting in Foyle would feed their case in not passing the ball inside because they know Foyle will drop it out of bounds. I'm just looking for somebody to protect Biedrins. I don't know if he can last 82 games being so underweight at C. The other big issue that maybe I left out, was that we do turn the ball over a lot. I mean that's what running teams do, especially young ones. We get careless and rush and then we mess up badly. So if halfcourt is kryptonite to us, so is being sloppy with the ball to the point where we can't even put up a shot on goal.
Sorry for the ideas being fired out like that, Hirez. It's late and one idea leads to another... and it's just hard to organize. Things become fragmented... But then again all these warriors problems are all linked... that's why it's kind of frustrating. I hope someday we can win the matchups in at least three of our positions at one time... and there's enough help from the weaker of the two to go unnoticed. Lately, only one or two players show up and it's too late. Can't play D or pass n' score all the time with just one or two players... Again, it could be just injuries, but I think that's just an excuse...
At the moment,player,roles,tactics,are all under construction-lots of experiments-a learning experiance for everyone. I'd figure a lot of what's mentioned here IS stuff that's getting attention. I have seen progress..also saw some backsliding. Foyle has not played much but when he's played--he's a much improved Foyle from Ol' Oven Mitts of last year. I think he relocated 4" on his jump,and a lot of his lost quickness. Even more notable-no klutzy fumbles. He was 9-10 FG at one point? Whoa! Obviously-the tactics he'd used vs Shaq for years also applied to Yao. Beans is great-but him giving up 75 lbs and 5" to Yao is too much,it was a worse match than Baron on T-Mac. I was surprised Nellie didn't get Foyle in sooner..but then maybe he WANTED Biedrins + Murphy to get some schoolin' ?
<div class="quote_poster">custodianrules2 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> Beans and Foyle starting frontline? Wait a minute!? Has custodian lost his mind?</div> Sorry, I only got as far as " Beans and Foyle starting frontline? Wait a minute!? Has custodian lost his mind?" The answer is yes. I rather see some of Foyle's minutes go to POB and also agree with Hi Rez.
<div class="quote_poster">jason voorhees Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Sorry, I only got as far as " Beans and Foyle starting frontline? Wait a minute!? Has custodian lost his mind?" The answer is yes. I rather see some of Foyle's minutes go to POB and also agree with Hi Rez.</div> Yeah thanks pal. I also retracted some ideas and ended up agreeing with HiRez as well. The point was to throw some ideas around and figure out how "not to wear out Biedrins". REREM offered some ideas I also agree with and that's where I was coming from.
