Reading the ESPN experts' analysis, they all seem to say that the Warriors lost JRich and made no significant gains. Yes JRich was an established scorer but if you watched closely, he primarily scored shooting 3s (not a great percentage) and scored a great deal on the break. I think the Warriors are well equipped to pick up those lost points. Yes he provided veteran leadership and was a stand up guy but he was weak in the clutch (bad FT %) and a horrible defender, his lateral movement was Yao-like. I think Azibuike will be an upgrade there.</p> What they analysts seem to be missing is that SJax and Harrington will now have been in camp and worked with the others from the start.</p>
The Warriors will be able to score with or without Jrich with our current team, the problem is can our rebounding and inside scoring improve? But I agree it's not so much losing Jrich is the worry. It's probably not having any franchise level anchor in the post yet. We have Biedrins, but he's far from being a franchise power forward, let alone center. Then we got Al Harrington who plays more like a small forward than an actual power forward. Our guys on the bench are Brandan Wright and Patrick O'Bryant. Who knows what Nelson will do to deny them proper big man development.</p>
There is no doubt that this team can score. It's just unsure that losing that sure and probably the team's best go-to scorer is will be filled by this group of players. There is definitely potential where the scoring slack here will be filled up. But we will have to wait and see just how this will be filled. Nelson seems satisfied with the preseason performances by these guys. Hopefully it all comes together and they can continue to make some noise.</p> I agree with philsmith75 in that Jackson and Harrington having the whole offseason to get into Nelson fitness is probably going to be very good for these players and this team. I think Al Harrington will have a good season. I have not heard anything about Jackson yet. Hopefully he is on top of his game as well.</p> </p>
The irony here is those same "experts" never gave JRich the time of day when it came to all star hype, and always claimed that he was overpayed, overrated. There's no doubt that he'll be missed, we'll see how much in about 2 weeks.</p>
Very true, CH. I guess the naysayers about this team are pretty much looking for an abundance of players who have established themselves in this league. That includes Jrich as an established player with all his good things and bad things and his "hype". Those same critics won't pay attention to preseason performances by Kelenna Azubuike or Marco Belinelli because preseason doesn't mean anything at times.</p> I sure hope it does though, because in fantasy ball I just drafted Al Horford and one of them I have Marco Belinelli. It'd better rain 3's and rebounds that's for sure!</p>
