Where's the Love?

I know I asked before the season started where the love was, but after this magnificent start, including tonight's huge win in New Orleans, there's not much going on here. Has everyone just gone somewhere else?

I really enjoyed talking BB with you guys because you guys knew the game and had strong opinions that made sense but now there's only GSOM.com which is different than this. Let me know if you've gone somewhere else.

 

This is really the only basketball site I've been hanging out at. I think it's just that the Warriors have been doing so well, there's fewer things to talk about. I mean I feel kind of bad saying this, but I tend to talk more when I got something to complain about or when there's something drastically new about this team. There's nothing new and there's nothing real to complain about that we don't already know. The only real complaint I have about the team is when Pietrus plays like crap and how we don't use enough big men to our advantage. Also, when Nelly doesn't empty the bench in a blowout win.

I'm just enjoying the game and seeing guys like Ellis and Biedrins develop. They are going to be important pieces because they are stable personalities, quick, smart, and tall for their positions and they're young. Maybe we get a lot of good years out of them as a Warrior.

 

There's just a lot more going on in my life these days. Half of the time I end up tivo-ing the game and avoiding humanity until I get a chance to watch it so as to not spoil the ending. Last year I would've been to at least 3 or 4 games by now... haven't been to 1 yet this year. I know, I know, queue the violins. You'll typically see my comments either late in the day, or the next morning.

Long story short, today's game was awesome. I just don't know how else to put it. I gotta give it to Pietrus, that was my favorite performance of the season for him. He took it like a man and got 4 fouls in what seemed to be 10 minutes against West. Talk about taking a few for the team. That guy is a monster. Everyone mentions Paul, and West gets no media play, but the guy is legit.

Big win on a back to back on the road. Don't forget to blink.... the 6th slot isn't that far.

 

Thanks guys. Good to know you guys are still watching and caring.

I get to talk bball here that I do not anywhere else.

I'm having a ball, in fact I think I'm too wrapped up into the W's this year. But I'm enjoying the ride.

 

I've been checking this site daily just never felt like commenting since its been kind of quiet. I do have one complaint though.

Pietrus needs to go. He's useless and is a bone head. What happened to his so called "tough defensive" and he relies too much on his 3 point shooting which is very inconsistent. Nelly hasn't been playing him much and many teams are interested in him. Hopefully he'll go so we can play Azubuike more.

 

We might have something to gripe about soon.

I don't think Webber should be playing more than 20-25 minutes but I would really like to see us use a traditional lineup for the majority of those minutes. I doubt Nellie will do it but a lineup of Baron-Monta-Jax-CWeb-Beans could be pretty effective in a half court set and allow our guys to rest a bit for the fourth quarter. However, even though all the talk shows are saying Webber will mostly take minutes from Al/Barnes/Pietrus, I can see him taking plenty of minutes away from Andris. I don't think this will really hurt the fast break game as Biedrins doesn't finish much on the break anyway but it could kill the pick and roll which is, IMO, our only effective half court play. When Webber sets the pick, he's not going to go to the hoop, he'll roll for a 15-18 footer. The defenses will never have to collapse. Not only will we lose some of our valuable points in the paint, Baron's open 3s are now going to be contested 3s and he'll go back to shooting <30% from downtown.

Just my opinion, but this is the next thing I think we'll be complaining about.

 

I think it's picking up a little. Anyway keep posting.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ryan @ Jan 31 2008, 05:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>We might have something to gripe about soon.

I don't think Webber should be playing more than 20-25 minutes but I would really like to see us use a traditional lineup for the majority of those minutes. I doubt Nellie will do it but a lineup of Baron-Monta-Jax-CWeb-Beans could be pretty effective in a half court set and allow our guys to rest a bit for the fourth quarter. However, even though all the talk shows are saying Webber will mostly take minutes from Al/Barnes/Pietrus, I can see him taking plenty of minutes away from Andris. I don't think this will really hurt the fast break game as Biedrins doesn't finish much on the break anyway but it could kill the pick and roll which is, IMO, our only effective half court play. When Webber sets the pick, he's not going to go to the hoop, he'll roll for a 15-18 footer. The defenses will never have to collapse. Not only will we lose some of our valuable points in the paint, Baron's open 3s are now going to be contested 3s and he'll go back to shooting <30% from downtown.

Just my opinion, but this is the next thing I think we'll be complaining about.</div>

What's up Ryan. I think you're right in that %'s wise he'll take the midrangers more than use his body. Webber is a risk if he starts thinking he's Dirk Nowitzki from behind the arc so hopefully he doesn't venture too far out and he just sticks with gaining separation and taking the midrange shots. I also think you're right that CWebb could take away Biedrins' minutes because Biedrins doesn't score on his own at the moment (possibly because he's too light for center and too unskilled for power forward).

I think Webber being used as a center could elminate some of the quickness problems he has at being a power forward. The reason I think he could be still effective as a center is that there were plays in the past where Adonal Foyle was used in a pick and roll situation and Foyle is not faster than Webber at this stage in his career. Yet, Foyle had easy opportunities to score (when he actually caught the pass) because so much defensive attention was focussed on trying to contain hot three point shooters and the two or three dribble drive threats. So, I think he could go to the hoop faster than most defending centers, especially if he can handle the ball some and step back and hit some j's. It really would depend on Cwebb's attitude and his decision-making.

Although Cwebb's D might be Murphy like, the extra bit of passing will help some in halfcourt situations where we need to run something up high and he can do something else than Murphy other than shoot. I mean we think of the halfcourt game like a two man game, but with webber we can do something similar to triangle offense where we can find guys moving off the ball by having him post up or try to get to the foul line. Another possibility is to use a few backdoor plays for guys like Monta Ellis by running CWebb up high. If Cwebb has any rebound in him, he could be a good outlet passer to start the fast break. There were some good outlet passes made by Harrington or Biedrins, but neither are really in the class of Webber. As long as Webber doesn't call timeout with no timeouts left or chew too many of Biedrin's minutes, I'll be cool with him. I think Webber is primarily there for Harrington's benefit because we all know what Harrington does in the halfcourt. He stands around and chux. He's got no other game besides scoring and some of his better rebounding nights are when he cleans his own misses. Webber could fix the passing problem and who knows... might even tutor Biedrins a little if the good attitude of C-webb is there.

We have to worry about what the mercurial Cwebb is going to act like, but why did he choose the Warriors? He must be bringing something positive in terms of attitude or else why sign on for chump change and no chance at a ring?

 

Well for me, I am not able to watch any games down here at school. But I did watch several over the winter break. I was at the Pacers/Warriors game which was kind of a bad game, I was shocked that the Warriors were able to come back. Otherwise I have been a nerd on these presidential elections supporting Ron Paul. But now the only times I follow the NBA is by playing in this yahoo fantasy league and once in a while looking at the standings.

I am happy that the Warriors have turned it around after that horrible start of the season. I am hoping that they can keep it going. It sucks that Baron didn't make the all-star team - he should have - but perhaps he will be content with the rest.