Yeah you guys know I admire the old school but watch/read about the ultimate master; KAJ, Kareem (aka Lew Alcindor). http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2008/12/01/the-skyhook/ I had not seen his skyhook in 10-15 years. Simply beautiful. Why no one has copied it since is either foolhardy or reflects the tremendous skill of Kareem. I read his autobiography when I was 12 or so and his amazing footwork came from the fact that he took ballet lessons as a kid. Sad that today if some kid did that he'd get laughed at so bad he'd never play again. Remember too, this is me, philsmith75, lifelong Warriors fan who hated the Lakers growing up.
Why no one has copied it? Probably the same reason why no one does under hand free throws. Sad but true. These days, we see players do "baby hooks," as Bob Fitz calls them.
Kareem was just truly unique ball player in terms of strategy and style. I really admire guys like him and guys like Rick Barry, Pistol Pete Maravich, and Doc J Julius Irving. Talk about signature moves... Too bad POB had it so badly here, he had a nice skyhook which was very intriguing. I kept thinking if we did not have Don Nelson, maybe POB could have been turned into a useful center. It's like what if Jermaine O'neil or Rafer Alston never got their chances. It's really easy to write POB off because POB himself did not have confidence, but I think Don Nelson was just being overly hard on the rookie and also because he doesn't like centers. Sorry, I'm making this about Don Nelson... I just think he's not the coach who is going to help develop guys, especially big guys who can develop nice little sky hooks. I'm in panic mode now because he didn't change his coaching ways and he's not so old school in terms of half-court. We're the least fundamental of teams and it just causes all sorts of Warrior stress.
I'm kind of over the "Nelson discriminates against rookies" take. He discriminates against lack of confidence, lack of jugement, and lack of effort. If you think, prepare, and bust your butt, then you'll get court time. Once you earn his trust, you'll get more playing time. Babying players doesn't make them great. If they're too weak to put in the time and effort, then I'd rather them be on different teams.
Just to play devil's advocate. Why did Nellie play Mikael Pietrus so much then over someone like Brandan Wright? If MP was still here, I think he'd be over BW in the rotation.
If you remember, Pietrus and everyone complained that he wasn't playing enough. But the reason he got minutes was because he dove for loose balls and busted his arse and took advantage of the minutes when he got em. The better example you should use was Barnes. Nobody would argue that Barnes is the more talented player between him and Pietrus. But Barnes earned his minutes by playing smart and hard when he got minutes. He eventually lost his minutes because he lost his focus (for good reason) and he tried to play outside his limits.
Kareem was awesome. Wright's jump hook could be just as devastating. Really, that short sweet shot with his wingspan and quickness could be deadly. Why then is he not getting the time? Oh yeah because he's not a hustler? Has lapses? Well he's freaking 20 on a team going nowhere fast. yet last night, Biedrins fouls out and who comes in? Randolph, getting even smaller. Ugh!
Man this year really hurts. I did not think we'd be THIS bad. This was assuming we'd have Bellinelli and Marcus Williams play a lot more so that the rest of the team could get involved. Then all Mags/Buike/Wright/Biedrins has to do is finish the play rather than start their own or stand around while one guy decides to throw up a prayer. Then I didn't count on acquiring Crawford. When we got him I knew the chemistry would have a good chance in being FU. He's not a lead guard and he's even less of or about the same (depending on POV) as a lazy Maggette on D. Our problems are that Don Nelson has talent, but he's not using them right. I believe we got talent, but we need team chemistry out there and old Don and his staff prefer to play small and with guys who like to score but don't play D (teammates be damned). We need all-around guys who can guard their assignments..
