and Sidney Moncrief will be assistant DC I think. This is great news, but the Warriors are still a Holy Toledo mess in the front office (Rowell vs Mullin), head coach (Nelson blowing up regularly like Old Faithful), and as a team (players). http://www.insidebayarea.com/warriors/ci_11278097?source=rss
Wow, that's just amazing. I can't believe Nellie said that. Sad, but I guess good that he at least admits it. By the way, the Warriors are last in the NBA in opponent points allowed, allowing a staggering 5 more points per game than the Knicks. Whatever Smart and Moncrief do, it can't get any worse than it is right now. There's just one thing left now: Keith Smart needs to drop his pants at halftime to get this team fired up for some D.
Well at least the guys we drafted, I don't know about the guys we traded for or signed. Although Turiaf is tops.
One thing the Nelson apologists have to admit now -- Nelson was lying when he said he coaches defense. This goes to show that he only played big men who can shoot from outside and pass. I really hope the Warriors defensive coordinators, Keith Smart and Sidney Moncrief, are going to have some power in who gets to play and in personnel decisions. The other thing I like to see is more of a regular rotation instead of players just being thrown out there for match-up purposes, but it would probably be too much to ask for.
Well, I think Nelson had a good/decent defense going for the last couple of seasons. He just doesn't have the players to play that type of defense anymore. Matt Barnes was one of those players that really prospered in that defense. But I think Smart and Moncrief are having an impact on the rotations. I think the Warriors have been playing a lot more lineups with two bigs on the court at the same time with Wright/Turiaf lineups, and Biedrins/Turiaf, and even Biedrins/Wright starting 5s (even Randolph has been given some more PT to add another big in there). Finally, Nelson was being bashed for using a regular rotation (I think four out of the five starters were getting 40 more more minutes a night), such as not playing Marco enough - as some were saying. It's really hard to have set rotations with so many new players. I like how Nelson has used some variation in using players so he can see what he has in each player. The first step ought to be to find out where each player can fit in a role, then perhaps you can find some type of 6th man, or group of spark plugs off the bench or something to then finally get some type of fixed rotation. I don't think there will be much of a fixed rotation for this team until very late in the season, especially after Monta Ellis comes back.
Nelson is starting to make it so he plays the big lineups early, but when he closes, you can bet its: C Biedrins PF Sjax or Mags SF Azubuike or Morrow SG Crawford, Azubuike, Belinelli PG Crawford, Belinelli Nelson is trying to score because the defensive lineup isn't as good offensively and isn't enough to stop a 4th quarter run from the other team. But he forgets the thing that kept the warriors in the game in the first place which was defense, second chance points, and better rebounding ability (notice how its much easier for guys like Sjax or CJ watson to get boards when there's two big dudes in there). The thing I don't like about the mentality of Nelly going all offense is because we only have one type of offense: outside offense. If we have no inside offense, the ball doesn't move inward and it makes it harder to score off dribble penetration. Even if we draw out some defenders from the paint, we don't have big finishers inside that can just dive to the basket... This is because smaller players tend to wait outside camping the 3point arc rather than move inside the paint like big players tend to do. If you watch Turiaf, Biedrins, or Wright, they fulfill the garbage role nicely without worry if one of the bigs get taken out of the play on the other team's defensive box out. We got another big guy who can be free to get a putback or get the offensive board. A pint sized power forward would just launch a pitiful deep two or no-chance-in-hell 3pointer and then run back on D. Meanwhile, a big guy would put it back from 15 feet or closer and cause concern for the other team NOT to cheat by leaking out. They have to rebound too or else we can get the 2nd chance board for the easiest points of the game. Nelson is doing better, but you can bet if Sjax is cold, his mismatch won't be at the 4 where you HAVE to set the tone from outside. There's no post ups and he's more likely to put the ball on the floor where he is not as good as he is at set shooting at the 2 or 3 position.
