Janny Hu, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, December 31, 2008 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/31/SP3O1514CN.DTL
I'm cool with the roster (because it has potential), I just freaking hate Don Nelson's coaching. He acts like he knows what he's doing, but he has no idea how to use these guys properly. This is the guy that plays a cold shooting Jackson over 40 minutes a game (mostly at PF), and completely ignores using Turiaf and Wright in situations where we need them to support our center. Don Nelson does not know big ball and he'll only play big guys that have a smaller man's role. It's a style of basketball that is just inconsistent and fails down the stretch. The management does not remember how Nelson operates and what got him fired in the first place. Nothing against Nelson, but he does not know how to develop bigs and bigs are what we need to get further in the West. It does not start with swingmen. You can't build around guys like that unless they're Kobe or Lebron. The best we can do is develop very talented big guys and get depth in the big positions, and get two solid point guards to run the show so that Belinelli, Randolph, Biedrins, or Ellis can be made better. We keep on playing small, we lose so much on defense and on high % shot opportunities. Nelson just loves to shoot himself in the foot because he believes quickness solves everything. It does not.
^Sounds very similar to D'Antoni, actually. I think small ball can work sometimes, but the players have to be excellent at what they do like the Suns a few years ago. The Knicks and Warriors don't have those type of players, hence their inconsistencies.
See the mentality is different, warriors knicks suns(old suns) played with the mentality of scoring more points will win you games sure few years ago that was the way the game was played (hence the success of suns and GSW 2 yrs ago) but the league changed with the boston celtics trade, its all defense now. Anyways i dont mind the roster at all except Corey i believe if corey was traded to raps for a guy like kapono or Baargs then the team wud be ALOT more successful because Corey is exact same as crawford and monta. So a big guy like bargs or a 3pt specialist like kapono wud rly help warriors win quiet couple of games. plus a combo of belly and bargs is jus UNREAL
Big, I think it's always been about defense. The teams that make the conference finals stress strong defensive ability and mindset. They almost ALWAYS have (just look at who has been winning the rings: Lakers, Spurs, Pistons, Celtics (all defensive teams that possess big, strong post/weakside help defenders and quick, outside guys who can stop the ball). The reason why small teams never get that far is because the lack of big men prevents any kind of interior D and way to score inside when that outside shot isn't falling (just look at Amare Stoudamire's effectiveness at center versus power forward). Amare does much better being a bully at 245 pounds against other power forwards rather than trying to outquick 260 pound centers. Simply put, small teams are not as versatile as a well balanced lineup that can go big or small. This is also provided that the head coach uses all of his team's positional roles effectively (no 4-guard lineup when that ball ain't working and forcing your PF to play center). 2 sets of bigs + a good point guard are the real control behind the game tempo when combined with a team that has a focussed defensive mindset and the above average ability to drive, pass, shoot. If there's a breakdown defensively at a certain position, then it's like a house of cards. Take one card away and some poor schmuck has to draw the foul in place of his teammate. Same thing on offense too. If there's a black hole on offense... it lets the whole team down. I also disagree about Bargnani. I like his talent, but the problem with big men that start outside and work their way in is if that players who typically play that game are inconsistent and almost ineffective in a real big man role. Look at it when a player like Dirk Nowitzki fails to shoot well in a game. Now imagine the same player who doesn't rebound as well as Dirk Nowitzki. That ends up being a pretty useless player. That's kind of what I see in Bargnani right now. We don't need more outside shooting guys, we need more bruisers who can flush something inside the paint and hold their ground defensively and be quick to the ball. If we can't get that guy, then a pure fundamentals guy who quietly gets 20/10 + shows good defense (too bad we couldn't get Brand).
I don't really agree with the first part. Yes, they do try to outscore opponents but that's kind of a generic claim. The Spurs and Celtics also try to outscore the opponents. 2 years ago the Warriors success came because they were actually a good defensive team. Maybe it's going too far to call them "good" but their offense was as successful as it was because they were great at using their length to get in the passing lanes and deflecting passes. IIRC, they lead the league in steals, blocks, and fast break points. While they were not good halfcourt, man-to-man defenders, it's not like they totally ignored that side of the court either. I agree about Mags and Crawford being too similar. If I were the coach, my lineup would be CJ (Monta)/Beli/Jax/BW/ Beans with Crawford and Mags filling basically the same role off the bench. I'd rather keep Crawford of the two just beacuse I think he has a more versatile skill set and it takes away the temptation for Nellie to play another small guy at 4. I think Kapono would be a great addition on the team. I'm indifferent about Bargnani but I guess I'd rather have a big jumpshooting 4 than a small jumpshooting 4. Also, Mr. J, I don't think this is how D'Antoni would coach this team. He likes to run but he also realizes you don't need 5 gazelles to be a running team and if something's working, like BW in the first half of the game against the Thunder, he'd stick with it and not go in another, completely different direction. Man, this makes me mad. Why can't Nelson realise that you can have the same speed mismatch playing Wright/ AR at 4 as you get when you put in AZU and move Jax to 4. Only then you can still rebound, score some high % points, and not get abused on D
What are u guys smoking? Ok with this roster? This team is a disgrace. The only keepers on the team are monta and beans. Jackson isn't anymore because of his contract. Honestly, he should be the number 4 guy or even a 6th man on a winning team. The rest may be young and full of potential but that doesn't nor will it translate into warrior wins. Simply dispicable
The team we have now could translate to wins in the future but our young guys, especially our big guys have to get better. I think this roster is a lot better than the pre Baron years and is a lot more exciting IMO if the rookie bigs can just get some playing time along with the playmakers on this roster. At least the rookies were a lot more promising and there's actual talent on this team right this minute. I believe it just doesn't fit when Nelson starts tinkering with smaller lineups that are just awful in the halfcourt. We can argue about money spent on ballhogs like Crawford or Maggs, but I think talent wise it's better than having chokleavey, Fisher, Foyle in the starting lineups and paying them near double digit millions per year. This team wouldn't be half bad if Monta didn't get himself injured. If this team got more experience they'd make less costly mistakes. What we really need is a true power forward, a true point guard or talented combo guard that can be a capable playmaker. Then we don't have to see a lousy Sjax, Mags make so many costly mistakes. We need glue to tie this team together and to fill in roles that we're not playing well. Until those positions get addressed Jackson will end up playing a position he's not very good at (an undersized power forward whose role is to play point guard). We'll continue getting schooled in the post, killed on the glass, and failing to stop the other team's primary dribble penetrator. We need to develop/use a big guy at the 4 or get somebody to run the offense besides the nba's league leading turnover machine. There's no Barnes, no Pietrus to emulate a Gerald Wallace/Shawn Marion type of rebounder and Nelson just doesn't want to use anybody but a swingman at the 4 spot because he's nuts. Plus, he refuses to use Marcus Williams who is as pure as a point guard as they come. He'd rather sub in Demarcus Nelson and even started with him at the beginning of the year. Where is the freaking logic in that? I believe this roster could be a lot better under a different, less stubborn coach. We need our version of Nate McMillan! I believe this team has some talent, but Nelson is horrible for this current roster. I'd figure Larry Brown or Jerry Sloan would be less oblivious to the pieces they actually got and get more out of these young guys. Definitely not a fan of Nelson at this point, but we got no choice considering the clowns in management don't know who to hire or know who to stick with. Rowell keeps pointing fingers at everyone when its himself to blame. Plus its Cohan one of the poorest nba franchise owners that lets Rowell run amok. He's been in office for how long since the Warriors sucked? and he wonders why the public just doesn't trust him to be making basketball decisions. Even a rookie year GM Mullin is better than a 10 year VP Rowell because at least it seems like Mullin wouldn't repeat history after a few years of seasoning. If this management thing gets cleared up I'm hoping next season's draft will give us a sure thing. The best we can do is Sjax as a stopgap because he makes everyone better, but not at PF and certainly not at point guard. He's being used in this capacity and it is awful, but it is not his fault!!! They are the wrong positions for him and that's why he plays horrible. His coach and warriors management are nuts! He's being set up to fail and he's way in over his head because of Nelson and his godawful strategies and management's inability to plan. Nelson is put in that bad position because of management and our supposed future franchise player getting his dumbass hurt in an activity he wasn't supposed to be doing. So it is also Ellis' fault too. If we did not have Ellis, we'd be spending Mags money on Baron and probably complaining about what a disappointment he's been (because he is pretty bad without Sjax or Jrich as I recall). It's a mess right now where a lot of warriors personnel are to blame. The fans get cornholed as usual. sigh... A drastic solution would be to drop an a-bomb on this franchise and turn them into the Kansas City Cluster F's Then maybe a competent bay area sports owner can come in and begin a new franchise that is free of the curse of Cohan. Also, it'd be nice to drop the "Golden State" crap. Just call it Oakland, San Francisco or San Jose. I'd prefer San Jose since the southbay teams like Sabercats, Earthquakes, and Sharks seem to be the only bay area sports franchises that have done something of significant worth in the last decade. Giants suck and they can't throw money at anything, A's owner is too cheap or poor like Cohan, the Niners are run by incompetents, the Raiders owner is too much of an egomaniac, the Warriors have been as pitiful as Don Sterling's LA Clippers.
How many years are you willing to wait? Let's just say 2 years for $hits and giggles. 3 maybe 4 guys on the team will be starters in the league in 2 years. That's not a core IMO. Wright, Randolph, Turiaf, these guys are role players at best. Belli will be a solid 6th man. Crawford is an ok starter on a bad team. So what that means to me is that the team needs to get 3 capable starters, 2 of which who are all-star caliber. Note that they have to be playing at that level in 2 years. Let's say either Beadrins or Monta steps up and becomes an all-around All-star player. It should also be noted that the 2 biggest gaps on this team are at the 1 and at the 5, the positions that traditionally take time to develop. Do you think that this team can acquire those players via the draft or free-agency with the current cap situation???? With all due respect, I think most people have gone beyond optimism with the youth to the point of delusion. Sure, I tend to be cynical, but what about this organization would lead you to believe otherwise? 1 playoff year in 15 years?
It's hard to tell with the big men because they take a while so they could be more than just role players IMO. I think in technical skill or natural instinct they are better off than most rooks. I think Belli looks to be like Brent Barry or a Mike Miller (I think sixth man as well). I don't like Crawford. He's explosive and exciting to watch when he actually finishes a play, but there's probably some good reasons why he's been on several losing team rosters. He's not a very efficient player and I don't like those kinds of players unless they offer a number of intangibles. Our cap is screwed, but luckily we didn't sign bozos this time. It's like when we re-signed Foyle or when Memphis threw money at Brian Cardinal for almost as much. Mags is still a go-to guy for teams that lack all-stars and Sjax is a great complimentary player for any team provided he isn't a point guard or a power forward. I'm not that worried about money... I'd be more concerned if we gave an Allan Houston type contract to somebody who plays less than half a season or we pulled a Milwaukee Bobby Simmons type move. At least Sjax is a decent captain IMO, we could have done absolutely worse. I'm thinking all we need is one missing piece ( a franchise superstar that just anchors down the paint and gives us that toughness we've been missing for so many years ). I'm pretty optimistic that if Ellis can be made into a Jason Terry type playmaker, we play a natural two that can provide the real leadership and pass and make plays more efficiently than Sjax, we keep Sjax at the small forward spot, we play Biedrins at center, and we get that superstar power forward, all will be well. If Wright ain't doing his Chris Bosh impersonation and Anthony Randolph is Lamar Odom at best, we're going to be pretty much average team in a heavy hitting western conference where the bigs just dominate inside. We need the Amare Stoudamire or Yao Ming that we should have gotten in that lousy 2002 draft. Without the franchise level 1 or 4/5 man we'll be pretty mediocre and direction-less... I still think our lineup could be solid if they can play some defense and stick to it rather than give up and go smaller in the 4th. The offense at some point should get better with more experience, more size, and more clearly defined roles on offense rather than 4 guys chucking horribly at the rim. Nelson's open offense and 4 guard ball is really making it hard to gauge the real team talent. This is especially with Nelson's reluctance to play CJ Watson or Marcus Williams over some guys who have no business playing point guard. It's tough... I am more optimistic about our rookies than I ever was about playing guys like Dunleavy and signing aging vets that don't matter. Mags, Sjax IMO are pretty above average players when motivated and used properly. I don't see any motivation or proper use of these players. I mean power forward or point guard for these guys? Nelson is crazy unless his strategy is turnovers, failed defensive rebounds, and nobody to look to inside down on the low block. He several times used DeMarcus Nelson over CJ Watson and Marcus Williams which is nutty as hell. I can't stop dwelling on that. It's like Nelson trying to do the Montgomery thing by hammering square pegs into round holes. Monty wanted to play big, but did not have the players to do so (his 1 and 5 man were horrible for halfcourt!) Nelson wanted to play small, but he's got no pure point guard and very few scrappy small forwards he can play at PF. This current team sucks at defense worse than it did in the "We Believe" season. There's just no desire. If the fans aren't buying this 4th quarter 4-guard strategy, I wonder how the players feel. It feels just hopeless.
I don't think Nelly is trying to go small for the sake of going small. I honestly think he is simply not rewarding youth playing time for talent alone. These kids just don't know how to play basketball. Randolph's recent drama is a perfect example of it. Some guys get the green light to shoot, others don't. But if the coach tells you to do A, B, and C to get on the court, then do those things, and work on your holes until you get the green light to do D, E, and F. These kids are just so far from being all-around players. Had the front office not signed Magette and re-upped Jackson, and traded for Crawford, I'd be where you are. I just think that we're so far behind because of those 3 moves. There's no light at the end of the tunnel for me... not even a dull glow.
I hear you CH, after the Rowell/Nelly debacle I'm losing interest until draft season... Still, you figure Yi is getting playing time in New Jersey, might as well give it to Wright. Why punish Wright for things these nbdl guys and players like Mags/Sjax/Crawford are already doing like playing no D.
Keep making sense and I might change my mind...ha! Really though.... I'm just so sick of Cohan. I resurrected my "Recall Cohan" shirt from the depths of my drawer last week.
