The Handwriting Is On the Wall. Warriors Will Suck Again For a Long Time.

Triple Ugh. We got Rowell and Riley running the Warriors with Nelson as head coach. There's no point in being a Warrior fan anymore.

No roster shakeup for Warriors

Janny Hu, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
(12-31) 04:00 PST Oklahoma City - --

As ready as the Warriors are to close the books on a disappointing 2008, they won't be ringing in the New Year with a roster shakeup.

At least that's the stance of assistant general manager Larry Riley, who has surpassed vice president Chris Mullin as the most visible member of Golden State's restructured front office.

"I would think all of our guys have the potential to build something," said Riley, who took over day-to-day basketball operations in November when Mullin's right-hand man, Pete D'Alessandro, was fired by Warriors President Robert Rowell.

"Now, will everybody be here in two years? Obviously not. But for right now, we're in a position where we just want to look at everybody we got and see how things mature. ... And I'll say knowing that if they were healthy, we wouldn't be where Boston is right now in the standings. But we've got to figure out what this team has got and what they can actually do."

Full article here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/31/SP3O1514CN.DTL

 

Yeah, I read that this morning and got depressed. It looks like Mullin is out for sure, with a bunch of morons running the show. I don't know yet if Riley is a moron too, but while acknowledging this team has talent, I don't see how you could look at it from any angle and think it's well-constructed and balanced. It's a mess even at full health. Then again, what is he supposed to say? It's his job to put on a brave face.

 

Yeah, I've decided not to go to any more Warrior games. I'm a former season ticket holder to mini-plan holder to single game ticket holder and now the hold on to my money holder. Cohan has made some of the worst decisions ever as an owner. I'll go see the Kings play if I want to see NBA action live.

Second, I could accept Mullin and Nelson together because that was a winning combination and Mullin and Nelson seem to offset each other's weaknesses. They were complementary.

But now I don't think the Warriors are going to have the complementary players they need to compete for the playoffs. I agree with you that the team has assembled talent, but the team's not well-constructed nor balanced. And Nelson does not develop any players nor preach defense. Riley reminds me of Garry St. Jean with hair.

EDIT: Can Cohan move this team to Seattle and we wait until some other new team becomes available and Larry Ellison buys it?

 

It's unfortunate, but I don't think management is entirely to blame. The Warriors just seem to be unlucky sometimes. I mean, who could have foreseen Monta getting injured on a moped? Then Baron left and they didn't sign Brand.

We could have easily been looking at a team of:

PG: Monta Ellis
SG: Jamal Crawford
SF: Stephen Jackson
PF: Elton Brand
C: Andris Biedrins

I think that team has a shot at the playoffs.

 

Well, the 76ers have a pretty decent squad to support Brand, and they are struggling too. So I don't think Brand would make too much of a difference. But who knows? Monta's injury sucks. The longer contracts of Jackson and Maggette suck more.

At least some of the less experienced (I first said young, but everyone on the team is young) players like Marco and CJ Watson are having the time to shine.

 

I think we could see some improvement if we stopped playing small and stopped going all offense. This is the biggest issue I see. Notice how the minute Crawford comes back our defense seems to get weaker. CJ Watson is a much stronger defender. Why not start him at point? Plus, he doesn't disrupt the offense and he is more willing to dribble penetrate than force the jumper. Then by putting Sjax at SF, we can sub in another big guy looking to score at close range and bring the ball back out to Sjax for a set shot. This turns Sjax into more of a passer than a guy looking to finish plays from the outside by forcing the issue. This is perfect for him. For SG, use either Belinelli or Kelenna (preferably Belinelli since I think Kelenna is a bit too selfish and doesn't bring the intangibles that a player like Corey Maggette can bring when he's healthy and motivated). Plus Kelenna is way too short for SF, he should have no business playing it if he does not have the length.

I don't see why this simple adjustment is so hard. Instead we see all kinds of mismatches going against us defensively and guys who don't know their role or limitations. Sjax should never be a first option on offense, but our lack of size makes it that way because there's nobody actively getting open. There's also nobody trying to get position under the hoop for a point blank range score, they stand outside doing nothing. Then by putting crawford at point guard, it causes trouble because he does not like to pass very much and when he does pass he doesn't throw many catchable passes that our bigs can handle. He also doesn't take advantage of his ability to drive as much as CJ Watson and he's streaky as hell and he takes a lot of shots in volume at times. He's also a pretty weak defender.

Crawford's highlights is that he's one explosive scorer and can be plugged into either point guard or shooting guard depending on his hot streak and the guy guarding him. A tweener that's versatile like him should ideally be coming off the bench just like Al Harrington should have.

We could also do the same sorts of things with Maggette. To make him a better defender, have him guard smaller players. To make him a better scorer not inclined to take so many jumpshots, put him on a smaller guy so he can bully them. Why go small when this defeats the strengths of our guys? I really don't understand it... Why even bother with Wright, Turiaf at all if Nelson does not fully understand their roles and their usefulness to this team.

 

You're just beating your head against the same concrete wall, CR2. Until Nelson is gone there is pretty much zero hope of any of that happening. You've seen how stubborn he is, I just don't think he's capable of changing at this point in his life, that's one risk you take when you sign on an older veteran coach who is used to getting his way. Then as far as personnel changes I think we're just screwed until Rowell can be removed, which looks like it won't happen until Cohan is.

 

I agree HiRez. The Warriors are stuck with the worst owner, the worst GM, and an overrated coach for the next two years or until Nelson's extension is over. I think sucky Rowell will be fired after Cohan finally figures out that he doesn't know what he is doing. Nelson will be lucky to get fired with two years left on his contract, i.e. after this season. Even then, we're still stuck with the worst owner in the NBA.

 

I have to stop watching the warriors then before I develop some kind of mental disorder. Argg, this is just killing me... I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! What's a matter with this organization??

I swear we're doing all he wrong things like the Knicks were doing earlier with Isiah Thomas. Wasting picks, trading/signing for ballhogs that don't play any D or make guys better. Then we're using a coach who doesn't recognize the usefullness of putting in guys that can help make the team rebounding a lot better and get us higher % points inside.

What a pitful game against the T-wolves. He went in with Turiaf at the 4 instead of Wright or Randolph. What is up with that? We were getting outquicked and he decides to go big in the wrong places in the final minutes of the game. Gomes, Cardinal could have easily been countered with a guy who is quicker to the ball than Turiaf was. Turiaf should have been used inside to defend Jefferson because he can hold his ground better. All the lumbering guys do is tire our lightweights out and that's why Biedrins and Jax were probably dogging it defensively.

 

Wright was out with a sprained wrist

 

I would be so happy if we could trade Crawford/Mags/Turiaf for Jermaine O'neals contract, but I doubt that would ever happen. But maybe it does work in Toronto's favor since they do have the power forward and point guard position already taken care of...

Think Toronto fans would ever like this lineup?

C: Bargnani
PF: Bosh
SF: Maggs
SG: Craw
PG: Calderon

Our lineup then becomes:

C: Biedrins
PF: JO
SF: Sjax
SG: Belinelli
PG: Ellis

which equates to this in Nellie ball:

C: Biedrins
PF: Sjax
SF: Azubuike
SG: Belinelli
PG: Ellis

And since JO will probably be injured either way means no backup center for us.

I would miss Turiaf greatly, but anything to undo Mags/Craw.

 

I'd cream my pants with that line-up.

 

Hmm... Intriguing proposal.

 

Pretty interesting, indeed. I guess the issue is, Bosh is set to leave for FA in 2010, which leaves a big hole at the PF position without JO there. Can Bargnani play C? He seems to have enough trouble playing PF (don't quote me on this as I don't follow the Raptors). Without Bosh and JO, they're going to be stuck with Mags and Crawford for a while (unless Crawford opts out, which he won't).

Yeah, I'd take JO for sure.

 

JO would be nice, but I think Nelson would rather have Bargnani at PF.

 

I'd rather sell out to get Bosh, but they would demand Monta and Wright or Randolph, plus some other stuff. If Monta has friction with the front office and Wright and Randolph get disgruntled, I would probably do it.

 

Colangelo is not that stupid to take on Maggs and Crawford's contracts into eternity (2013?) while O'Neal's expires in 2010(?). Even if he thought that would make the playoffs.

CR2 and I are at our wit's end; we will be dreaming about the day Cohan sells to Ellison and Ellison gives Mully a triumphant return like MacArthur returning to the Phillipines and Moncrief becomes the HC.

 

I'd do it in a second as long as they're trying to make Monta a PG or pairing him with another small guard. If they get a big PG to play with him, then I'd have to think about it.

 

Hmm... 2009 Warriors
PG: Marco, CJ, Jax
SG: Crawford, Jax, Buke, Morrow
SF: Mags, Jax
PF: Bosh
C: Biedrins

2009 Raptors:
PG: Calderon
SG: Ellis, Parker
SF: AR, Moon
PF: Wright, Bargnani
C: JO

I dood it, but would the Raps?

 

Yes, it is so bad because even if we replace the coach, who is a good enough judge of talent to hire new coaches and new GMs? Also, does that management team have the vision to build a winning franchise rather than try to sell a bad product as "a good time out"? If we put a competing basketball franchise in the bay area, the warriors would quickly become how the clippers are to the lakers.

Mully wouldn't be bad in continuing being a GM, but I would have liked an nba head coach to be a GM while he hires a head coach to run his team. Chemistry is really important and it's important for a gm to build a team that he thinks can fit together. I wouldn't hire Nelson though because he doesn't believe in a center or power forward or defense for that matter.