I really wanted to give Head Coach Don Nelson a chance, but this really is the last straw. After going back and forth and then talking about Monta Ellis as his point guard, now he goes and does this after a few games. He changes his mind too quickly and easily and it is driving me wild. Add this to his crazy rotation and small ball, and I cannot take it anymore. The PG is such a critical position and to do this after not signing Baron defies all logic or explanation . I give up on Nelson . "Warriors coach Don Nelson's plans to convert Monta Ellis into a point guard are being put on hold. "We're going to switch the assignments, play him more at the two and Jamal (Crawford) more at the one," Nelson said before Friday's game. Golden State had divvied up ballhandling duties between Ellis and Crawford in their first game together Wednesday, and the resulting lack of cohesion - and ball movement - helped prompt Nelson's change. "(Jamal's) more used to what we're doing, and it'll just let Monta be a scorer, come off screens," said Nelson, who has talked about converting Ellis into a point guard for more than a year. "It's a little different when you have to initiate - that guy's got to move the ball. (Monta's) a shoot-first guy and he's had success doing that. You don't expect he's going to change it."" Full article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/30/SP3D15KC9V.DTL
Well, I don't like Don Nelson's strategy and style, but if Monta Ellis isn't ready to be a point, I think Crawford at point is fine, with Ellis at shooting guard. The real problem is trying to get Crawford not to launch stupid shots before he even passes it. For a while, didn't the sixers run with Iverson at SG, and 6'5" Aaron McKie at point guard (back in the day)?
This might be because Monta is just coming back and isn't 100% yet. Hubie Brown made the analogy that Ellis is in his 4th exhibition game while the rest of the league is in mid-season form. Add this conditioning factor to the extra responsibilities of PG, and it might be that Nellie thinks it will help Ellis to just play the SG, focus on getting his legs back and getting into the flow and not having to think about too much right now during the game. However, I'm with JV -- if this is the long term solution, then I'm baffled, because first of all Crawford can't guard anyone, and with that combo, both players will struggle to guard the opposing SG (Crawford is paper-thin and gets pushed around by point guards, and if you'll notice last night Ellis guarded the bigger player usually). But furthermore, Crawford is a bad PG IMO. I mean, he is a serviceable at the position, but for that matter so is SJax or Maggette. They can bring it up court okay most of the time, but what else? I'm sorry, but Crawford is not a natural PG. He's a natural and-1 player. His street ball cross-overs do nothing to help set his teammates up or to break down the defense. They're for show. He's like the dude in Indiana Jones who does this big scary song and dance with swords, and then Indy sighs, pulls out his revolver and shoots him. All flash, no substance. I'd rather give Marcus Williams a shot. But maybe he's a headcase, who knows? I don't think this move is for the long term vision, but if it is, then the Warriors are blind...
Okay, I had to vent. I can understand if Nelson does not want to pile it on Monta, but he also played him a lot of minutes right off the bat. Nelson needs to explain his strategic decisions better because I still question if Monta is going to be the man. I mean Nelson said Monta was a PG in the beginning, but I have not really seen any chance for Monta to DEVELOP into one all this time. So now do we have to wait until next year to see how Monta will do at PG? Yeah, right. It all sounds so very familiar. I'm not holding my breath. If I was GM, I'd be hoping Jamal will opt out and be a huge expiring. If Marco gets more minutes at PG because of this, then that's an area worth exploring. The other thing worth looking at is the AB/Turiaf pairing. Maybe Nelson will give them some run, especially if Ronny can develop his 15 footer into a weapon.
I agree with both points. I think Marco/Monta will be a far better 1-2 combo than Craw/Monta. In the long run, once Belli fully develops. Because he shoots better, he handles better, he passes better, he defends better -- Marco does every aspect of the game better than Crawford, IMO. It's just a matter of time, and with Marco/Monta, Marco can guard the SG and both players can play point at times. Also, Turiaf/Beans was sweet. Both guys seemed to be grateful last night that for ONCE this year, they had another big body to back them up in the paint. It was great to see those two work together.
Haha! That's my favorite scene in the movie! And it is a perfect analogy for Crawford's moves. As for Monta, yes I think we really will have to wait until the end of this year to really see where he is, and until next year to be able to evaluate the PG experiment. That sucks, and as many problems as I have with Nelson, that one is on Monta. I do feel it's better for him to get back his full skill set and shake the rust off before taking on the PG responsibility. It's too much to try to do at once.
Yeah, the dude can't seem to finish when he does the crowd pleasing ballhandling moves. I just really hate Nelson because his brand of ball = no defense, no rebounding, no inside presence, no physical play, and no halfcourt execution. Plus, bad shot selection or really crap defense when he puts all his scorers up front. I'm still wondering why we waived Richard Hendrix. Dude could have helped us fight those 6'7 250 pound bastards that keep getting inside position on us.
I guess I really don't mind this decision, because it's simply too much for Monta to play the position that he never played or comes naturally after missing half of the season. Quite frankly, I just don't think Monta will ever play PG regardless of Nelson or not, because there hasn't been a case where a scorer like Monta ever become a good distributor. To me, bigger question at this point is whether Monta can be an effective SG without a good ball distributor...
Good question. I don't think he has much of a chance with Crawford running the point, unless he does what Maggette and Jackson do which is shoot it every time they touch it. the problem is Crawford does that too, so Monta will have to get it from someone else. Maybe he can bribe Biedrins into accidentally inbounding the ball to him instead of Crawford once in a while?
Assuming Monta gets his jumpshot back, whether he's a PG or SG or combo guard, they should be able to start setting up a devastating pick and roll between Monta and Andris and go to it a lot. With Monta's great midrange shot and constant threat to drive, and Andris' mobility, this should be an extremely difficult combo to defend. Put Morrow nearby on the outside and let Monta and Andris tempt his man to slough off of him and you have the outside threat going as well. Have whoever else is there come through and set secondary screens and be ready to cut when Andris rolls to give him passing options inside.
I don't fault Nellie for changing his mind because his personnel have changed. FWIW, I think Crawford belongs at PG and has always wanted to play PG but he's never been in a situation where the coach has told him he's the PG. In Chicago, Hinrich was forced at PG and Crawford at SG. In NY, they had Starbury so they couldn't/wouldn't give the PG job outright to Crawford. Here he's finally going to get his chance. I think he's going to be very good at the spot given a real chance. He's an amazing passer, and actually does know how to pass the ball into the post - he did it fine with Eddie Curry in NY when he had the chance. As a shooter, he's clearly streaky but I see that as shot selection vs. actually not having a shot on many nights. His shot is so good that he can chuck it up from anywhere in the half court and get rim. The trick with him is getting him to have a better shot selection, and being in the PG role he may well pass first and take the better shots. Again, FWIW.
And this is why the front office is to blame. Like or dislike Nelly, the GM has to know your personell and coaching style. Rowell's deballing of Mullin was the worst mistake the front office made. Monta simply isn't a point guard. I don't blame Nelly at all. He doesn't have players to work with. Pretty much everyone on the team is being asked to do more that they can handle. Monta was paid like a star PG and Baron was let go, SJax was paid like a #2 guy and he's probably more a #4 or 5 guy. Magette's being paid like a #2/3 guy and he's at BEST a 6th man. The young guys are too raw. And the pieces simply don't fit together. I don't care who's coaching this team, you'll see these weird lineups because coaches will want their best players on the court. The only 3 guys on the team that are filling their roles are Beans, Turiaf, and Bellinelli. Wright might too, once he gets healthy.
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I don't like Crawford at PG even more than Monta because we don't play low post. If we play big guys inside and had a guy like Elton Brand and a center like Bynum, then I can see Crawford doing well. He would be just what the doctor ordered on the Lakers. We need more of a fast, quick, distributor, creator, and shooter type of PG than a passing one. And that brings us back to Baron Davis. Why didn't the Warriors sign him to a reasonable extension when they knew Monta was a BIG IF? This just goes to show you that Chris Mullin was right and the Nelson/Riley combo and Rowell were wrong. It was an absolutely huge and horrendous error in judgment, but what can you expect when one has an owner like Chris Cohan who puts the pieces together so we end up with a Nelson/Riley/Rowell instead of a Chris Mullin/Nelson combo ?
