I disagree that this team is better than last year's team. Last year the Warriors were just at deep as they are now. The Warriors also had a better starting 5 with Dampier as the center. And the scoring off the bench is still suspect unless the Warriors get another Brian Cardinal or Earl Boykins from out of nowhere or if Najera can really step up and score somehow. I also don't see playoffs this season for the Warriors, unless if there is some MAJOR improvement. First off the race for every last playoff spot is going to be killer. Then when you add in that this team is very POOR at FT shooting, especially now with Foyle(I think he's a below 50% FT shooter) is now a starter. And I can't count how many games the Warriors lost last year because of poor FT shooting and games they lost by just a few points. So free throw shooting will really hurt the Warriors. And people still want to bring up that 4th quarter/game against the Raptors, when talking about Musselman. But you also have to realize that Musselman got this team to compete and actually BEAT a lot of the top NBA teams in the league last year. And can we expect Mike Montgomery, a rookie coach, and a coach with a track record of losing big games(actually they were probably not even big games) in the NCAA tourny, such as Alabama last year, to have the same success against the top teams in the NBA? Musselman's teams were rarely unprepared for games and they were usually very determined to compete and win each game(The road and free throws hurt a ton though last year, both which weren't just Musselman's fault though). But I'm feeling sceptical that the same competitive vibe can still hang around for the Warriors. And I don't know if Montgomery is seriously the answer or even an improvement over Musselman. And the moves Mullin has made in my mind don't really bring hope to the Warriors or improvement. I think that the optimism is going to come from JRich, Dunleavy, Murphy, Pietrus, and Speedy improving their games. I don't believe any of the moves that Mullin has done bring optimism, unless if you are just an optimistic person I guess. Fisher doesn't do anything for me, especially with his contract. Foyle is just a resigned player, nothing really new. The NVE deal I guess could end up being helpful since the Warriors got to add Dale Davis and some size. But there can't be too much optimism for a player as old as Dale Davis. And letting go of Musselman was a pretty stupid mistake. The Musselman firing was too much like the Jamison trade. It was more of a move to point fingers and make scape-goats than really improve the team. Najera doesn't hurt. And I guess Biedrins could bring some optimism, not neccessarly hope for the playoffs in 2005 but some optimism for the future. I think this offseason was just a bunch of side-steps. No true progress was taken. And I do agree that with someone who said "I expect playoffs". Or those were my expectations at the end of last year. I don't know if I could say it now though with much confidence.
^^^ but this years team will have some things going in it's favor. first of all, they should improve just by the fact that they should be healthier, and they are deeper so they should be better prepared for injuries should they come. the loss of dampier, who i wouldn't expect to have the same numbers he had last year before he got injured, will be lessened because murphy will be healthy and so while foyle's rebounding numbers may not match up to damp's there should be an overall increase due to murphy. and this team is deeper because unlike last year where foyle was unavailable and they had to overuse robinson there should be more flexibility with this year's roster of big men. and it's easier to overcome a lack of "stars" by playing good defense and rebounding and toughmindedness and i think this team will do well in all those areas. i think the roles of players will be better defined with montgomery than mussleman, and there are players that should be better at fitting into those roles. nve struggled in the offense and his health wasn't at a place where he could really step into the void that this team had...the result was he criticized the offense and told the media he needed to play a bigger role and then went out and (on occasion) would shoot something like 3-16. montgomery should be able to get this offense to play better, and he has an ability to get more out of players like mike dunleavy than other coaches might...(and he should be better at developing young players like biedrins and pietrus that musselman was). i also expect this team to compete better, especially on the road. there were stretches last year, like after their homestand against sac and the lakers in late december/early january where this team looked like they forgot how to play basketball. some of their performances were embarassing. there is no way this team should go 10-31 on the road, and they always compete well at home.
Very good points goldenstatefan. However I will disagree(not really a big point though) with this team being deeper. Last year the Warriors were pretty deep(which helped them when they got injured). Speedy/NVE/Avery Johnson JRich/Cheaney/Pietrus Dunleavy/Cardinal Murphy/Cliff/Popeye Jones Dampier/Foyle/Eschmeyer And I hope for the same in your last comments...Better play on the road, should help a lot.
^^^ the warrior's roster wasn't bad, but they rarely ever had a full compliment of players, especially early in the season when both foyle and murphy were out. they only payed 44 and 28 games last season, respectively. and nick van exel only played 39 games and of that number there were many times when he played where he was noticeable hurt and not at his best. claxton also missed more than 20 games, and musselman's use of the bench (with guys like pietrus) wasn't always the most effective. everyone knows that injuries are apart of basketball, but the warriors were certainly more hurt by them than most teams. not an excuse, just the way it happened. i think that this year's team is more durable, and the players know going into the season that the bench will be used. i wouldn't be surprised, as well, to see dunleavy become a more consistent player in his third year and with a coach like montgomery and pietrus should be used more effectively throughout the season, which he wasn't last year (it took muss a while to use him). i think that montgomery will be able to get a lot out of veterans like chaeny, robinson, davis, and najera. chaeny and robinson were both very effective last year but they were relied upon to do too much last year because of all the players that were missing. the only two player's health that i have concerns about are claxton and foyle...if they can stay healthy and show some durability this season i have no doubt this team will be competitive in the western conference.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Clif25:</div><div class="quote_post"> Speedy/NVE/Avery Johnson JRich/Cheaney/Pietrus Dunleavy/Cardinal Murphy/Cliff/Popeye Jones Dampier/Foyle/Eschmeyer</div> You guys make some pretty good points. I agree that we were somewhat deep last year if it werne't for injuries but i don't think there is any question that we will be deeper this coming season. I don't know about you guys but I really didn't expect much production from Johnson, Jones and Eschmeyer. We weren't as deep at every position as we will be this year and I think it will pay off this year in the second half of games that we are finally able to finish.
