L.A. Clippers @ Golden State, Game Thread, 11/6/2004

The thing is that I am not worried about JRich. I know he will come around. I have never seen his J this bad, ever! Last night he looked like he was gonna die because he was so upset. Near the end of the game he started driving to the basket so hard that he would fall down. If he does that more, he'll only get better and get calls his way.

I am really looking forward to Pietrus coming back because he needs to get put into the starting lineup. There needs to be a defensive stopper on the wing and I would take JRich over Dunleavy. Pietrus is always fighting to get position, get in his man's face and likes contact. Dunleavy's time is running out because Monty cannot afford to have a twenty win season to develop a 3rd year player.

I had a day to cool off and I don't think this season is lost. We didn't lose by much, we only got blown out by Utah. The keys to success are the following(IMO) Pietrus and Najera should get a lot of minutes. JRich learning to draw fouls and learning monty's system. The team has to push the ball up the floor more. The W's are new to playing tough defense and are fouling too much which they'll learn not to do. Speedy should pick up more shot attempts. If you think about it, it's not that bad.

 

Good post Upsidedownside7. THat made me feel little bit more optimistic about the season. You're right its only three games. I guess I over reacted by the way they lost.

 

This long road trip will be the ultimate test of coming together as a team.

 

Does anyone else remember when Antawn got that fat contract? He was saying the same things Richardson was saying. His first season under that new contract was horrible. His points went DOWN! Maybe this is going to happen with Richardson?

 

Jamison's pts were down by 5 pts from his 3rd year to 4th year, but that's only because he took 5 less shots than previous year. Other than that, most of his stats slightly improved (fg%, ft%, 3pts % and so on). And, it's because in 3rd year, it was virtually Jamison and CBAers, so he could take 22 shots per game. Heck, 2nd best player in 2nd half was Chris Porter in that year. In contrast, Richardson can't have any worse start than what he is going through now. Obviously it will pick up, but I can only hope he will pick up sooner than later.

Speaking of Jamison... Did we only trade him or didn't promise Arenas to have a big payday at his third year to overpay Richardson and Murphy? Although I am not a big fan of Arenas, I would choose Jamison and Arenas' 25 mils per year's contract than Richardson and Murphy's 22 mils per year's contract anyday. Where did all gut go? Last year, they showed a gut to trade overpaid but consistant 21/7 guy, or say no to refuse Arenas' demand to overpay him after last season. Although, I didn't like Jamison's trade at all and would rather have Arenas than not, I understood their ideas to save the money for better future. Then, this year, we completely caved in when we didn't have to, and only player we got from the caproom was Fisher. Can't believe we suddenly turned around 180 degree...