Grade the Players

I got this idea from other boards. So you grade the Warrior players during the 05-06 season.

<u>Starters</u>

Jason Richardson: Great season, best player on the team this year Grade: A

Baron Davis: Injured for most of season, but played well when he played Grade: C

Mike Dunlevy: Had best year of his carreer, stepped up when Baron and J-Rich were injured Grade: B

Troy Murphy: Good rebounder makes up for Foyle's rebounds Grade: B

Adonal Foyle: Should not start probably the worst player on team Grade: D

<u>Bench</u>

Derek Fisher- Grade: B-
Ike Diogu- Grade: B
Monta Ellis- Grade: A-
Mickael Pietrus- Grade: C
Andris Biedrins- Grade: C+
Will Bynum- Grade: B
Calbert Cheaney- Grade: Incomplete
Zarko Cabarkapa- Grade: Incomplete
Chris Taft- Grade: Incomplete

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Run BJM:</div><div class="quote_post">J-Rich: B+, he had a good season and improved his scoring numbers yet again. His defense is still lacking and his FT shooting still needs work.

Baron: C, he was injured alot and shot a low FG%. Still did a nice job of getting everyone involved and hit some clutch shots.

Dunleavy: D+, huge dissapointment, shot a low FG and 3PT% missed wide open shots, missed layups, was successfully guarded by PGs. His defense was very solid though so that saves him from getting a low D or an F but this guy better grow some and carry his weight.

Murphy: C+, average. He wasn't great but wasn't dissapointing. He did what was expected of him. Seems like his 3 point shot was alot worse in 05-06 than it was in 04-05 but he was the best FT shooter of the starters and got to the line a bit. Seems like his offense was improved this year, he could be used to score by faing up and either pump-faking and driving or steping back and hitting a mid-range jumper. Still shot low FG%'s for a PF and provided little help defense.

Foyle: D, hes just bad. Can't catch the ball let alone dunk it, blocks are down, rebounding is below average. He just doesnt do much that benefits the team other than block shots occasionally.

Bench:
Fisher: B-, still bad at running the offense but provided a good scorer off the bench.
Pietrus: C-, dissapointing year, he played well the first half but sucked the second half. Struggled without Baron.
Diogu: B-, solid scorer though not given many opportunities, defense was poor and rebounding was sub-par. He seemed to be figuring out rebounding and defending more towards the end of the season but still not where you'd like him to be.
Monta: A-, earned his playing time by playing great defense and the coaches just couldnt take him out. Showed he has very good offensive ability as well, you could see his jumper become more consistent throughout the season. Wasn't supposed to contribute for a few seasons but ended up being the best prep-to-pro from the rookie class.
Biedrins: B, started the season slowly with alot of foul trouble but learned to stay on the floor more around mid-season. He could still work on fouling less but he easily out-produced Foyle when given similar minutes. He was very solid.
Calbert: B, came in and hit some mid-range jumpers and played solid defense. His value is more in mentoring our young guards but he does his job very well.
Zarko: C-, another dissapointing player. He'll probably always struggle when hes playing a half-court game.
Taft: Incomplete</div>

J-Rich is and will be the best player on this team for the next few years, he is just getting better and better and if baron is healthy next year(big doubt) or if monta plays next year like he did at the end of this year then j-rich will have an even better year...Dunleavy and Foyle should be packed in a trade and start pietrus and biedrins or diogu.

 

<u>Starters</u>

Jason Richardson: IMO future all-star on a bad team. All-around game with the exception of free throw shooting, below average ballhandling in traffic for a guard, passing game is just average, defense is average, has above average floor awareness. Delivers down the stretch. Pretty consistent for the volume of shots he takes. (A- for bad free throw shooting for a guard but good on everything else).

Baron Davis: Injured a lot, can kill the team game with his shot selection, when he's playing well he fuels the offense and makes the team go with his passing ability and excellent one-on-one skills. Teams aren't afraid to body up on him or stand back and dare him to shoot because he's horrible from beyond the arc or at the foul line. Gambles on steals quite a bit causing him to get beat. With or without Baron we still suck. Great court vision though and can be clutch. Ego problems? Grade: C+

Mike Dunleavy: Had WORST year of his career. %'s were down in a lot of categories. Did a lot of things well at times like drive the ball, get to the foul line or play defense, but not great. Couldn't stay consistent. Disappeared a lot. Bad shooting this year. Has nice floor awareness. Very unselfish. He's not a star, he's an all-around team role player obviously. Grade: D for bad shooting

Troy Murphy: Nice rebounding, brings some nice shooting type of offense, really bad help defense, doesn't box out a lot. Had some nice games against elite power forwards (but we still lost). He does a lot of things that make you appreciate Foyle and I loathe Foyle's ugly ass game. Very soft, very slow. fg %'s are down as his shot selection has drifted more toward the perimeter. 3pt fg % is way down. Doesn't have good vision of the floor at times. Plays with his hands down, has tendency to let guys not assigned to him score in his face or get a layup or get his teammates to take the intentional foul to save a layup. Grade: C+

Adonal Foyle: Not only did we draft this guy, but we re-signed him... twice! The worst re-signing ever with Dunleavy in a close 2nd. Works harder on non-stats type of stuff than Murphy like box-outs and help defense. A bit soft in positioning and post-defense is pretty raw (uses his arms a lot rather than body bumps or leaning). Doesn't posess an all-around defensive game, but is a nice help defender and great shotblocker. Doesn't have good court awareness. Freakin' terrible offensive player. Misses wide open dunks, layups, drops passes, and causes fans to boo a lot when he does. Grade: F

<u>Bench</u>

Derek Fisher- Grade: C- (a nice player off the bench, was forced to play starter, horrible point guard, questionable shot selection. Nice catch and shoot game, improved his inside game, solid defense as long as he ain't getting beat, which is often)
Ike Diogu- Grade: B (good prototype 4 in terms of skillset, nice body frame, a little short)
Monta Ellis- Grade: B (nice quickness, already a nice on-the-ball defender, above average floor awareness. Passing game, decision making, parts of his shooting and ballhandling need work)
Mickael Pietrus- Grade: C- (showed a nice stretch with Baron in the game, but he's clearly not a good basketball thinker)
Andris Biedrins- Grade: C+ (can't stay out of foul trouble, but nice potential in the rebounding and shotblocking department. Great hands. A bit weak still)
Will Bynum- Grade: B (Had a nice game, great quickness, can really jump up there and dunk, not really a point guard)
Calbert Cheaney- Grade: C (Nice midrange shot, inconsistent playing time)
Zarko Cabarkapa- Grade: C (Nice midrange shot, inconsistent playing time, had some nice moves with that driving layup that looks like he's traveling but he's not. Has a cool one-handed dunk.)
Chris Taft- Grade: C (looked promising as a center, as athletic and strong as advertised. A 6'10 power forward with a center's skillset. Injured quite a bit.)

 

Murphy rated a solid b. Top 10 in boards when half the year he was asked to play too much away from the rim. In a streth before an injury he got to play man on man D instead of that goofy chase +double junk. he had a run playing great vs Brand-Dirk-ZackR-KG-Garnett-K Mart...sort of equal or top the elite. That the coach is failing to even LET players achieve is a real problem. Thast also very much applies to Pietrus-Zarko-Ellis. Pietrus is not effective in gimmick d and slow motion offense,so he was set up to fail. Zarko got about 5 min a week for awhile,was lucky to remember how to do anything. Monta very obviously showed legit PG ability and yet never got to PLAY PG. As a SG he's short-skinny,though very fast. Credit for doing well in a bad role. likewise Ike got stuck trying to emulate Foyle. Duh? An ordainary idiot would have taken a look at MURPHY as a HIGH POST center...let Ike be a bit more mobile,do what works but we had a very special idiot,so that never got done.

Baron is a PG was second in assists to the MVP scored well. He had a shot at A- but got 3 happy. Biedrens gets a B,would have been B+ except his FT% was pathetic. Most 7 ft Centers are useless till age 24

Speaking of useless...Dunleavy got a D-. If he was a cheap,rd 2 pick,maybe i'd cut him some slack but this guy had years to get some proffessionalism. He got the $ the faculty of a whole school district is paid..then some. He is SUPPOSED to be a passer,an efficient out side shot...BULL.

Dun + Fish play catch at the arc,fire 3's,get each other a few easy assists. Zarko is better at actually passing in the traffic cause he has balls.


Monty...F take him out in the yard and shoot him.

 

by the way...I'm gonna give Foyle a C-. He has done all he can. The fat contract says Mullin screwed up,but Adonal has never been a slacker,has busted his ass. the W's asked him to bulk up and once Shaq went east,that no longer was a plus. Adonal and Murphy can be more effective 10 lb lighter,lose some of the weight the team asked them to add,gain a step,a bit of lift. WILL SOME TWIT on our staff PLEASE tell our big guys to use the glass more to score inside?

 

Any fundamentally sound, aggressive big man is a plus. I personally think the Ike/Murphy tandem is great to have when you need a banger or an outside threat in terms of scoring, but Murphy just makes way too much for what we need from him. He gets the dough because he was the Warriors third or second scoring option at the time of signing (kind of sad really). Hopefully our center can do some midrange and inside work offensively to keep things honest as well as intimidating all-around defense. None of this shotblocking only. Let's see some saavy when it comes to bodying up in the post, forcing a travel, knocking the ball loose, or not going so crazy with the over-the-back fouls like Biedrins and Foyle can get carried away with on offense. When Murphy does that I give him the benefit of the doubt because of his positioning, but Biedrins and Foyle are just damn raw. The only plus side is those guys earn us extra posessions and pose as legit shotblocking threats. Can't say that any other Warriors big man would be scary for an athletic two guard to dunk on.

BTW I'm not a Biedrins hater, I love Biedrins. But he's got to develop soon or we're screwed because he affects who we draft and spend development time on.

 

Starters

Jason Richardson: An absolute pleasure to watch, a guy who brings it every night, plays through injuries and has the jordon drive to win at all costs. Grade A- always room for improvement.

Baron Davis: Injured ...out of shape.... frustrating player to watch. One minute breaking defenses down, setting up team mates and running the show.. the next hucking up 3 balls and being lazy, granted he was saddled with the worst back up 2 guard in the league in fisher at times...that is a lot to compensate for. Grade B-

Mike Dunlevy: The ugly start was tough to watch, he did turn it on at the end despite speding a lot of time frustrated with a point guard who would rather dribble and throw up bricks than actually run an offense. Grade - A generous C

Troy Murphy: Of all the players, despite his slumps after injuries ...coming back to fast perhaps,,, i thought he was fairly consistent ...he has a good work ethic ..too bad his work ethic doesnt result in quicker foot work. Grade B

Adonal Foyle: Absolutely terrible, for those few games he showed up he gets a little love...and i thought dampier had hands of stone. Grade D-

Bench

Derek Fisher- F- Absolutely the worst player on the team. If he wasnt on the roster i have no doubt in my mind we would have made the playoffs this season. His defense is atrocious and more often than not we were playing 4 on 5 with him on the court... looking around the league there is not a team he could start for...in fact there are'nt many teams he could be a back up for.... he is a back up's back up at best...

Ike Diogu- Grade: C+ would have loved to see more than flashes of this guy and some real minutes

Monta Ellis- Grade: A- ....by the time the season was over he was my favorite player. Love the kid.

Mickael Pietrus- Grade: D ...i dont know if it was because baron wasnt there or what but it seems like he took a few steps backwards this year.

Andris Biedrins- Grade: B i thought andres is slowly ...really slowly learning the game... and not in as much foul trouble.... needs major minutes... turn him loose

Will Bynum- Grade: B... really impressed with his athleticsm

Zarko Cabarkapa- Grade: D... just not a fan.... because he gets such limited minutes he really presses and makes a lot of errors in that limited time.... really needs the ball running through him.
calbert cheaney..... please dont resign him ... i once disliked the towel .... but this season i came to like his professionalism.... i can only hope that if fisher the liability remains on our team.... fisher slides down the bench and fills cheaney's role..... in other words weeks of dnp's and rare minutes.

Chris Taft- Grade: Incomplete didnt see enough of him....but he did perform under pressure

 

btw I mean to give Murphy a C+ because he and Fisher are about the same IMO. Both are good shooters (esp at the foul line), but dang do they annoy me in the slowness department and not doing their jobs as power forward and point guard roles. Power forwards typically have an inside game and some interior defense skills so it doesn't force Foyle to be "the goalie" as yayareafan mentioned. And Fish doesn't do his job well as a lead guard trying to distribute and create for others. Thus, him calling out plays is ineffective if he can't lead the way first (and we probably can guess a few players don't even know the plays or where they are supposed to be in relationship to the other guys). We've now got veteran players so used to playing a "no-style" of ball that motion offense is foreign to them... Not that it matters anyway since we don't even have the right ingredients to make any plays effective because none of our bigs can score inside and some guys can't catch or finish over smaller players. Also, some of our guys have serious decision making issues on the floor, which is why they'd rather shoot than pass or not make the extra move to get open. The most embarassing thing is to move without the ball and the passer thinks you're going somewhere else and the ball gets thrown into the stands. Vice versa for the passer where either Fisher or Baron or Dunleavy or somebody was trying to pass to some rookie or bonehead who didn't know the plays. Plus, if we're not executing well or fast enough, it just becomes a telegraphed pass in the ultra quick nba. We get a reliable scoring starting five that can score from anywhere and use their heads, this will work. But at times we just don't even have the patience to try and coordinate together, hence the 4th quarter collapses, poor decisionmaking, and shot selection.

 

Davis: B-: 17.9 pts / 8.9 ast / 4.4 reb / 38.9% fg / 32% 3 pts / 67% FT / 1.65 stl

Statwise, he had pretty decent year. And, excluding nagging injuries, Davis was relatively healthy until we were basically eliminated from PO. However, many times, he didn't think of involving teammates, and he also had a trouble with Monty. Also, we can use higher fg% and ft%. Relatively disappointing year.

Richardson : A-: 23.2 pts / 5.8 reb / 3.1 ast / 44.6% fg / 38.4% 3 pts / 67.3 FTs / 1.29 stl

I was worried how he would fit in with Davis, and not only he worked very well with Davis, he showed that he can improve even more. Heart and soul of this club. However, his extremely poor FTs for a SG barred from getting A.

Dunleavy: D-: 11.5 pts / 4.9 reb / 2.9 ast / 40.6% fg / 28.5% 3 pts / 77.8% ft

You wouldn't think Dunleavy will just disappear after getting a fat extention. But, that's just what he did. The most disappointing player in this season. He disappeared during the game often and can't hit wide open jumpers. His play became so bad, most of nights PGs were guarding him and he still couldn't take an advantage of the mismatch. Only good news is that while still below average, his defense improved. Hope for a better year.

Murphy: C+: 14.0 pts / 10.0 rebs / 1.4 ast / 43.3% fg / 78.7% ft / 32.0% 3 pts

Ever since Mullin let Dampier go and paired Murphy with Foyle, his weaknesses were destined to be exposed. And, Murphy-Foyle line up showed that we will get slaughterd unless there is a change. For positive side, Murphy is hitting inside more often, and he still is a very productive player with another double-double season.

Foyle: C-: 4.5 pts / 5.5 reb / 50.7% fg / 61.2% ft / 1.62 blk

For second straight years, Foyle proved that he is a career back up center. To make things worse, his reboundings and blocks are declining and we hardly see Foyle's surprising blocks anymore. He plays hard and do whatever he can do. But, that's just not enough.

Fisher: C: 13.3 pts / 4.3 ast / 1.52 stl / 41.0% fg / 39.7% 3 fg / 83.3% ft

Before 05-06 season, Fisher said he will be agressive. Now I realized that he wants to be a ballhog and fill out that stat sheet. Mullin signed Fisher to be a starting PG, and we still don't know what he was smoking when he signed him. He can't lead the ball club to save his life, extremely selfish for PG, and since his defense is slapping the ball from other players, either he makes an excellent steal or make a very dumb foul at the crunch time. However, he is a very good back up SG, and when Davis is healthy, his weaknesses can be covered. He had a good stat year, so trade hiim while you can.

Ellis: B : In April 28.3 mins / 11.6 pts / 3.5 ast / 3.7 reb / 1.1 stl / 42.6% fg / 37.5% 3fg / 75% ft

Granted that his best month happened when we were realistically eliminated from PO. However, during that stretch, he showed that he can be something special. Extremely quick, has a nose for steal, and showed a great potential to be a scorer. Only problem is that he is not a PG and he is too small to be SG.

Cheaney: I : Is this the last year for him?

Pietrus: D-: 9.3 pts / 3.1 reb / 0.8 ast / 0.63 stl / 40.4% fg / 31.8% 3fg / 60.9% ft

Right behind Dunleavy, Pietrus also had a huge disappointing season. Career low fg%, 3pts%, ft%. He didn't improve since his rookie season, and when he finally got the starting job he wished, he completely disappeared. He had every chance to shine in this season and he completely blew it. Expect a better season as well.

Diogu: C+: In April 22.5 mins / 12.5 pts / 6.1 rebs / 54.3% fg / 86.2% ft

Not exactly what we expected, because he had hard time scoring in paint due to being an undersized PF. However, he did compensate very nicely with excellent midrange jumper. If he can develop reliable post up moves, he can be a star in this league.

Biedrins: B: 3.8 pts / 4.2 rebs / 63.8% fg / 30.6% ft

Foul, physical strenth and fts are still obvious problems, but he showed incredible progress this season. He is extremely quick, long, and made basically any shot he threw up. Still the youngest player in Warriors.

Taft: I: It must be one heck of back injury. After showing a flash of potential, he suddenly disappeared.

Bynum: I: Good to know that he may join Warriors summer league camp...

 

This was actually the post that finally motivated me to register....


<u>Starters</u>

Jason Richardson: Freethrow shooting and D and ballhandling prevent a higher grade, but 2 of the 3 continue to improve. My favorite current warrior. He keeps improving and there can be no doubt of his heart and dedication. Team MVP this year. Grade: B+

Baron Davis: I'd almost like to give an 'Incomplete' here. Had he been healthy, i think the playoffs were totally realistic. When he's 100% (or close), this team wins alot. Grade: C

Mike Dunleavy: I believe the biggest (or maybe second biggest problem after Baron's health) was the fact that our SFs laid an egg this year. Between MDJ and Pietrus, the lack of production from the 3 spot was the biggest reason things really deteriorated when Baron was injured or playing at 70%. He certainly has skills and smarts, but to paraphrase something Rick Barry said, 'I like Mike, he's a good kid, but he seems to lack agressiveness and that killer instinct'. I can go on and on about this...the SF position was a disaster for the Warriors this year. Grade: D

Troy Murphy: Such an interesting player. Remember that streak of games where he held his own against the elite PFs? The one thing I remember most was the effort he was giving on defensive rotation. His effort was amazing. We actually had a weakside help defender down low. He's certainly not a traditional PF, but if he could play like that for 82 games, I don't think there would be any chatter about him as trade bait. He did fade as the season wore on. Grade: B-

Adonal Foyle: I think everyone knew that center was going to be a big problem this year, so it's not a huge disappointment. The guy has heart, does everything he's asked to the best of his abilities, and you can never fault his effort. But honestly, all he brings is effort and some shot blocking. Grade: D-

<u>Bench</u>

Derek Fisher- The only problem with Fish is that he wasn't born 6'5" . He's just not a PG. My wife will attest to the number of times I shouted 'AWWW FISH' as he was 'running' the fast break. Still, you can't fault his effort and spot up/free throw shooting. Grade: C+
Ike Diogu- Showed that he can be a real post scoring threat and makes his free throws. It would be nice to see that 7'3" wingspan block some more shots and grab more boards. Grade: B-
Monta Ellis- Special talent. If he can develop the PG skills, then WOW! If not, he's still gonna be a heck of a combo guard. Grade: A-
Mickael Pietrus- Amazing athelete with some skills. Too bad he doesn't actually know how to play basketball. Like I said in my MDJ comment, SF production was a disaster this year. And btw, while I don't think MP is a real basketball player, he's really more of an SG than SF. Grade: D
Andris Biedrins- As the season went on, he was able to stay out of foul trouble more and that's been the big thing with him so far. He can catch and score, board and block shots. The freethrows are amazingly bad. But I think he's ready for major minutesGrade: B
Calbert Cheaney- Good man. Grade: Incomplete
Zarko Cabarkapa- His D is so bad that he needs to score 18+/game to justify major minutes. And his points per minute do not say he can do that. Is he the worst guy to be the #12 on your roster? No. But I'd prefer a Najera type guy for that role. Grade: Incomplete
Chris Taft- In limited time, he really looked like he can playGrade: Incomplete

 

Well thank goodness for vcwannabe15 and his thread ideas! Good grades, I agree. I can be pretty hard on Murphy and Dunleavy though. I'm pretty much thinking neither can exist side by side and especially if we keep giving up points in the paint and one or the other keeps shooting at below 42% as non primary options and one of them doesn't settle for a midrange game to shoot high %.