<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Most intriguing stuff came from Chris Mullin, much of which will be in tomorrow and Friday's paper, but the main highlights: # He expects Nellie and Baron to be back next year. # He says he's re-signing Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins -- at whatever cost. # He's happy with how the rookies developed despite not playing much this year, and sees them as part of the rotation next season.</div> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/warrio...;entry_id=25749 I was worried Nelson might retire.
Nellie is smart. He'd be a good hedge fund manager. He really knows how to hedge his options. Deep down, I'm sure he knows he'll be back (but don't quote me!). He probably just needs some R&R. I hope Mully is right about Monta and Beans.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dark Defender @ Apr 23 2008, 10:17 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I was worried Nelson might retire.</div> Nelson won't retire. He's got the contract he was seeking for this season (well, close to it) and it is set for next season. He may retire after next season and one of the coaches from the organization is being groomed to take his place. It would be a surprise if Mullin hires someone else from outside after Nelson is gone. Nellie's positives are: 1. Getting wins. He is ranked #2 in terms of most victories of all NBA coaches. 2. Winning the matchups battle. 3. Great and imaginitive tactian and architect of small ball. 4. Effective communicator. 5. Effective motivator. 6. Get players in great shape. If you play for Nellie, you have to be able to exhibit multiple skills on the basketball court and be in great shape. 7. Did I mention he gets wins? His weaknesses are: 1. Does not effectively use big men. Usually falls back on small ball. 2. Does not dole out regular playing time. 3. Does not develop younger players. Opts to go with veterans. 4. Is more an offense coach than defense. 5. Can be too quick to judge a player. 6. Alienates some players with his candor and demeanor.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jason voorhees @ Apr 23 2008, 10:48 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dark Defender @ Apr 23 2008, 10:17 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I was worried Nelson might retire.</div> Nelson won't retire. He's got the contract he was seeking for this season (well, close to it) and it is set for next season. He may retire after next season and one of the coaches from the organization is being groomed to take his place. It would be a surprise if Mullin hires someone else from outside after Nelson is gone. Nellie's positives are: 1. Getting wins. He is ranked #2 in terms of most victories of all NBA coaches. 2. Winning the matchups battle. 3. Great and imaginitive tactian and architect of small ball. 4. Effective communicator. 5. Effective motivator. 6. Get players in great shape. If you play for Nellie, you have to be able to exhibit multiple skills on the basketball court and be in great shape. 7. Did I mention he gets wins? His weaknesses are: 1. Does not effectively use big men. Usually falls back on small ball. 2. Does not dole out regular playing time. 3. Does not develop younger players. Opts to go with veterans. 4. Is more an offense coach than defense. 5. Can be too quick to judge a player. 6. Alienates some players with his candor and demeanor. </div> That pretty much sums it up. I love Nellie for what he is. I think Keith Smart is our next head coach.
Good call JV. Nellie has a lot of pros and cons but you can't argue that one thing he is really damn good at is producing teams that win. I fully expect Nellie to be back next season. I think he wants a shot at the all-time wins record which he might be able to get next season but more likely would have to go another half season into the following year (at which point he can hand it over to Smart mid-season like he did with Avery). Nellie is a basketball lifer so I don't see him walking away from a contract that he is satisfied with. As for Mullin saying he'll do whatever it takes to get Monta and AB re-signed, I just don't trust anything he says anymore. The last few seasons hes said "Mike Montgomery will definitely be our head coach next season" and "Jason Richardson will definitely be a Warrior next season", look at what happened there. I like that hes gotten a lot tougher as a GM. I think he'll play hardball with both Monta and Biedrins and let the market set their values. Last year he did it with Baron, Nellie, Barnes, Pietrus. I'm sure Monta and to a lesser extent Biedrins are of a higher priority than the FAs last summer but theres no reason to bid for those guys higher than necessary.
I'm not surprised when it comes to press releases like these. Mullin is basically saying what a lot of people want to hear: fans, media, and sports representatives. A lot of what the gm says to the press is lip service so he can calm the sports press down. It's also to get in a more favorable position with the players' agents and the players themselves and let them know the guy in charge of the money still wants to do business. Biedrins didn't get upped last year and Don Nelson didn't get the contract he first wanted, so I'm guessing with sports agents and contract personnel it won't stop them from aggressively pursuing other options in case things fall through. Same thing goes with Mullin, he's probably looking at other options in case the other side pulls out. So maybe this is what Mullin has to do to send a public message through the media so it's on the record that the organization still wants them back (but they're looking at other guys right now because of Don Nelson's age and other teams trying outbid us for our rookies). Don Nelson's small ball: I don't like it... unbalanced strategy that only wins in regular season and doesn't have a good effect on a well balanced team with the right pieces. Having Don Nelson for one more year might not be a bad thing since we don't have an anchor in the paint quite yet. Maybe the "heir apparent" is one of his own assistants who might take a different path away from Don Nelson's style, but also run and gun when it actually helps us. Part of being a great coach is you make other assistant coaches into head coaches so I hope the reason they brought in Nelson was to develop a good successor who can emulate the best things that Don Nelson does as well as bring his own style to the game. We know the Warriors can't hire brand new coaches for crap and they don't give them a chance based on their FA selections, but maybe with a coach chosen successor, it could work. But that's only if we give him the right personnel to win the games with. If you give a grandmaster in chess nothing but pawns, he can't win against any guy with a full set of pieces. Here's the positives: The GM is in a great position to negotiate with his star players and have the money to re-sign them. No worries there. Mullin is on a huge roll with his draft picks. He hasn't had many misses except for POB, but who else do you take when there's a 7 foot prospect who averaged a double double in college. He was drafted to be a long term project and apparently a coach like Nelson has no patience for him compared to a guy like Pietrus or Biedrins. Maybe it is a red flag when the guy with a lot to prove isn't proving himself. The negatives: There's only room for so many max or near max players. Look at what they did to Jrich because of money. Spending max dollars on two "point guards" doesn't seem worth it in the long run. We have to choose between 1 and then divert resources to two or three good backups or get a player that we need as an anchor in the paint. That anchor in the paint could be Biedrins, but I think he's physically developed all wrong for the center position. He's a power forward body. We need a lumbering presence and we'd need both Wright and Biedrins to get bulked up about 10 or 20 more lbs. If Biedrins is around 220 or 230 as of now, he'd need to get up to around 245 or 250 at least to play regular ball. What good is size is a guy like Brand or Zach Randolph can just clear somebody out with a hipcheck and get the rebound or the putback. Then with Wright being only 210 or 220, he'd need to gain about 10 or 20 lbs just to play a real power forward. He's naturally strong for his weight, but so are other guys who weigh 230 or 245 in his position. Shareef Abdur Rahim (235-245), Jermaine O'neil (240), or Chris Bosh (230-235) would eat these guys alive. When it comes to any interior presence inside, weight class is a factor because guys are battling for position around the hoop. The one thing that scares me is for Biedrins to be effective he needs more touches and he needs more physical ability so he can demonstrate his offensive moves. He's got some nice ballhandling and footwork, but he needs to gain some kind of mismatch other than just quickness. I'm hoping he can mix it up with some power inside and also shoot a short jumper or a flip shot. Then with Wright, I hope he becomes a better shooter from 18 feet and also gets better at the foul line. Some of the top lightweight power forwards in this league all hit better free throws than this guy.
