<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article">Proving that it is possible to force the words "Golden State Warriors" and "NBA playoffs" in the same paragraph without bringing about the apocalypse was an exhilarating, exuberant ride for the Oracle Arena faithful and their heroes on the floor. But despite all the magic of that mad dash into history, there's one sobering fact to remember: At 42-40, the Warriors were closer to the last-place team in the Western Conference last season (22-60 Memphis Grizzlies) than they were to the top of the heap (67-15 Dallas Mavericks).</p> As Chris Mullin, the Warriors' executive vice president, tells it, "To be the eighth seed, to have to go 9-1 to slip into the playoffs, was not the final destination of ours."</p> With its oodles of future cap room and quality young talent, Golden State would like to find itself residing in the upper echelon of the conference in the near future. That's rarefied air right now, of course. Five of the league's top six records came from the West, and the Cleveland Cavaliers -- the new young hope for the Eastern Conference -- got flat-out rolled in the NBA Finals by the San Antonio Spurs.</p> "If you look at our conference, there are six teams that are really dominant in our conference, and those teams are going to be in the playoffs unless they have a major injury," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "We're no better and no worse than any of the rest. ... We're in the toughest conference in the NBA. Nothing's easy. Nor should it be. I don't think all of a <span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article">sudden that we're going to be in a position to challenge for the conference title or the division or anything else, but I think we need to be a better team than we were last year."</div></span></span></p> <span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article">Source: Contra Costa Times</span></span></p> </span></span></p>
Having AH and SJax instead of Dun and Murph for a full year should be worth a few more wins. The rest comes down to Baron's health, as always. If he plays close to a full season, they make the playoffs easily, if he plays much less they'll be lucky to get in, it's that simple. The wildcard is what effect losing JRich will mean. Personally I think Belinelli will fill in pretty well in that role. Also, Monta will be more mature by another year, and we picked up some potential helping pieces in Lasme, Wright, and others, without really losing anyone else. So if Baron's relatively healthy, I'm feeling good about the playoffs (although losing Andris for a long stretch would hurt).
I think losing jrich will mean less rebounding (obviously as he averages 5-6 rebounds or more a game), less of a sure thing in terms of 20ppg type of consistent scoring even on back to back nights, and we'll lose a guy who can give 3-4 assists a night Paul Pierce style. I think somebody will pick this slack up, but somebody has to assume the role of the 2nd or 3rd option scorer and be a 3rd on the team assist leader behind Jackson or the backup point. I look at it like Nelson will want to keep Ellis on the bench because he is our 6th man, so we need a strong perimeter player that can play in between Baron and Sjax in a 3 guard starting lineup. I think Sjax can pick up some of the assist and scoring numbers, Bell and Azu can fill in parts at SG/SF, and we'll have to see if we can get more out of Al Harrington in terms of rebounding, and get some more scoring coming from Biedrins. I think a possible wild card could actually be Brandan Wright if he is ready to play this season. We don't know what he does yet, but he's got a polished inside game and he can play off the ball. He might even have a 60% fg season if the point guard just dumps him the ball. But his position of power forward has to do a lot more such as drive the ball once in a while and shoot a step from outside midrange. We really don't have a power forward and I'd like to see either Wright or Lasme give us some punch in that area. We don't have to play SF's as PF's all the time if we've got plenty of ballhandlers/distributors already. I think we need strong finishers... inside presence. We need guys who have so much authority that defenders move aside because they don't want to get dunked on or called for a foul... and then get dunked on.</p> I think Nelson has a good assessment of where we stand, but I don't think our defense is that strong yet nor are we good enough of free throw shooters to finish games we should win. We also lack inside presence which was mentioned above. We'll just have to see what happens. I really do think we should be one or the other (good free throw shooters or at least great all-around defenders where we can stop small guys and big guys.) Even if we're a good defensive team, at least the backcourt has to knock down them free throws.</p>
