I didn't hear the interview but on Razor and Mr. T apparently Nelson wants to scrap the Dunleavy at PF project. He wants to put him at one and have Baron play 2 guard. He also said he wants to give Ike more minutes w/ Biedrins.
Yay! Here's what Nelson said about Dunleavy: "Dunleavy was a disaster. Didn’t rebound, didn’t guard, didn’t do anything." Same old invisible Dunleavy.
I caught on that part, and it seems like Nelson wants to utilize Dunleavy. But the option is getting lesser and lesser. If he can't play neither PF or PG, will he play C anytime soon?
Does this mean that Pietrus is off the starting lineup? Or is Dunleavy playing the point part of some subing rotation? I am happy with how Nelson is handling things. I think the players have kind of found it to be OK to play they way they have been the last two seasons, which has been mostly a way that hasn't been successful or competitive. Now it's show up, or meet the bench time. He seems flexible enough to work something out to get the most out of the players he has. But he is not just going to stand pat and watch terrible basketball game in and game out like Montgomery.
I don't think Nelson will scrap Dunleavy at PF project immidiately. But, if Dunelavy keeps this up, it will come very soon. And, I don't think Nelson will have no problem benching Pietrus. He wasn't completely satisfied with Pietrus, and he was angry at Ellis or Wagner that they don't seem to push Pietrus away for a starting gig during the preseason...
I think he's not ready to give up on him and is just trying to light a fire under his ass. He probably would replace him, but it's not like we have a lot of great options at that size. Yeah you could start Ike at PF, but to be effective, Ike needs plays run for him in the halfcourt, which slows down the game and blows Nellie's system up, reverting every Warrior on the floor to their natural postion matchups, where they are generally inferior to the competition. I don't see any great solutions. I'd be willing to swap in Ike, Monta, or Andris in various combinations in place of Dun, but I'm not confident it'll be that effective. I still think we need new talent that we don't have. Since Pietrus is in a contract year and we probably can't afford to resign him, it seems obvious to me that he should be moved out at some point during the season...but he's not enough of an incentive for someone to take on Dun. Are we willing to give up Ike, Monta, or Andris to be rid of Dun? Wow, I don't know, that's painful to think about. Those are who GMs will be asking for, along with JRich of course. Murphy's stock would appear to be down (and Pietrus' and JRich's stock are probably down right now as well). It's depressing because last year I really thought we had some good trade chips and never thought it would be so bloody hard to pull a trade for one solid player.
<div class="quote_poster">HiRez Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I think he's not ready to give up on him and is just trying to light a fire under his ass. He probably would replace him, but it's not like we have a lot of great options at that size. Yeah you could start Ike at PF, but to be effective, Ike needs plays run for him in the halfcourt, which slows down the game and blows Nellie's system up, reverting every Warrior on the floor to their natural postion matchups, where they are generally inferior to the competition. I don't see any great solutions. I'd be willing to swap in Ike, Monta, or Andris in various combinations in place of Dun, but I'm not confident it'll be that effective. I still think we need new talent that we don't have. Since Pietrus is in a contract year and we probably can't afford to resign him, it seems obvious to me that he should be moved out at some point during the season...but he's not enough of an incentive for someone to take on Dun. Are we willing to give up Ike, Monta, or Andris to be rid of Dun? Wow, I don't know, that's painful to think about. Those are who GMs will be asking for, along with JRich of course. Murphy's stock would appear to be down (and Pietrus' and JRich's stock are probably down right now as well). It's depressing because last year I really thought we had some good trade chips and never thought it would be so bloody hard to pull a trade for one solid player.</div> I don't know if there is any GM who will take Dunleavy's contract, even if we package Monta, Diogu or Biedrins. Because, it's simply too big and too long. Too make things worse, now a days, players are signing 3 years contract. That make Dunleavy's 6 years contract even more unattractive. Frankly, even if we package Richardson, I don't think we can dump Dunleavy. Foyle is bit different case though. He has 3 years remaining, and after this year, he only has 2 years left. So, somebody may take his contract, if we can make the deal really sweet. I am not talking about a first round draft pick though. It should be really really sweet for any team to even think about eating 19 mils in next two years...
Well, that's got to be Mullin's next step. He's got to find a package for Foyle and hopefully we don't use any of our picks to dump it. We could use Zarko/Pietrus bird rights, but we might want to hold on to one of them. Those type of guys are more unique than Dunleavy although just as streaky. My worry is that Mullin will get crazy with the money again as soon as we head into free agency. If we're settling on Troy Murphy as a power forward or center, then we need a defensive big man and a guy that can score inside. That's really hard to find, which is why I think Murphy would have been better off not getting those double doubles to justify getting the contract he did. He would have made a good bench guy and only an excellent starter if we had somebody like Shaq or Alonzo Mourning or some former all-star C that can block, catch and dunk. Maybe Biedrins or POB in a year or two? hmmmm Oh, and if anyone's wanting to know why we need to dump Foyle fast, it's because our projected payroll will be bad very very soon and we're not even using Foyle right now. So we need a quicker expiring deal. As for Dunleavy... Wow he might continue to disappoint. I don't know where Dunleavy could possibly fit in all this talk of halfcourt or open court small lineup. I hope he convinces teams that he'd be really good if he could get a new change of scenery. His value is probably less than Jared Jeffries who IMO probably offers similar intangibles to the team play, but is better known for help/man to man defense and offensive rebounding in per 48 minute category. Ever since Nelson said that Dunleavy wasn't a small forward, he's a power forward... that got me thinking, "now wait, he's not a power forward, either! What is he??? He can't be a point guard, he's not quick or strong enough. If the length didn't bother him, Sam Cassell could post him up any day of the weak.
I am so glad that Nellie will not just stand pat like Monty. It is about time! I LOVE the comparison of Ellis to Tony Parker. I hope he develops into that kind of player...
Mullin might consider trading Foyle to the Sonics, they need a center badly aand might be desperate enough to bite. A front line of Murphy, Ike and J-Rich might work if anything else why not try it it might be crazy enough to work. Dunleavy at PG sheehs!!!! He will try to be a pooor man's Magic Johnson, but he did play point guard at Duke when he was there his first year if i remember correctly.
Dunleavy played some point guard at the end of one season and the team ended up doing pretty well. Dunleavy will have to focus on moving the ball up the court quickly though. Sometimes he takes it slow a little too much. That is not going to work since this team is going to focus on playing uptempo. The best starting lineup for this team might actually be Dunleavy/Baron/JRich(for now maybe this would be Pietrus)/Ike/Andris. That is if Dunleavy can run the offense that Nelson is looking for. I can see Ellis becoming as good if not better than Tony Parker. I think Don Nelson will try to control Ellis like Popovic has done with Parker. There won't be a lot of patting on the back in this relationship at the beginning, which has been shown through numerous quotes from the papers and comments by Nelson. But just like for Parker, the relationship is focused on making the player the best he can be. Don Nelson knows how to develop NBA players. It is too bad the Warriors decided to go with Montgomery the last two years. I would have liked to have seen more pressure from Musselman on players such as Dunleavy and Murphy to become the best players that they can become.
<div class="quote_poster">upsidedownside7 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">http://media.knbr.com/knbr/nelson.mp3 You can listen to it here.</div> Thank you for the find btw, upsidedownside.
<div class="quote_poster">upsidedownside7 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">http://media.knbr.com/knbr/nelson.mp3 You can listen to it here.</div> That was a great interview. Thanks for the linkage.
UD7 - where exactly do they hide those? I was looking for a link to the interview for a while, but no luck.. thanks in advance
<div class="quote_poster">Duckmyster Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Mullin might consider trading Foyle to the Sonics, they need a center badly aand might be desperate enough to bite. A front line of Murphy, Ike and J-Rich might work if anything else why not try it it might be crazy enough to work. Dunleavy at PG sheehs!!!! He will try to be a pooor man's Magic Johnson, but he did play point guard at Duke when he was there his first year if i remember correctly.</div> Woah duckmyster, would that ever happen? Don't the Celtics have 4-5 guys that can play that position? They got Wilcox, Petro, the dude with that freakish wingspan who started playing basketball last week (sene?), Robert Swift, Nick Collison. If anything I bet the Sonics would gamble on one of their raw projects or undersized F/C's than grab a no-upside shotblocker getting paid starting bucks for the next few years. Nothing worse to a team who has mostly all perimeter game and no balance of attack inside. So far Wilcox/Collison/Swift would add to that potential to get inside the paint better. Petro might not be bad either.
Oh here's that sonics guy. Saer Sene is his name. Started playing pro basketball in '04-05 according to hoopshype. ROFL http://www.hoopshype.com/players/saer_sene.htm I don't know what Sonics fans think, but maybe Thabo, Brewer, Josh Boone, Carney, Shawne Williams, or Cedric Simmons would have been better choices considering they recently drafted guys like Johan Petro ('05) and Robert Swift ('04). Heck they could have even checked out Marcus Williams if they were uncertain about Luke Ridnour being the starting player they wanted. But I forget who they worked out. Sene has upside, but it's hard to say if he even had the proper coaching at the high school level like some successful high school players that are least role player level right now (Deshawn Stevenson or Kwame Brown).
<div class="quote_poster">custodianrules2 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Woah duckmyster, would that ever happen? Don't the Celtics have 4-5 guys that can play that position? They got Wilcox, Petro, the dude with that freakish wingspan who started playing basketball last week (sene?), Robert Swift, Nick Collison. If anything I bet the Sonics would gamble on one of their raw projects or undersized F/C's than grab a no-upside shotblocker getting paid starting bucks for the next few years. Nothing worse to a team who has mostly all perimeter game and no balance of attack inside. So far Wilcox/Collison/Swift would add to that potential to get inside the paint better. Petro might not be bad either.</div> I dont know much about the Sonics, but Swift is out for the season with a knee injury, Petro is out with an irregular heartbeat...
custodianrules2 <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Woah duckmyster, would that ever happen? Don't the Celtics have 4-5 guys that can play that position? They got Wilcox, Petro, the dude with that freakish wingspan who started playing basketball last week (sene?), Robert Swift, Nick Collison. If anything I bet the Sonics would gamble on one of their raw projects or undersized F/C's than grab a no-upside shotblocker getting paid starting bucks for the next few years. Nothing worse to a team who has mostly all perimeter game and no balance of attack inside. So far Wilcox/Collison/Swift would add to that potential to get inside the paint better. Petro might not be bad either. </div> It is just especulation of my part but some of their centers are injured and as the season goes they might be intrested in Foyle, heck I would trade him for anybody right now if there was a way to get his salary off the books but I know it is wishful thinking. Christmas is just around the corner and we could surely use a good christmas present like getting rid of Foyle.
