<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Tonight marks the Warriors' first home game since Don Nelson gave his now-famous Looks Like We're Screwed Again speech, and gauging the crowd reaction will, for one of those rare times in recent Warriors history, be intriguing. I mean, they've been told to abandon hope before, often in this space, but not by one of the guardians of the temple. Now, with big games against Denver and the Los Angeles Clippers tonight and Friday, this seems like the perfect time to re-address Nelson's capitulation and determine whether it was a vow to restructure the team yet again, momentary despair born of a rancid road record, not-my-fault-Jack gamesmanship or simply a garden-variety cry for help. And we do this knowing that if the Warriors beat both the Nuggets and Clippers, Nelson quite likely will retract his concession speech. But let's say that, having been fooled before by games like Monday's win against Detroit, we choose not to be misled again. Let's take Nelson at his word when his word was, "Oops, wrong again," and examine the future, such as it is. It seems eminently clear that not only are the Warriors not big enough or tough enough to run with the lions, they are clearly not sturdy enough. At some point, being injured every year becomes a predictor of the future rather than simple bad luck, and plainly a team built around two guards who rarely play together is unlikely to win together. Monday was the 20th time Jason Richardson and Baron Davis have interacted in a real game this season, and without putting too fine a point on it, if Nelson thought the only thing the Warriors lacked was enough games with Richardson and Davis playing together, he'd have held his tongue in Chicago. Thus, we can conclude only that Nelson actually has seen enough in those 20 games, not to mention the other 42, to believe the Warriors are just not ready to make the next great leap toward respectability. And if Nelson, who has been coaching since the earth cooled, can't see it, shouldn't the logical assumption be that it isn't there? So what, then? How do the Warriors get better, if such a thing is actually possible? Hoping for lottery magic seems unlikely, given that they have won too many games to tank the season effectively. Greg Oden and/or Kevin Durant are beyond/beneath their ability to reach, and there are no other difference-making big men about whom anyone knows after that. So maybe they trade to move up, then. OK, then, smart guy, who? We know no contract is unmovable, based on the Dunleavy-Murphy-Harrington-Jackson deal. But a big deal requires big bait, and Richardson seems more movable than Davis, if based only on contract size. But Richardson alone doesn't get you much, so whom do you throw in there? Monta Ellis? Andris Biedrins? Al Harrington again? How badly do the Warriors want to remake themselves? And if, as we suspect, trading up even with such a package isn't possible, then what? Do the Warriors want one more guard or small forward just to totally reject the orthodoxy of height and go down as the looniest team ever? Do they stand fast with a team that they say hasn't had the chance to jell yet? </div> Source
IMO, no sense in trading up unless you get #1/#2, and even then I would be reluctant to give up Ellis/Biedrins. I mean, If we could give up, say, Harrington, POB + #9 to get #2, then I'd do it, assuming both Durant & Oden declare. But that's probably dreaming. What would the #1/#2 teams want, if not Ellis/Beans?
I don't think the players or coach should be worried about lottery position at this point until they are pretty much mathematically out. I like Jackson's comments from the "Melo Out" thread: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Warriors are 20-10 on their home court. They are in 12th place in the Western Conference, but just three games behind the Clippers for the last postseason spot in the conference. "We need to take this as a positive and let this game change our season," said Stephen Jackson, who added 14 points. "There's still time to get this turned around." Jackson returned after missing four games with a toe injury, while Baron Davis - who scored 15 - came back after sitting out 13 games with a knee injury.</div> Hopefully the players can turn it around and make that last strong push. Winning this week will go a long way by beating the Nuggets and the Clippers. Getting the W in Washington would have been a helpful boost as well. If the refs were halfway decent in the last two Clippers games that would have helped even more, hah. The Warriors players have had their lapses as well of bad games, but now is the time to turn it around.
Well, I have been very bitter after a few of these losses, and have felt like "oh, this season is over." And, of course, this team is flawed. The chemistry has been crap, at times, not to mention interior activity. However, if you look at it, every team is flawed to some degree. No team -- no man-made thing -- is perfect. Mathematicaly, the team still has a chance at the POs, and frankly it would be a disgrace to themselves, the fans, the city, and the organization if they didn't give every single ounce of energy the had to try to make that happen. It's hard when you see the opportunity just slip (GS was actually leading the 8th seed for a while there) and really this team would probably get swept in the 1st round even if they sniffed the POs, but nonetheless it would hurt even more if we started seeing some players complain or giving a half-a$$ effort. That's one thing about JRich, man. After all these years of GS sucking a$$, he still gives 110% even after the Warriors are mathematically eliminated. That shouldn't be so rare, these days, but IMO it is. Even though I would LOVE to have the #1 pick, I'd rather see these 12 players play their butts off and give everything they have for this team and these fans until the last buzzer of game 82. That's the only way to play sports, IMO.
I love Jrich, but sometimes I worry about the other guys. They seem to play well in situations where there's no pressure. Before, I thought winning late in the season was due to just plain effort or being too young to avoid the mistakes, but it could be based on mental toughness or guys looking to get numbers so they can play for another team, get money, or get money from GSW. The free throw situation concerns me because if they ain't hitting, they must be mentally weak. It should be the same as hitting an open jump shot. The organization desperately needs shooters, but the kind that are relatively quick to most nba players and can do other things like create their own shot, get to the foul line, or pass to others. If we think about what kind of player that is, I think it's guys like Joe Johnson, Brandon Roy, and Ray Allen (for guards). For big men it's probably like contract year Erick Dampier, Shaq, Tim Duncan, Brad Miller. We need some inside guys that are natural to setting up our guards. I think Biedrins is that guy and maybe POB if he can improve in being a center. I think our big men situation will be very good, but I'm worried about the guard and wing play and our situation at power forward. A power forward should be like a center defensively, and a small forward offensively (post up , shoot from midrange, etc) Think Karl Malone or Tim Duncan or Elton Brand. Not so much Jermaine O'neil or Emeka Okafor (guys whose shooting is in question sometimes).
