(03-01) 04:00 PST Chicago -- What happened after the Warriors' latest thrashing was far more important than what transpired on the court. In a two-minute soliloquy outside the visitor's locker room, coach Don Nelson essentially waived the white flag on Golden State's season and took the blame for stepping backward in Year One of his three-year reclamation project. "I thought I could get this team in the playoffs and it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to do it," Nelson said after a 113-83 waxing by the Bulls. "I feel like I've failed, really, in a lot of ways. I think I've done some good things, and I think it's going to turn out just fine, but it doesn't look it's going to work out this year, so I'm pretty disappointed. "And not having enough juice in the tank to fight it out, that's disappointing," Nelson continued. "But that's the way it is. You can't get blood out of a turnip. You can't beat a dead horse. And we were dead in the second half. I'm not blaming anybody but myself. I didn't know what to do." http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c...01/WARRIORS.TMP
It wasn't Nelson's fault IMO, he was plainly set up to fail like all the other warriors coaches. Yeah some were more talented than others, but in the end, the GM holds all the power for what the coaches can and can't do. In college ball, it's different. The coach is GM as well. I do think Nelson's style isn't for any long run team, but great for short term regular season goals. You win championships by playing big as well as small and with depth, defense, and toughness/aggressiveness. And if you don't have that, at least shoot free throws and score inside more efficiently.
This is all a ploy to get the players pissed off and motivated to play in light of Baron's return. If we are going to make the playoffs we are going to have to put in a serious run now. Lay everything on the line, even if it means pissing off the players because the ones that get pissed off and play well are the keepers, the ones that dont and just fold will be gone in the offseason because they obviously dont care enough. What about Jrich's article in the paper last year? What is that worth now? Is it forgotten. You guaranteed playoffs, now you need to pay what is due. Step up and play some inspired ball!
This view is kind of refreshing compared to recent coaches who have just been like, "well I guess we didn't have the players." If a coach feels like he failed, then I think that is motivation for players to step up and try to relieve some of the stress off Nelson and show that he is doing good things. As far as I know all of the players love Nelson (maybe besides POB). I am not sure where you blame Nelson, but it kind of reminds me of the JRich attitude after last season. Where it goes from there or here, I don't know...
I think a good part of this has to be Nelson's fault. Not that he's not a good coach, but after small ball has failed so many times, when do you make an adjustment? After how many games of losing the rebounding game by double digits do you put in another big guy in the lineup instead of a G/F as a PF? Why dont they run more of the offense through Biedrens, he only has the best FG % in the league. I mean if we had Shaq would he get more touches? I know Beans is no Shaq, but it would be much more balanced. Only good things happens when Bean has the ball. I love the pick and roll. Ultimately it comes down to the players executing, but it is the coaches responsibility to put the players in the best position to excel. We all know Jrich is automatic on that elbow curl jumper, why not run that more? What happened the uptempto alley ooping team? And what about FTs? IMO we started off well in the beginning by harping on Davis for missing his free throws jokingly, but we need to hit at least 70% NO EXCUSES!
Montgomery had the same problem. How does a coach who specializes in one thing, adjust? Big ball vs. Small ball. In today's game there's no John Woodens who can do both... or maybe he couldn't because the roster is so patchwork quilt with nobody reliable to understand x's and o's or do without x's and o's. I mean these guys can't even shoot free throws...
