What a great game from the team overall. 53 points from the bench. Nellie still didn't play POB even with his criticism.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Legacy @ Feb 29 2008, 10:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>What a great game from the team overall. 53 points from the bench. Nellie still didn't play POB even with his criticism. </div>Sure he did, he played for 3 seconds.
I hate to say it, but I'm really wanting Nelson out. There's just no upside in being a .500% win team with him. You know he can't really go far in the playoffs with the way he insists on trying to get other playoff coaches to match speed with him. There's just no way to take a slower 20/10 player out of the game if the opposing backcourt can neutralize us in transition and play better halfcourt offense. We got webber in hopes of being a better halfcourt team, but we'd be much better served if we extended POB and gave him some playing time. I've never seen so much prejudice when it came to a rookie center. POB must really suck or Nelly must be really biased and impatient. I didn't see the game, but I heard the game's best players were all knuckleheads. Rodney Carney and Mickael Pietrus were their respective team heroes. They finally did something. Especially Pietrus who manages to play one great game after the trade deadline.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Custodianrules2 @ Mar 2 2008, 06:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I hate to say it, but I'm really wanting Nelson out. There's just no upside in being a .500% win team with him. You know he can't really go far in the playoffs with the way he insists on trying to get other playoff coaches to match speed with him. There's just no way to take a slower 20/10 player out of the game if the opposing backcourt can neutralize us in transition and play better halfcourt offense. We got webber in hopes of being a better halfcourt team, but we'd be much better served if we extended POB and gave him some playing time. I've never seen so much prejudice when it came to a rookie center. POB must really suck or Nelly must be really biased and impatient.</div> CR2, I think this is the first time in awhile where I just don't agree with you. Take those first 6 games away and the Warriors are in the top 5 in the entire NBA (not the west) in winning percentage. Sure Nelly makes you want to pull your hair out at times, but POB? Remember, Nelly doesn't play young guys, not because they lack talent, it's because they need to earn their minutes by scrapping and fighting for their minutes in practice, then scrapping and earning minutes in the game. As much as I dislike Pietrus at times, he's doing just that. Take a look at these last few games and look at his stints and short miinutes before. He's diving for loose balls and playing with energy. Now show me a 1 minute span where POB has done that? The team is winning at an extremely high percentage. Look at how deep the team is right now, the guys that are getting PT are the ones that can contribute come playoff time. The team is a solid 12 deep of players that can be called on at any time if the matchups call for them to step up.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CohanHater @ Mar 3 2008, 01:16 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Custodianrules2 @ Mar 2 2008, 06:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I hate to say it, but I'm really wanting Nelson out. There's just no upside in being a .500% win team with him. You know he can't really go far in the playoffs with the way he insists on trying to get other playoff coaches to match speed with him. There's just no way to take a slower 20/10 player out of the game if the opposing backcourt can neutralize us in transition and play better halfcourt offense. We got webber in hopes of being a better halfcourt team, but we'd be much better served if we extended POB and gave him some playing time. I've never seen so much prejudice when it came to a rookie center. POB must really suck or Nelly must be really biased and impatient.</div> CR2, I think this is the first time in awhile where I just don't agree with you. Take those first 6 games away and the Warriors are in the top 5 in the entire NBA (not the west) in winning percentage. Sure Nelly makes you want to pull your hair out at times, but POB? Remember, Nelly doesn't play young guys, not because they lack talent, it's because they need to earn their minutes by scrapping and fighting for their minutes in practice, then scrapping and earning minutes in the game. As much as I dislike Pietrus at times, he's doing just that. Take a look at these last few games and look at his stints and short miinutes before. He's diving for loose balls and playing with energy. Now show me a 1 minute span where POB has done that? The team is winning at an extremely high percentage. Look at how deep the team is right now, the guys that are getting PT are the ones that can contribute come playoff time. The team is a solid 12 deep of players that can be called on at any time if the matchups call for them to step up. </div> But CH, that's what bothers me is the regular season win % often has no real cred in the playoffs, especially if we're dealing with a headcase team like the Warriors who can lose at home to an inferior team and then go on to beat a tough team on the road. The Warriors make me think of other high scoring, high win % teams in the past like Dallas and Phoenix who get the highest win total and come up short in the playoffs, simply because they can't match up defensively or score in the paint in any other way besides transition buckets. It really makes me think more about the types of things we need to do defensively and in variety of scoring if we're to really compete. For the types of defense in the playoffs we need centers to contain the threat down low, get the defensive rebounds, protect the weakside, and maybe get a few putbacks. The problem I have is Nelson just doesn't like to play bigs or develop big men and that is scary for our defense and inside scoring ability for the future. So if regular season win % says we might be a top 5-10 team in the entire nba, I'm not so sure about that. A team that can run with us or a big halfcourt team can totally exploit the warriors and can definitely pose some big problems, especially if the only adjustments we can make are to go smaller. That means less Biedrins and less Brandan Wright and more Barnes, Pietrus, Harrington and any guy smaller than 6'8 will get the nod. Any opposing big body in the paint that relishes contact would love to go inside against us or feed the outside shooter. Plus, if we don't have a guy of our own looking to score inside, it just causes our guards to pound the ball and jack up shots they have no business attempting. I think sometimes our poor defense in the paint can cause the guards to swipe at the ball or pressure the backcourt which can lead to being outnumbered in transition. I think the absence of big men has led to some of our guys taking some very questionable shots too. A 50% hook or layup in an area where guys tend to leap at you and maybe bump you a little can lead to a better 3 point play opportunity than guys jacking up shots at a low %. When Biedrins and Wright got touches, the level of play seemed to get higher. But that's just my feeling. I think the Warriors would be better served if the 8-15 shots a game go to Ellis, Sjax, and a big man inside if we could develop one. I don't like it when Barnes, Baron, Pietrus or Harrington overshoot and they're putting up bricks. They got to do other things and if they got a big man inside, I think they can operate a lot better. I think that's why the game seems to go better when Biedrins is involved in the offense and 3 other guys on the floor can triple threat drive to the hoop. But Nelson doesn't want to try it even when Biedrins was having to provide more of the offense when Baron, Jrich were hurt and there was no Sjax/Harrington yet. I'm hoping Nelson is a good judge of talent because if POB or Brandan Wright blows up, I'll be pissed. It's like how Montgomery didn't want to damage the confidence of rookies. Well, that's fine, but at least give them some playing time if they're being helpful in a game situation. I think POB did great last time he was in the game during meaningful minutes. He blocks shots, he rebounds, he made a nice pass, showed off a midrange skyhook. I mean if that's not intriguing, I don't know what is. shotblocking, Skyhooking centers with a 7'5 wingspan, great hands, and decent mobility are hard to find.
I feel your frustration, but I'd argue by creating an environment where people fall in and out of favor with the coach, you've essentially given the entire team extended minutes. Just look at Croshere, Pietrus, Watson, Wright, Barnes, etc. They're all getting serious minutes. The only guys that haven't had a long stretch of big minutes are POB, Kosta, and Bellinelli and the 3 of them are physically not ready to play. They need to scrap to get in. POB looked ok at best in his short minutes. He was given the opportunity to get in there and fight for PT and didn't. Look at what Wright is doing now. He's earned more minutes. To your point about developing bigs. It's my opinion that if you want to do that you can throw the playoffs away. The west is too competitive to give him any serious PT. The warriors lost to Utah last year because they didn't match up well, POB playing like a world beater wouldn't have helped in that series. Williams showed up Baron, flat out.
