+/- on Curry/Ellis combo ain't working . Kawakami's explanation of the poor +/- on Ellis. And Don Nelson said the Warriors should focus on playing 'D.' 2-Don Nelson says it’s time to focus on the Warriors’ defense and that his guards need to get tougher. They’ve played 32 games… NOW he’s deciding to think about defense and tougher guards? Actually, Nelson has coached this team for three-plus seasons and never really thought about defense, but that’s just fine, according to Warriors management! OK, let’s take Nelson at face value and presume he’s intent on fixing that defense, particularly with his skinny guards, who did not match up well against Portland’s power guards. Wait. The Warriors start skinny Monta Ellis and skinnier Stephen Curry, both 6-foot-3 or under. And they play a wing guy, Anthony Morrow, who is one of the worst defensive players in the game. And they often fake Corey Maggette at the power forward spot, and he’s not even a good defender for his natural position at small forward. And they play Vladimir Radmanovic, who is not a good defensive player. And C.J. Watson, who, when he’s not able to steal the ball consistently, is a man-to-man defensive liability. (And the Warriors recently dumped Stephen Jackson, Marco Belinelli and Baron Davis–and, earlier, Matt Barnes and Mickael Pietrus–who all, at times, could play defense.) This is not about NOW deciding, oh, let’s play defense! Let’s get tough! Gee, why didn’t we think of this before? This is about the decisions the Warriors have consistently made, to ignore defense at all times, and pretend it didn’t matter in the race to please and lie to themselves. ONLY SCORING MATTERS! For instance: Drafting Curry when they already had Ellis and then to force them into the line-up together. If there’s one explanation I buy about Ellis’ terrible plus/minus stat this year, it’s that he has to start the game (and usually the third quarter) alongside Curry, and that duo so often gets hammered on defense. Just destroyed. Often, Ellis has to be in there with Curry AND Morrow, so it’s up to Ellis to guard the best perimeter player, and score points, and unless Morrow and Curry are hitting from outside, that’s a recipe for a Warriors’ 10-point deficit practically whether Ellis plays great or terrible. I know Ellis and Curry, as a two-man combination, aren’t in the Warriors’ top-50 plus/minus combinations, because that’s how far the NBA stats go in the 2-man deal. No further than 50. Anybody know a place I can find ALL of the Warriors’ 2-man combinations? -By the way, in the three games since both Ronny Turiaf and Andris Biedrins have been back, the Warriors have not exactly taken advantage of the increased size on the front line. I kept hearing throughout the Turiaf/Biedrins injuries that the team was getting killed because the W’s couldn’t use Randolph at PF, just wait until the centers get back and Randolph moves to the 4 full-time! Oops, that was either a lie or a misunderstanding or ridiculous over-optimism just normal Warriors balderdash, which is a mixture of all that. Randolph was NEVER going to be the full-time PF, as long as Biedrins and Turiaf are the 5s. It’s a stylistic thing. Nelson does not like to play two non-jump-shooters at a time, and sorry, Biedrins/Turiaf and Randolph qualify. (Nelson tried it for a few minutes vs. Portland and the result was, as usual, a stagnated offense with Ellis forcing up a bad shot vs. a collapsing defense and then Randolph heaving up a terrible shot when nobody was defending him. Nelson immediately went small again. His offense is predicated on outside shooting and penetrators who can finish or draw the defense and kick out.) With the way the roster is constructed, Nelson will always find a way to get Maggette or Randolph in there at one of the “big” spots. There are 96 available minutes for center and power forward in any NBA non-overtime game. Since the centers have been back, surprise: Nelson has gone away from the C/pure PF combination a lot. * In the Boston game, Biedrins played 14, Turiaf 26 and Randolph 26, a total of 64 minutes for the three, so that’s at least 32 minutes of Maggette/Radman at the 4. * In the Lakers game, Biedrins played 26, Turiaf 23 and Randolph 19, a total of 68 minutes, at least 28 minutes of Maggette/Radman at the 4. * In the Portland game, Biedrins played 21 minutes, Turiaf 13 and Randolph 20, for a total of 54 minutes, at least 42 minutes of Maggette/Radman. http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawaka...-preference-arenas-goes-into-space/#more-6953
You want D? You play: Biedrins/Randolph/Vlad/Monta/Curry Yeah that's small in the backcourt but Curry shows more defensive instincts than Watson or Ellis and you need Monta for the offense. They are getting killed because there is a small backcourt and then you add the ridiculous Morrow/Watson/Maggette core and the backcourt is going to look bad. If you put a legitimate 3/4/5 combination out there the Monta/Curry backcourt would look much better.
I agree. Even playing Maggette or even Morrow at the SF isn't so bad if you have a legit PF and C. But when you play Mags at PF, to try to guard David West... then don't come talkin' bout defense, Nellie! Because that's some bullsh!t right there.
If we wanted defense, we would have kept our 2nd round bigs. I mean even if we kept guys no other nba team picked up after we waived them, such as Stephen Lasme and Richard Hendrix, it would have done us some good to have some big weakside defenders. I mean we're freakin' excited about Chris Hunter for godsakes... I mean a solid big is what we need, he doesn't have to be a superstar. He just needs to not be a liability like Foyle was on offense and Murphy was on defense and every other big that was either one half the court or the other. And this is all Nelson's fault. He wants to play small which means the mismatch comes back to haunt us defensively.
If we had someone like Flip Saunders (motion and pick and roll?), Avery Johnson (motion and pick and roll) or Rick Adelman (motion and pick and roll), then they may be able to make it work. Still, defense would not be our strong suit. Curry is very well suited for the pick and roll like a Nash. Steve Nash cannot create a play for himself all the time, but he can run the pick and roll all day. One he establishes that, then he can run plays for himself or others off of it. The guy is a master. I think Curry could be a Steve Nash like player even if he does not become as great. I used to think Baron would outdo Nash, but Nash has proven he is one of the best in the current NBA.
Well, I hope we're patient then because it took Nash awhile to get good. He's even better with age. If that's the case with all of our current/future draft picks and we have to wait 4 or 5 years for them to get good, we won't get anywhere... We need a guy who's ready right out of the gates like a lot of the top guys in the 2003 draft and if not quite as explosive or exciting, get a Brandon Roy. The warriors should covet the things that Sjax did and find a pick that can do those things for us. We need leadership, veteran saavy, guys who have skills on both ends of the court and not this crap where they play one side and are a liability on the other. We've drafted too many guys like that. We won't have an identity without that building block player. I'm not convinced that Monta is the cornerstone of the franchise. He's just there's until somebody better comes along like how Steve Francis was for the Rockets.
Curry and Beans are those kinds of guys. The criticism of Beans' offensive game is off. I saw his post-game make big strides last year. However, they would stop going into the post after the half and he'd be on the bench. Curry may be overmatched defensively right now, but give him a break, he's only 30 games into his career. He does the little things that make the team better.
Beans should stop playing all-year basketball and work on his offense and weight training. It's not cool for our center to be 240 lbs or less. He doesn't have the range like JO, Marcus Camby, or Theo Ratliff, and the other non-traditional centers.
Beans should stop playing all-year basketball and work on his offense and weight training. It's not cool for our center to be 240 lbs or less. He doesn't have the range or shotblocking like JO, Marcus Camby, or Theo Ratliff, and the other non-traditional centers.
