<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Speedy Claxton was sitting at the end of the Warriors' bench in street clothes. Nick Van Exel was back in Texas. Never had their absence been felt more strongly than it was Sunday night. It's still early, though. Unfortunately, there's plenty of time left in this season for the Warriors to struggle more without them. It does no good to dwell on the fact that it was against the very team they faced at the Arena in Oakland on Sunday, the Memphis Grizzlies, that Claxton showed off the possibilities 11 days earlier. This is how good he could be, and how good the Warriors could be with him -- 28 points, 16 of 18 from the line, seven assists and a 99-92 win on the road against a playoff contender in the second game of a back-to-back. It wouldn't turn around this season, but it made what has happened so far seem less painful and the near future more palatable. </div> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...SPG255GE2G1.DTL
The funny thing is that the warriors could actually be in the playoff race despite injuries had Musselman designed some quick plays for certain players to go with in the 4th. If there is no go to guy, then make a go-to guy, but don't say there's no go-to guy because you can't write any plays for the team during practice to get him open. I thought this guy was dubbed as "creative". He's only "creative" in the sense he wants to go with his baloney linesups. I mean Musselman is creative like if I were to design a car with one wheel and a gigantic boat sail in front of its plastic windshield. It sure don't make sense, but its creative. What about screens or running a little princeton offense? At least draw up tic tac toe on that clipboard during a timeout. I mean the reason why there are so many turnovers in the past and nobody open to take the last shot is because of the coaching system I think. There is no organization period. I don't think its because the players suck or the team sucks. The team is definitely deep enough to hang in there despite injuries earlier this year. And then on defense, the matchups he calls out for are ridiculous. Which is why he helped set the warriors as the record holder for lowest number of points scored in a 4th quarter. And those two points were by Dampier whom he took out of that game. Brilliant, let's yank out our top rebounder/shotblocker against a centerless team from the east like we keep doing! Plus he is just way too predictable on offense and its no wonder why most teams' coaches will opt to go 2-3 zone and rotate their guys over to freeze the Warriors up. What the Warriors need is a true point guard that can run the offense like a quarterback each posession and get a coach that will make the adjustments, draw up the x's and o's, and pass that gameplan on to the "quarterback" during a timeout. Of course you can't blame Musselman, he has no point guards that can be that quarterback. And this team doesn't have a person that can be that coach. This is all hindsight however, we couldn't get Dunleavy Sr., so we stuck with Musselman after his good season last year. Oh well at least we get to improve the chances of a higher draft pick. I hope they finally decide to draft a point guard in the first round. This team needs a Tim Hardaway and a true playmaker.
I see your point custodian, but I like how philsmith has put it. Maybe we should focus on playing as a team first. We have the type of team that can have a different player step up every game much like the Kings. I don't want to be one of those teams that depend on ONE player to step up every game and be that guy. We don't have a superstar calibar player yet that we can depend on for that.
To play good team ball you need a good coach. Do we have a good coach that we can count on to get us to the playoffs and command respect in the league? I've seen some moves by him that have made many fans, such as myself, question his system. I'm sure I'm not the only one, what about his players? We might end up losing our talent because players have lost faith in him and his style of coaching, especially when our good players start understanding the game better. But then what other coach is there that Cohan would be willing to pay money for? His stinginess or lack of richness or whatever his reasons have killed the Warriors. If the Warriors are to be a playoff team, the owner has to want the best for his team in terms of a front office, a coaching staff, and the trainers. So far I like the trainers, but not much else yet until I can see if Mullin can save this franchise and assemble the team that he knows will be playoff contenders. As long time fans we've seen worse coaching with Winters, Carlisemo, St. Jean and the other handme down coaches so our fans are forced to swallow the old cliche' of "beggars can't be choosers" what other choice do we have. It's kind of sad that the warriors can't break the cycle its truly frustrating. Then again we think to ourselves, injuries, injuries, injuries. We would have been a playoff team had there not been so many injuries. After all, this team suprised a few people by beating tough Western teams like the Denver nuggets did, only Denver escaped injury. We didn't.
hear hear, custodianrules, i agree with you wholeheartedly. So many times this past year I find myself cursing Musselman and his bogus lineups or lack of substitution. Last year people dubbed him as a genius, only because the lineup he stuck with included Boykins, a player no one took seriously last year. That's why Earl was able to score so many points in the fourth, but did the W's win games in the fourth, no. I believe that all the signs were there last year that Muss isn't much of a strategist. In fact I'm not sure what his strong points are as a coach. After last year, I was pretty optimistic and very high on Muss, but now, I'm pretty much undecided on whether to resign him or not. Its not his fault that the W's lack depth at this point. But there has to be some reasons why this guy has such problems coaching in second halfs, he just doesn't have a game plan to counter another coaches gameplan. Once the W's go into halftime it seems like he doesn't make any adjustments or forsee any kind of adjustments the other team is going to make. I just find it very hard to believe that the roster the W's have can be so inept at scoring after halftime, its just mind boggling. Muss needs to prove to the W's and the fans that he still wants to coach, my feeling is that he's out of here after this year along with Damp, Cliff, and Calbert...probably Cardinal and Avery too. THis leaves us with a coaching vacancy, resigning Foyle, drafting a big man, rehabing Murph, along with the continued development of JRich, MDjr, Speedy, and Pietrus. I just don't see this team going anywhere anytime fast. The Grizz are a good example for the W's. Get a GM that knows what he's doing and let it roll from there.... of course its not like there's a couple of Jerry Wests floating around.
I don't even know if Chris Mullin is the answer. The ownership is the problem. I like the fact that Chris Cohan keeps his mouth shut, but he needs to be the type of person that always wants the best for his team. Kind of like Eddie D of the 49ers. He'll get you the best that the salary cap rules would allow in terms of players and the best in coaches and front office personnel to manage everything and make sure the business went well. The only thing I've seen done by Cohan was build a new arena and not have any budget because of it. Until that thing is paid off, Cohan will always be a penny pinching idiot that will do things half assed.
What does Muss do the best? He gets the guys to play hard, perhaps the hardest coaching task there is, especially in this age of the "players" league where the 12th guy makes more than the coach. Remember that. Is he a great strategist? Maybe not, but how many guys are out there? Hubie? Before this year, everyone thought he was an outdated dinosaur who should have stayed at TBS. Who are considered the best coaches? Jackson, Sloan, Popovich, Adelman. Are they the best strategists out there? No. What is their best quality as a coach? They get their players to play hard and maximize their talent. Look at Muss and what he's had to work with. Complaints about play selection and adjustments, in my opinion, is just nitpicking and Monday quarterbacking. Look, the Warriors talent base is not a playoff team right now, especially in light of the unavailability of Murphy and Foyle for practically the whole year. Muss has done a tremendous job in keeping the Warriors competitive. How many times have you tuned in before and thought, well the Warriors just have no chance against the Kings, Lakers, etc..... Now how many times have you thought that this year? Very few. That is a tribute to Muss.
