SB Nation - C.J. Watson

RECAP: Warriors 105, Nets 89 - Mikki Moore's tenacious dunks and post-dunk celebration rallies the youngins'

dj fuzzylogic — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:22:38 -0000

Originally posted Dec 9, 2009 9:22 PM PST

(Floyd Mayweather looks excited about the opportunity to sit courtside. He probably didn't get the memo who he was watching, though)

Professional sports, particularly Warriors basketball, have a huge toll on my emotional well-being. Watching the Warriors self-destruct night-in-night-out against the NBA's worst ruins my evenings a majority of the time. I curse at the television. Make groaning sounds, in the most unerotic possible way. I usually have to have a beer by halftime just to calm down the nerves of watching turnover after turnover.

Well, lucky for me the Warriors played, arguably, the worst team in the league tonight. Meaning? Maybe I can fall asleep easily without replaying all the blunders that I was witness to.

Anyway, tonight's recap retells the story that was the clash of the anti-titans of the NBA. However, it will be told through the emotional highs and lows that the Warriors put me through. Instead of focusing on the game, we're going to analyze the game through my feelings...

Preview/ Game Thread: Please don't be Nets win #3

Warriors Web Links: Should have won, and we did

Warriors vs Nets boxscore

Warriors vs Nets coverage

Pregame: Apathy.

It's 58 degrees in my apartment and I refuse to turn on the heater. Why is the bay so cold?

Watching the pre-game show, the Izod arena looks as empty as school on a Sunday. I think I've seen WNBA games more packed than this (barely). You would think that all the business deals going on in the Nets' background could spice things up a bit. Heck, you got Jay-z bankrollin'? How can a team with so much extra-basketball influence have so little to offer? Hey Jay, how about pulling some of your star power and getting Memphis Bleek to rap the national album? Or why not perform "Empire state of Mind" at half-time...y'all will be in Brooklyn in no-time right?

I wonder if there are more Warrior fans watching this game on TV then there are fans in the Izod arena.

First quarter: GROAN.

Less than a minute in, Monta's first turnover. 92 down, 264 to go to break Artis Gilmore's record. C'mon Monta, give us Warrior fans something to believe in!

One minute later - heavier and louder GROAN. Monta dribbles into a crowded paint and attempts to pass through Boone and Brooke Lopez. Unless Monta is Superman, he's not going be able to push this ball though 500 lbs of flesh.

One of the great things of watching two bad really bad teams is how quick they get up and down the court. You would think it was the ABA with all the run outs each team is doing with each missed shot. The worst thing(s) about watching two really bad teams is how many missed shots, ill-advised passes, and guys flopping around on the floor there is. How many more passes are we going to see bounce off someone's back tonight?

Brook Lopez is deceptively skilled, but also full of contradictions. He got picked 3 times in the first 6 minutes. But he recovers and has the grace to move around the Warriors bigs, EASILY. I'm thinking he might be the end of the Stanford big man "bust" that includes a long line of gentle giants, Tim Young, the Collins twins, and Curtis Borchardt. Brook Lopez has game.

The non-existent ball movement makes me think the Warriors are playing hot potato. They are chucking the ball wrecklessly and Monta and Stephen Curry are both missing wide open jumpers as if they're shooting jumpers with blindfolds. Hmm, I wonder if I can catch the end of Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals right now... Man, Warriors are this bad that I'm considering watching the super annoying Rachel Ray.

Third GROAN of the quarter. Great heads up move by Anthony Randolph to save CJ Watson's blocked shot. Here we go.... WHAT!? CHARGE?? Oh Monta, why are you reverting back to your old ways of trying to run everyone over? I can't believe I'm watching this game right now.

(Harris: "C'mon coach, I know the 'pull-my-finger' trick...)

2^nd quarter: Elated...

Hmm, the Warriors end the quarter on a short run. Maybe the Warriors won't lose after all?

Is it me or did Trenton Hassell gain some weight since his Timberwolves days? Looks like Trenton Hassell's been hitting up the Shawn Kemp School of weight "training" in the off-season.

Anthony Randolph is looking good on defense. Good to see him active but not falling on people to get a block. Maybe Keith Smart slipped a sedative into his Gatorade before the game?

Alright, here we go. The Warriors are starting to run and CJ Watson is getting into the passing lanes easy.

Andris Biedrins is sitting with Fitz and Barnett for some color commentary. Biedrins looks good in his suit but that weird hoop earring doesn't quite fit. May it's a European thing.

The Warriors are racking up steals like they're Ricky Henderson. The boom and bust of the Warriors offense depends on these steals.

Wow, what's up with Randolph playing so even -keeled? Usually after a few excellent plays, Randolph is jumping around making dumb fouls. Hmm, I wonder what's going on in his head when he gets the ball.

OOOH!! Randolph is hustling! Great to see him giving the Warriors the energy they need on both sides of the floor. He and Radmanovic are doing the intangible things that the Warriors need: grabbing boards, running the floor, some nice weakside defense and, most importantly, covering the mistakes of Monta Ellis. Wow, still no yelps or facial expressions. What's happened to him? I'm beginning to think Keith Smart is better at getting to his players than Nellie.

(The only way the Warriors could stop Brook Lopez)

Biedrins is still talking to Fitz and Barnett on the sidelines. He is discussing his friendship with Ronny Turiaf (France) and Radmanovic. The "European Union club" as he calls it. Can we expect to see this on a t-shirt? Maybe the next Tony.psd? Wink wink? Just playin' Tony.

Randolph is everywhere!!! Plus the Nets look like the Warriors on their bad nights. The lazy passes getting picked off and wide open driving lanes are making me realize why they were 0-18. They're not getting back on defense in typical Warriors fashion. Too bad the Warriors are picking up ticky tack fouls, which is keeping the Nets in the game.

Question: Are the Warriors better when Monta ISN'T shooting all the time? At this point in the game, Monta has been a non-factor, scoring-wise. The ball is moving a lot more and the other Warriors are getting involved ... and hey! They're actually winning, right now? I'm not suggesting the Warriors are better without Monta. That would be completely ridiculous. But its nice to see the other Warriors trusting in each other when Monta isn't trying to mimic Stephen Jackson in his shot selection and his complaining to the refs.

OK, I've had enough of watching Randolph fouling Lopez. It's clearly not Randolph's fault that there is a bad matchup. Where's Chris Hunter?

The Nets are blocking out as "well" as the Warriors as Randolph gets a follow-up dunk to a missed jumper. I am feeling at ease now...

CJ Watson is definitely the front runner for Warrior Wonder by the way he is getting steals and converting layups at the other end. His anticipation in the passing lanes is beautiful.

Wow, that last play of the half was beautiful. Heck, it was SEXY. I'm surprised that Monta gave up the ball to Curry and let him thread that pass to Watson for the open reverse under the hoop. Now THAT was the best closing of a quarter/half I have ever seen from the Warriors. Can we see the ball NOT in Monta's hands at the end of the half?

(Curry and Moore are both impressed by the dunk. What kind of shoes are those?)

3^rd Quarter: Hungry

Early on , we see a power move by Mikki Moore dunking over Brook Lopez! I love the post-dunk intensity ala Kevin Garnett, but is it really necessary or kosher for Moore to throw signs when they're playing, arguably, the worst team in the league? That would be equivalent to bragging that you got Susan Boyle's digits.

Looks like the Warriors are finally hitting the offensive boards. Why are the Warriors so afraid to grab rebounds? I miss Biedrins.

My girlfriend: "That guy (Radmanovic) looks like Wolverine. But uglier."

Wow, an Ill-advised shot by Monta, again. Nice move slashing to the middle and trying to lay it up over Lopez, except way off target. Sigh. I ask again, do the Warriors score better when Monta has the ball in his hands LESS? There's seems to be a lot more scoring this game when he isn't trying to score on every single possession.

I am still waiting for dinner to finish cooking... hungry. I wonder what NBA players eat before games?

Towards the end of this quarter, the Warriors frustrating play is finally getting to Fitz. He sounds like he's about to yell at Morrow post-game after seeing him commit his bazillionth turnover of the game. That's what I love about the Warriors color commentary; they never gloss over the Warrior blunders.

Damnit. The Warriors are starting to look complacent out there and there are still 6 minutes left in the quarter. It's like Cinderella and the clock struck twelve. The Warriors' chariot of marvelous game play has transformed back into the pumpkin of bad shots, dribbling into crowds, and porous defense. Are the Warriors trying to lose? Are they trying to throw games like Tim Donaghy?

Whew thank goodness for players like Josh Boone. Boone shoots freethrows like he doesn't want to be there. It's almost like he can't wait to get over with by how rushed his shots are.

(Mayweather: "Damn, I thought the Nets gave me the gift of a superstar..." Mayweather's friend: "Dude, I though we got tickets for Madison Square Garden...")

4^th Quarter: Satisfied

Great feed by Cj Watson to Maggette (no look) to start this quarter. Watson is definitely the Warrior Wonder for tonight...either Watson or the Net's terrible defense. Whereas Ellis and Morrow are looking like the Warrior ‘blunders' with the turnovers they are accumulating together. Can't complain though that Keith Smart lets his players work through these problems in the flow of the game.

Commercial break: "Give the gift...of a super... star... this holiday.. season" ...whew, I never get tired of that commercial. How many takes do you think that took for Monta to say that? Also, does anyone else think its weird that Monta is basically trying to sell tickets to see Kobe and Lebron? Do you think opposing teams run the same commercials and say that about Monta when the Warriors are about to come to town?

Ball movement! Thank goodness, the Net were within 7 but the crisis has been averted. Monta is finally scoring, but not forcing the issue. I'm more pleased that he's using his speed to benefit his teammates by hitting them with open shots.

Thank goodness the Nets cannot shoot threes. Can the Nets poor three-point shooting be the Warrior Wonder for tonight?

Question of the night, why is Sean Williams getting more playing time than Terrence Williams? Every shot of Sean Williams face as he checks in, gets fouled, or fouled someone is look of "........." or "What am I doing here?"

Mikki Moore TRULY has the best dunks. AND best post-game dunk celebrations. After two great passes from Monta, he's cheering like the game was on the line as opposed to being up 13 against the worst team in the league.Gotta love that intensity though.

I have to give it up to CJ Watson. Watson's 15 points in the second quarter, half of those off great anticipation on defense, really jumpstarted a sluggish Warriors team.

Game 20 Recap: Oklahoma City 104, Golden State 88

Zorgon — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:59:09 -0000

More photos » by ALONZO ADAMS - AP

You couldn't have asked for a better battle of the rookies tonight.

Browse more photos »

Yahoo! Sports Box Score:

Golden State of Mind Recap:

Well, that game went pretty much as I expected it to, yet at the same time, it held a lot of surprises.

Lets start out with the expected. The Warriors started off this game with the lead, slowly rising to a margin of 21-15. Then, the Thunder came back to within 1 point by the end of the quarter, and took a short lead at the beginning of the 2nd. Then, the Warriors went on another run, making it 35-27. Then, the Thunder climbed right back with a run of their own, and it was pretty much even by the time the 2nd quarter was over. This concept of runs and draughts is frequent in Warrior games. By the time the 3rd rolled around, the Thunder came out rolling, taking a 62 to 54 lead. The Warriors pounded their way back to tie it at 62, and then....Corey Maggette lost his cool. I couldn't see what was going on from where I sat, but apparently he was badmouthing somebody, causing him to commit a double technical foul, along with his normal foul. He was escorted out of the arena, giving the Thunder 3 free points and leaving the Warriors bench with 2 guys and an emergency backup in Devean George. At this point, the entire team collapsed. If you were a Warriors fan, you've seen this happen before (most notably during the Steven Jackson and Baron Davis era), and you knew the game was over. Monta Ellis got called for a technical later on, but that's pretty excusable, considering he was the only one scoring for the team.

Now, let's move to the unexpected. This could hardly be considered a fast break game at all, not very typical of the Warriors. It was a game of possessions, with teams actually running offensive sets, and the Warriors not being silly enough to fire it up within the first 7 seconds. In fact, I hardly remember any Warriors fast breaks at all. Most of the fast breaks were made by the Thunder, after the Warriors made a huge defensive error. Whenever the Warriors stole the ball in the back court, the Thunder defense would get back down the floor before the Warriors could do anything.

Another surprising statistic is the fact that Monta Ellis wasn't only able to guard and complete with Kevin Durant, he was able to guard him well. Now, I know, Kevin Durant did have 28 Points, 9 Rebounds, 4 Assists, and 3 Steals. But he also had a whopping 6 turnovers, a poor 9-24 shooting, and 18 of his points came after Corey Maggette's foul. I know that some of those 18 were legit, but Monta Ellis essentially held the Thunder's best scorer to 10 Points though the first 2 and a half quarters, in which he scored less than Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green. If the game had been competitive the whole time, who knows? Monta Ellis might have held him to 16, and people would be saying a whole lot of "wows" right now. Obviously, for his defensive prowess, Monta Ellis gets the Thunder Plunderer award. I know, he had 9 turnovers....but I don't want to award it to Stephen Curry, as explained later.

KD: I'm sorry, my fine sir, but could I perchance acquire that basketball from you? Curry: I do apologize my good man, but I have already thrown it to one of the gentlemen on my basketball team. KD: Ah, well, alright then. Cheery-O! Curry: Cheery-O!

But, admittedly, the Thunder also did an excellent job on defense against the Warriors guards. As a team, the Warriors had a whopping 20 turnovers to 12 assists, with Monta having 9 turnovers and Stephen Curry having 5. It was clear that while both could move the ball well, neither was functioning as a true point guard, and that hurt the Warriors. C.J. Watson, who was in for the entire game, was completely shut down on the offensive end of the floor. 10 Points? That's like scoring once every 10 minutes. Sheesh.

Regardless, back to the Thunder. This is a Thunder blog, isn't it? James Harden had another excellent game tonight, pulling in 26 Points, 9 Rebounds, and 5 Assists. He stepped up the scoring when Kevin Durant couldn't, keeping the Thunder in contention. Sure, 8 of those points came in garbage time in the 4th, but it's undeniable the help he gave tonight, and it's undeniable how much he would help the Warrior's scoring situation right now if he was on their team. He even outscored, outrebounded, and outassisted Curry in 7 less minutes. If I were a Thunder fan (which I supposedly am), I wouldn't regret taking Harden at 3 at this point. He may have to provide scoring on the bench, but he has a long career ahead of him. Oh, and need I say, "Thunder Wonder"?

Jeff Green also pitched in, adding 21 Points, 13 Rebounds, and 3 Assists, earning him the Thunder Down Under award. He also added to the scoring while Durant was out of commission. The Thunder Blunder, without question, is Russell Westbrook. I know, he had decent numbers considering he was up against a team full of players who do the exact same thing he does offensively, except better in every way. But 4-17? Sheesh.

Me, shortly after being stringed.

Just adding to the bizarro night in which the Warriors played half-court ball and Monta Ellis defended well was the vendetta Rumble took against me. I've cheered for the Warriors twice before when the Thunder were in the Ford Center, but it was before I was well known as a fan, and before rumble ever existed. It all started with Rumble getting people excited in the section, and other fans encouraging him to jeer me. Then, his cold, angry eyes met mine, and he clearly disapproved of what I did. Eventually, he left. But, just before the 4th quarter started and the game looked out of reach, Rumble popped out of nowhere and emptied about 5 cans of silly string on to me. I tried to think of something clever to do, but I just sat there, in extreme shock and awe. He left as soon as he'd come, and I now have a ball of goo sitting in my car as a result of the incident. As the game ended in a Thunder victory, Rumble stopped on his victory segway to stare at me again. He pointed to me, and cut his throat as an indication of what he wanted to do to me. It was all very shocking, very entertaining, and very flattering. How many people can say they've drawn the ire of the mascot so much as to have him break out in a vendetta against them? I guess I'm one of the lucky few, heh! In any case, I'll get him back one day....and it will be in the name of Thunder, the old Warriors mascot! I'll get you, Rumble!

Next Game: At the Grizzlies, Friday, December 12th, 7 PM Central Standard Time

Polling GSoM: Will the Golden State Warriors lead the league in turnovers this season?

Atma Brother ONE — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:49:53 -0000

Game Thread #20: Warriors @ Thunder - Battle For Our Mascot

Hash is working on a fantastic recap and IQofaWarrior is assembling the exhaustive linkage for tonight's blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder as you read this, but I thought this Polling GSoM segment was in order.

If I had to pick one picture to describe the Warriors 2009-2010 season thus far, this would be it:

The Dubs really need to stop eating these for breakfast.

Jump for a look back at some words from GSoM's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors preview that unfortunately have proven to be true through almost a quarter of this season.

Macro-Warriornomics - WE BELIEVE WE SUCK :: GSoM's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview

Biggest Weaknesses

The Human Powered Turnover Machine

Barring no injuries and if Monta Ellis can make through the season without hopping on a "low-speed moped", it's a pretty safe bet that the Warriors will lead the league in turnovers. Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Anthony Randolph will be the main culprits. Rookie Stephen Curry will probably add to the turnover totals considerably, but we will excuse the rookie.

We'll be using this picture quite a bit in our recaps this season.

Low Hoops IQ

Top to bottom this is one of the dumbest rosters in the league. It can be painful watching them struggle to throw the simplest inbounds pass. Part of that is being young, but most of that can be attributed to players who simply aren't that sharp on the court and off the court. We'll just leave it at that. We're not in the business of hurting the trade value of players on the home team- well at least today.

Well today we are in that business.

Just the facts and nothing but the facts:

The Warriors currently lead the league in turnovers.
"Point guard" Monta Ellis leads the league in turnovers. In 8 games out of 20 so far this season Ellis has as many turnovers if not more than assists.
Corey Maggette, Anthony Randolph, Vladimir Radmanovic, Ronny Turiaf all average more turnovers than assists right now.
C.J. Watson, Chris Hunter, and Mikki Moore are the only players on this roster that have a 2:1 assist : turnover ratio. Watson is a low volume dime dropper most likely gone by the February trading deadline, Hunter is a recent D-League call-up, and Moore is a journeyman.

I'll let you draw the appropriate inferences in the comments.

GM Larry RIley- hope you're on the phone trying to wheel and deal!

via www.sitcomsonline.com

Poll

Will the Golden State Warriors lead the league in turnovers this season?

GAME THREAD #19 - Warriors vs. Magic - Superman that..

R Dizzle — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:36:43 -0000

My arms are this big - I swear.

Warriors: 6-12

Magic: 15-4

Tip-Off: 7:30pm

TV: CSN Bay Area

Radio: KNBR 680

Blog Buddy: Third Quarter Collapse

Alright so things aren't going so well. We lost the last game to the Rockets by a stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid (I think you get the picture) play and it was heart breaking. Monta's been scoring out of his mind but also giving up turnovers at a rate that is out of his mind. Yay.

But hey, at least we get to see another great Warriors game tonight. We're going to finally have a full roster...right?

Right?

What's this? IQofaWarrior says...a big fat N-O.

Sigh...

FACTS

1. The Magic are tied for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

2. The Magic will set a new team record with 7 consecutive road wins,

3. Don Nelson will miss the next 5 road games.

4. Anthony Morrow will miss tonight's game.

5. The Warriors are missing these players - Brandan Wright, Kelenna Azubuike, Raja Bell, Anthony Morrow, Ronny Turiaf, Andris Biedrins, Anthony Randolph, Speedy Claxton, Devean George.

6. The Warriors will play these players tonight - Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, Corey Maggette, Chris Hunter, Mikki Moore, C.J. Watson, and Vladimir Radmonovich.

7. Mickael Pietrus was one of the most fun Warriors players. (See Below)

8. The Warriors are in desperate need of some magic "health" potions.

9. Mickael Pietrus, Matt Barnes, and Adonal Foyle will all get standing ovations when they step on the court (if they do).

10. This guy (pictured below) will Superman the Warriors.

FICTION

1. The Warriors will win tonight. (That is all...)

Poll

Who is your favorite ex-Warrior on the Magic?

RECAP: Warriors 121, Knicks 107 - WESTSIDE til I Die!

R Dizzle — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:16:16 -0000

I don't get it man. We destroy the Knicks and NELLIE RUMORS ARE STILL POPPING UP? This is ridiculous...

Peep out my #1 brother's take on the whole situation (RUMOR: Golden State Warriors Head Coach Don Nelson on his way out)

Preview/ Game Thread (800+ Comments)

Final Box Score

Blog Buddy: Posting and Toasting

Final - 11.13.2009	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden State Warriors	32	34	20	35	121
New York Knicks	26	26	28	27	107

Complete Coverage >

After seeing this post on SB Nation yesterday, I got a little inspired...

Let's be real - Warriors vs Knicks? Two poor teams that can match 'em to each other? West Coast vs. East Coast? Isn't this a bit reminiscent of...

Stephen Jackson

"With nothing to lose, it's just me against the world."

Me Against the World

The harsh reality in this situation is that no matter what Stephen Jackson does from this point on, no Warriors fan has got his back. He can have a strong performance like last night, 23 points, 8 boards, and 5 steals, but still be hated on (and rightfully so). Mu ch like 2Pac, you don't know what you're going to get outta him. One day, he'll be inspirational and give you a reason to wake up and do something to change this world. The next - he'll throw a temper tantrum and look like a fool. Good work tonight, and here's to hoping if he'll "Hit 'em Up" tonight.

Monta Ellis

"Picture me rollin in my 500 Benz,

I got no love for these n----, there's no need to friends"

Picture Me Rollin

Monta's got the epitome of the - "I don't give a - what you think of me, I'm doin my thing" - attitude. His 22 points will win the game, but the 2 assists, 4 turnovers, and 4 fouls will prove why he's not a PG. Let's be real, he's not making many friends on the team with his selfish play and his lack of desire to do things ("That's why I won't do it. I just won't do it.") But why would he care? He's got a dope moped. Picture Monta rollin!

Nate Robinson

"Sky is the limit and you know you can just keep on

Keep on pressin on"

Sky Is the Limit

Sigh...I feel really really REALLY bad for Nate Rob. The man's got talent, he's fun to watch but he's stuck on THIS team. Yeah yeah, the Dunk Contests are rigged, but they're still awesome. Who knows where he'll end up next year, but I wish the man well. I kinda wished he slammed all over SJax's face...

Donnie Walsh and Isiah Thomas

"Mo Money, Mo Problems."

Mo Money Mo Problems

Sucks to be Donnie Walsh...

Darko Milicic

"Been around the world and I I I
And we been playa hated [say what?]
I don't know and I don't know why
Why they want us faded [ahehe]
I don't know why they hate us [yeah]
Is it our ladies? [uh-huh]
Or our drop Mercedes [uhh, uhh]
Bay-bee bay-BEE!"

Been Around the World

Remember who got drafted after Darko? 3 All Stars. Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade.

How many teams has Darko been on since his first draft team - the Pistons? 3 teams - Magic, Grizzlies, and Knicks.

Been around the world? Been playa hated? Still got a fine lady? Rollin in a Benz?

Kelenna Azubuike

"Soon as I stepped on the scene I'm hearin hooches screamin

Fiendin for money and alcohol

The life of a west side playa where cowards die and it's all ball"

California Love

This man has been ON FIRE. Over the last 3 years, he's grown into his own and you can expect a consistent game from him every night. Pullin down 22 points on 9-13 shooting ain't no joke. Mad props to Booke. I'm sure the ladies love his biceps...

CJ Watson

Who knows when CJ will be on the court long enough to earn one of these, so I'll give the man his moment of praise. CJ played well and was ALL OVER THE COURT. 7-8 shooting and 2-2 three point shooting are amazing stats...kinda makes ya wonder why he's not in more?

I'll follow MTII's Pac quote....

"I know it seems hard sometimes, but

Remember one thing

Through every dark night, there's a bright day after that.

So no matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out

Keep ya head up

And handle it."

Me Against the World

REST IN PEACE TUPAC SHAKUR AND CHRISTOPHER WALLACE

Yahoo! + NBA

CSN Bay Area + Golden State Warriors

Poll

Which player is most like 2Pac?

Stephen Jackson

197 votes

Monta Ellis

73 votes

Kelenna Azubuike

45 votes

C.J. Watson

13 votes

Anthony Randolph

21 votes

Corey Maggette

15 votes

Andris Biedrins

66 votes

430 votes | Poll has closed

Macro-Warriornomics - WE BELIEVE WE SUCK :: GSoM's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview (Part 2 of 2)

Atma Brother ONE — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:09:45 -0000

Don't forget to check out Part I of our 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview super blowout special- Micro-Warriornomics

Macro-Warriornomics class is now in session...

-----------------------

QUESTION:

How does a team go from this:

to this:

in less than a 2 years?

ANSWER: Four words- Chris. Cohan. Robert. Rowell.

Sure the WE SUCK movement is back in full effect for Cohan's Warriors, but that doesn't mean we're not looking forward to the start of the 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors campaign here in Dubs Land.

Jump to find out why WE SUCK is still going to be exciting!

2k8-2k9 Golden State Warriors Rewind

Last Year's Record: 29-53

After the wildly entertaining ups and downs and highs and ultimate highs of the 2006-2007 season and the mediocre, but entertaining non-playoff 2007-2008 season, the Warriors 2008-2009 season was a complete disaster. Pre-WE BELIEVE the Warriors were mockingly "Unstoppable Baby!". During the short lived but thrilling WE BELIEVE era they were a SHOCK THE WORLD variant of "Unstoppable Baby!". However last season they were mostly "Unwatchable Baby."

From silly turnovers, to numerous mental lapses, to dumbfoundedly saddling a legendary coach in his twilight on the sidelines with a young and raw team with questionable mythical upside, to Moped Gate, to ZERO defense, to an absurd amount of media hysteria for mostly the wrong reasons-- Cohan and Rowell's product last season was not worth the price of admission, which was incredulously a sizable increase over the previous season. (Apologies for the run-on, but to be honest all of last year was on one big run-on for this franchise.) There were so many times last season when we couldn't even GIVE away our lowerbowl seats to Warriors games for FREE. (I wasn't joking about the "Unwatchable Baby.")

Thankfully we get to move on.

The Warriors need some serious "Computer Assistance" in real life.

[NBA 2K10 Golden State Warriors Style]

2k9 Golden State Warriors Offseason Rewind

Key Losses

The Chris Mullin Publicity Stunt

Back in 2004 when Warriors owner Chris Cohan and Robert Rowell promoted Gary St. Jean "protege" Chris Mullin to VP/ GM it was nothing more than a silly little publicity stunt. Over the course of his 4 years at the Warriors helm his best move was getting saved by his former mentor Don Nelson. Despite what the media would like you to believe partly because of their bizarre vendetta against Nellie, Mullin was 1) not improving as a GM and 2) is a major reason for the Warriors current disarray with his silly trades (giving the New Jersey Nets a 1st round pick for a fringe NBA player in Marcus Williams) and odd obsession with constantly getting younger and rawer with a lot of b-rate talents, but never building a team to win in the present.

Don't get me wrong. It's hard not to root for Mullie. He's a nice guy and wanted to create an atmosphere that players (regardless of how overpaid or untalented) would want to be a part of. Those are both commendable qualities.

But the media at large and the average Warriors or NBA fan blew Mullie's dismal way out of proportion. He should've never been hired. He deserved to be fired. The problem is that the two guys who fired him (Chris Cohan and Robert Rowell) also deserved to be fired.

Also see: The Mullin Myths: Chris Mullin made the Warriors a franchise players wanted to join

The Marco Belinelli Hype Machine

The Marco Belinelli Hype Machine has thankfully left the building. I still contend that the Toronto Raptors just traded for Jiri Welsch 2.0 and Belinelli probably won't even be in the league in 2-3 seasons.

The Warriors contract dumping of Belinelli is further evidence of Nellie and GM Larry Riley's confidence in Anthony Morrow. It's also an indicator that they both know the definition of "meritocracy" unlike a lot of Warriors fans and local/ national media who inanely hyped this guy up to no end and made almost as many excuses for him as the "golden age" of Mullin's blind affection for Mike Dunleavy.

Not just Warriors and NBA any more...

GSoM now has you covered for all your furniture needs!

Key Additions

Umm let me put this succintly as I can... N/A.

The key word there is "Key". The Warriors did nothing "Key" this past offseason other than potentially making a nice selection at the #7 slot with Stephen Curry aka Masala aka Kid Curry.

After a disastrous 2k8-2k9 season that couldn't end fast enough, it was abundantly clear that this roster was in dire need of change. The Warriors pretty much promised a major shakeup, but alas these were nothing but delusions of grandeur. The Warriors had an absolutely meaningless offseason in terms of roster moves.

Additions

(Now that we got rid of the word "Key" we can get down to business.)

Miikki Moore

I'm just happy he's on the home squad and not on the visiting team.

As Yay Area fav E-40 would say:

SHAKE DEM DREADS!

Expiring Contracts

Why did the Grizzlies trade Pau Gasol to the La Lakers for basically nothing? Why did the Timberwolves trade Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics? (hint: it wasn't Al Jefferson)

Take at look at these contracts that come off the books after this season (via HoopsHype):

Speedy Claxton- $5.2 million
Acie Law- $2.9 million (team option for 2010-2011)
Devean George- $1.6 million
Mikki Moore- $1.3 million
C.J. Watson- $1.0 million

That's potentially upwards of $12,000,000 in fun money. Some possibilities.

2k9-2k10 Golden State Warriors Projections

Biggest Strengths

Roaracle Faithful

There's two constants for the Golden State Warriors:

THE SUCK
The best fans in the entire association

We could go on and on about #1, but let's take a second and appreciate #2.

<long second>

Especially before WE BELIEVE the Golden State Warriors have always had some of the smartest and savvy-est fans in the league. Loyalty would be an understatement.

Golden faces.

1 Dub. 1 Luv. is more like it.

Likable Young Players

There's plenty of reasons not to warm up to vets like Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis.

But Stephen Curry, Anthony Morrow, and Anthony Randolph? That's a whole different animal. It's hard not to root for these guys.

The Anthony's plus a little masala is a-OK with me.

They're young, they're exciting, and the expectations might be a tad bit too high for them. But they'll be fun to watch and root for.

Expiring Contracts

I can't stress this one enough. If the Warriors actually use these chips intelligently they've got a shot at something nice, real nice.

The 2nd (soon to be 1st) Most Winningnest Coach in NBA History

More often than not the Warriors will have the coaching advantage on the sidelines. There is no other coach in the league that can do more with less- which is especially relevant here since the Warriors will have less more often than not this season. For all the drama that he brings for a variety of reasons (not all his fault), Nellie is a master hoops tactician and that can't be denied.

By the way if you're reading a Warriors preview or article on a national mainstream outlet and they routinely refer to CWebb-Nellie parallels, it's a BIG clue that they haven't done their homework and unfortunately know that sensationalism = more web clicks.

By the way if you see baseless and inane "FIRE NELLIE!" rants from a Warriors fan every time something goes wrong, it's a BIG clue that they didn't live through The Dirty Dozen: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 either because they're too young or they didn't realize there was a basketball team in California other than the LA Lakers till the 2007 NBA Playoffs.

Nellie and Riley as the Shot Callers

When the Warriors unceremoniously dumped Chris Mullin to much (mostly unfounded) fan and media backlash, they promoted Nellie's buddy Larry Riley to the GM spot. Riley doesn't have the most distinguished resume based on his numerous NBA stops, but unlike the Warriors previous hire he actually has credentials and experience at all levels- coaching, scouting, and management. Unlike the Warriors previous hire, he actually sounds prepared at interviews and seems to have a vision.

It will be great to have a head coach and GM that are finally on the same page. You could tell Nellie wasn't exactly enamored with Mullin's player pickups and rightfully so (the Adonal Foyle- Troy Murphy- Mike Dunleavy front court?, Kosta Perovic? Marcus WIlliams?).

There's a great piece over at SFGate about new Warriors GM Larry Riley that's definitely worth the cost of a click.

Jim Barnett, Tim Roye, and The Razor and Mr. T

I wanted to take a quick second to highlight some folks who don't get much national media attention though they're quite golden. There's a lot of clowns working under Cohan's regime and in the local Bay Area media who we'll leave unnamed, but these guys are more than legit.

Jim Barnett of Barnett's Law Fame. Barnett is the Warriors color TV commentator and is old school smooth in every way imaginable.

Tim Roye of Elevation Sensation fame. Roye is the Warriors radio announcer and does an absolutely superb job despite having announced so much suck for well over a decade.

Ralph Barbieri of Amici's fame and Tom Tolbert of Run TMC fame. The Razor and Mr. T host the weekly Don Nelson Show on KNBR here in the Bay Area. If you've never heard Nellie's show with Ralph and Tom you're missing out.

Biggest Weaknesses

The Human Powered Turnover Machine

Barring no injuries and if Monta Ellis can make through the season without hopping on a "low-speed moped", it's a pretty safe bet that the Warriors will lead the league in turnovers. Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Anthony Randolph will be the main culprits. Rookie Stephen Curry will probably add to the turnover totals considerably, but we will excuse the rookie.

We'll be using this picture quite a bit in our recaps this season.

Low Hoops IQ

Top to bottom this is one of the dumbest rosters in the league. It can be painful watching them struggle to throw the simplest inbounds pass. Part of that is being young, but most of that can be attributed to players who simply aren't that sharp on the court and off the court. We'll just leave it at that. We're not in the business of hurting the trade value of players on the home team- well at least today.

Immaturity

Media Day 2009 typifies the "Captain" Moped silliness. I'll pass the mic to my man DT from the mighty Fear the Beard: Hater Tuesday: Warriors media day special edition:

What the hell kind of team can't even get media day right? Show up, look happy to be a well-compensated professional, say some nice things to move some tickets, and go home. But no. Not our Dubs. They've got to make this into a public spectacle of dysfunction. And at the center of the storm? The team's two best players. First, you've got Captain Grinch telling us that, yes, he still wants out. Then you've got Monta telling us that, no, he doesn't think Nellie's backcourt plan will work. Great. Where do I sign up to give Chris Cohan that disproportionate share of my disposable income for my delusional "great time out?"

Don't you hate it when your "Captain" is running away from the mess he helped create?

It's very difficult rooting for these guys.

Goals

Playoffs?! PLAYOFFS?! You wanna talk about playoffs?

Actually it's really quite simple. There's really only 2 goals. It takes 2.

1. Fire Rowell

Simply put, Robert Rowell's ascension and solidification as a front office executive on a half billion dollar corporation defies reason. Our recent Q&A with San Jose Mercury columnist Tim Kawakami reaffirmed what we've know for years around these parts: No other NBA team would be dumb enough to have him as an executive:

But there is no support for him as a franchise-runner and everybody knows he's not good at handling people, despite the handful of loyalists who remain in the Warriors employ, There's definitely zero respect for the public front-office chicanery/zaniness of the last year or so.

In fact, I got calls from NBA execs wondering what Rowell was doing when he signed Jackson to the three-year extension, and got calls from the same guys laughing their butts off when Jackson made his public trade request. His dance with Nelson, also, is amusing to NBA folks who know Nelson well.

So no, I don't think Rowell would get a job in any high position in the NBA if Cohan would grant him free agency. Maybe he could be a marketing guy for a D-League team?

Marketing guy for a D-League team. No disrespect to the fine folks at Ridiculous Upside (where you can always find out who will be the next Warrior), but that's pretty hilarious.

Seriously can we get Thunder back already?

2. Chris Cohan Sells the Warriors

From the Archives:

SPECIAL REPORT: The man who owns the Warriors. Cohan's rocky reign. An era marked by lost games, lost fans and endless litigation [SFGate]
RUMOR: Warriors owner Chris Cohan "highly likely" to sell
Polling GSoM: Are you really that surprised that PR director Raymond Ridder and the Golden State Warriors got caught "astroturfing"? (5/23/09)
At the Press Conference: Write "Sell the Warriors" (8/29/06)
Missing Signatures (4/19/06)
Rise to the Occasion (3/17/06)
2005-2006 REPORT CARD: Chris Cohan and Robert Rowell (8/23/09)
BREAKING NEWS: Ice Cube Purchases the Warriors (4/1/06)
We Want Larry! (7/25/09)
San Jose SuperSonics in 2k8 (7/18/06)
NBA Draft 2006: Chris Cohan is happy the draft isn't in the Bay (6/28/07)
The Dirty Dozen - Part 1 of 3 (9/11/06)
IRS Stressing Warrior Owner Chris Cohan (5/19/09)
NBA Payroll Playpen and Cohanomics (11/30/07)
WARRIORSist (6/6/06)
RUMOR: Chris Cohan and Robert Rowell said no to Kevin Garnett because of additional salary and the luxury tax (5/16/09)
RUMOR: Chris Cohan IS INDEED interested in selling Warriors and was in negotiations with Larry Ellison

There really isn't much more to say that we haven't said already, but I will say this. Warriors fans Nirvana isn't winning a championship. It's living to see Cohan sell this team and ending his failed attempt to kill all interest in pro hoops in the Bay Area.

Maybe "Weekend at Cohan's" is better than 16 Years with Cohan?

We'll happily take a championship though.

Projected Finish- "Let's Get IF-y!"

Let's take it back to Computer Science 101 for all our many Silicon Valley readers out there and utilize the ominpotent If statement.

If the Warriors don't make any moves and stay healthy, they're headed for 34 wins and the 10th spot in the West.

If the Warriors continue their injury prone ways (which has a high likelihood with players like Corey Maggette), they're headed for 29 wins (again) and the 12th spot in the West.

If the Warriors cash in all their trade chips and bring in an All-Star caliber big man a la Amare Stoudemire before the season is lost, they're headed for 48 wins and a low playoff seed with a bright and exciting future ahead.

Don't Forget Who We Are

A lot of folks might not have had the "privilege" of following this team and fanbase before the mainstream sports media and even many local media outlets here in the Bay Area cared to pay attention. When it comes to suck, the Warriors having been doing it for years:

Ain't nothing new here!

We're used to it.

Is there another region of hoops junkies who rally around something like this?

"UNSTOPPABLE BABY!"

Golden State Warriors rookie Marc Jackson to the Mavericks' bench, after hitting a lay-up during a 29-point loss (2000)

This is who we are.

I remember 3 years ago (pre-WE BELIEVE, pre-bandwagoners, pre-most regular national and local media coverage of the Warriors, pre-everyone and their mamma starting a Warriors blog because they can type even though they're borderline illiterate) when we launched The W Column for FSN Bay Area (now Comcast Sports Net Bay Area). Each of the GSoM writers answered the essay question we posed for our contest America's Next Warriors fan: Why I love the Warriors even though they've missed the playoffs for 12 straight seasons. Here's what I wrote:

I'm a Golden State Warriors fan because I'm in a golden state of mind.

The Bay Area sports soul is fragmented in professional football (49ers and Raiders) and baseball (A's and Giants) as well as college athletics (Cal, Stanford, San Jose State, and Santa Clara University), but not in pro hoops. The Warriors are a unifying force in Bay Area sports. They represent the Bay and are a rallying point for all of us. Every time the Warriors win it's like throwing up a big W for the entire Bay. That's golden.

Almost every night out at the Arena and on the road the Warriors aren't supposed to win. It's that "shock the world" mentality that breathes life into Warriors Nation. That mentality ignites our interests even when the Warriors aren't within sniffing distance of the playoffs. It fuels our Bay Area hoops soul. That's golden.

It might sound silly that the Warriors officially play for "Golden State", but there's nothing silly about being in a golden state of mind. That my friends is truly golden.

(Make sure to read the rest of that piece for some more golden words from DJ Fuzzy Logic, Fantasy Junkie, YaoButtaMing, and Hash.)

Despite the constant dysfunction junction off 880 on Hegenberger Ave., for me persoally nothing has changed.

We might be waiting awhile here in the Bay Area, but we WILL shock the world again like we did back in the spring of 2007 with WE BELIEVE. Oh it might take another 12 year playoff drought. Oh it might take Nellie coming back a third time to coach the Warriors in 2020 in his 90's. Oh it might take another wacky and improbable run with the Warriors qualifying for the playoffs on the last day of the season. But it will happen. We WILL SHOCK THE WORLD AGAIN.

This is who we are.

**********

Other fine Warriors previews from our folks:

BDL's 2009-10 NBA Preview: Golden State Warriors [Ball Don't Lie]
Warriors could open 7-1, and I'm still predicting 34 wins: Month-by-month breakdown [Talking Points - San Jose Mercury]
FanHouse Preview: Warriors

**********

2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview

Anthony Morrow: Ammo + Chocolate Rain
Stephen Jackson: O Captain, My Captain
Speedy Claxton/ Devean George, Acie Law: Wouldn't Count on It
Brandan Wright: Injury Prone
Stephen Curry: Let There Be Hope
Monta Ellis: Back in the Saddle
Corey Maggette: The 6th Wonder of the Oracle
Anthony Randolph: Hope Beyond the Hype
C.J. Watson: Storm-a-brewin'?
Mikki Moore: Ronny Turiaf Sr.
Ronny Turiaf: Still Gettin' Hyphy
Andris Biedrins: The Forgotten Warrior
Kelenna Azubuike: The Price is Right

Golden State Warriors 2k9-2k10 Super Preview Blowout Special!

2009-2010 Around the Association

Introduction
Atlanta Hawks: Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. The Hawks are for real.
Boston Celtics: Sheed in Green + Another Answer
Charlotte Bobcats: They Do Exist
Chicago Bulls: Ring Around the Rose-y
Cleveland Cavaliers: Now or Never
Dallas Mavericks: The Curse of the Dampier
Denver Nuggets: If it ain't broke...
Detroit Pistons: The Return of the Bay Boys
Houston Rockets: Yao-ch!, that's gotta hurt
Indiana Pacers: A One Man Show
Los Angeles Clippers: Warriors South No More
Los Angeles Lakers: Big Brother, Little Brother
Memphis Grizzlies: Going Back to Vancouver
Miami Heat: Need to get the point
Milwaukee Bucks: Saving a few buck$
Minnesota Timberwolves: Donde esta Senor Rubio?
New Jersey Nets: The Year of the Yi
New Orleans Hornets: Two first names, one great point guard
New York Knicks: Is it summatime yet?
Oklahoma City Thunder: The X Factors
Orlando Magic: Are they Vinsane? You be the judge
Philadelphia 76ers: Are they (Elton) Brand New?
Phoenix Suns: Who knows?
Portland TrailBlazers: The Fire Keeps Burning
Sacramento Kings: It's all up from here
San Antonio Spurs: An Apple a Day...
Toronto Raptors: So International
Utah Jazz: Reset Button
Washington Wizards: Guess Who's Bizzack?
Rewind: We Got Art

Poll

How many games will the 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors win?

0-9 wins :: WE SERIOUSLY SUCK

25 votes

10-19 wins :: WE REALLY SUCK

24 votes

20-29 wins :: WE DEFINITELY SUCK

192 votes

30-39 wins :: WE SUCK

476 votes

40-49 wins :: PLAYOFFS?! WE WANT TO TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!

370 votes

50-59 wins :: SHOCK THE WORLD

66 votes

60-69 wins :: LEBRON JAMES IS COMING, RIGHT?

7 votes

70-81 wins :: MICHAEL JORDAN IS COMING, RIGHT?

7 votes

82 wins :: "UNSTOPPABLE BABY!"

133 votes

1300 votes | Poll has closed

Micro-Warriornomics :: GSoM's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview (Part 1 of 2)

Atma Brother ONE — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:30:46 -0000

It's the moment you've all been waiting for...

Actually that's probably a little too dramatic. As far as I know Chris Cohan (aka the worst owner in all of sports) is not selling the Golden State Warriors today.)

Okay it's the next best thing. Ladies and gentlemen get ready for Golden State of Mind's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview!

(Well at least the first part.)

We about to BUMRUSH the Roaracle on opening night for GSoM Night 7!

You've read the rest. Now it's time for the best.

After the jump we drop science at the university level!

At most universities if you're interested in taking Economics you usually first take Micro-Economics and then Macro-Economics. We'll follow that course sequence here and start with the Micro (individual players) before we tackle the Macro (the assemblage).

Micro-Warriornomics: It takes 15!

To do what exactly nightly at the Roaracle I'm not so sure, but we'll continue...

Golden State Warriors Roster

	#	Pos.	DOB	W	H	College
Kelenna Azubuike	7	F	12.16.83	220	6-5	Kentucky
Andris Biedrins	15	C	4.2.86	240	6-11	None
Speedy Claxton	10	G	5.8.78	170	5-11	Hofstra
Stephen Curry	30	G	3.14.88	185	6-3	Davidson
Monta Ellis	8	G	10.26.85	180	6-3	None
Devean George	19	F	8.29.77	235	6-8	Augsburg
Stephen Jackson	1	G	4.5.78	215	6-8	None
Acie Law	2	G	1.25.85	202	6-3	Texas A&M
Corey Maggette	50	F	11.12.79	225	6-6	Duke
Mikki Moore	33	F	11.4.75	225	7-0	Nebraska
Anthony Morrow	22	G	9.27.85	210	6-5	Georgia Tech
Don Nelson	-	H	5.15.40	0	0	Iowa
Anthony Randolph	4	F	7.15.89	205	6-10	L-S-U
Scott Roth	-	A	6.3.63			Wisconsin
Stephen Silas	-	A	1.1.00	0	0	Brown
Keith Smart	-	A	9.21.64	0	0	Indiana
Ronny Turiaf	21	C	1.13.83	250	6-10	Gonzaga
Russell Turner	-	A	10.24.70			Hampden-Sydney
C.J. Watson	23	G	4.17.84	175	6-2	Tennessee
Brandan Wright	32	F	10.5.87	210	6-10	North Carolina

Anthony Morrow

#22 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

Height:6-5

Weight:210

Born:Sep 27, 1985

College:Georgia Tech

Ammo + Chocolate Rain

Before we look at toMorrow I wanted to take a look back at yesterday. Here's a interesting per 36 minute comparison for these two sharp shooters at age 23 in the NBA. (significant highs in bold)

Sharp Shooter A: 16.1 ppg (47.8% FG, 46.7% 3pt, 87.0% FT), 4.7 rpg, 1.9 apg

Sharp Shooter B: 16.0 ppg (47.9% FG, 40.2% 3pt, 84.4% FT), 3.9 rpg, 3.1 apg

Who are these sharpshooters you ask?

... ... ...

... ... ...

... ... ...

A is Anthony Morrow.

Lights out.

B is none other than... Reggie Miller.

Reggie must've been Steve Kerr's man to guard here.

Reggie Miller Part II? Okay that's obviously going a little overboard (a little?), but I like what I see. I do like what I see.

-- Atma Brother #1

Read the rest of Anthony Morrow's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Anthony Morrow Scouting Report

Strengths

Elite shooter with fantastic muscle memory

More than adequate rebounding rate that sets him apart from those one-trick pony sharpshooters (Jason Kapono, J.J. Reddick, etc.)

Willingness to get scrappy on defense

Weaknesses

Limited handles and ability to create for himself or others
Slow feet especially on D
Not an elite NBA level athlete

Golden Number: 46.7%

Ammo is the reigning NBA 3pt Champ and 96% of folks here at GSoM think he's got a great shot to repeat. As you can see, there aren't many haters around this neighborhood.

St ephen Jackson

#1 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-8

Weight: 215

Born: Apr 05, 1978

College: None

O Captain, My Captain No More

O Captain, my Captain!

Say it ain't so

O Captain, my Captain!

You don't wanna be captain no mo

O Captain, my Captain!

This is getting out of hand

O Captain, my Captain!

Get outta here with your trade demands

O Captain, my Captain!

I can't support this

O Captain, my Captain!

TWO Techs? Just for kicks?

O Captain, my Captain!

You are DEAD WRONG

O Captain, my Captain!

You no longer belong

O Captain, my Captain!

I can't believe it's all happenin'

O Captain, my Captain!

You are a huge distraction

O Captain, my Captain!

It's time for you to depart

O Captain, my Captain!

THERE IS NO ROOM FOR YOU IN MY HEART.

-- R Dizzle

Read the rest of Stephen Jackson's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Stephen Jackson Scouting Report

Strengths

Bamboozling Warriors President Robert Rowell in contract negotiations that don't need to be happening in the first place
For the most part doing all that's asked of him on the court by Nellie and to his credit that's a lot because of the many holes on this roster
Wanting to win... as long as he gets paid (e.g. leaving the San Antonio Spurs after winning a ring with Tim Duncan and company to pursue lottery dreams with the Atlanta Hawks and inking an absurd long term extension with the Warriors AFTER the fabulous WE BELIEVE show was destroyed)

Weaknesses

Saying the "right" things to the media to help boost his trade value
Turnovers, shot selection, rebounding
Being a captain

Golden Number: 2

As in 2 technical fouls in 3 PRESEASON games?! We don't call him "Captain Technical" for nothing.

Acie Law IV

#2 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-3

Weight: 202

Born: Jan 25, 1985

College: Texas A&M

(Not the 1st, 2nd, or the 3rd, but the 4th!)

Speedy Claxton

#10 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

Height: 5-11

Weight: 170

Born: May 08, 1978

College: Hofstra

Devean George

#19 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-8

Weight: 235

Born: Aug 29, 1977

College: Augsburg p>

Wouldn't Count on It

Law. Claxton. George.

There is always a chance that one of these players will step up and contribute.

But I wouldn't count on it.

-- JAE

Read the rest of the Acie Law/ Speedy Claxton/ Devean George 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Acie Law/ Speedy Claxton/ Devean George Scouting Report

Whatever Nellie can get out of these 3 would be an unexpected, but welcome bonus. Nellie has talked about using Law in a point forward role. This is a 6'3 guard we're talking about.

Don Nelson also once hyped up Chris Mullin favs Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy before promptly demanding that they be shipped out. Point being, Nellie says a lot of entertaining things before the season starts.

Golden Number: 9,025,614

As in dollars. That's a nice chunk of expiring contracts that Nellie and GM Larry Riley might be able to cash in on closer to the annual NBA trading deadline come February.

Brandan Wright

#32 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-10

Weight: 210

Born: Oct 05, 1987

College: North Carolina

Injury Prone

INJURED.

Sorry, too easy.

But in all seriousness, a shoulder dislocation is one of those injuries that you can call being "injury prone." It does weaken the joint and lead to further injury if it is stressed by a big force - say, a big guy trying to block you. Now, I don't know how the "slap" happened in practice on Friday, but I'm assuming it was by someone bigger than him. (I think someone mentioned it being Anthony Randolph, but I don't know for sure.) Either way, it happened, and it shows that he does have recurring shoulder problems.

Now there's one obvious question that comes up - how did he get reinjured after bulking up? I'm no doctor, but two things pop in my head as a bioengineer.

Yes, he bulked up, but it might have been in a case of too much too fast. If you add a bunch of muscle quickly, you basically didn't do it naturally. It's pretty physically hard to toss on 10 pounds of muscle (or more) in a month without the use of steriods or a bunch of protein. He had a small frame prior to the extensive working out and it might not be able to support it all initially.

The injury at his shoulder joint never fully healed. If this is the case (which is pretty possible) little things (like a slap) would set it off. When you're doing muscle training and just trying to bulk up, if you're doing it properly (which he probably was because he had a trainer present), the shoulder muscles were isolated. This means abnormal movements or things that would aggravate the joint would not have occured in the muscle training, thus, it would be possible for him to add on pounds.

-- R Dizzle

Read the rest of Brandan Wright's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Brandan Wright Scouting Report

Strengths

Extremely efficient scorer
Inspector Gadget-like blocks
Low turnovers

Weaknesses

Soft rebounder and defender
Still looks fairly clueless more often than not on the court
Sadly... injury prone

Golden Number: 68.7%

The percentage of games Wright has racked up a DNP for whatever reason in his first 3 seasons in the league. (169 games missed/ 246 possible games)

Stephen Curry

#30 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-3

Weight: 185

Born: Mar 14, 1988

College: Davidson

Years in the making!

Let There Be Hope

Wrong Curry. But equally as exciting!

I would be remiss to not mention that if you have any percentage of South Asian blood in you, or if you just happen to like Indian food, go out and buy a Curry jersey. Long after this kid starts to average 25 ppg and goes to another team for $20 more because Rowell refuses to match the offer, a jersey that says "Curry" on the back will bring you endless joy. Also, discounts among Indian restaurants across the greater Bay Area. It's really the gift that keeps on giving.

-- Hash

Read the rest of Stephen Curry's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Stephen Curry Scouting Report

Strengths

Court vision and distributing the rock
Hoops IQ
Great attitude and willingness to learn and work hard from the best

Weaknesses

Shooting- believe it or not, but Curry has struggled mightily both from the field and long distance in the summer league, preseason, and practice. This doesn't mean he won't/ can't be a great NBA shooter someday, but don't expect much his rookie season in this department. Don't forget it took Steve Nash quite some time to post elite FG and 3pt percentages.
Guarding bigger and stronger players.
Questionable support from the vets on this team (not his fault of course)

Golden Number: 28.6

The number of points Curry averaged at the age of 20 while facing constant double and triple teams in college (admittedly against b-rate competition). Will he score like that in the pro's? Probably not, but that's undoubtedly intriguing.

Here's some bonus numbers for you-- Allen Iverson Age 20 vs. Stephen Curry Age 20

Monta Ellis

#8 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-3

Weight: 180

Born: Oct 26, 1985

College: None

Back in the Saddle

First the 2008/09 recap. One fine August day in Mississippi, 2008, Monta mounted his moped ...

OK, fast forward. One chilly January day in Oakland 2009, Monta returned from hoops purgatory. The season was already in the tank, spirits of Warrior Nation were low, and Monta's game didn't do much to raise them, initially. His first five games back from the DL, he looked nothing like the irresistible force we had last seen at the end of '07/08 doing a passable impersonation of Dwyane Wade. January '09 per game numbers: 29.8 min / 12.4 pts (.369 fg%) / 2.8 reb / 2.4 ast / 2.4 to.

In February things picked up -- a bit. 35.3 min / 14.0 pts (.414 fg%) / 4.1 reb / 3.0 ast / 2.5 to.

Then the ankle got cranky again, and the kid was shut down for a couple of weeks. Upon his second coming in mid-March ... lo and behold, he started to look a bit more like the Monta we knew and ... loved? 37.4 min / 23.5 pts (.493 fg%) / 4.5 reb / 4.4 ast / 2.8 to. And finally, to close out his season, a cherry of a game on top off the distinctly un-sundae-ish pile of suck that was the season as a whole: 42 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists.

Fast forward to the present. What to expect in 2009/10? Well, even if you attribute some of his '07/08 success to the elite distributive skills of Baron Davis, I don't see why we can't look at his last healthy stretch of play as a baseline. We have a tendency to forget just how good Monta was the second half of that season, pre- fat contract, pre-moped, pre-awkward dissembling, pre- breaking the hearts of Warrior Nation, pre- Stephen Golden Curry. To jog people's collective memory:

Feb '08 -- 40.2 min / 26.0 pts (.602 fg%) / 4.7 reb / 4.8 ast / 1.7 to

Mar '08 -- 41.4 min / 22.6 pts (.529 fg%) / 6.3 reb / 4.6 ast / 2.6 to

Apr '08 -- 38.3 min / 22.3 pts (.538 fg%) / 6.3 reb / 4.3 ast / 3.2 to

Unless you think the ankle injury has permanently sapped some of his explosiveness, I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine that Monta, at age 23/24, can be that guy again. Efficient scorer, sweet mid-range shooter, spectacular finisher, solid rebounder for his size ... Monta Monti Monté Montay Monteigh will always be those things. Still ... a few nagging questions persist:

-- Sleepy Freud

Read the rest of Monta Ellis' 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Monta Ellis Scouting Report

Strengths

Attacking the rim
Rebounding well for a smallish 2-guard
Running the one man fast break

Weaknesses

There's a reason Monta Ellis garnered so many votes for the 2008-2009 2008-2009 WDWY (Worst Defensive Warrior of the Year)
Court vision and too many turnovers
Sounding the least bit intelligent in interviews
Riding mopeds at "low speeds"

Golden Number: 57

The number of games Ellis missed last season thanks to Moped Gate after this franchise ran out the greatest backcourt show on the hardwood (Baron Davis and Jason Richardson) to foolishly build the team around a non-defending, undersized 2-guard with questionable maturity.

Corey Maggette

#50 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-6

Weight: 225

Born: Nov 12, 1979

College: Duke

The 6th Wonder of the Oracle

Like his heavy contract or not, it's tough to deny that Maggette isn't a offensive force. Last year Mags averaged 18.6 ppg, and 5.6 boards per game, a considerable contribution for our leading non-starter.

The issue with Mags is, is he capable of making a bid for more? Before the dabaucle that was media day, Nellie had already come out and said that Maggette will be starting the season in the role of 6th man again.

Corey Maggette will be the sixth man. If Curry starts, Ellis plays the 2; if Azubuike starts, Ellis plays point and Jackson plays the 2; if Morrow starts, Ellis plays point and Jackson plays 3; and if Wright starts, Randolph moves to the 3 and Jackson plays the 2.

That's a lot of options. All of which put Maggette at the six.

It's clear that Nellie is going to bring in his scoring capabilities when needed, but the priority this season will be building up the young guns to run this team. Poor Maggette. But then again, just because he's paid $9 million doesn't mean we're going to get $9 million worth of talent, right?

-- Hash

Read the rest of Corey Maggette's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Corey Maggette Scouting Report

Strengths

Miraculously getting "Michael Jordan" treatment from the refs nightly
Not only getting to the free throw line an astounding 8 times a game, but sinking over 80% of his free throws
Dope verses on the Snoop Dogg track produced by Dr. Dre "B*tch Please"

Weaknesses

Sharing the ball (1.8 apg : 2.4 to)
Staying healthy
Playing all that much defense which is pretty disappointing given his stunning physique

Golden Number: 3

The number of times Maggette has played over 70 games in a single season over the course of his 10 year NBA career.

Anthony Randolph

#4 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-10

Weight: 205

Born: Jul 15, 1989

College: L-S-U

Hope Beyond the Hype

Randolph has certainly grown into the hype and hopes surrounding him. His name appears as the only real "untouchable" on the Warriors roster. His summer league performance indicates mostly that he significantly outclassed the competition, and he looks to build on the the success enjoyed at the end of last season in a bigger role this year. While he must continue to refine his shot and shot selection to be able to carry a greater portion of the offensive load and give the Warriors a real threat in the paint. He will need to reduce his fouls and show more defensive discipline as well. But there is every reason to believe this is possible. Nelson now says that Randolph turned his work ethic around and is now perhaps the team's hardest worker. With Wright now sidelined for somewhere between a few months and eternity, Randolph will have every chance to shine full time at PF, though in Nellie's offense that is predicated on versatility, he will have much opportunity to flash those skills that excited many early last year as well. As a 4 able to put the ball on the floor at times who is also a beast on the glass who can swat shots with authority. HOF potential like Lakers' versatile big man Lamar Odom suggests?

Let's not get so far ahead of ourselves. Odom also said that Randolph could shoot the three, of which there's yet no evidence. And while he did seem to find some success with a shot off the right elbow, outside of the paint, AR has a ways to go. His opening performance against the Clippers shows that his willingness to shoot -- 13 shots in 10 minutes -- may precede his ability to knock 'em down. The part of his offensive game that has worked has not been effectively all that different from that of front-court mates Andris Biedrins or the once again injured Wright. Wright, despite appearing to have fewer weapons upon which to draw, managed to both take and make more shots per minute on the floor. Randolph must show that his skills warrant getting him the ball in designed sets. There's still quite a bit of polishing that needs to be done before booking reservations to Springfield. But as long as he can clean the glass with the best of them, he should get opportunities to improve.

-- JAE

Read the rest of Anthony Randolph's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Anthony Randolph Scouting Report

Strengths

Serious hyperactivity on the glass and with the swatage
Work ethic (something you couldn't really say about rookie AR)
Some serious, serious, serious potential to get even a writer who despises endless and mythically bright Warriors youth movements (that would be me)... dream

Weaknesses

Out of control way too often leading to turnovers and poor decisions
Still very raw on offense
In-progress man-to-man defense

Golden Number: 4

How many months older Randolph is than rookie and budding superstar Blake Griffin. Interesting indeed.

C.J. Watson

#23 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-2

Weight: 175

Born: Apr 17, 1984

College: Tennessee

Storm-a-brewin'?

But jokes aside, Watson clearly didn't want to be here. As some reports note, with the glut of point guards, minutes might be hard to come by. Instead of going for the longer term stability that the Warriors offered (3 years at $5million), Watson took the one year qualifying offer of $1.05 million. He even rejected the Philly 1 year offer of $2.3 million.

All this is to say that with Watson's 2010 unrestricted status, next year's free-agent class - Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Dirk Nowitski - just got more amazing (hehe...).

The other subtext is how bad are the Warriors that when guaranteed money is as hard to come by as it is in this economy, that people are more willing to opt for the "freedom of choice."

Anyway, back to CJ Watson. I'm impressed the Warriors showed some restraint and resigned him for some minimum dollars. For most of the season, he was a one trick pony. Score in bunches, do little else. And maybe that's just what was asked of him.

But in the last month of the season, when the Warriors starters were either resting up or out with injuries, Watson ended up, surprisingly averaged 17ppg, 5.5 asts, and 4 rbs a game. Stats-aside, Watson was probably one of the few ball-handlers on the team that could dribble proficiently with both hands. Although he often dribbled too much, you won't expect him to make a telegraphed pass Monta Ellis--style or to dribble into a triple team expecting-a-foul-only-to-get-stripped (see Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggete). And unlike all the rest of the Warriors, Watson actually makes his free throws!

-- DJ Fuzzy Logic

Read the rest of C.J. Watson's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

C.J. Watson Scouting Report

Strengths

Nice old school mid-range jumper
Sweet shot from downtown (40.0% 3pt last season)
Continuing Orlando Magic streak of Warriors fetishes (Andrew DeClerq, Adonal Foyle, Mickael Pietrus, Matt Barnes, and even Skip to My Lou)

Weaknesses

Being a point guard (2.7 apg : 1.2 to)
Not a physical force or strong rebounder
Provides ZERO resistance to penetrating guards

Golden Number: 15

The day in December when the Warriors can try to use Watson's $1 million expiring contract as part of a trade deal.

Mikki Moore

#33 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Height: 7-0

Weight: 225

Born: Nov 04, 1975

College: Nebraska

Uh-oh.

Mikki Moore - Ronny Turiaf Sr.

In all fairness, and I'll be honest, I don't know much about Mikki Moore so he may be more than poster fodder for this upcoming season...

I also know that ESPN's player page has the pronunciation of his name in all caps: "MIKEY", not "Mickey". I think that explains why he's always screaming and yelling. He needs to be heard! From here on out, I will refer to him as MIKEY! and you can pretend I'm screaming it every time I write it.

I know MIKEY! signed for the veteran minimum, $825,497. Yup, half of what I make, sucka.

I know that MIKEY! is not going to contribute much to the Warriors championship run. He might help pour the champagne though.

-- Fantasy Junkie

Read the rest of Mikki Moore's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Mikki Moore Scouting Report

Strengths

Uncanny ability to drive Warriors fans, coaches, and players absolutely nuts with his on-court theatrics
Uncanny ability to drive opposing fans, coaches, and players absolutely nuts with his on-court theatrics
Stylin' hairdo

Weaknesses

Unimpressive rebound rate for a player billed as a "banger"
Unimpressive shot block rate for a player billed as a "banger"
ZERO upside

Golden Number: 11

The Golden State Warriors are the 11th stop for this NBA journeyman.

Ronny Turiaf

#21 / Center / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-10

Weight: 250

Born: Jan 13, 1983

College: Gonzaga

Still Gettin' Hyphy

So Goofy.

What can I say? Ronny's just Ronny - and you gotta love him for that. He's not about to be an All Star any time soon, but who cares? He brings the fire every night and he does it with a huge smile. Coach Nelson and the rest of the teammates only speak great words about him and what he contributes.

Stephen Jackson used to be my favorite player, but as the drama continues, it's getting harder and harder to support him. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that Tender-Ronny is exactly what I enjoy about basketball players - hard-working, fun loving, and just happy to be there. Through the Youth Movement, he's never complained, never made trade demands, hell, I rarely hear his name in the Warriors Tabloids (trade rumors or other types of drama). He's exactly what we need for the Young Gunz and that makes me happy.

There aren't too many bright spots this year, but I'd put my money on Ronny Turiaf making this enjoyable.

-- R Dizzle

Read the rest of Ronny Turiaf's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Ronny Turiaf Scouting Report

Strengths

Uncanny ability to drive Warriors fans, coaches, and players absolutely nuts with his on-court theatrics
Uncanny ability to drive opposing fans, coaches, and players absolutely nuts with his on-court theatrics
Stylin' hairdo

Weaknesses

Unimpressive rebound rate for a player billed as a "banger"
Despite having a fantastic shot block rate, he's not as good of a man-to-man defender as you'd like
Shaky jumpshot

Golden Number: 3.6

Blocks per 36 minutes for Turiaf last season. It's like having Adonal in his prime-- with dreds!

Andris Biedrins

#15 / Center / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-11

Weight: 240

Born: Apr 02, 1986

College: None

The Forgotten Warrior

Whether you call it Nellie ball, small ball, or gimmick ball, Don Nelson uses his centers in a unique way. He simultaneously wants them crashing the boards and blocking shots, but doesn't want them plodding along or clogging up the middle. They need to be mobile and agile, with soft hands and good instincts. It's nice if they have a 10 foot jump shot or can pass from the high post, but their primary job is to stop penetration, secure the defensive rebound, start the break, and get down to the other end of the court to be in offensive rebounding position before the shot goes up (not always an easy task when the Warriors are going full throttle). No one has been better at this since Nelson first coached the Warriors than Andris Biedrins.

But Andris' outstanding play often gets overlooked because he's so foundational. He's not the focus of the offense, he just provides the stops and rebounds that allow the rest of the team to get out on the break. He's usually not the man streaking to the basket for a dunk, but it's often his screen that created the glimpse of daylight making the play possible. And Andris might not be getting many shots per game, but it's his offensive rebounds that give the other Warriors even more looks at the basket. When Andris goes down -- as he did with appendicitis two years ago and a variety of ailments last year -- opposing guards get closer to the rim, opposing big men get more second chance points, the Warriors take longer to start their breaks, the lanes to the basket collapse, and the second chance points dry up. The emergence of Anthony Randolph has helped take some of the pressure off Biedrins, but on far too many nights the Latvian and longest-tenured Warrior (along with Monta) still looks like Custer, making his last stand in the paint.

-- Adam

Read the rest of Andris Biedrins' 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Andris Biedrins Scouting Report

Strengths

Elite rebounder who brings it on the glass every night
Efficient scorer
Very crafty at sneaking close to the bucket for easy shots

Weaknesses

Soft defender who fouls too much
Hideous looking free throw stroke and jumpshot with hideous results (hide the children)
Probably maxed out his game at a young age with his limited game and athletic ability

Golden Number: 20

The number of games Biedrins missed last season. Was it a fluke or is Biedrins an injury concern this year?

Kelenna Azubuike

#7 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Height: 6-5

Weight: 220

Born: Dec 16, 1983

College: Kentucky

The Price is Right

More importantly, Azubuike's efficiency was also up last season. See the graph below comparing 2008-09 to 2007-08: he knocked down a higher percentage of his field goals, 3-point shots (good for 4th-best in the league), and free throws, plus also drew more fouls--all leading to a higher True Shooting %.

Basketball-Reference.com has a statistic called Win Shares, which attempts to translate a player's total boxscore contributions over the course of a season into team wins. Azubuike recorded 4.1 win shares on the year--not a great absolute number, but good enough for 2nd place on a 29-win team (after Andris Biedrins). When you map win shares to salary, Azubuike and some of his low-priced teammates look even better:

Bottom line: the team performed better last year when Azubuike was playing. Opponents scored 3.3 points per 100 possessions fewer when he was on the floor, which is more than you can say for Stephen Jackson (as Tom Zillerpointed out last week). And Azubuike's raw +/- numbers landed him on Tim Kawakami's season honor roll.

-- Jason G

Read the rest of Kelenna Azubuike's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Player Preview and Recap

Kelenna Azubuike Scouting Report

Strengths

Vastly underrated 3pt shooter (44.8% 3pt last season)
Excellent rebounding for a swingman
Steady presence off the bench and fairly reliable spot starter

Weaknesses

Extremely poor court vision and overall assist rate
Not the fastest or quickest NBA player
Can disappear for long stretches once in awhile

Golden Number: 0

The number of games the Warriors won last season without Kaz.

**********

Shout out to my golden peoples (Fantasy Junkie, Hash, DJ Fuzzy Logic, R Dizzle, JAE, Tony.psd, Sleepy Freud, Adam, and Jason G) for making this meta-Micro-Warriornomics piece possible.

Wait did I just write "meta-Micro-Warriornomics"? Okay, that's probably not a word, but you get the point.

Stay tuned for Part II of the GSoM 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview-- Macro-Warriornomics!

Poll

Who will take home our annual 2009-2010 WDWY (Worst Defensive Warrior of the Year) "honors"?

Anthony Morrow

100 votes

Stephen Jackson

68 votes

Acie Law IV

30 votes

Speedy Claxton

53 votes

Devean George

66 votes

Brandan Wright

12 votes

Stephen Curry

116 votes

Monta Ellis

422 votes

Corey Maggette

209 votes

Anthony Randolph

10 votes

C.J. Watson

134 votes

Mikki Moore

93 votes

Ronny Turiaf

8 votes

Andris Biedrins

7 votes

Kelenna Azubuike

4 votes

1332 votes | Poll has closed

Q&A: Tim Kawakami (Mercury News) :: 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preseason (Part 4 of 4)

Atma Brother ONE — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:32:26 -0000

Before we get to this last installment let's rewind the tape a bit:

Part 1: Don Nelson, Monta Ellis, and Stephen Jackson Drama plus the Nellie-Monta- Stephen Curry triangle
Part 2: Brandan Wright, Andris Biedrins, and Chris Mullin
Part 3: Robert Rowell's incompetence and the shopping on Andris Biedrins who my colleague Adam called The Forgotten Warrior

[Tim Kawakami's Blog]

Jump for some thoughts on all of the expiring contracts the Warriors have amassed and a dysfunction square-off between the Golden State Warriors and Oakland Raiders (see Silver and Black Pride for more on The Black Hole).

Golden State of Mind: This past offseason the Warriors (to their credit) managed to collect a bunch of potentially valuable expiring contracts (Speedy Claxton- $5.2 million, Acie Law- $2.2 million, Devean George- $1.6 million, Mikki Moore- $1.3 million, C.J. Watson- $1 million, and as of writing Brandan Wright- $2.7 million). How much demand is there around the league for this collection of expiring contracts via trade? Will the Warriors actually use them as trade chips to make a big impact trade or will they just let them come off the books to save owner Chris Cohan some money? What's your prediction?

Tim Kawakami: There's some money there. A lot of possibilities. But unless the Warriors can land a Chris Bosh/Stoudemire type, a real difference-maker, I don't see them packaging up all those expiring contracts and upgrading the talent. Instead, I think they'll let most of those deals expire because they're going to want the cap relief in the face of all those long-term deals on the books.

Last I checked, only Orlando and the Lakers--the two NBA finalists last summer--had more long-term money on the books than the Warriors. Who were not in the NBA finals. That's a staggering combination: Bad team, terrible long-term money. As long as Chris Cohan is struggling financially, he's going to want to lose chunks out of the payroll.

Golden State of Mind: There's no one more qualified than you to answer this question and have "a great time out" with it. Which front office on Hegenberger Road is more dysfunctional and clueless- the Oakland Raiders or the Golden State Warriors?

Tim Kawakami: You're not the first one to ask that! It is incredibly coincidental that two popular franchises losing their minds--and losing tons of games--both play home games within the same sports complex, and every time I jump in my car and head over there, it strikes me, too.

I've got to say that the Raiders, because they have so much championship and Hall of Fame history, are the sadder situation because it's just one formerly great sports executive who is angry at the world and ruining his team along the way. It's a simple equation there: Al Davis has run every credible person out of there, and now it's only him there, raging in the dark. Very sad, because he's a hugely important figure in the history of sports.

The Warriors are the more classically dysfunctional because there's more than one ill cause, and all the causes pull against each other, creating random chaos.

They've got five or six separate power sources, all plotting against each other, or trying to join together to plot against somebody else, or misleading each other, or misleading the public, or misleading their players. Don Nelson, Robert Rowell, Chris Cohan, Larry Riley, the players...

That's group immolation. It's sad, too, because they have tremendous fans and have had some very good players run through there. But the power sources can't keep it together because they're too busy playing politics and trying to cover their own butts.

**********

All of us at the GSoM fam wanted to thank for his continued support. Make sure to bookmark Tim's blog for all the latest on the zany state of Bay Area sports.

Trainer Tom Abdenour - The Anti-Stephen Jackson :: 2009-2010 Player Recaps and Previews

dj fuzzylogic — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:00:36 -0000

Tom Abdenour in the community! Teaching kids about eating healthy (via GoldenStateWarriors)

The number of "great" Warriors to be remembered as "great Warriors" is pretty slim. The number of retired numbers that adorn the Oracle Arena are pretty limited. With the way things are going right now, we wonder if there will ever be another Warrior that wants to be retired as one -- or a player that even comes close to having the achievements worthy of nomiation.

I argue that that next person is actually sitting on the Warriors bench right now.

No, I'm not talking about the potential of Anthony Randolph to be a superstar, nor am I suggesting anything about Stephen Curry's future with the Warriors. This dude has been with the Warriors 21 years and counting.

I'm talking about Tom Abdenour. The Warriors' athletic trainer has seen it all and stuck with the organization through thick and thin. This is more than we can say about former captain, Stephen Jackson.

This season, the Warriors need Abdenour to perform at his best. Last season was quite an "off-season" given that various Warriors players missed a combined 200+ games last season. What can we expect from him this year? Hope he's got his rolls of tape ready.

Before we get into the predictions for this year, let us check out a few of his amazing accomplishment worthy of induction into the NBA hall-of-fame. Heck, he's already in the National Athletic Trainers Association hall-of-fame.

I don't want to highlight everything about his professional career, which is accessible here. But I will note a few important things.

In 2005, he was awarded National Athletic Trainers Association's Tim Kerin Award For Excellence In Athletic Training. That year, the "star" Warrior players only missed about 20 games total with Mike Dunleavy missing only 3 games! In 1990, he received the NBA Trainer of the Year award. The run and gun warriors, led by Run TMC, clearly demonstrated his training-excellence.

Aside from that, Abdenour has been the ONLY Warrior to represent the United States in international play, getting a gold medal, too (Summer 2000 in Sydney, Australia among others).

He has also been featured in Sports Illustrated, but not as a swimsuit model.

What hasn't this man done?

Abdenour has faced a lot of bad luck last year. Moped Ellis, Brandan Wright's dislocating shoulder, Andris Biedrin's ankle and stamina issues...it was rough for him.

Abdenour provides Ellis with a strict no-Moped diet (photo via Fan Nation)

But from the looks of things, the Warriors are running smoothly. They've traded in physical problems for emotional problems. CJ Watson is back in the line-up after reportedly potentially being out longer than he was. Ellis has shown off some of that speed he once had, along with some other tricks up his sleeve to keep defenses ankles broken.

I'm expecting the Warriors to go as far as Abdenour is willing to take them. The spotlight is on him, will he be able to take them to the promised land? By promised land, I mean, at least 70 games played by all the starters.

What are your predictions for Mr. Abdenour?

2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview

Anthony Morrow: Ammo + Chocolate Rain
Stephen Jackson: O Captain, My Captain
Speedy Claxton/ Devean George, Acie Law: Wouldn't Count on It
Brandan Wright: Injury Prone
Stephen Curry: Let There Be Hope
Monta Ellis: Back in the Saddle
Corey Maggette: The 6th Wonder of the Oracle
Anthony Randolph: Hope Beyond the Hype
C.J. Watson: Storm-a-brewin'?
Mikki Moore: Ronny Turiaf Sr.
Ronny Turiaf: Still Gettin' Hyphy
Andris Biedrins: The Forgotten Warrior
Kelenna Azubuike

Coming 10.26.09 to a web browser near you...

Golden State Warriors 2k9-2k10 Super Preview Blowout Special!

RUMOR: Stephen Jackson for Zydrunas Ilgauskas ($11.5 million expiring)

Atma Brother ONE — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:56:39 -0000

UPDATE 2 (2:22pm): There's more over at ESPN True Hoop-- Marc Stein: Stephen Jackson a Warrior, for Now

---------------------------

UPDATE ( 2:10pm): Despite my best sales pitch our cavalier-ing friends over at Fear the Sword are not amused: Big Z isn't going anywhere - Ilgauskas trade rumors make little sense

----------------------------

Well they sure do look like teammates here thanks to a little Funleavy Foto Fun by "Captain" Jack.

Jump for the 4-1-1!

GSoM friend Marcus Thompson writes Would You Trade Jax for Ilgauskas? over at CC Times blog Inside the Warriors:

One rumor I've heard lately is that the Warriors have talked with Cleveland about acquiring Zydrunas Ilgauskas from the Cavaliers.

This seems like a move the Warriors would love to make, which leads me to believe Cleveland either isn't that interested in Jackson (they did sign Anthony Parker and they have Delonte West at shooting guard already) or they want more in exchange for Ilgauskas' $11.5 million expiring contract.

It should be noted that this trade would NOT work straight up (see FAIL on ESPN Trade Machine). Devean George [Trade Successful] or Acie Law [Trade Successful] would have to be included. The trade would also work with Kelenna Azubuike, but Larry Riley's a sharp cat- he wouldn't unnecessarily give away a solid swingman with a great deal to make this trade happen. Maybe that's what it will take for the Cavs to swallow the 4 years on Jackson's contract though? C.J. Watson cannot be traded until December 15th. Regardless, the trade can't just be Jack for Big Z. Some other names need to be included.

For the Dubs: Great long term move, but a short term step back.

In the short run, this is another move that makes the team worse. Sure it will help the team open up more playing time for their younger players (read: players who haven't earned the PT yet) which many hardcore (meaning crazy) Warriors fans oddly keep fantasizing about. But make no mistake about it- Jackson is a quality pro on both offense and defense. Unfortunately (because this should never happen on an NBA team) he was last year and is currently the Warriors best player. In terms of offensive effiency he doesn't put up the gaudy numbers of Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis, but neither of those players are asked to do as much on offense and neither stack up with Jack on D.

But getting rid of Captain Turnover and the ludicrous remaining 4 years on his deal (thank you Robert Rowell!) so that the Warriors can potentially net $22.8 million in expiring contracts? (Actually it'd probably be a little less since it would take George or Law to make it happen.) Sign me up.

The issue again for the Warriors is are they actually going to use all these expiring deals to make a high impact trade. I doubt they actually cash in on those contracts, but it's worth a shot. Let's face it- no one wants to play with the Warriors unless they overpay or the player has no other viable options. But here's a rare situation where simply dumping a player's contract could be a move for the Warriors in the long term. If you think the situation is nightmarish with the Warriors lead "captain" right now, imagine in a year or two after the Warriors have continued their losing ways (or more correctly Chris Cohan's losing ways) and the team keeps getting younger with their influx of lottery picks. That's a toxic environment that's conducive to no one. Captain Technical will not be a happy camper.

In the short term, it's a big step back for the Warriors (meaning stepping back from 10th place in the West to maybe 12th), but it could be a little interesting giving Nellie Ilgauskas. Big Z is still a quality center with a nice J. At age 34 he's probably at the tail end of his career (it's remarkable he's lasted this long after all those early injuries- give him his props), but there could be some shades of Manute Bol hitting jumpers (though not 3's) for the 2009-2010 Warriors season. An inside-outside combo of Ilgauskas and Biedrins could be interesting- especially if the two could work on some sort of passing 2-man game.

As far as starters or even heavy minutes this could present an interesting lineup:

Small Backcourt + Big Frontcourt

PG: Stephen Curry- 6'3

SG: Monta Ellis- 6'3

SF: Anthony Randolph- 7'0

PF: Andris Biedrins- 6'11

C: Zyndrus Ilgauskas- 7'3

Off the bench there's still Corey Maggette, Anthony Morrow, Kelenna Azubuike, etc. to give the Warriors some other looks in the backcourt.

For the Cavs: Great short term move, but questionable long term move.

Stephen Jackson is an excellent, excellent X-factor. There's no doubt about it. When he's not asked to be the captain or the #1/ #2 option he's a key cog in a winning squad (see WE BELIEVE + recent player recap and projection). Jack brings a very capable passer, 3pt shooter, and savvy vet (though not quite with the refs). When he wants to he can put out All-NBA Defense caliber results. The 2009-2010 Cleveland Cavaliers would a be great fit for him. Come to think of it- it's a great fit for anyone to play with King James.

Truth be told I'd be happy to see Jackson playing alongside LeBron James contending for a title. Against the Boston Celtics, Jack could focus on defending Paul Pierce so LeBron has more energy to be a 1-man show on offense or the best help defender ever seen. Same thing against Vince Carter on the Orlando Magic. Then imagine LeBron vs. Jack against Kobe and Ron-Ron in the 2010 NBA Finals. Plus the Shaq- Kobe how does his you know what taste?- drama storyline.

The problem is next year and beyond for the Cavs when LeBron James is in NY. They'd be stuck with a malcontent who would quickly wear out his welcome and demand a trade. But maybe the Cavs could trade him to New York at that point?

This is without a doubt the entire city of Cleveland's best chance at a professional sports titlte for quite some time (don't put your money on the Cleveland Browns). Trading an expensive backup center for the ultimate X-factor? They've got to make this move.

Also check out:

99% of rumors never happen, but 99% of them are fun to talk about!

Poll

Put on your Cavs goggles for a second-- Should the Cleveland Cavaliers trade Zydrunas Ilgauskas' expiring contract for Stephen Jackson (+ Devean George or Acie Law or some other contract filler)?

YES- the Cavs should do it

889 votes

NO- bad move for the Cavs

304 votes

1193 votes | Poll has closed

SB Nation - C.J. Watson

RECAP: Warriors 105, Nets 89 - Mikki Moore's tenacious dunks and post-dunk celebration rallies the youngins'

Game 20 Recap: Oklahoma City 104, Golden State 88

Polling GSoM: Will the Golden State Warriors lead the league in turnovers this season?

Biggest Weaknesses

The Human Powered Turnover Machine

Will the Golden State Warriors lead the league in turnovers this season?

GAME THREAD #19 - Warriors vs. Magic - Superman that..

FACTS

FICTION

Who is your favorite ex-Warrior on the Magic?

RECAP: Warriors 121, Knicks 107 - WESTSIDE til I Die!

Peep out my #1 brother's take on the whole situation (RUMOR: Golden State Warriors Head Coach Don Nelson on his way out)

Donnie Walsh and Isiah Thomas

Darko Milicic

CJ Watson

REST IN PEACE TUPAC SHAKUR AND CHRISTOPHER WALLACE

Which player is most like 2Pac?

Stephen Jackson

Monta Ellis

Kelenna Azubuike

C.J. Watson

Anthony Randolph

Corey Maggette

Andris Biedrins

Macro-Warriornomics - WE BELIEVE WE SUCK :: GSoM's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview (Part 2 of 2)

2k9 Golden State Warriors Offseason Rewind

Key Losses

The Chris Mullin Publicity Stunt

The Marco Belinelli Hype Machine

Key Additions

Additions

Miikki Moore

SHAKE DEM DREADS!

Expiring Contracts

2k9-2k10 Golden State Warriors Projections

Biggest Strengths

Roaracle Faithful

Likable Young Players

Expiring Contracts

The 2nd (soon to be 1st) Most Winningnest Coach in NBA History

Nellie and Riley as the Shot Callers

Jim Barnett, Tim Roye, and The Razor and Mr. T

Biggest Weaknesses

The Human Powered Turnover Machine

Immaturity

Goals

1. Fire Rowell

2. Chris Cohan Sells the Warriors

Projected Finish- "Let's Get IF-y!"

Don't Forget Who We Are

2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview

2009-2010 Around the Association

How many games will the 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors win?

0-9 wins :: WE SERIOUSLY SUCK

10-19 wins :: WE REALLY SUCK

20-29 wins :: WE DEFINITELY SUCK

30-39 wins :: WE SUCK

40-49 wins :: PLAYOFFS?! WE WANT TO TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!

50-59 wins :: SHOCK THE WORLD

60-69 wins :: LEBRON JAMES IS COMING, RIGHT?

70-81 wins :: MICHAEL JORDAN IS COMING, RIGHT?

82 wins :: "UNSTOPPABLE BABY!"

Micro-Warriornomics :: GSoM's 2009-2010 Golden State Warriors Preview (Part 1 of 2)

Micro-Warriornomics: It takes 15!

Golden State Warriors Roster

Anthony Morrow #22 / Guard / Golden State Warriors Height:6-5 Weight:210 Born:Sep 27, 1985 College:Georgia Tech

#22 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

Anthony Morrow Scouting Report

Strengths

Weaknesses

#1 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Stephen Jackson Scouting Report

Strengths

#2 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

#10 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

#19 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Acie Law/ Speedy Claxton/ Devean George Scouting Report

Golden Number: 9,025,614

#32 / Forward / Golden State Warriors

Anthony Morrow

#22 / Guard / Golden State Warriors

Height:6-5

Weight:210

Born:Sep 27, 1985

College:Georgia Tech