Even for someone who's seen a lifetime of disappointing Warriors teams, this year has been surprising downer. I look at the roster, and I might not see a playoff team, but I just don't see an 0-for-a-road-trip doormat. Sure, without Baron, we don't have anything close to a superstar, and that's what it takes to actually be good in this league. But with talented, if flawed, vets like Jax, Maggette, Beans, and Crawford, solid role-players like Turiaf and Watson on the bench, and two potential studs in Wright and Randolph learning the ropes,  you'd at least think they'd be hovering around .500. Yes, there is an air of chaos surrounding the team. But Don Nelson--Nellie, our beloved savior--is still running the show. There's hope!

But then a thought struck me. I've seen this movie before. The year was 1996. You had three talented, if flawed, vets--All-Star-level players, even--in Mullin, Hardaway, and Sprewell (yes, Hardaway battled injuries that year). You had solid enough role players (BJ Armstrong, Kevin Willis) on the bench. And you had two potential studs (Joe Smith, still in his rookie-year glow, Donyell Marshall, who at the time was considered a hot commodity)--learning the ropes. Yes, there was an air of chaos surrounding the team (the name Chris Webber comes to mind). But we still had Don Nelson, our beloved savior, as coach.

But there was no hope. The team won 36 games that year. And then instead of getting better, they got worse. Then they got much worse. And then they continued to be awful for ten years.

I guess what I'm saying is, if we had to jump into a time machine, how come we couldn't go back to 1971 instead?