Checking around the net for Warriors news and a name that keeps popping up is Jason Thompson.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2008/06/20/the-jason-thompson-bubble-the-warriors-like-him-but-14-is-too-high/

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2008/06/22/warriors-draft-jason-thompson-info-in-case-you-were-curious/

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/ian_thomsen/06/23/draft.notes/index.html?eref=sircrc

Usually one rumor is not worth listening to, but this one has been persistent and somewhat abundant.  I like the idea of Thompson but not at 14.  I'd be much happier with a trade down to somewhere in the 20-25 range then grabbing Thompson rather than blowing the 14th pick on a guy that should go much lower.

 

Poll

What do you think of Jason Thompson?

9%

Draft at 14

8 votes

62%

Trade down to 20-25

54 votes

28%

Not worth drafting anywhere

25 votes

87 votes | Poll has closed

As a long time fan, the draft was one of my favorite times of the year.  So I went around and checked out as many mock drafts as I could find and decided to post the results up here.  As a disclaimer in advance, these mock drafts are in varying states of being updated, and some are just plain bogus.

DC Pro Sports Report - Joe Alexander       Basketball Blogs - Joe Alexander

NBAmock.com - JaVale McGee                   Draft Express - Kosta Koufos

HoopsVibe - Kosta Koufos                           Doc's Sports - Donte Greene

MyNBAdraft.com - Joe Alexander                 Basketboltr - Kosta Koufos

about.com - Joe Alexander                           Defpen - Darrell Arthur

Free Throw Line - Donte Greene                 Probasketball news - Joe Alexander

NBAdraft.net - JaVale McGee                       Sports Lounge - Kosta Koufos

Real GM - Darrell Arthur                                CNNSI - Anthony Randolph

Draft Empire - Russell Westbrook              nba-draft.com - DeAndre Jordan

Draft Ace - DeAndre Jordan                          Hoops World - Donte Greene

Ridiculous Upside - Donte Greene            Crossover - Joe Alexander

Dime - Donte Greene                                    CollegeBasketballNews - DeAndre Jordan

NBC sports - Donte Greene                         Sporting News - Nicolas Batum

ESPN - DeAndre Jordan                               World Wide Athletics - Chase Budinger

Hoops Report - JaVale McGee                    CollegeHoops.net - Darrell Arthur

NBAdraftguru - JaVale McGee                     Hoops Addict - Nicolas Batum

NBAdraftpress - Danillo Gallinari               nba.com - Joe Alexander

Totals - Joe Alexander - 7    Donte Greene - 6   DeAndre Jordan - 4      JaVale McGee - 4    Kosta Koufos - 4  Darrell Arthur - 3   Nicolas Batum - 2   Anthony Randolph - 1 Russell Westbrook -1   Chase Budinger - 1  Danillo Gallinari - 1

 

The consensus appears to be Joe Alexander out of WVU, but Donte Greene isn't far behind.  Both are great offensive players, but we never had alot of trouble scoring points.  Neither of these guys would address the holes we have in rebounding and defending the post.  It would be great if we could take a big man who could actually crack the lineup, but theres probably not going to be many of those left by pick 14.

I know we are all hurting right now, we will start our next season short one warrior and one heart of the team.  Lets not let that be all we take from tonight though, Brandan Wright was considered to be a top3 talent so I thought Id bring some of the reasons why

Defense baby -
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TVM4N8VGvSg
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wqANBTAVHNk

Ups -
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rk7OS1iOzxg
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7fH-usx21SQ

All this stuff -
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7fH-usx21SQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SqiIRMk2Zbo

PLus with him and Beans maybe Mullin could convince someone to teach our frontline how to shoot freethrows underhanded.

Look on the positive side, Wright could be huge for us, he isnt a POB style bust because he can already run the floor, catch the ball and dunk it.  It ain't this kids fault we traded for him, lets show him why we are the best fans in the league.

Anyone still paying attention to the draft may have heard that Yi and his camp are not happy that he landed in Milwaukee, and the Bucks are having problems convincing Yi to even show up in Milwaukee tomorrow for the post draft media day.  Thoughts anyone?  Will the Bucks be willing to trade him, will he pull a Steve Francis, could the Warriors be in the running to pick him up?

I was checking out Indy Cornrows this morning and I saw a link on the side about Jax pleading guilty, so here it is for all your reading pleasure:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070618/SPORTS04/706180430/1088/SPORTS04
This could turn out for the best as the article mentions that Jackson can avoid all jail time, and keep on playing for the Warriors.

I know we are all a bit concerned about the Jazz right now, but I saw something to good not to post on.  An article on ESPN talked about Amare Stoudemire calling Bruce Bowen a dirty player.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2007/news/story?id=2866789&campaign=rss&source=NBAHead lines
It talks about a youtube link so i hunted that down for everyone.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=sc4yz__akIU

So now it's time to ask, cause there is a possibility that the Warriors could end up playing the Spurs and Bowen, do you think Bruce Bowen is a dirty player?? I'd hate to see Baron or JR come down on his foot and sprain an ankle.

Poll

Is Bruce Bowen a dirty player?

84%

Hell yea

22 votes

3%

No - Stoudemire is overreacting, as were Ray Allen, Steve Francis, and Isiah Thomas

1 votes

11%

He just makes some risky plays, thats not dirty

3 votes

26 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

In the midst of the incredibly playoff frenzy and Baron-mania I'd like to take a few moments to thank someone who I think has been unappreciated by the fans.  Two people in fact, Chris Mullin and Don Nelson.  Can you believe at one point we wondered if Nelson would be a significant improvement over Mike Montgomery?  The man is a mastermind, he has motivated Baron, along with the rest of the team, to at last play up to the level we all knew they possessed.

Chris Mullin is the real guy I wanted to mention in this diary however.  I can't say enough about what a turnaround he has made.  I won't lie, the first half of his management duties were painfully bad.  Opening the checkbook for Murphleavy?  Drafting POB?  Even Ike wasnt that great a pick given his tendencies to get on the wrong side of our coaches.  Fortunately Mullin fixed many of those problems with 2 concise moves.  Hiring Nellie was a great move, and it did all he could have wanted and more.  The playoff excitement is back, and with any luck Nellie is grooming Keith Smart to pull an Avery Johnson and take us to the best record in the NBA (Ok maybe an exaggeration).  The Indiana trade sealed the deal.  I would have been excited if we got Indiana's team trainer and ballboys for what we sent to them.  It took a while for the team to start playing together, but once it happened it was well worth the wait.  WE finally started winning games against bad teams, and at the least sticking with the good teams.  Mullin brought more excitement to the Bay, even on an off night Jax and TMNT bring more excitement than Dnleavy and Murphy on their best days.  He also ditched two awful contracts which will weigh down the Pacers for the next few years instead of us.  Poor team.  Normally as this point in the year I am combing the mock drafts, trying to find the player that could turn this team around and could potentially fall to the 9-11 spot.  But this year I don't even bother looking for 2 reasons.  For the first time in a long time, it doesnt appear that the Warriors have and giant holes in their lineup.  There are still issues but nothing that the team needs just to win games.  The second far more enjoyable reason is that I am too busy watching playoff games!!

This Diary is in the reasonable assumption that we win tonight, as we are up 20+ with 1 quarter to go

The Clippers have caught fire and beat the suns, continuing their most unfortunately timed winning streak.  So this means our playoff hopes rest on the final game of the season.  Win and we make the playoffs.  Lose and we have to rely on the Hornets to play spoiler.  What worries me is that Portland can give us trouble as they have in the past.  Lets all hope that the emotion from this win will keep the team pumped and ready to dominate Portland and break the curse.  It would be very nice if the Hornets could win but the way the Clips are playing right now I wouldnt count on it.

As you may have guessed from the title, the Movement himself will be viewable by those with NBATV.  The CBA finals are being televised here in the US, only you have to wake up kinda early as the games are at 7:30 AM.... Eastern Time.  So set your VCRS, DVRs, and whatever else you use to record TV and check the Movement!  

Poll

Are you waking up for Yi?

66%

Is there even a 4:30 AM?

10 votes

6%

Of course!!!

1 votes

20%

Recording that game for later

3 votes

6%

Who is Yi? This is March Madness time

1 votes

15 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

Normally I try to respect the guys in gray, its a hard job, and we all seem to expect that they won't ever make a mistake.  But recently I have just been amazed at how poorly things have been done.  I wont go into the whole debacle at Washington, its already been done.  Anyone watching the Clippers game saw quite a few harsh touch fouls, it wasn't just one, but alot of them.  JR got T-ed up to, we all know JR  is a passionate guy but he rarely takes it to the refs.  Then today in the Kings Nuggets games, which we all should care it about, the refs blew it again.  AI was dribbling down the court, when he got a blatant shove in the back and went crashing to the floor.  No whistle, so Iverson gets up and fouls Kevin Martin while trying to steal the ball back.  He then simply looks at the ref, then turns around and runs to the bench because he has three fouls.  He is then T-ed up by a different official for "disrespecting the game".  In my opinion thats a load of BS.  What happened to letting the players play the game?

Poll

Why are the refs going crazy?

14%

They arent worse we are just overreacting

4 votes

25%

New stricter standards, thanks Mr. Stern

7 votes

59%

They just got worse

16 votes

27 votes | Poll has closed

I know the Bucks are alot better than their record, but tonight was just straight painful.  Looking at the boxscore was too painful and didnt tell the story of the game.  You know its bad when someone watching the game on Yahoo! can tell we were getting destroyed on the glass.  This team needs a rebounder, bad.  We need to grab a Tyson Chandler type player, blocks shots, can run the floor, catch the ball, dunk with authority, and break out an industrial size bottle of windex.  Im pretty sure the Hornets are going to hold on to Chandler so who else is out there to go after(in the off season)?  I know this is supposed to be a deep draft but if we have an 11-14 pick, should we consider trading it to grab a quality big?  Im asking because it looks like alot of the size in the draft will be gone by the time we get to pick(Oden, Noah, Wright, Horford, Yi are all 1-10 projected).  Feel free to drop answers to any or all of my questions in the comments.

Losing games we should win, barely winning games that we should blow out.  Things have been a little rocky since the trade, and as I write, the Bobcats have a 3 point lead on us heading into the fourth.  However amongst my looking for something to distract me from the fact that we are losing to Charlotte I found this on Yahoo! Sports

Jason Richardson (GF, Golden State)
Richardson is targeting the February 21 game against Memphis for his return from a broken right hand, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

A few words came to mind, words like THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!!!!! and other things to that effect.  It has been a long wait, and I can not wait to see JRich back in action.

Apologies if this is old news, just want to see Jrich out of the business casual and on the court.

Most people know about Harrington and Stephen Jackson, and most people dont care about Josh Powell (poor guy), but the player I could be a sleeper in the deal on our side is Sarunas Jasikevicius.  Everyone is making comparisons back to the good old days when another Sarunas played for Nellie but I wanted to see the real deal, who is this Sarunas?

He was born in Kaunas Lithuania in 1976 (which makes him 30 years old this season until March 5)  but managed to come over to the U.S. to play college ball in Maryland.  He went undrafted when he came out for the 1998 draft, which was full of solid NBA players.  He played professionally overseas and became one of the best across the Atlantic.  He has been the leader of the Lithuanian national team, which has faired reasonably well over the years.  His most impressive showing was a 28 point 7-3pter against the U.S. team.  He has won a European basketball championship, and 2 Euroleague titles.  There was a fairly noticeable buzz when he signed with Indiana a few years ago.  Larry bird loved the guy, and he was a decent basketball player and probably a decent judge of talent.  He averaged 7 ppg, 3 apg, and 2 rpg while playing 20.8 mpg.  Not a bad line but there was a sense that he had underachieved here.  He shoots about 37% from 3 and 40% from the field which isnt bad considering half his shots are 3 balls.  You gotta love his 91% clip from the charity stripe, now we have a player that can step up and sink technical free throws without the fans holding their breath.  His career averages are around 15 ppg and 5 apg.  It is not unreasonable for him to pull off double figure scoring if he sees considerable burn for the rest of the season, which he very well could due to J-Riches injury.  All the NBA.com people place him behind monta on the depth chart, but Sarunas is much closer to a pure point guard than monta is.  He could end up being one of the first guys off the bench if either Baron or Monta has trouble early.  Im looking for a solid season out of this guy, playing backup minutes, dropping in some clutch freethrows or 3 balls, and competing every night, because the times I say him play in Indy he did not back down from much of anything.  We also get some of the experience a young team needs.  The Euroleague and Olympics arent the NBA playoffs, but I will take Sarunas' experience over MDJ's NCAA championship anyday.

Welcome to the Warriors

Everyone knows the Heat are banged up, Shaqs is still out, Wade missed some time, and Walker and Posey suffered from holiday gut.  Unfortunately ESPN reports the the latter  completed their diets, spent enough time on the treadmill, and will be available for tonights game.  Im not a big fan of either of those players but obviously they contribute something to the Heat, and winning tonight will be just that much harder.  Is it random chance? Freak coincidence? Or have the basketball gods finished taunting us with the possibility of a playoff run and have no decided to send our season down the drain, again.  

On the plus side, Shaq is a definite no for tonight!

Heres the official article
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2728083

I saw the pic and had to post it, this is how we play defense:

A second too late, and one below the belt.  C'mon guys it isn't even Dwight Howard, its Tony Battie!!!  In all seriousness though when someone goes for 30 and 25 against your frontline, it needs some work.  We need an athletic center who we dont expect to do much offensively but catch and dunk, like Steven Hunter out of Phila.  Its one of the few teams worse than the warriors out there, and they are in rebuilding mode. Or not, this is all just an attempt to reach three hundred characters so i can share my photo fun with everyone.

I have to ramble on a little bit so I meet the character limit.  Isnt a picture worth a thousand words?  

Credit to Yahoo Sports for the photo

So, we all know the warriors aint the best team out there and haven't been for a while.  So i want to look at some of the things we have done wrong.

1. Wasted Draft Picks - We got a long history of screwing ourselves over when it comes to the draft.  I won't reach as far back as Mike Dunleavy and Adonal Foyle, but even in recent history we have made our share of screw ups.  Now every pick has risks, and we arent gonna get a quality player every time, but we are wasting our time in the lottery.  Players may never become superstars, but could we at least get players who can contribute every now and then?? Despite how well he is playing of late, picking MP2 in the 02 draft may not have been the brightest move.  Some of the players following him David West, Boris Diaw(wrong frenchman), Leandrino Barbosa, and Josh Howard.  Ill leave the Beans pick alone because he is playing well and has alot of room to grow.  I know alot of people have love for Ike Diogu, but you gotta wonder sometimes would you rather have the potential of Andrew Bynum, Sean May, Danny Granger, Hakim Warrick, Jarret Jack, or David Lee.  Then came to POB scandal.  Take a look at the draft board, its easier to list the players I wouldnt have wanted over POB, Sene, Shawne Williams, Pecherov, Mardy Collins, and Joel Freeland.  Awful pick (who knows, in the future he might be decent, but right now he is tearing up the NBDL with 5 fouls a game!) An abundance of opportunities to get a quality player, instead we end up with not a whole lot.
2.  Contracts - The reason I didn't rip into Dunleavy's draft was because I was already gonna get him here.  Its common iNBA for players in their contract year to play above expectations, grab a nice deal, then settle back into mediocrity.  But in Oakland, dont even bother having that inflated contract year, we will just throw money at you regardless.  Its one thing to screw up in the draft, its an inexact science, every GM makes a mistake or 2.  But how in the world do you take players you have had a chance to see play for a great number of games, and give them ridiculous amounts of money.  My main targets are Foyle and Dunleavy, they are getting starters money, and definitely are not putting up starter numbers. Im not saying don't resign then period, just don't lay down superstar money.  Pay them what they are worth, and if another team outbids you for their marginal services, let them go. (As I type this I think of Gilbert Arenas and pray it doesn't happen again)
3. Environment - Somehow, the actions of our management have created an atmosphere where we aren't expect to win (outside of the fans), and other players on other teams notice this.  Who was the last impact free agent to come to the Warriors???  No superstar wants to play here, because they dont wanna play for a loser.  Allen Iverson shot us down, and im guessing players like KG and Jermaine O'Neal would do the same thing if they got mentioned in rumors coming to Golden State.  Im not sure how to do this, but GS has to become an attractive place to play in, then we can seriously consider some of the deals for superstars we all pray could happen.

We have done somethings right, the Baron Davis trade could be the steal of the century(depending on who the Bulls grab out of the Knicks draft pick this year).  Signing Richardson to a big deal was a wise wise move, and I loved the Monta Ellis draft pick (who doesn't now)  Biedrins and Pietrus will in all likelihood eventually work out to be smart picks.  However the harm former and current management has done is destroying this team. I just dont want the streak to hit 13 years

Well we didnt think AI was seriously coming to the Bay, and now it is oficial.  ESPN reports that Philly and Denver have agreed in principle to a deal sending Joe Smith and Andre Miller with 2 draft picks to Philly for AI.  Full article here http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2702501
it is still just in principle but I think Philly will want to get this deal done so Iverson wont be sitting at home any longer.  

Looks like Denver wont be struggling for too much longer, and as soon as Melo gets back the Nuggs are going to be one high scoring team.

With all the Iverson talk going on, ESPN dropped a piece regarding other players that are on the block right now, including our own Troy Murphy

Murphy is clearly at the front of Golden State's available list. The issue remains finding a new home for Murphy's contract, which has four seasons to go after this one at a tidy $42.3 million.

What to do with Murph? I don't know how much of a future he has with Nelly.  As versatile a big man as he is, Troy isn't exactly the model up-tempo player.  The rumor mill has indicated Chicago as the team most interested in Murphy, are there any players from Chicago we could realistically acquire?  Do we even want to trade Murph right now?  If we could somehow swindle Chicago into giving up expiring contracts and their draft pick (probably not happening) I would go for it.  Aside from that let the trade machine scenarios begin!  

Heres the whole article
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dailydime-061216-17&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos1
Update [2006-12-17 15:57:24 by FoyledAgain]: Apparently PJ Brown is looking for a trade http://www.suntimes.com/sports/basketball/bulls/176051,CST-SPT-bsep17.article

Poll

What would you do with Murphy

5%

Hold on to him till the trade deadline

1 votes

23%

Actually give him a chance to play when he isnt injured

4 votes

29%

Use our magic powers to trade him for high draft picks

5 votes

41%

Trade him to the Bulls for an impact player

7 votes

17 votes | Poll has closed

Because I happen to have some free time, I decided to take a look at the Pacific division, home of the warriors.(I know its a little bit early, but as stated i got free time)

A few fun facts to start it off

As of now the Pacific is the only division with all teams with at least .500 winning percentage, but the average is only .560

The last place team in the Pacific (three way tie) would be in first place in the Atlantic, second in the Southeast, and third in the Central (ahhh to be in the east).

Now lets take a look at each of the teams

L.A. Clippers - 8-8
Surprise team of last year, rising up from the basement of the NBA to  make the second round of the playoffs, take hope Warriors fans it can be done!  Ill be honest I think everyone thought the Clippers are better than they were last year, and the same thing happened this year.  They don't look very good this year, but they are still a .500 team.  Whats their problem this year as opposed to last?  Im gonna say age, their starting back court  averages 34 years.  Experience is good, but Mobley and Cassel are on the down swing of their careers.  However both of them can still score, especially in the clutch.  This gives them a chance to win, because Elton Brand will keep them in games long enough for Sam I Am to drop a few clutch buckets.

Playoffs? If they keep playing the way they do, no.  If they can pick up some energy between now and the all star break its possible.

Sacramento Kings - 8-8
One of the least athletic team in the league(with the exception of Kevin Martin and Ronnie Price).  They still have a nice team going for them, Bibby can knock down the long ball, Ron Artest does a lot of things well and tries to do everything with varying success.  Their frontline is solid, but they need an athletic forward to help with rebounding and defense.  If Bibby and Artest can bump up their field goal percentage, and someone starts rebounding strongly the Kings will definitely be an over .500 team.  And just to note, the Kings were 8-5 before they lost 3 straight to San Antonio, Dallas, and Orlando.  Kevin Martin has been on a ridiculous run, and Brad Miller is returning from an injury that kept him out of the first few games.  Sac has a good chance of sneaking into the playoffs, assuming that Bibby/Artest/Martin stay healthy.

Phoenix Suns - 9-6
After a nasty 1-4 start PHX righted the course by going 8-2, including a still active 6 game win streak.  Steve Nash is playing the same as always, dishing the ball to anyone who can shoot or dunk it, and still managing to score.  Nash is the only player in the league to average a double double with pts and assists.  Shawn Marion is still putting up numbers in almost every category.  And Amare is well on his way back, he isnt there yet, but each game he gets a little nastier with the dunks.  Phoenix has a hole at shooting guard in my opinion though. Raja Bell has been hot lately, but  I dont think he can keep it up, and they have no shooting guard to sub in for him.  I can only imagine what this team would be like if Joe Johnson had stuck around.  They are a playoff team for sure, barring major injuries to Nash.  Id hold off on the finals though, they need just a few more tweaks to get up to the elite level (only 4-4 against teams over .500)

L.A. Lakers - 12-5
We call them the fakers, we hate them, we trash talk them whenever we can.  This far into the season, they have not been faking.  They win with Kobe, they win without Kobe.  I dont think they will keep up the current pace, but they are better than last year for sure.  Chris Mihm still has yet to play a game, and he was a decent pivot.  Lamar Odom has settled in and is putting up numbers.  Andrew Bynum and Kwame Brown and playing better.  Most convincingly, they crushed the Jazz.  As much  as I hate to admit it the Lakers are for real this year.  They are gonna make the playoffs

Our very own Golden State Warriors 9-9
I'm not gonna talk to the most knowledgeable community about what our team is like cause we already know it.  I think our season depends on JR recovering.  If hes back, playoffs, if we keep playing like we are right now, our old friend the draft lottery is waiting for us.

In summary, I think every team out of the Pacific could make the playoffs, but it probably wont happen.  The Clippers needs to find themselves, a problem the warriors share.  Injuries are the biggest threat to the other teams.  Now if the warriors were in the Atlantic Division......

The loss against the Nuggets was the first live game  ive had a chance to see, and there is nothing like actually being there to get a read on a team.  So here go my observations

1. Baron - He is carrying this team far too much - as Baron goes, the Warriors go.  He is playing just a few too many minutes, and until J-rich is completely healthy he is forced to do too much
2.  Defense!!! - we dont have any of it.  I could end it there, but i think its time we actually think about what kind of defense this team needs to play.  Its not the high scores, an uptempo team is going to give up alot of points.  Its that when the nuggets wanted to score, they did.  They penetrated at will, and there were men wiiiiiiide open on the arc all the time.  Biedrins had a few nice blocks, and we got some nice steals, but those are single possession plays.  Its not hard for other teams to score.  Its fine if the opponent puts points on the board, but they should have to earn them, each and every possession.
3.  Fouls - Maybe the refs were bad this game, it sure seemed like it in the first half, but thats a biased opinion.  We still foul too often, and too softly.  Usually a foul will deter drives into the lane.  Unless its a foul and a bucket in which case everybody wants to drive the lane.
4.  Pietrus - I doubted, and so far im being proven wrong.  He is still far from being every  thing we thought he could be, but he is playing well.  He has calmed his game down somewhat (can still be somewhat crazy) runs the floor well, and made some free theows.
5.  J-Rich - two words, not healthy.  He had a break away dunk, no one for miles, and does a nice easy 2 hand dunk.  Where are the windmills, the 360s, the dunks to get you up out the chair every time(I still stood up).  Come back JR the bay needs you.
6.  Closing out - Close games killed us last year, and they are doing it again.  Phoenix by three, then Denver by 3 again.  I wont get into the phoenix game, but we had three chances to tie the Denver game, 3!!!  Pietrus wide open in the corner, clank! Monta from the top, clank!  After andre miller misses 2 free throws, dunleavy's desperation attempt CLANK!  thats not a stab at dunleavy, he made a nice attempt begin guarded by two men.  You cant ask for too many more opportunities to win close ones.
7. FOYLE SIGHTING - he played, he had a crazy nice  shot that resembled a jump hook.  He hustled down some rebounds and shoved someones shot right back at them.  He then proceeded to brick two free throws nasty-like.  But it was good to see that contract contributing something!  This one is dedicated to Zorgon, my fellow foyle faithful
8. FREE THROWS - 62.1% and thats cause baron and pietrus made about 8 consecutive chippies.  We had  3 technical free throws, missed all three, lost by 3.  I would very much like to throw in some expletives here, but im keeping it PG
9.  Monta - he dropped back down to human tonight.  Not bad, 11 pts and 9 assists, but he just wasnt the same.  He looked more hesitant, missed some easy lay ups, and finished 4-14
10.  The thing that lost us the game tonight even more than free throws, was rebounding.  Camby, Evans, and JR Smith had as many rebounds as the entire warrior team.  overall nuggets ate us alive 54-34. I cant find second chance points on any box scores and i wasnt counting at the game, but Evans grabbed 7 offensive boards.  Im just waiting to see if dwight howard can grab 30 on us now.....

And to all you fans who decided the game was over with about 2 minutes left, and started walking out... then come running back in as the comeback started, maybe if you had stayed tonight would have been a win.

LEAVING BEFORE THE GAME IS OVER = WEAK!!!!

unless your a miami heat fan on opening night

Dear Mr. Mullin

You dont know me, but rest assured I know you.  You were the glory days of the Warriors, the running, the scoring, the winning, and the hope.  The hope that every year we had a chance of winning it all, of taking the league by surprise, of taking home the trophy one more time.  If it didnt all come true, it didnt matter because we still had the hope, the chance to say 'we will have another opportunity next year.'  As you know we havent had much of that hope in the past, oh 12 years.  I know you want it just as much as we do, and you are doing what you think is best for the team.  Thank you for bringing in Don Nelson, but a good coach, even a great coach, can't make a losing team a good one.  It's the players that need changing.  I know some of them are your personal projects, and trading them away would be admitting defeat, but we need something new.  Not something new like Antawn Jamison for a disgruntled Nick Van Exel, not letting a free agent walk away and become the 4th leading scorer in the NBA, not letting another summer go by with nothing changing but a few numbers on the salary books.  If anything the talent of our players is worse this year.  The stress of carrying a franchise wore out Jason Richardson's knees, Baron Davis is in a position of having no one behind him to challenge for minutes, and Mike Dunleavy continues to be the player he has always been, I wont get in to that.  I love the warriors, I wish more than anything in the world that they could be a good team, an over .500 team, a playoff team.  Failing that i wish we could be a team with hope.  The Portland Trailblazers were awful, so they took some risks, and are now the kiddy squad and projected punching bag team of the league.  But their fans have hope, hope that Brandon Roy will win ROY, hope that Lamarcus Aldridge will become a solid pivot, hope that Zach Randolph steps it up a notch and becomes a super star.  In golden state, we pray that Baron Davis will stop playing lazy, that Mike Dunleavy will stop sucking horrendously, that our first rounds picks stop ending up as busts.  I did forget to mention Monta Ellis, a risk in the second round who could be a star, try to take more risks like that.  Ok so we do have some things to hope for, and maybe Portland will continue to struggle, but their management isnt afraid to change things if they do.  Thats all I would ask for, be willing to admit that we have made some bad draft picks, bad decisions on extensions, and shake things up.  Fire out trade offers like the Celtics, give Nellie the tools he needs to have an atheltic uptempo offense, cause he is sorely lacking them right now.  This may be a premature overreaction to insubstantial evidence, but I care enough about the warriors to go completely crazy over insubstantiality.  If Don Nelson turns things around, works a few miracles, and delivers without a roster change, I will gladly eat every one of these words, because all I want to see, like every other fan, are the Warriors winning.

Sincerely
Foyled Again

Please feel free to drop your ideas, thoughts and comments

nba.com recently released the official opening night rosters and the warriors roster somewhat disturbed me

GOLDEN STATE
Barnes, Matt
Biedrins, Andris
Davis, Baron
Diogu, Ike
Dunleavy, Mike
Ellis, Monta
McLeod, Keith
Murphy, Troy
O'Bryant, Patrick
Pietrus, Mickael
Richardson, Jason
Roberson, Anthony
INACTIVE LIST
Cabarkapa, Zarko
Foyle, Adonal
Wagner, Dajuan

It all makes sense, except for DWag being on the inactive list and McLeod being active.  Is Dajuan hurt? I havent seen any news about it around the net.  With the inactive list rules I know that he can return to the active list by the next game.  Im still concerned though, nothing against him but DW hasnt exactly been the most dependable player injury-wise.  So now Im asking, does anyone know whats up? random move of the administration? nba.com typo? something really wrong with Dajuan?

and to all the Foyle fans out there, I feel the pain seeing him on the inactive list

So I was hanging around today, and I happened to watch the Phoenix Philadelphia game in Cologne Germany.  For those who didnt get a chance to see it the sixers came back from 22 down to win it 103-100.  One of the players leading that come back, and the player who drilled the 3 pointer to put the sixers ahead for good, was Rodney Carney.  The draft is over and done, and we passed on Carney for project O'Bryant, but I couldnt help but wonder, why didnt we grab an athletic small foward who can defend the 1-3 positions.  We all know the Warriors struggle at the Sf position, Dunleavy isnt playing there anymore, and even if MP2 is solid we have no reliable backup.  So now Im asking the GSoM community, would you rather have Patrick, the chef, cheese cake cooking, pine-riding, duckduck goose playing, O'Bryant, or that the Warriors had picked Rodney, ready to contribute, hyper athletic, decent shooting touch, good defender, Carney?  I know this is pretty much beating the issue to death, but seeing Carney play in a nba(preaseason) game and do well, made me wonder who is going to be the better player in the future.

Poll

Would you rather the Warriors had taken Carney in the 2006 draft?

58%

Yes

33 votes

28%

No

16 votes

12%

Doesnt matter neither will amount to aything

7 votes

56 votes | Poll has closed

Ok I want to start by saying and have not been, I am not, and will never be a Lakers fan.  That is not going to stop me from recognizing a player that has been through hell.  By now most people have guessed I'm talking about Lamar Odom (if you though Kobe shame on you).  His son Jayden died about 3 months ago, and it took me quite a while to hear about it.  Heres the article I found about it:
http://www.dailynews.com/lakers/ci_4414443
I never had a particular interest in Lamar except as a left handed version of what we all wish Dunleavy could have become.  But this just touched me, the guy has been through so much shit in 26 years I'm amazed that he is still walking.  I won't bore you with the details of his family because they are in the article, but no one deserves the life he has lived.  He went through alot of struggles playing for the Clippers, barely staying in the NBA if I remember correctly.  He got a fresh start and was poised to become a star in Miami along-side Dwayne Wade and Caron Butler, but then along came the Shaq trade.  Lamar returned to LA an once again had his abilities questioned, as though all the Lakers problems stemmed from his inability to produce Shaq-like numbers.  I cant say enough how much he does not deserve this.  I know this is a Warriors website, but as a basketball fan and a person I offer my condolence to Lamar and his family

R.I.P. Jayden Oden

Flashback to last year, Ike Diogu breaks his wrist before going into training camp, and is all but useless in the first half of the season.  Well history repeats itself(kinda)
http://www.nba.com/warriors/news/OBryant_Fractured_Foot.html  
Supposedly not as serious as Ike's, but im not inclined to be hopeful.  POB needs a whole lot of experience, very very quickly, and this means he may not get the begining of his training camp

Aside from the obvious storyline of the US national team playing in the WCOB this summer, Golden State fans should be interested in the play of MP2 and Kosta Coast.  I think the WCOB is a good scouting report on how players will be able to survive in the nba becuase they will compete against proven, world class talent.  I'll start off with the good news, the fact that Mickael and Kosta made it onto their respective national teams and competed in the tournament is a good start.  It spirals very swiftly down from their.  

I will start with MP2 since he will definitely be playing for the warrios next season(barring a trade) and to some degree his play influences the warriors success.  
It was horrendous, god-awful, disgusting, and just plain bad.  He dropped a stone cold .296 of his field goals, 2 pt field goals.... His 3pt% was even worse at .172, and thats from the decidedly closer international line, for  5.4 ppg.  He also grabbed 2.9 rpg and 0.6 apg.  Im struggling to find anything positive in this at all.  He did not play a ton of minutes(18.6 mpg) but i think that stems more from the fact the he played poorly, and not the other way around.  I was really hoping to see a good showing out of MP2 in the tournament, France had a good amount of talent even without Tony Parker, and it was a perfect opportunity to revive his game, unfortunately the exact opposite appears to have happened.  I still think he has what it takes to pull one large turnaround this season, and become a solid competitor.  Im praying the coaching guidance of Don Nelson can mold MP into a player somewhat like Michael Finley, if not so effective immediately.

The word on kosta.... is pretty much what we all expected, there wasnt enough of him seen to conclude anything.  Just for fun he averaged 1.3 ppg, 1.2 rpg, and 0.3 apg in a whole 4.2 mpg.  I dont know what to take from this other than he is raw, and will need tons of experience before he can do anything.  Unfortunately raw inexperienced 7-footers the job of Nelly's apprentice (Avery and Diop).  Personally I think Kosta should stick in Europe for another year to develope, but I was somewhat touced by his desire to get over here and start playing for the team.  If we had an establish post player to tutor him i would be all for it, but he is likely to get much more in game experience playing overseas for another year.  Plus we already have a post project to work on.

Hey everyone, I dont know how much truth there is to this but I heard on some blazer fansites that they are trying to move Zach Randolph.  My question to everyone out there is would you take the lost post scoring skills of Zach knowing that you get the bagage of his bad attitude and questionable behavior off court?  I can remember Randolph torching us in years past.  Just putting this out there as an idea I'm not so sure I would do it myself.  Last season he went for 18ppg and 8rpg.  A trade of MDJ and Foyle for Randolph and Juan Dixon works money wise but I dont know how willing the blazers would be to make a deal involving other players.  Randolph is also another big contract at 12 million a year for 5 years

Poll

Should the Warriors even attempt to acquire Zach Randolph

46%

Only if we can dump some bad contracts

19 votes

26%

Yes

11 votes

26%

No

11 votes

41 votes | Poll has closed