Full disclosure.  Yes, it is absolutely gutting me not to have the Warriors in the playoffs.  I took my wife to the Denver game for her birthday, and it more than nearly ruined it for us both.  So, I'm not one who takes losses in stride. 

But, a few days removed from the onsetting reality, you really have to develop perspective on this.  The Warriors, with a team that even Nellie admits was not as good as last year's, won 48 games, and were in the playoff hunt until the very end.  NBA analysts notwithstanding, they were the darlings of a good 90% of NBA fans, and in all likelihood will be missed in the playoffs by a similar percentage.  Nellie-ball is not where the NBA is going, and it is not a potion for success, but it may very well be a way to drive ticket-sales and get a chance to pull in the pieces for that success. 

Given the absence of Richardson, Pietrus only showing up for the season after the All-Star break (and even then every other game), and Al Harrington's weekly poop-sandwich performance I think we did pretty fantastic.  They were one of the most dramatic teams to watch.  And not the 'dramatic' crap that other teams have dealt with, exemplified best for all eternity by the Knicks' off-court meltdown, but true on-the-court drama.  The sort of drama that sport fans appreciate, if not die hard ESPN.com readers.  Sure, I've played in enough leagues and on enough teams to know that it is not great basketball consistently to blow leads or have to come back from huge deficits, but it is a helluva lot of fun to watch.  And that's really all this team could provide this year.  In the words of Dennis Green, "The Warriors are who we thought they were!"  And for this year at least, that's enough for me. And who were they?  A team simply that was not going to have any playoff success this year.  (If seasons were 41 games instead of 82, maybe.)  As far as regrets go, it'd be far more regretable to stumble into the playoffs, as they very nearly did, and lose to the Lakers 4-1 or 4-2, as they very likely would have.  

I see no reason to feel too worried about next year.  Sure, the West is going to be stacked again.  More than this year, though,  who knows? Bruce Bowen can't play high-calibre defense forever, and Duncan has already begun to show his age.  Nash's back is probably as gimpy next year as Baron's knee & Jack's toe.  Next year is McGrady's turn to go down for at least 3/4 of the season.  And Denver is due for a full-court melee against one another.  As for the Warriors, with a few solid additions and subtractions, a backup point-guard, and a competent body who can take the place of Al when he is stinking up the joint (roughly 50% of the time), they should at least be in the thick of things.

I'm new to the Bay Area, and a fairly recent W's fan, but c'mon, isn't relevance enough for you right now?  Do Atlanta Hawks fans have the right to feel more stoked about their season and prospects because they made the playoffs?  (Less so, if you think about it, now that they have a team not quite crappy enough to miss the Eastern playoffs and by virtue of this miss the lottery -- though given their drafting prowess, this may be a blessing)?  And I have to believe most Denver Nuggets fans fear their team is a train-wreck waiting to happen, playoffs or not.  By next season, they will abandon Pepsi for the Jim Beam Center.  And the Hornets fans, well, let's just say that if they go out early in the playoffs and start the season below .500, they're liable to abandon their team quicker than they did their city center prior to Katrina. 

In short, buck up, Warrior fans.  All is not perfect, but it's not bad.  We're an emotional team -- we feel the highs and lows more than most.   But, I would add, w/ none of the regret.