SB Nation Blog: hardcore

Nelson needs to opt out now.

hardcore — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:08:26 -0000

I've long berated Mullin's track record and championed Nelson for saving a drowning franchise two summers ago. Now that conventional wisdom has begun to catch up to our emperor, er GM, who has been on whole a piss-poor executive on balance and who is now caught in reaction mode again (the same mode he was in when he did his worst work, handing out the rediculous contracts to Murphy, Dun, and Foyle), there's another matter to contemplate as Baron walks away from our little dysfunctional family.

Coach Nelson is now an albatross around the neck of this franchise.

That's right, as one of his most ardent defenders on GSoM and champion of the Nelson-saved-Mullin's-ass two summer's ago club, Baron's opting out has turned Nelson from an asset into a negative for the franchise while on the bench.

I say let's snap these guys up before someone else does

hardcore — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:42:16 -0000

No crack-head trade ideas here, and no EBrand dreaming either. Just some middling half tongue-in-cheek suggestions for Mully to, well, mull over as he tries to straddle the fence between actually trying to make the playoffs and build for the future. I'll save the diatribe about the wasted TPE for later. Check out the list, Mullin could (and may) do worse. I say let's snap these guys up before someone else does.

Don't look, but the Emperor has no clothes.

hardcore — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:58:31 -0000

When JRich was traded, Mullin claimed the benefits of the TPE granted him the “flexibility” to both re-sign expected RFAs – AND – to add to the roster to become a competitive playoff team along the way. What boggles the mind is so many of us believed him as he continued to leave the possibility that we’d be adding a veteran for the 2007-08 stretch drive. Gang, we're closer to another 13 year dry run than to the playoffs.

Does this draft hold the direction of the Franchise in the balance?

hardcore — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:55:14 -0000

Does this draft hold the direction of the Franchise in the balance?

When Mullin picks, trades, or both this week he will be setting the course of the franchise in both the near and long term. Hint: think long term.

Kobe Bryant, former rape defendant, is about to be named this season's NBA MVP. http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8099444/Report:-Kobe-wins-first-career-MVP-award

hardcore — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:14:41 -0000

Nelson, COY? If not, who?

hardcore — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:12:59 -0000

The CCTimes came out with an article about this year's COY, which should be as interesting as the MVP award. With all the healthy, constructive criticism (?!) Nelson gets hereabouts, I was wondering where your votes would go for COY.

Would GS draft another TarHeel?

hardcore — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:50:20 -0000

A quick perusal of draftexpress shows GS picking UNC's Tyler Hansbrough in the first round. Granted we need size, and Hansbrough seems more ready physically to do battle in the NBA than BWright was/does - but doesn't the combination of BWright's recent if limited success suggest we might go elsewhere with our pick?

Lots of "love" for other players on the list - my secret fave is UConn's man-child Hasheem Thabeet, a shot-blocking physical presence we just (might) luck into or be able to trade up to get. It's highly unlikely we'd be able to trade into the top 10 so discussing Beasley, Rose, etc. is not realistic at this point. Interesting that GTown's Hibbert isn't projected higher - wonder if he regrets not coming out last year?

Does anyone else think Brook Lopez is over-valued at #4? And Hansbrough under-valued at #20? Having seen Ryan Anderson (Cal) I wouldn't draft him until the second round, if at all. He can't get his shot off against decent PAC 10 teams (see Stanford).

Who's your #1 priority for GS to target in this draft - and have you seen them actually play or are you reading a stat-line?

Can Mully Milk Mil-wack-ee? [Updated]

hardcore — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:30:36 -0000

According to Milwaukee press, the Bucks are beginning to show the strains of their poor start, and player agenda's are emerging at the expense of the team.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=716872

Perhaps this is merely a technique the coaching staff is using to call the players to unite, but it smacks of the precise kind of scenario Mullin can exploit ala the Baron trade, the Indy trade, etc.

Following two tough losses to the lowly Knicks & Clippers, Milwaukee coach Larry Krystkowiak suggested that the Bucks are splintering as a team because they are being divided by personal agendas:

"We're down," said Krystkowiak, who saw his team's record fall to 19-33. "I'd be lying to say that we weren't down. There's no doubt about that but it's important now to have a professional approach. . . . We've been talking about together. It's really easy right now to start separating. And it's happening.

"It's happening and we need to put an end to it and we need to figure out which guys want to be a part of it, which guys are in, and we're going to go down swinging with guys that are going to play hard. Because at this point of the season, it's not about individuals. It's about us surviving. We've got a nucleus of guys in that room that are interested in doing that and some others I'm not so sure about."

Either or both forwards Bobby Simmons or Charlie Villanueva may be the malcontents.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it," Krystkowiak said. "We've got some agendas creeping in and good teams don't have that. There's a lot of sacrifices that people make (on good teams). At this point . . . because we're not winning, it's really easy to second-guess what we're doing as a coaching staff offensively and defensively. Everything is under the microscope."

Villanueva for MP has been dissected here before, and would have been more likely prior to adding CWebb, but there's no reason why it couldn't still help the Dubs now and perhaps even more so for next season. Villanueva is nearly a 10&5 player right now, he could help us & I doubt we could get him for only MP or we probably would have sooner.

Simmons would not be as attractive, he's not a major rebounder, not a major upgrade in size or speed, and holds a longer & larger contract (3 years/$9m per). If that's who is being off-loaded, no thanks.

Milwaukee isn't going to move Bogut and we wouldn't be able to use Voskuhl. But what if we made Brandon Wright available - and the Bucks made Yi available? Yi is already just a hair below a 10&6 player in this his rookie year - he could help both now and in the future. Yi & Villanueva for MP & Wright? I doubt that would be enough for Milwaukee to pull the trigger - but is there a scenario that Mullin could employ to grab these two?

Any deal which required GSW to take Simmons in order to get Yi & Villanueva would likely mean Harrington, because of his contract, would have to be included. Now that means an almost complete swap of front court depth from one team to another. Why would we take Simmons and give up Harrington, who's contract is a year less and who's been used effectively by Nelson? GSW would have to be convinced Yi was worth that. Otherwise, a simple MP (and change?) for Villanueva would do nicely.

Reading between the lines ....

hardcore — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:12:57 -0000

- Musings re Nelson's comments on using his roster

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/10/SP87UVU2T.DTL

Many of us are frustrated Nelson hasn't played Wright or POB or Kaz etc. and he won't play his young guns unless he has no other choice (ie Kaz during Jax's suspension). Well, get used to it at least for the playoff push:

"Look, if we're going to be a playoff team, my veterans are going to get me there. Not my young players, including Azubuike. Their future's ahead of them," Nelson said. "Next year, they'll probably have more an opportunity as this team will change, slightly. Positions will open up."

While we ought not take one sentence as disproportionately predictive, particularly from Nelson, this does more than imply that we won't see much of the young guys this season but they are in the plan for next season. Positions will open up has to refer to Barnes and MP not returning. Baron, Jackson, Monta, and AB I would think are lock solid to return, and Harrington may not be easy to move without including a young player in a package. Assuming Webber is not returning, our long term needs haven't changed, and moving Harrington would require securing a big elsewhere. Nelson also is revealing that there is little likelihood that the roster will change dramatically - what you see is what you'll get for some time to come. Without Barnes and MP, we'll see Wright as a backup 4 and Kaz as a backup 2-3 next year. And next year's draftees will have to wait their turn ...

Back to this playoff run, even if Webber is the starting C at the moment, Andris Biedrins is still going to play what coaches refer to as "starter's minutes." Nelson remarked, "(Webber's) old. I thought he needed the warm-up time ... On paper, I think that an older guy having knee problems is better being warm when he comes in - it's not six times that he's going in and out." This is not only a concession to his knees, but also I'd wager Webber's ego. He turned down a chance to join the Lakers yet signs with the Dubs. If he were looking for a ring he wouldn't have done that.

Although Nelson put Al Harrington in the starting lineup, I don't think that is permanent at all - he's consistently said Harrington would be a natural 6th man, and we could start Webber and AB together, with perhaps Croshere or Barnes included in a rotation at the PF position. This suggests Barnes and MP are the backups at the 3-4 positions. Jackson & Ellis will still play big minutes - so the odd man out seems to be Kaz, despite his occasional flashes of brilliance this season.

Which brings us to what is Nelson's motivation to return next season? If there is little roster change in the works, if there is little chance we will be better than we are now sans the development of Wright, Kaz, and perhaps a re-signed CJ Watson - does Nelson come back? On the flip side, Mullin has to try to keep Baron, Jackson and Nelson as a package if at all possible - BDavis in the last year of a contract under another coach is potentially combustible, not to mention Jax. As much as we are enjoying not being stuck in the lottery anymore, we may be stuck in lower tier limbo for a while longer.

Mincing Minutes

hardcore — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 20:22:36 -0000

There's been quite a bit written here abouts regarding Nelson's minute management and use of the roster. We may be overlooking some aspects of minute management that is particularly relevant to the NBA and I would bet the high level NCAA programs.

Assuming the #1 goal is always to win as many games as possible, and that could entail not burning players in blow-outs to save their legs for the next game(s) why would a coach leave a star in after the game has been decided one way or another?

I believe there are at least two or three other factors working behind Nelson's substitution methods (in addition to his mad-scientist mis-match strategies), and they have little to do with developing young players and in fact playing youngsters would impede these other goals.

I've noticed Baron likes to stay in home games regardless of the score and time - he relishes the attention and lovefest at Oracle. Is that in his best interest? Is it in the team's best interest? Not necessarily, but Nelson is managing egos as well as the physical athletes and if keeping Baron in sync means giving him those extra minutes I can understand what Nelson is doing. What we would all like is fewer minutes overall for Baron - particularly in the first half of close games. I think Nelson would too, and short of another PG coming in (sorry OZ) I see more of Jackson playing opposite rather than alongside of Davis as December & January unfold as he is fulfilling the supplemental back-up PG role while Davis rests.

The second reason why Nelson my not be playing the young guys as much is he may be "helping" his vets get their numbers in these minutes. Lots of our guys are facing FA in one form or another. I have no proof of this, but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if there is a spoken or unspoken understanding that team-ball dictates shot selection and PT up to the point at which the game may be decided, upon which the vets get the "gravy" minutes with an eye toward rewarding them with an opportunity to get one or two more boards, assists, baskets etc. to improve their stat line. This would be consistent with what we know of Nelson's supportive attitude toward Barnes & MP trying to get better contracts last year once they had the opportunity to do so, and fits the perspective that Nelson's own tenure here is drawing to a close this season, or next - so he's not in development mode, he's in win-now mode. Keeping his vets happy is more important than giving young guys burn to develop.

Lastly, while re-incorporating players returning from illness, injury, family leave, or new players who Nelson thinks could have a significant even if limited role (specifically Mbenga) game time is practice time - there are only so many days NBA teams can really practice despite the long season and it's possible some game minutes may be used as preparation. The Knick game comes to mind here as time when he played major players late in a game that was already decided.

In any event, Nelson may not be using the game minutes the way we expect or even want because he is juggling a different set of agendas than we see.