SB Nation User Blog: kenntoe

It seems Nelson gives all kinds of gift minutes to the undrafted and the D Leaguers. And the team...

kenntoe — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:58:10 -0000

It seems Nelson gives all kinds of gift minutes to the undrafted and the D Leaguers. And the team loses most of the time, anyway. So Nelson's logic is flawed. Nelson doesn't have a choice whether or not to lose. His choise is HOW to lose.

Given that, he should play Randolph and Wright -- lose with them -- because they are talented and they are the team's future. In other words, Nelson needs to develop players for a change and stop working on his myth, which is getting kind of old.

http://blog.pressdemocrat.com/cohn/2009/01/nellie-and-the-d-league.html

Rumors have floated for months that the minority owners, who are pro-Mullin and anti-Nelson, are...

kenntoe — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:22:19 -0000

Rumors have floated for months that the minority owners, who are pro-Mullin and anti-Nelson, are attempting to buy out Cohan. If that's true, it can't happen quickly enough.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=bucher_ric&page=warriorsbucher-081223

Should this really be Monta's team?

kenntoe — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:30:49 -0000

With speculation abound about the reasons Monta got injured, it got me thinking about whether or not Monta is the right guy to lead this team. I am not questioning the fact that Monta has superb skills as an NBA scorer, and heck, he could develop into a 6+ assist per night guy and average below 3TO/G.

But, my question is: Are we 100% certain that Monta Ellis is the right person to lead the new-wave Warriors into a new dynasty (hopefully)? Or are we pinning our hopes on our first homegrown potential superstar in a long while?

Argument for:

He's only 22 years old right now. He's still learning as a player and as a person. Reported that his ankle/ligament surgeries will allow him to fully recover.

Argument Against:

Eliis may never get that maturity level-thing. Could this be the first in a series of events that plagues Monta's career? Each year Monta has gotten hurt in freak accidents. Could his body breakdown faster and earlier than normal? Is that worth a 6 year/$66M investment?

My thoughts:

I doubt that Mullin and Co. retract Monta's contract. Especially if this injury is not going to cost him anymore than the 4 months he's already going to be out. BUT, the truth should come out, whether the investigation proves that he did in fact get hurt during a workout session, or Monta comes clean and tells the truth. It will be better for the organization and for Monta himself. I can't imagine either side wanting to pursue this investigation and risk this situation getting any uglier.

Also, if i were Mullin, I'd look to cover my assets and look to acquiring another guard/wing player with the looming departure of Jackson coming up and Ellis' fragility. Watching the summer olympics, you could definitely see the parallels between the Euro style of play and the Nelson's style. Shooters at all 5 positions if possible, wing versatility, 3-4 playmakers on the floor at all times, and favoring the 3pt shot. With expectations being tempered now that Monta's out for at least the first 25 or so games, I wouldn't be surprised with a pick anywhere between 5-10.

A few names to trot out so that we can all keep an eye on: James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Tyler Smith, Demar Derozen, and Jrue Holiday. Harden, Evans and Holiday all have potential as average-above average playmakers from the guard/wing spots. I like Harden's overall game, but his outside shot is questionable. Evans and Holiday are more in the tweener molds than anything else, but they still have intriguing upside. Smith is a decent shooter, and could've gone higher than Courtney Lee at 21 of last year's draft had he not decided to head back to Tennessee. I put Derozen in there just because he's an athletic wing player (very raw still) that the Warriors now lack. Although, he's still going to need someone to set him up.

Well, thanks for reading. Got bored in between classes and decided to post a new diary for the first time in months.

Can we maintain the intensity?

kenntoe — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:40:27 -0000

Check out Marcus Thompson and Geoff Lepper's blog site here.

Has an interesting few points about:

The Warriors ability to go on crazy scoring spurts that, even when down 10, opponents can't let up.
Can the Warriors play at an intense level consistently or is their MO always going to depend on their "spurtability".
Baron can bring the intensity every night, but he just doesn't...for some reason. Also notes teams focusing in on Monta more (by bringing help defenders), Jackson and Harrington's outside shooting streakiness.

In the end, Thompson concludes by saying:
The reality is, maybe the Warriors have to live on their spurtability. Maybe their success is determined by who's hot, what the match-up is and the momentum. I was convinced that they are a great team who plays down to the competition and sometimes lacks intensity. Now I'm thinking they might not be great, but really good and great when all things are clicking.
If the latter is true, then this roster needs major changes. You can't win in the West on banking on spurtability.

Interesting read, and from what I can gather/assume is that Nellie and Mullin know this too. The West just got tougher to climb for the next 1-2-3 years with Phoenix and the Spurs having a window of opportunity still, Dallas and Utah as the 2nd tier echelon WCF candidates, and then of course you have the Lakers. Seemingly over night they vaunted themselves into the Phoenix/Spurs tier of talent--but the scary thing is that they are still relatively young and their "window" for a championship run will outlast Phoenix and San Antonio, and are in my opinion, a better team that Dallas and Utah. Then you also have your next tier of teams: New Orleans (Probably should be in the upper tier now), Houston, Denver, Golden State, Portland (still 1-2 years away however, but not a team to scoff at).

Can we really be satisfied, as currently constructed, to settle for being a 7-8th seed for the immediate future? It's true that it is better than NOT making the playoffs, but still seems a bit shortsighted in the long term perspective.

It may be too soon to talk about offseason re-tooling/restructuring/rebuilding (taboo word around here), but if that's what it takes then I for one wouldn't be surprised by a plethora of roster turnover. I can't see anyone as untouchable with Nellie here outside of Monta.

I guess i'll just end it here and see what you think.

Poll

The Warriors Are...

A great team that plays down to the competition

13 votes

A good team that is great when they turn on the intensity

44 votes

A good team that shows flashes of greatness, but in fact is a mirage.

18 votes

75 votes | Poll has closed

Predictions and Evaluations for 20 games

kenntoe — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 07:07:21 -0000

Nelson and Co. recently said to come back and evaluate this team after 20 games. Well if the first 20 are anything like the first 6 then we're in for a long season. Here is a schedule for the first 20 games:

October
Oct 30 vs UTA L 96 - 117

November
Nov 2 @ LAC L 114 - 120
Nov 3 @ UTA L 110 - 133
Nov 6 vs CLE L 104 - 108
Nov 8 vs DAL L 115 - 120
Nov 14 vs DET L 111 - 104
Nov 16 vs LAC 7:30pm
Nov 18 @ TOR 10:00am
Nov 20 @ NYK 4:30pm
Nov 21 @ BOS 4:30pm
Nov 23 @ WAS 4:00pm
Nov 24 @ PHI 4:00pm
Nov 26 vs PHX 7:30pm
Nov 28 @ SAC 7:00pm
Nov 29 vs HOU 7:30pm

December
Dec 2 @ SEA 6:00pm
Dec 3 vs ORL 7:30pm
Dec 5 vs MIL 7:30pm
Dec 7 vs MIA 7:30pm
Dec 9 @ LAL 6:30pm

My prediction? 3-12 by the end of November with our wins coming against the Clips (at home), Philadelphia (Road), and the Kings (road). After 20 games, 4-16 with our only win coming against Seattle.

I got this from Marcus Thompson's blog:

November 15, 2007

0-for-November?

I still can't believe they lost that game. Since they are in the business of giving away games, you can't help but wonder if they are going to win a game this month. Check out their remaining games -- much tougher opponents than Detroit down two starters:

Clippers - they are a bad match-up, big, physical and they make free throws
@Raptors - they will need this game to salvage their homestand
@Knicks - also big and physical downlow
@Celtics - don't even think about it
@Wizards - bad defense is the cure for the Wiz struggling offense
@76ers - the Warriors will be 0-11 at this point and reeling
Suns - they usually play well at home against Phoenix, but do they have enough to keep up
@Kings - Sacramento is terrible, so they'll be looking forward to beating a rival
Rockets - Maybe McGrady will still be out

So, which one do they win? Maybe they get the Knicks game. Maybe. They could get Washington. But can you really bank on the Warriors winning a road game under pressure? They won 12 road games last year. They aren't exactly Road Warriors.
But then, the home foes are tough, too.
Will they go 0-for-November? That's not possible, right? I'm not too sure anymore.

http://www.cctextra.com/blogs/hoopjunkie/

Looks like he's not so optimistic either. As our current record stands, we'd have to go 42-36 just to get to .500. A .500 win % will NOT get you into the playoffs. We'd have to go more like 45-37. That's better than last year's club which was arguably better. We'd have to go 45-31 the rest of the way, 14 games over .500. To all the people saying "It's only 6 games, there's 76 games left", well history and reality shows us it is already too late.

How can this team win more games when the starters are logging 40+ minutes a game? When we have a 7 man rotation? When we have 4 Small Forwards on the court? When we allow our opponents to have career nights against us each game?

"We Believe"

Ha.

Start thinking of possible destinations for Baron now guys, it'll make for a more interesting debate on this site. When's the draft again?

Brandan making debut tomorrow?

kenntoe — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:44:57 -0000

Got this juicy little Tid-bit from TK's Blog:

Had to notice that Brandan Wright was running with the Blue (first) team at the end of practice today (subbing in and out for Al Harrington, it looked like).

Wright looked pretty spritely-tossing up runners, racing ahead of Blue teammate Baron Davis on the fastbreak, going up to block shots at the rim.

Wright hasn't seen a second of NBA action yet, thanks to Don Nelson's non-love of rookie big men and Wright's recent back soreness, so it was interesting to see the No. 8 overall pick running with Baron, Kelenna Azubuike, Stephen Jackson and Andris Biedrins.

Of course, I also asked Nelson about Wright (and Stephane Lasme), and Nelson said he would've played Wright at some point in the first three games, all losses, if Wright had been healthy enough to practice.

Well, Wright's healthy enough to practice now. I saw it with my own bleary eyes.

So.... Though Nellie was in a very non-revealing mood today, he seemed to suggest that Wright was moving towards game action.

"He definitely has something," Nelson said. "You can tell he's going to be a really good player. But probably won't be productive until he gets a little bit older. He's definitely got something."

I hope, i hope, i hope he gets some burn. I will be anxiously seeing him get his first action of the season tomorrow night.

http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami/2007/11/05/looks-like-nelsons-ready-to-start-playing-brandan -wright-maybe/

Grant Hill headed to PHX

kenntoe — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 22:18:00 -0000

This is not Warrior news at all, but i just wanted to share that my Favorite Player ever in the NBA is headed to the Phoenix Suns. I can't wait to be able to see him play against the Warriors 4 times a year. I remember when he was at his superstar peak i saw him dominate a game against the warriors at the Arena in Oakland. However when he headed east to the Magic i tried in vain to see him for 3 years, each time he had a DNP or played less than 20 minutes. Needless to say i was disappointed. Hopefully i 'll see him at least once this year. Anyway here's the story:

Free agent forward Grant Hill has agreed to sign with the Phoenix Suns for a one-year, $1.2 million dollar contract.

Hill spent the past seven years with the Orlando Magic . He endured numerous injuries during his tenure with the Magic and never re-gained the all-NBA status he possessed earlier in his career with the Detroit Pistons .

This past season, he averaged 14.4 points per game and helped lead the young Magic to their first playoff berth in four years.

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/46921/20070705/grant_hill_heads_to_phoenix/

Who's this new guy?? Stephan..stephon..oh stephane!

kenntoe — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 02:15:09 -0000

i really hope this guy develops, he sounds like everything the warriors need. He's a guy that doesn't need the ball on offense, and brings the energy and toughness inside. here's some information i could find on him.

from draftexpress:

Lasme may be quick enough to guard NBA small forwards and eventually strong enough to guard power forwards, somewhat like a mix between Udonis Haslem and Shawn Marion in terms of size and activity defensively. Stellar defense is always a good way to get yourself noticed by pro scouts and he is one of the nation's best defenders inside the paint. NBA coaches are usually looking for something very specific to bring off their bench in terms of skills, and Lasme has that with his hustle, defense and rebounding ability, as well as his attitude. Lasme certainly has the drive and the aggressiveness to wind up as a second round pick this summer, Defensively is where Lasme made his presence known, blocking shots in man-to-man and weakside situations around the basket, using his length and explosiveness the best way he could. He came from behind drivers going down the lane, blocked his man straight up in the post, and rotated over from the weakside to swat shots as well One of the more intriguing players seen at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, it's pretty clear that Stephane Lasme has been working pretty hard on his game since then. His shooting mechanics are the first thing that jumped out at us, showing a nice high release point, good footwork and a solid follow through. It didn't fall for him all that consistently (he seems to be thinking about his shot an awful lot), but he's obviously gone from a guy with no game at all outside of 5 feet of the basket to someone who is able to knock down a jumper for the most part if he's left open.

Lasme has some excellent physical attributes, including long arms, nice quickness, and plenty of explosiveness getting off his feet. He can dunk the ball with ease from some very tough angles, and is excellent at coming from the weak-side to challenge shots with his length. His lower body needs plenty of work (his legs are extremely skinny), as he might have trouble holding his spot on the block defensively and boxing out for rebounds until he can find a way to put more mass on

sounds good to me. He might go down to the D-league, but i hope not. Overall i think it was a good haul this year. Keep it up Mully.

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewprofile.php?p=1079

Just for fun: Rebuilding Mode!!!

kenntoe — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:19:20 -0000

Suppose Nellie did not come back for the 07-08 season. And Suppose the consensus was to shop our most attractive players for draft picks, young, cheap players and expiring contracts. This is just for fun since it has been a slow summer thus far. See if you can top this!...:

I tried using the most plausible trade scenarios and team needs.

Trade A: Baron Davis to the Atlanta Hawks for:
1.    Tyronne Lue (1)
2.    Lorenzen Wright (1)
3.    Anthony Johnson (1)
4.    Josh Childress
5.    07' First Round Pick #3

Nets us the #3 overall pick and Josh Childress. The other 3 Hawks have a year left on their contracts and could be bought out to make room on the roster for other players.

Trade B: Jason Richardson, Patrick O'Bryant, and 07' Second Round Pick #36, #46 to the Charlott Bobcats for:
1.    Brevin Knight (1)
2.    Sean May
3.    07' First Round Pick #8, #22

Nets us two first rounders and a decent rent-a-player for a year in Knight. S. May might not be a bad backup pick. Although he may be injured for half the season. Though he won't cost us much.

Trade C: Sarunas Jasckicavisius to the Miami Heat for:

1. 07' Second Round Pick #39.

Nets us an extra young player for nothing basically. With Jason Williams getting older, Miami needs a servicable PG. He's an expiring too so he won't hurt them long term.

Warrior Picks in the 07' NBA Amateur Draft: #'s 3, 8, 18, 22, 39

Using RealGM and DraftExpress mock drafts:

1.    Portland - Greg Oden
2.    Seattle - Kevin Durant
3.    Warriors - Mike Conley
4.    Memphis - Al Horford
5.    Boston _ Jeff Green
6.    Milwaukee - Brandan Wright
7.    Minnesota - Spencer Hawes
8.    Warriors - Yi Jian Lian
9.    Chicago - Joakim Noah
10.    Sacramento - Corey Brewer
11.    Atlanta - Javaris Crittenton
12.    Philadelphia - Al Thornton
13.    New Orleans - Nick Young
14.    Los Angelas Clips - Acie Law
15.    Detroit - Rodney Stuckey
16.    Washington - Julian Wright
17.    New Jersey - Jason Smith
18.    Warriors - Thaddeus Young
19.    Los Angelas Lak - Josh McRoberts
20.    Miami - Rudy Fernandez
21.    Philadelphia - Tiago Splitter
22.    Warriors - Sean Williams
23.    New York - Morris Almond
24.    Phoenix - Marco Belinelli
25.    Utah - Daequan Cook
26.    Houston - Nick Fazekas
27.    Detroit - Derrick Byars
28.    San Antonio - Jared Dudley
29.    Phoenix - Petteri Koponen
30.    Philadelphia - Taureen

2nd Round:

39. Warriors - Dominic Mcguire

Justification:

I could go either way with Conley or Horford. I picked Conley because he's the best pg in the draft, while you could net an offensive minded pf (Yi) later with the #8 pick. I wasn't sure Monta could handle the point, so i kept the pressure off him and left him at the 2 spot.
Yi Jian Lian - If i were to pick Horford with the third selection, PG would be the next natural choice for the warriors. However the drop off from Conley to Law and Crittenton, was much bigger than Horford to Yi or even Noah. I couldn't justify picking Noah and playing him alongside Biedrins. An offensive minded PF is needed here in this spot.
Thaddeus Young - Talented and sweet shooting sf/pf combo. A decent replacement for Jason Richardson, Mikael Pietrus, and Matt Barnes. Would benefit from wide open looks from dish off passes from conley. Would not be relied upon to score with Monta, Yi, and Conley taking the pressure off Young's shoulders. Would not have to start right away.
Sean Williams - Drafting Yi would not give you the kind of defense or rebounding you may want. Drafting Williams covers these areas as he could come off the bench and give you intensity and tenacity as well as 6 extra fouls to work with.
Dominic McGuire - Projected to go a few spots higher, but hopefully lady luck drops this sleeper into the Warriors' hands. Long, Athletic combo forward (stands 6'8''), much like Young, however plays decent man-to-man defense and good leaping ability for offensive boards. McGuire and Young could become Pietrus and Barnes 2.0

I was going to go into salary cap situations for the 08-09 season but i'm too tired. Let's just say we save a freakin boat load of money. Money to sign Beans and Monta with as well as extensions for Childress if he deserves it.

Depth Chart:

Knight/Conley/Ellis
Ellis/Childress/Jackson
Harrington/Young/McGuire
Yi/May/Williams/Young
Biedrins/Yi/Williams/Foyle

I understand this is a 13 man rotation so i would send down a player to the D-Leagues such as McGuire.

I'm too tired after doing all this research. Blast or praise it at your own will.

DRAFT STANDINGS

kenntoe — Wed, 23 May 2007 01:01:01 -0000

Portland
Seattle
Atlanta (keeps pick)
Memphis
Boston

OH MY GOD.

Portland will be a beast in the coming years. I cringe at the thought of playing against Oden, Aldridge and Roy 4 times a year. Seattle basically replaces Lewis with Durant. Atlanta can finally get the big man they're looking for AND a solid PG since they own the 11th pick.

Post your thoughts on this CRAZY draft.