I know many fans of the Warriors are disheartened by Stephen Jackson's recent comments, but lets put it into perspective. Stephen Jackson is an aging, malcontent(to a degree) whose inefficient shooting and ball handling has lost us more games than his clutch shooting will ever win.

I have ragged on Monta recently, but now more than ever, we need Monta to step up and be our point guard. No Curry and Monta starting back court. Maybe 15 minutes a game but not starting together. Monta's pluses outweigh his negatives to me. His defense on point guards is average so he will not be a liability. His offensive game is devastating, and his driving ability should allow him to get alot more assists than we think. If anything, I want to see a Monta Ellis, with a huge chip on his shoulder. The same one we saw when Don Nelson announced Marco Belinelli would be the starting 2 guard. This time however, he will not be the second and third fiddle. He will be the main guy. Hopefully, Monta has worked on his defense this summer, because we will need him to step up in that category. This team is looking for a leader, and Monta obviously cannot be that off the court, but he can lead by example with his game on the court.

The trio of Morrow, Azubuike, and Maggette at the wings, should be one very difficult to guard. But who will fill the defensive void left by Jackson. He may not have been a very good defender, but Jackson could still provide valuable one-on-one defense against the top scorers in the league. I think Azubuike should be the guy we look to for defense. We know he has the strength, athleticism, and hustle to be a very good defender in this league. Will, he put in the effort and time to do this however. We will have to see.

Maggette easily will take Jackson's scoring load, and Morrow seems ready to be one of our big-clutch shooters(like Curry). I think Jackson's scoring and defense will mainly be replaced by improvements by our own players. His ball-handling will be deferred to a combination of Monta, Curry, Randolph, and i guess CJ Watson. This is where trading Belinelli, looks even more foolish to me, because he replaces alot of Jackson's defense, and ball handling that everyone seems to be worried about. But this could all be changed by whomever(if we aquire anybody) for Jackson. If it is a guy like Josh Howard, it would help tremendously. But we can probably expect a Greg Buckner type of trade.

I can go on forever about how much improved Randolph will be, but we all know that he is going to be a major contributor this season.

I hope its not just me, but I think this team can still make a playoff run with the roster we have. The improvements that will be made by our young players should be enough to negate Jackson's departure.

I don't Believe like I did before, but I still Believe in our teams young talent.

Hello all,

I started writing a blog on wordpress about 3 months ago.

Basketball Tales: Warriors and Beyond

I stopped writing after only one post but I just want to hear what you all think of the post and if i should do more.

A Little Introduction!

Hello, My name is Kyle and I love the game of basketball. Basketball is a great sport when played to it’s maximum potential. In my opinion, Coaches such as Mike D’Antoni and Don Nelson push basketball to its full potential. For example, do you really think walking the ball up the court and taking 20-23 seconds off the shot clock to finally find a "perfect" shot. I tend to disagree due to the fact that this actually causes players to realize the clock is winding down, then in panic-mode, take a rushed shot with no intention to go in. D’Antoni pushes the game to it’s limits by forcing upon his players to take : A, the first shot they see, B. A shot within 7 seconds of the rebound, or C. spread the floor with shooters and set up the pick and roll.

Don Nelson pushes the game to a new limit with his style of basketball. He plays ridiculously small, yet quick and skilled lineups that force the other team to adjust to his style of play or take the risk that it will not succeed against its more conventional lineups. His lineups are rather positionless for the most part.

This is the type of basketball i enjoy to watch and play. The stereotype is that ‘Defense Wins Championships’ is correct but only in the sense that teams who have won in the past 20 years have been defensive-oriented or adequate defensive teams. When i look back rather, it seems like more teams go with the defensive standpoint allowing more defensive teams compete for a championship. So if only 2 teams play Run and Gun and they come close to a championship, that is better than 28 teams trying to win with defense and only one coming out on top. Basketball is a game that is heavily influenced on the teams coaching styles for the better or worse. You Decide.

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