SB Nation User Blog: myk

Amar'e Deal All but Dead According to MT II

myk — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:09:41 -0000

Amar'e Deal All but Dead According to MT II

"A source told MediaNews that Stoudemire thinks the Warriors would be giving up too much (leaving him with little left to work with) and that he doesn't want to play center."

Amar'e and I are on the same page. We give up too much, Amar'e is not a center. Maybe this means we trade for Kirilenko:

http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2009/6/28/928411/wow-this-trade-would-really-help

Wow, this trade would really help our team

myk — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:16:45 -0000

Before the draft the word from the Warriors front office was that we had four players we were not willing to trade, they were labeled "untouchables". The foursome were Monta, Morrow, Randolph, and Biedrins. I agree that these four are "untouchable" and they are a great young core to build around. After listening to Larry Riley tell the media, on mutliple occasions, that we are looking to add a veteran player who can play the 3 or the 4, who can defend and rebound well, this trade came to mind.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=kk8jkv

Why we do it

Basically we get the exact type of player that Larry Riley was talking about, and we keep our "untouchaebles". His contract only has 3 years left, and AK47 is a great player. His offensive numbers, mostly his scoring, would increase by moving to the Warriors. Not only would he greatly improve our defense/rebounding, but he also moves the ball around really well. We'd basically be getting the opposite of Corey Maggette. One of the things that had been tripping me up about the Amare Stoudemire trade was the fact we were trading two of our big men and only getting one in return. This would make our frontcourt depth really weak, especially if Amar'e or AR were to get injured. With this trade we're giving up one big man and getting a solid vet who can play the 3 or the 4 extremely well.

I think Utah would do this trade because they don't really use Kirilenko to his full potential anymore, and they know it. Plus the current free agent situations of Boozer/Okur/Milsap could get messy for them, BWright is a great young PF with a lot of room to grow. Not to mention that one of his best games, if not his best game, last year came against Utah. Belinelli basically just sweetens the deal and gives them a talented guard who can backup either position and shoot the ball well, I think Sloan would really like to work with both of their games.

So what do you think?

Poll

If you're Larry Riley do you try and make this trade?

Does the proposed trade for Amar'e improve us?

myk — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:44:21 -0000

So the proposed trade for Amar'e would include Andris, Buike, BWright, and either Belli or Curry. Amar'e is an amazing NBA player, I'd love to see him on our team, more as a PF though. What were our issues as a team last year? Defense, Rebounding, and Health. Our lineup now looks like this

PG:Monta/Curry/Marco

SG:Jack/Morrow/Marco

SF:Buike/Maggette

PF:AR/BW

C:AB/Ronny

as opposed to...

PG:Monta/Curry or Marco (one is gone)

SG:Jack/Morrow

SF:Maggette/Morrow/Jack

PF:AR/Kurz?Davidson?

C:Amar'e/Ronny

This trade makes us worse on defense, especially around the perimeter and worse at rebounding, mostly by the absense of Buike. Also because AB is a better defender and rebounder compared to Amar'e. It also takes away our depth. After last seasons experience, I don't see why Riley would want to dump our depth. Imagine if Amar'e goes out for a month or 2 with an injury. Ronny and AR, with Corey back to playing PF, that sounds awful.

Keeping Buike allows us to play Corey off the bench. (6th man of the year!). His absense also makes us very thin at the SF position. This trade is asking for too much.

If the trade was AB and Corey (to make the contracts work) plus Curry or Belli, then I would really be wrestling with this one. But the trade that is actually being proposed is too much. Especially when thinking about DEFENSE, REBOUNDING, and DEPTH. That's just me. What do you think?

UPDATE: According to Marcus Thompson, if they wait until after July 1st, they could do the trade without Buike, which is better, but I don't think Phoenix would do it without him...

Poll

Does the proposed trade for Amar'e improve us as a unit?

Yes: Because... (Specify in comments below)

185 votes

No: Defense,/Rebounding not improved, Depth severely weakend

154 votes

339 votes | Poll has closed

Do you believe in Monta's ability to be our PG?

myk — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:19:27 -0000

Many of us perceive the PG position as our biggest problem. Nellie has been saying for the last 2+ seasons that Monta needs to be a PG in this league in order to be successful, I agree. He is too small to be a great 2 guard. Many of us feel that Monta should be traded because he doesn't fit well in our backcourt. Others suggest trading back for BD, while others see no problem with Monta being our PG. Here's what I think.

Since BD seems to be everybody's preferred example for a great Dubs PG in Nellie's system, I will attempt to explain how easily Monta can "change" his game into one that is similar, if not identical to Baron's.

Many of us seem to think that Monta needs to become a "Pass First" player to be our PG. I'll submit that this idea is not true. First of all, I would not describe BD as a pass first PG, in fact, the only 2 active PG's I would describe in that manner are Nash and JKidd. Baron looked to get his shot more often than he looked to make a pass.

This is just true. Considering all the offensive threats we had on our team, including Monta, Jack, Al, MB, J-Rich, etc., Baron should have easily averaged 10+ assists in at least one season with us. Nash would have. Baron just simply preferred to score. Which was not (is not) a problem. If you can put up 20 points a game in the NBA, you should do that, especially playing for Nellie. BD was a perfect fit for this team because he wasn't a pass first PG, I don't think we would have won anymore games with Nash as our point. In fact the season where we won the most games with Baron, 48, he had his lowest assist average out of any year with the Warriors at 7.6.

Monta is a more efficient scorer than Baron, and more importantly he is a better shot selector. To me that is one of the main things a PG needs to know how to do to make his team better, when to look for a shot, when to pass. Monta is not one of our Dubs that makes us cringe when he pulls up to shoot, ala BD and Jack, so that is already an improvement. Monta will score more efficiently and more intelligently that BD. Part of the reason Monta does this is because he understands the limits to his game, he is not going to shoot off of one foot falling backwards from 23 ft out, he probably won't even shoot form 23 ft out very much. As stated, he understands the limits of his own game. Even though he is younger, I'd say he does that better than Jack or BD, that makes him a very valuable ball handler.

What else makes him valuable as the primary ballhandler? His quickness. BD may have better handles than Monta, Jamal certainly does, but Monta's quickness makes it just as difficult for a defender to steal the ball from him. Can Monta pass? Yes, he can pass well, that's why he is in the NBA as a guard. Can he pass better than Jack? I don't think so, Jack drops some pretty spectacular dimes, but as I said, Monta is a better decision maker than Jack. He doesn't force as many stupid passes as Jack, sure he has forced stupid passes, so has BD, so has Nash, so has CP3. BD was just coming out of UCLA at this age, Monta has already had 3 years of NBA defense to get used to passing around. If not next season, sometime in the near future, we'll see Monta average Baron's Dubs average of 8.2 assists.

Another point of this post, other than comparing Monta to BD, is to show that as a team, we don't need a prototypical PG. We simply need a solid passer and ball handler at the point. Being that we'll have Dre, AR, Buike, and Jack in our starting lineup it is even more crucial that we have a lethal scorer at the point. That's what Monta is. He is the best out right scorer I have ever seen in a Warriors uniform. I was only born in '88, and I blaze a lot, so my basketball memory doesn't really start til about '96. Since I was so young I paid most of my attention to Michael Jordan. So maybe others of you feel differently, but I still stand pat, Monta is the best scorer I have seen in a Warriors uniform.

So it would be criminal to take that out of his game and out of our team's game. We need Monta to score, we need him to do what he does best. Sure, as our PG he does need to ensure that ball movement is consistent, but I would say that it's more crucial for Jack and Corey to work on that. In order for the Dub's to be most successful as a team they need to have ball movement. Everyone needs to get touches. We have to stop letting Jack and Corey become black holes on offense. Monta does need to set that tone in some regard, but since he's had people telling him he needs to be a PG for almost 3 seasons, and he has had a large number of fans and the media questioning his ability, I believe Monta understands what he has to do; he's also motivated to prove he can do it. We have scorers in almost every position, we're the Warriors, that should make it easier for Monta to become a solid PG.

We are not a typical NBA squad, we don't need a typical PG, Monta is the perfect fit for our squad. The only thing BD does better than Monta is post people up, but now that we have AR, BWright, and Ronny, we don't need Monta to do that. Monta just needs to score when he can, but learn not to force it.

All of this aside, our biggest problem was perimeter D last year. Monta playing the point allows us to play Jack and Azubuike with a legitimate PF, thus greatly improving our defense from last year. Everyone says we need a superstar, Monta is our best shot, and our team is at its best when he is playing PG.

Poll

I have faith in Monta becoming a successful PG for our Warriors, do you?

Yes!! Monta is our future PG!!!

254 votes

No, Monta will never be a quality NBA PG, especially not for our team

173 votes

Not sure, we'll find out next season

245 votes

672 votes | Poll has closed

AR Puttin' in work. Next season starts now.

myk — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:18:04 -0000

AR Puttin' in work. Next season starts now.

Good article from MTIII. Gets me stoked to see what sort of form he'll be in and what sort of player AR is gonna be next year. Enjoy

Don't stress about the Draft, trust in Larry Riley!

myk — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:01:32 -0000

Not really, but don't worry because it doesn't matter. Everyone seems to be stressing about the upcoming draft. I don't know why. No rookie, none, will play a significant role for us next year. Unless of course everyone is injured like last season, but then it won't matter becasue we would just be heading back to the lottery. The truth is, in case you forgot, Nellie doesn't play rookies, unless he absolutely has to. I know pretty much everyone is praying for a PG. There have been some pretty lively debates thanks to Brandon Jennings and Jrue Holliday. But it doesn't matter.

We'll most likely be starting Jack and Monta with Jamal, Marco, A-Mo, and possibly CJ backing them up. Keeping in mind that Nellie doesn't play rookies , there is no PG, with the possible exception of Rubio, that would even play (unless we're in garbage time). Our backcourt is set next year, unless we don't resign CJ, than we need a 3rd string PG, I guess there's where a rookie comes in.

Monta/Jamal/CJ? or Marco

Jack/Marco/Morrow

Buike/Maggs/AR or Jack or Morrow

AR or BWright/ the other half of the twin towers/Maggs/Buike/Jack

Biedrins/Turiaf

Being that Nellie will only play 10 or 11 guys at most, I just listed all 11 (excluding CJ). Looking at that lineup actually makes me feel that we need another SF/PF. Someone had mentioned Portland trading up to get Curry. If we could get Outlaw and their 24, that to me is the best scenario. Outlaw off the bench is perfect for us. Plus we would get a quality NBA player guaranteed, none of these rookies is a guarantee. Being that this trade won't happen either, our 7 pick doesn't matter. Nellie probably likes this lineup anyway because the mass amount of SG/SF we have will allow him to play Maggs, Jack, and Buike some at the 4, which Nellie loves.

So while it is fun to imagine us getting a ROY or even a solid rookie who will be significant, the fact of the matter is that it's not going to happen. But hey, the season is over, we're almost 5 months away from the next one, at least this gives us an excuse to get together and talk about our Warriors.

Plus we were injured last year, there is reason to 'Believe' in next season.

Jamal, CJ, Marco and decisions

myk — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:48:23 -0000

I strongly believe in the talent on our current team. I feel that we have the right players playing the right roles. The only area I where there 's some trouble is the backcourt. I have a feeling that the starting lineup for the majority of the year will consist of Monta, Jack, Buike, Randolph/Wright, and Biedrins. However this team is injury prone, people on our bench will see a lot playing time. So Maggette, Turiaf, other half of Randolph/Wright, Morrow, Marco, CJ and Jamal will get a lot of PT. I feel that Jamal, CJ or Marco will be more of a general backup guard playing either the 1 or the 2. Teams generally have at most 4 players who play in the backcourt in most games. We will need to get rid of some of ours.

But keeping 2 out of Marco, CJ, and Jamal increases our depth. This task will be easily accomplished because Jamal can opt out, and if he doesn't, he has an expiring contract either after this year or the next. CJ is also a free agent. Marco could be traded. I just can't decide who should stay.

Jamal

Jamal can start at PG or SG. Although if he stays he should come off the bench. He would resemble Jason Terry on the Mavs. Come in and score. He doesn't have any real D, although his hands seem to have gotten quicker while he has been here. He is a vet and he seems to be well liked in the locker room. He also may be difficult to trade. So he could stay here andbe bench player who may need to start every so often do to inuries, Jamal would be great here. The downside is that Nellie seems to have a tendency to start Jamal, and I feel with his ability to get hot, there will be more reason for Nellie to try and start him. It would be better if we could have that scoring off the bench. We would have 2 twenty point scorers and 3 other double digit scorers in the starting lineup. Plus Jamal has two years left if he decides not to opt out. He could possibly hinder the growth of Marco, Morrow, and even Monta. He might be the best shooter of the 3, he's less consistent than Marco or CJ. He would be our Jason Terry

He's young, and he knows our system. He can also get hot and his passing game has improved. He has no D whatsoever. None. He can get steals, but that's about it. He would definitely be a good backup PG, and he could definitely see PT alongside Monta. There is a very good chance we will be out bid by other teams for him this summer.

Marco

He is the youngest, and he already has better D than Jamal or CJ. He plays the best perimeter D out of any of our guards, behind Jack. He has handles like a PG, he passes like a PG, but he has the body of a shooting guard. He also shoots well, although he seems streaky, but he He is the best compliment to Monta out of the 3 as well. He reminds me a lot of Manu Ginobili. Not obviously based on numbers but based on his playing style. He is still getting comfortable, but he has the most room to grow. He is only 23.

Towards the end of the season up until now I've been praying that Jamal should leave. But now I'm indifferent. He could go, we could try and sign CJ or, give all the playing time to Marco and Morrow, and maybe another rookie. If he stays he plays a backup role, and can be our 29 year old Jason Terry. Plus he's a vet. In all likely hood CJ is out, Jamal stays. Management may want to trade make a trade, but I don't think we need to. So my conclusion is that we should just let CJ walk, Jamal should stay, and we should make no trades. Because the onyl way we'll get value is by trading Randolph/Monta/Biedrins. Wright and Belinelli are seen as too injury prone, so they don't seem as valuable to other teams as they do to us. But that's great our squad is legit. Just hope they are all trying to work on D and that they can stay healthy.

With the Playoffs in full swing and the draft not too far off, I feel this needs to be said.

myk — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:44:10 -0000

If any of you have read my responses to other posts from tonight, you know where I'm heading with this. Without actually knowing what sort of weight the opinions of GSoM have on the actual franchise, I'm going to assume the best/worst and pretend that Mullin, Rowell, Nellie, the Players and even Cohan read this blog as religiously as I do. With that notion inserted into my own head, I feel it urgent and necessary to express this growing feeling of uneasiness, and also why it has arisen within me,

Last season was horrible, there is no denying that. We were heading into this season expecting to be in a dogfight for playoff positioning. Obviously that didn't happen. So of course, we look for reasons why. As we usually do here on GSoM we blame the management, coaching, and players. Management isn't going to change much (later Mully), coaching is certainly debatable, the roster however seems to be where all the focus is, and it usually is. Most off season posts have something to do with constructing ridiculous trades to land Amare or Bosh, or KG. So it comes as no surprise that people have suggested trades or off season acquisitions. Lets face it, under 30 wins, this team clearly sucks. That is certainly true, any team that ends up with less than 30 wins has problems. There were a good number of coaching errors. Someone like Nellie, who had been coaching a fairly veteran oriented, and very successful lineup for the last 2 years is going to have some trouble transitioning back to coaching a team full of second and third year players. Not to mention the rookies, Jackson having to learn a few new roles while battling injuries, Maggette learning to fit into the system while battling injuries, and Monta being unexpectedly out for most of the year, it was hard. The last statement best illustrates our one consistent theme from this year, injuries.

That is the point of this post. We were playing unhealthy all season. Literally, we didn't play a single game where all of our best players were suited up together. We don't even know what this team will play like. When you come off of a season where you were the youngest team in the league and you didn't get to see the roster play together once, you don't get an accurate assessment on the value a team has as a cohesive unit. I don't much see the logic in trying to fix something when you're not sure if its broken.

The one roster change we can all agree on is that Jamal needs to opt out, and if he doesn't, trade him, even if it requires our lottery pick. We have a log jam at the guard postiton, and Jamal will only subsequently affect the growth of Belinelli, Monta, and Morrow. I think it would be wise to put Monta and Beli through pg training, they could turn into Parker and Ginobili 2, except they would be playing together since they were 23. Monta is our PG, he is too small to play defense as a 2, and we already have good compliments for him with Jackson, Beli, Morrow, and Buike. The lineup is set, once Jamal leaves.

Also, while discussing coaching, DEFENSE. That’s it, we just need to show our youngsters how to play defense, every one of them can learn, they are all young. The only “lost cause” is Maggette, but his only role is to come off the bench, draw fouls, and score. We just need to learn defense.

I know its hard to keep your eyes focused on the future when the present is so disappointing. But we have actually set ourselves up with a legitimate team. My prediction is that if we play 20-30 games with a fully healthy lineup, and no one misses more than 10-20 games, we will be in the playoffs next year, And if we keep this team together for another 2-3 years, we will have one of the best teams in the league. We're still young, don't fix what ain’t broke!

Warriors in 09-10!!!!!!!!!!

Its time to let our feelings be known

myk — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:57:33 -0000

When we go to games we need to start chants, we cheer and the only chant we say is the same old lets go warriors. I know we can be a loud crowd, but I saw FCBarcelona play their opening match of the season last year. If they can get 95,000 people chanting 5 different chants and singing a song together, can't we do better?

If we are serious about firing Nellie and booting Rowell and Cohan, say so. We don't have a front office with a winning mentality, they run our dubs like a damn business. I'm not naive, I know sports are a business, but we're the damn consumer, so we need to do 1of 2 things. We can either stop buying tix and going to games, or we can go there and drown out the losses with a resounding "Fire Rowell, Kill Cohan" or a "Fire Nellie" or even "No more small ball" we need to get creative here. If we really care, let them know. "Fire Isaiah" worked. It made sport center.

It really is sad how many of us think that our front office is trying to build a winner. Where have you been the last 2 decades? I already wrote one post on this issue so I'm not gonna go off now, but isn't obvious that our ownership wants us to continue shelling out money for mediocrety?

Look at the Sharks. Doug Wilson is the opposite of anyone in the Dubz front office, except Mully, and look where he's going. Honestly, if next year the Sharks were playing for the 8th seed, there wouldn't be any sell outs. Sharks fans expect more, Warriors fans hope for more. W's fans sell out all season for a team that doesn't make the playoffs. Never would happen in San Jo. Doug Wilson is building a winner, he doesn't care that its hard work to build a constant contender, he doesn't care that if he fails to do so ticket sales will drop, he just wants to put the best team out there that have the best chance at taking the cup. Cohan and Rowell want to have us throw all our money away at mediocrety, and we do, they have got us used to it. They don't want to take the time effort and money to build a winner. They don't want a fall out, they don't want a Sharks scenario where vying for the 6th seed doesn't sell out. They want us hoping we will have a winner, never expecting one.

What they don't realize is that we will always show up to dubz games. So if you're sick of this BS like me, say something get some chants going, let everyone at the game know whats up. Miami is tonight if any of you are going start some shit!

GO WARRIORS! Just leave Nellie, Rowell, and Cohan behind. I want to hear "We love Mully" tonight!

Don't worry, Everything is going to plan!!!!!!

myk — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:45:00 -0000

Well since we are all fans I guess we should worry. Cohan and Rowell got what they wanted. A team to make them money, just a team that will be exciting to watch but will never win it all. Why would they want that? If us Warrior fans get used to being a top 5 team in the west consistantly or even get the taste of the championship, we won't be selling out the Roaracle for a team that may make the 8th spot. If they keep us in limbo where we just pray to make the playoffs, they win, because if we make the lottery we can hope for the 8th spot next year, but if we are the 4 seed, next year we would want the 2 seed. Look at Laker fans, they cry and leave early if they are losing, and they don't show up if they're not 1-3 in the West. Cohan and Rowell don't want to have to worry about building a contender. If they can get us used to paying hella skrilla for mediocrety(which they have) why would they want us to get used to a winner. It's simple, they've kept us hoping for the 8th spot for 13 years, and we got it once, then we just barely missed the 8th seed, and now we are praying for it again. And if you think I'm bitter about it and am just making BS accusations and I have no proof, let's look what are front office has been up to.

First off, I'm not sure letting Baron go was a good idea, I thought Corey would make up for it, but I'm not sure. We still could've got Ronny for Pietrus' and Barnes' money. Our Lineup would've been Boom, Monta, Jack, BWright and Biedrins for the next 3 years. Al would NOT have been traded for Jamal. Instead for the next 3 years we have a starting lineup that has Monta, Jamal, Jack, Corey, and Biedrins.

That is an exciting lineup, but that is not going to win anything. Now if we were playing Dallas as the 1 seed from 2 years ago, we would kill them, but unfortunately the elite teams in the west are teams like LAL, Utah, and Houston. We are not going to play good defense or rebound against those teams. Also, why would we extend Nellie? Because Nellie knows how to put a high powered offensive lienup on the court but he won't have them playing D or reboudning. When Monta Ellis is the third best rebounder in your starting 5, you're in trouble. We have commited Corey Maggette to be our pf for 3 more years, CRAP!! He can play well there once in awhile, but he can't go there everygame for the majority of the time. Nellie is killing BWright's game. The kid could be a legit PF in this league by next year. Nellie is the coach you get to fill seats, he's the second winningest coach of all time, but he's not in the hall of fame because he has never even made it to the finals.

The best thing we can hope for is that Monta is only healthy enough to be our 6th man. Although Nellie will force him to start even at 80%. BWright will get to develop this year as the starting PF most nights. At the end of the year, Crawford decides to opt out, he has the option. Nellie realizes that Brandon needs to start and play more. We could also work on a trade to get rid of Jack, Maggs, or Jamal. But in all honesty, we should keep everyone and just hope Jamal opts out, because having him and Monta is redundant, especially when Maggs has to be a pf, plus we would have him and Adonal's salaries off the books after this year. Lastly, Nellie steps down and Jim Barnett decides to coach. He has been watching these kids play for a few years, he knows what kind of ball they're designed for, and he isn't going to small us out of games. He knows the game better than the back of his hand. Also someone would need to assassinate Cohan and Rowell, takers? How much would a hit cost? If we all decided to not throw a GSoM night for awhile it may be worth it to spend our money elsewhere.

Go SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Myk