SB Nation User Blog: w00143881

WARRIORS: Made the HOT move!

w00143881 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:36:01 -0000

Player A - MPG 30.5 / FG% .455 / 3P% .417 / FT% .75 / REB 3.1 / STL 1.43 / TO 2.6 / AST 5.2 / PTS 10.2

Player B - MPG 34 / FG% .433 / 3P% .486 / FT% .77 / REB 4.1 / STL 1.2 / TO 3.33 / AST 5.5 / PTS 22.3

Who would you rather have on your team? To be honest, both A and B look like solid pick-ups. Player B is clearly a more central piece to his team as he plays more minutes, nails more 3s and takes more shots, however, with these as an exception, both are very comparable on paper. Does it surprise you that Player A is Stephen Curry and Player B is Brandon Jennings?

Rookie of the Year? Biggest steal in the draft? Sure, Jennings blew up for 55 points. Despite being against our Warrior Defense, I give him props for such a performance; Carmelo Anthony just had his first 50-point game a few days ago. Since then, a lot of people have jumped on this Jennings Bandwagon. But is all this hype over Jennings just a mirage?

I don’t want to take away anything from Jennings and the skill set that he has. However, its hard not to compare him to Chris Douglas-Roberts and the New Jersey Nets; a decent player on a team with no one else. Cmon, Michael Redd is out and Andrew Bogut is out – someone has to score. Why not Jennings?

Yet, I believe I can say that if Monta Ellis and Corey Maggette (likely) were to get injured next week and we somehow managed to fill a roster, Stephen Curry would be taking the shots he needs to shine just as Jennings is doing now. Look what happened with Monta Ellis! Stephen Jackson gets removed and Monta is playing out of his mind because of his sense of ownership over the team. You do the same to Stephen Curry and I can guarantee the same results.

Many have said on this website that we made a huge mistake not picking up Jennings and that "I told you so" would flare up everywhere. I don’t dispute that some of you may have wanted us to draft Jennings but it would be unfair and wrong say we made a mistake drafting Curry. Curry just hasn’t had the opportunity to shine like Jennings has.

Here is my turning point. Here I state why it wasn’t just fine that we drafted Curry, but better we drafted Curry. In fact, I argue Curry is a better player so far. Since Jennings’ infamous 55 point game, he has shot an embarrassing 38% from the field and his team has lost its last four games to San Antonio, a CP3less New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Orlando. He wasn’t a good shooter overseas and he’s not getting any better since coming to the NBA. Finally, because we’ve only played about 15 games so far, I can arguably say that Jennings’ stats are skewed because of his 55-point performance against us. If someone were willing to workout the numbers without that game, Jennings’ stat line would be much similar to Curry’s if not worse than Curry’s.

From ESPN.com: "After his blazing start to the season that had everyone buzzing, Jennings is averaging only 14 points on 29% FG shooting in the last four games. During this shooting slump he has taken 69 shots, but has only scored 56 total points."

I’m glad we drafted Curry. He is smart kid and we’ve seen a glimpse of his potential through some of the plays and passes he makes. Give it time. Embrace the learning curve.

Poll

It is draft night 2009 and YOU are Warrior's front office. Who do you draft knowing what you know now?

Enough is Enough

w00143881 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:49:26 -0000

Honestly, who gets suspended in the off season?!? What was once an acknowledged but respectful and somewhat professional conflict of interest between Stephen Jackson and the Golden State Warriors has turned into a disrespectful, cancerous, and annoying sequence of events. After this suspension, there is no doubt that tension will peak with Jackson and things can only spiral further out of control. I think we all agree that the Warriors aren’t going to win a championship this year, however, I think we all want and have come to expect a fun and entertaining year filled with, of course, hope for another season. What I refuse to let the Warriors become is the laughing stock of the league. I can already see it as Sportscenter’s highlight "Captain stabs crew and jumps off ship."

At this point, I’m ready to trade Jackson for nothing more than cap relief. It is not like he has done anything productive so far. Granted, it is the preseason, however, has anyone seen the number of turnover this guy is committing?! Get rid of this talentless, cancerous ball hog and let our youngsters shine. A player like Monta Ellis may get pissed and unhappy about rumors regarding trades and such but he chose to drop a 24 point 8 dimes performance against the Lakers. Jackson, well he said F it and committed 5 fouls and a technical in 10 minutes. A line up without Jackson you ask? Check the boxscore against the Lakers last night. A blowout win with Jackson playing only 9 minutes.

Poll

What to do with the Captain

To the Plank! Send him overboard!

273 votes

Once my Captain, Always my Captain

26 votes

299 votes | Poll has closed

Dallas Ready to Deal?

w00143881 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:16:51 -0000

With the recent rumor of Dallas and Warriors potentially in discussion regarding swingman Stephen Jackson, I would like to add a somewhat realistic possibility of such a trade. ESPN has published a story about James Singleton, who played fairly well for the Mavs last season, accepting Dallas’ offer of $1.03 Million for this up coming season:

Sources: Mavs to re-sign F Singleton [ESPN]

“The formal re-signing of Singleton is expected early this week. The Mavericks have kept the offer on the table all summer despite the fact that Singleton, as of Monday, represents their 17th guaranteed contract for the 2009-10 season. NBA teams are limited to carrying 15 players, and, thanks to the recent arrivals of Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden and Tim Thomas to flank Dirk Nowitzki, minutes would appear to be scarce in the Mavericks' frontcourt…Sources told ESPN.com that the Mavericks are actively pursuing two-for-one trades in hopes of easing the roster logjam before training camp starts Sept. 28, with center Nathan Jawai and swingman Shawne Williams among those being made available.”

Now I ask, doesn’t it seem like something the Warrior’s Front Office would do; Trade away some expensive talent for some raw, unproven, potentially terrible but inexpensive young players to save money? Sure, Jawai would give us some size (actually, a lot of it), and Williams, if his off court troubles could remain in check, MAY blossom. But could this be where we are heading; More “potential” players Warrior fans grasp on to, praying one day they will break out and bring respect back to Bay Area NBA teams?

But WAIT WAIT WAIT…For this to work, however, given that Dallas is nearing cap space (or maybe above it), the money part of it would have to work out.

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

Warriors would pick up 3 more expiring contracts, drop 2 long-term contracts, become an even younger team than we already are, save about 2 million a year while satisfying Dallas’ need to make a two for one. Dallas seems to enjoy being an older team and Warrior seem to enjoy being a younger team. SJAX has wanted to go to a contending texas playoff team and we want to dump Maggette. Is this feasible and likely? Would we be satisfied with a deal like this?

Poll

What are your thoughts?

It could happen and I can't wait for it to

71 votes

This is likely to happen and likely ruin our team

35 votes

No way this happens but I can pray

104 votes

I hate this idea and I'm glad it won't happen

84 votes

294 votes | Poll has closed

Is Wright Right for Warriors? (NON SJAX POST)

w00143881 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:58:34 -0000

For the past couple months, we have discussed countless trade opportunities and possibilities that the Warriors have. With this new revelation about SJAX wanting out, the Fanpost have been swamped with more trade ideas now involving SJAX. In most posts, trades often include some combination of Acie Law, Devean George, Corey Maggette and Brandan Wright. However, the more I think about it, the more I feel Wright should not be included in such trades. Despite Randolph surprising us during the summer league, the truth is, he is still an unproven player. Sure we saw a glimpse of him during the last few weeks of the season, however, we can’t say for sure that he will be the next Chris Bosh. Wright, for the past two seasons, has put up very decent numbers. In fact, before he got injured, I saw amazed how good this kid was. Keeping in mind that he is only 21 and has only played for two seasons, I think he will be a very solid player in this league. Compared to Bosh at the same age, in most categories, Wright is putting up better numbers. While I understand that Hollinger’s PER rating is questioned/ criticized by some, comparing their first two years (BW 17.14, 18.77 vs CB 15.24, 17.54), these numbers show Wright to be on his way to amazing numbers once given adequate playing time. Comparing Wright and Randolph’s rookie year runs, Wright was putting up better numbers as well.

To be fair, the big red flags for Wright have been his size, his defense and his overall awareness on the court. However, I believe within the next few years, all these aspects could be improved. Look at Beans! The first few years, a lot of us questioned how good he would be and if he could really hack it Center (some of us still do). Despite this, it is clear that only after his 3rd of 4th year did we see what he was truly made of. Sure, some love him and some would love to trade him but at least we know where he stands. I doubt any of us truly know how good or how bad Wright could be.

It has always been discussed that since Randolph and Wright are competing for a spot. Although to me on paper Wright seems like a better player, it is clear that the team is pushing for Randolph to be a key player for the team this year. But why can’t we utilize both players?

The Lakers have a similar situation where they have several talented bigs: Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. While Ariza seems to grab most of the SF minutes, there are stretches where we would see all three bigs on the court at once. Could the Warriors pull this off? Given that all three all long, skinny and relatively mobile, I don’t see why we wouldn’t consider running Randolph (SF), Wright (PF) Beans (C). I figure our rebounding should improve allowing our guards to run the floor better.

With this all said, what do you think of running Randolph at the 3. With SJAX potentially leaving and Nellie’s vision of running both Monta and Curry at the same time, having 3 bigs might be beneficial. What are the pros and cons of having our 3 bigs on the court at the same time?

Poll

3 Bigs at once?

It Could Work

154 votes

Terrible Idea

28 votes

I want more Fanposts about SJAX

18 votes

200 votes | Poll has closed

How Long Can We Believe?

w00143881 — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:51:38 -0000

Oh what the year will bring.

Everyone is excited about this upcoming season, however, it seems as if to be a warriors fan, we have gotten into an overly comfortable routine of looking to the upcoming season for some glimmer of hope. Let it be clear, our team is not so drastically different from last year. Sure, we’ve acquired Stephen Curry and for the first time in a while, we can say our players are healthy. Oh and of course, we’ve lost a few players who clogged our system up a bit.

But what will this year bring? Despite our devotion and passion towards this squad, I think we can all agree that a championship will not be won. After all, the Cavs have gotten better, the Lakers have arguably gotten better, Kevin Garnett hopes to come back from injury and with Rasheed Wallace, the Celtics have arguably gotten better. Lets not stop there; the Mavericks have put together a deal with Marion creating a more solid group (despite the average age on the team being 53), until steroid-gate, Orlando seemed ready as ever, and hell, even the Clippers have gotten better. Essentially, we have our same team as last year with a years maturity and everyone else has…well they have been making moves.

However, what we will be able to see this year is where we actually stand among teams.

If you were to give the Warriors one adjective it would be "potential." This website and any other website constantly discusses the potential in our team. It is true, we believe we have potential and that potential can very well blossom into fantastic super stars if not extremely solid players. Are Anthony Randolph and Anthony Morrow really as good as we hype them up to be? Will Monta Ellis be his same self two years ago without Baron Davis? Has he truly healed from his ankle injury? Will Brandon Wright be the player we think he can be? How quickly will Curry develop? Could Beans get better?

None of these questions can be answered until the season starts.

For this reason, I believe we are in an awkward position where we just don’t know how good or how bad we are. We haven’t been able to play as a healthy unit in over a year. Therefore, what this year will bring is just that; an understanding and realization of how our beloved compares to the rest. With that said, as much as I like Kelenna Azubuike, if he doesn’t put together decent numbers this year, I would agree with a few other posts that he has reached his potential. This goes for Brandon Wright as well. If this were the case, I would hate to see us hold on to them as we cling onto the sheer possibility of greatness.

We have been a potentially good team for too long. Lets make moves if we need to. Lets not be passive in our actions. I have split up our team to 3 categories:

You have Potential but we just don’t know where you stand

Stephen Curry

Monta Ellis

Anthony Randolph

Anthony Morrow

Brandon Wright

Kelenna Azubuike (On the border Know)

Andris Beadrins (On the border of Know)

We know what you bring most nights so we know what to expect

Corey Maggette

Stephen Jackson

Ronny Turiaf

Have you consider retiring or working for free?

Speedy Claxton

Acie Law

Devean George

Most of us would have easily put Marco in the Potential category as well - I’m glad he was traded as it allows us to focus on the other 6 or 7 we continue to believe in. What I’m trying to say is; if we don’t make the playoffs this year, I would not mind gutting the excess of our team, holding onto the few shining starts and rebuilding. Who makes this cut, only this season will tell. Until then, as always, We Believe.

So now I ask you, how many years would you continue to support a player based on potential? Better yet, how long will "We Believe" for?

I have included the potentials with the number of years they have played.

Stephen Curry (0)

Monta Ellis (4)

Anthony Randolph (1)

Anthony Morrow (1)

Brandon Wright (1)

Kelenna Azubuike (3)

Andris Beadrins (5)

Poll

How long will you believe in potential before you want results?

1 year

72 votes

2 years

88 votes

3 years

41 votes

4 years

16 votes

5 years+

26 votes

243 votes | Poll has closed

Next Move Should Be...Nothing?

w00143881 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:30:34 -0000

There have been on going rumors and debate on what the Warriors should do in the off-season to make them better. However, I believe, the Warriors are set for next season. After all, even after we acquire a MLE, our core group of players seem to be set and to be honest, I think we look damn good. We have already made drastic improvements since last season:

1) With an exception of Mags getting wrist surgery, everyone is healthy. I don’t think we could have said that even once last season.

2) Randolph & Morrow have been working out non-stop and will be involved in summer league. I expect to see both of them play bigger roles next season. Curry will be joining them as well.

3) Monta Ellis has (to my knowledge) fully recovered from his moped injury. Furthermore, being a young team, every year that passes, our players mature: Includes Monta, Beans, Randolph, Morrow, Azu, Wright, Watson, and Marco. I’m confident that even Turiaf who is 26 has matured. These players are all under 25 and haven’t reached their bodies potential nor their mental potential; now they are a year closer.

4) We’ve drafted Curry. In doing so, I’m hoping it takes off the need for Jackson to shoot as much. He is a great player, however, not the best shooter. If Jackson could focus more on defense, distribution and rebounding I think our team would benefit.

5) The ridiculous number of PG, SG, SF swingmen we now have creates a competitive atmosphere for the players. We’ve cut Kurz, whose spot is being replaced with more competitive player. This competition I think will push players to play better every night as they will fight for playing time (and a job)

6) We have gotten rid of Crawford who I think of a selfish, poor shooting scorer who took good (better) opportunities away from other players.

7) We’ve gotten rid of our GM Mullin, who many believed lost his touch and his authority over the team.

I would like to see the Warriors move into the season with this core group. I honestly do not believe we need to trade of Amare or Bosh or fight to find a “true” PG. Sure, our team would be better if we had a LeBron or a Kobe or a Wade, but do we NEED it? I would rather see us win with our guys, not see us win b/c we traded for someone who doesn’t even want to be here and who will most likely leave given the first chance, ruining our team for years to come due to the talent we had to trade for him. Furthermore, Suns and Rockets seem to be going nowhere fast and I question their playoff capabilities.

Remember, we won 48 games two seasons ago. Even though we blew it last season, I would honestly say it was because of injuries. I would even argue we are a better team now than we were with Baron. Our guys have matured and have grown as players. Even players who usually wouldn't get much playing time had the month of april to get big minutes due to Nellie's starter-benching method and they were still able to put up some pretty good numbers. In the month of april, I was particularly impressed with (Points/Assists/Rebounds):

CJ WATSON: 17.5 / 5.4 / 4.1

MORROW: 16.9 / 2.5 / 4.9

RANDOLPH: 15.1 / 1.6 / 10.6

BUIKE: 20.8 / 2.1 / 6.8

Should we continue to trade? Are you happy with our guys now? Do you believe we can win with our current line up? Thoughts?

Poll

What should the warriors continue to do in the off-season

Trade Trade Trade, we need to change things up!

67 votes

I'm excited to see what our current guys could do!

155 votes

222 votes | Poll has closed