Nelson ready to shake up the Warrior

An interview with Don Nelson in The Press Democrat, "Nelson ready to shake up the Warrior" showed some of Nellie's honest opinions on some of the key Warrior players. It's awesome to see a coach this open to complimenting and criticizing his players (even before the first practice).

Coach! Coach! What are your thoughts on the Golden State Warriors? (Photo: ESPN)

On Troy Murphy,

"He's a skill player who rebounds. He'll achieve career highs for me -- 10 rebounds, 20 points. He's difficult to guard. I'll move him to center, and I don't know which centers can guard him. We've got to agree to it -- otherwise it won't work. If he says `I'm not a center,' like Chris Webber did, it won't work."

I interrupted Nelson, couldn't help myself.

"Can Murphy guard centers?"

"No," Nelson shot back. "He can't guard forwards, either. We'll give him help."

On Mike Dunleavy

"He'll have his best years for me. He's a natural four, not a three."

"He won't have to worry about guarding smaller guys," Nelson said. "I see him as a unique piece, a point power forward running my team."

On Adonal Foyle,

Adonal Foyle is 27 pounds overweight. He's immediately gone to the third team. You need to run and move in my system."

And to cap it all off, Nelson on BDiddy,

Nelson got back to Davis, said losing weight will help him avoid injury -- the guy always gets hurt.

"He'll be All-Star caliber again."

This will not be your Mike Montgomery Golden State Warriors. They'll be running, gunning, and playing a little defense. Expect some big offensive numbers from the key players and I'm sure we'll see the role players settle into their well-defined situations.

Sure it's a lot of hype and optimism from Nellie, but he also knows the limitations of this players and isn't going to let that be exploited.

What do you think of Nellie's projections for Baron, Dunleavy, and Murphy?