It's always fun to see what columnists who cover the national hoops scene think about the Warriors. Here's some excerpts from Chad Ford's recent chat on ESPN.com:
Matt (Rocky Point): whats up with those warriors, first monta ellis and biedrins come out of nowhere, now matt Barnes is on fire
Chad Ford: Nellie. Ellis and Biedrins weren't huge surprises. Both had a lot of talent. Biedrins was a lottery pick. Ellis would've been a first rounder had he not had knee issues coming into the draft. But Barnes? Wow. Got to hand it to Nellie and it really makes you wonder why NBA owners still hire coaches who aren't risk takers .. who don't try new things. Nellie is mining talent right now ... and those guys will be assets, either on the court or in trades for the team.
Anyone else scared the Warriors won't be able to keep all 3 of these rising players in the long run? Remember,
Matt Barnes and Andris Biedrins are making BIG strides.
Charles (San Jose): Chad, when's Mullin going to do something about his $150 million frontcourt reserves?
Chad Ford: What can he do? After his disasterous first year (at least financially) he's made much better moves the past two years. But the deals for Foyle and Murphy in particular will continue to haunt him a long time. No one wants those guys. Looks like we may have to say the same thing about Mike Dunleavy after the team has shopped him and come up empty again.
The Dubs have to have the most expensive bench of all time in the NBA. Oh wait, there's always last year's Knicks.
And there's always the much needed update on The Yi Movement:
As for Yi, scouts are all over the place. Some think he's a late lottery pick, others have him in the mid to late first round. He's an athletic 7 footer ... so he's not going to slip too far.
At their current pace the Warriors should be right there to swipe up Yi with either a late lottery pick or a mid first rounder. Without a major trade of some sort, the Warriors look like they might scratch and claw their way to the 8th seed in the Western Conference playoffs or slip as low as the 14th spot (only a handful of games seperate them from the Seatte Sonics).