Its not late enough to say that the Warriors will not  compete for a playoff spot this season, but without a major change in consistency and effort they are headed for yet another Lottery year. Breaking down what has happened so far gives me perspective on how the rest of the season will turn out...

The Good:

- Potential of players such as Randolph, Wright, Biedrinis, Ellis(pre-summer), and Azubuike.

- Removal of Al Harrington from this "TEAM". He is a cancer who doesn't know what he wants or what is best for him.

- Losing out on giving a $100 million to Gilbert Arenas, a guy who sits and plays video games while cashing the Wizard's paychecks, instead of doing his job on the basketball court. This guy like Jamison is a born loser who scores alot  when he's not busy sitting on the sidelines, but for the most part gobbles up money.

- Signing Ronny Turiaf and the re-dedication to blocking shots on defense, though it has not led to better defense or rebounding.

-Nothing else really comes to mind. (Maybe Morrow's miraculous big shooting games, but he has since been exposed as one-dimensional.)

The Bad:

- Monta Ellis, Mopeds, and the state of Mississippi. (The injury plus the suspension, plus the unknown future with him.) The only way to describe this situation and how it has played out is STUPID.

- Marcus Williams and trading for his lethargic persona. This was truly an awful trade up to this point, as everytime he has entered the game the W's have sucked more. He doesn't defend, distribute, and cannot hit a jumper to save his life. WEAK.

- Don Nelson's coaching up until this point in the season. I'm not one of these quick to jump ship fans who want him gone right away, but will praise him when the W's win a few games. But to be frank he has stunk it up and has not played his strengths in the "Wright" situations. Brandan Wright has been under-used long enough, especially in games when throwing him in may have made a difference. (Toronto, Chicago, Memphis 2x, and Detroit.)

 Nellie has been hesitant to play the young guys and for good reason, none have showed they should be out there every night, but Wright has been the most consistent and needed from a game to game basis.

Nelson has also drifted in and out of Smallball this year and the offensive tempo has suffered. It seems to shift from quarter to quarter spontaneously, this is in large part due to lack of a PG, but will touch on that later. Basically Nellie needs to stick with a plan and utilize his roster to that plan. Either play the young guys or play the Vets and go for more wins.

- Numerous close game losses, each game has that final 4 min will determine the outcome feel to it. This has been the case all season and yet the W's have not learned how to finish off teams, inbound the ball properly, and grab rebounds when it matters most. Frustrating miscues have cost them in the New Orleans, Toronto, and Detroit games.  

The UGLY:

- Defense and Rebounding in either order have been atrocious. It seemed like at the beginning of the season the "TEAM" was more commited to improving both area's. They had a workman like attitude in the games 1-4, then regressed in the chuck and duck without hustle plays. Those first 4 games looked like a team of 5 Brian Cardinals were out there on the floor making hustle plays, fighting for rebounds, defending hard each possession. Now it looks as if they could care less and don't do either well on a possession by possession basis, which makes them rely more on wild 3 point shots and fast break points. Warriors need to bring back the scrappy, blue collar defensive mindset, while gambling more on the steals like last years team would if they want to further fuel their fast break.

- The Fast Break and Tempo of the games have been wildly erratic, more so than even Nellyball usually produces. The W's have trouble sequencing 5 minute intervals together of solid play, which prevents any chance of stringing together great quarters or halves. They seem to have a great first half followed by a miserable one and vice versa, there is no middle ground for us to anticipate and know who is going to show up when. This relates to reduced amount of easy fastbreak baskets they get this year combined with the lack of finishing around the rim.(How many times has CJ Watson had a break away and missed the dunk/layup contested or not? Its almost every time he finds a way to screw it up.) Last 1.5 years it was easier to know and expect how the W's would play on any given night, now its just too sloppy to predict anything.

- The lack of a true PG to run this team and distribute the ball FIRST and FOREMOST. This stems from the inability to properly replace Baron Davis and the occurrence of the Moped mishap. I still don't believe Ellis is a true PG and the W's are going to want to rely on him to score first, rather than distribute. He may very well become a star PG, but for now this rotation by commitee of Jackson, Watson, Crawford, and Nelson has failed miserably. These players are not committed to passing the ball and creating for teammates first and would rather chuck from long range than do so. Thus we have the stagnant offense which exists today, in which they don't find open teammates, don't distribute the ball effectively, and don't spark the offense. Another area of difficulty brought on by this scenario is the poor ball handling skills and ability to smoothly bring the ball up the court and dribble. Too many bad plays and turnovers due to poor ballhandling skills and mistakes. Overall the lack of a playmaker has cost them on offense, which is why they have already been held under 100 pts in 4/16 games this season.

The Warriors must find an answer at this position if they are going to improve, Crawford or Ellis may present themselves as the solution, but for now it remains as their greatest weakness.

- The overall chemistry and "TEAM" concept which has been so strong since 06-07, in which the passing was better, teamwork was better, and thus overall play was better. Now it seems that Jackson and Maggette play in their own world apart from guys like Andris and Kelenna, not to mention Wright and Randolph. Although I do think there is a bond between AB and Jack as they have connected on some sweet plays this season, many similar to what Baron used to run. I digress, there just seems to be something missing, be it the new mixture of players, the personalities of Maggette, Turiaf, and Crawford, or the lack of Baron Davis.

Without this collective effort on the court, it has revealed Front Office politics in a very negative light in which the likes of Nelson, Mullin, Rowell, and Cohan have not got along well and publicly feuded.

- The current record of 5-11, losing games they should win, and the importance of winning/playing with urgency. The Warrior's schedule has been somewhat favorable in who they have played, to which they have not taken advantage of. The losses at home and to weak teams has and will cost them this season. Losing to Memphis 2x, Sacramento, Chicago, and Washington was unacceptable, as all were games they could have and should have won. With the lowered expectations for this season the pressure should have been off and they had to win some of those games. Now they must continue on the road with games against the West powers starting to come up, and they have yet to string together wins against what should be inferior opponents. =Disappointing.

However when I look through all of these points, I think to myself:

maybe this "TEAM" is not as good as we had thought,

maybe the talent and pieces are not there,

maybe they are in the start of a full on rebuilding stage,

maybe Monta's injury return will fix it all,

maybe Monta's injury return won't fix it,

maybe they need time to let this mix gel,

maybe next year is the year to win games,

maybe a big trade or roster shakeup is in the cards,

maybe the Front Office will grow a brain and co-exist,

maybe this "TEAM" is doomed,

maybe not....

Anyways there is alot of basketball to be played and more to find out, but at this point the Warriors must pull it together or they will have truly taken a step back as a franchise.

So in summation at 5 - 11, the Warriors flat-out suck.