Given the maturity he showed before the season (and a little advice from the Logo), I don’t think he’ll revert to his old ways and take insult from not playing in the second half.

He may opt out if its a better situation for him, but it won’t be because of this.

we have no idea why baron was on the bench, lets not jump to any conclusions. even if baron wasnt pleased with it i dont think he’s going to opt out because of one game. he’s loved playing for nelson, and hasnt been happy with any other coach anywhere else.

baron had a little too much partying to do for his Bday(all week and weekend)? im not saying he would but im saying he is human. groupies happen.

Trading away Dun and Murph (even though murph will always be the man), getting rid of/not playing Foyle, even trading J-rich for saving money and B Wright, Nelson absolutely saved us from another decade of turmoil. But just like everywhere else Nelson has been he has done his good, will stay another year and go. He is great at making bad teams good, he cant make good teams great

When the Dubs lost to Sacramento last month and Baron didn’t play for a very long time in the 2nd half, guys like Monta, Buike and Barnes got us back in the game and when BD came back, we lost all momentum and lost. I was upset!

I was happy BD didn’t play the 2nd half last night. He stunk and the Dubs needed others to help out, hence Nellie putting in guys like MP2, Buike and Kosta to Kosta. THEY got us back in the game, so I fully understand Nellies train of thought.

Nellie must stay, otherwise its back to the drawing board once again. I’m sure Nellie has learned a slight lesson in that he shouldn’t downplay the fact that desire and hustle can make up for “skill” and help you win games when the starters ain’t doing anything to help you win. I see more PT for BWright and Belinelli next year which will help.

If Kosta, Croshere, MP2 and POB don’t come back in 2008-2009, I’l be very happy. With $10,000,000 to play with, the draft and free agency, I like our chances next year for an improved team. Will it get us to the Playoffs-time will tell!

...David Stern did. If the NBA Playoff system was fair then the top 16 records in the entire league should be in. C’mon now.. the Atlanta Hawks are in the playoffs and we’re on the outside looking in And PLEASE PLEASE stop trying to someone to blame, we’re a really good team. If at the beginning of the year, I would’ve asked any Dubs fan if they’d take 49 wins they would’ve said YES without question. We’re simply a good team in a historically great conference. D-Stern needs to balance things out ASAP!

this is what we asked for no? we can’t call him a savior one year, then blame him the next if we didn’t make playoffs. there are certain aspects to his coaching philosophies i don’t agree with, such as not building up your rookies and your bench through the year so they can come in to contribute toward the end of the year, but in the end, he’s the same coach that got us to the playoffs last year.

remember last offseason where most of you guys were worried that he wasn’t going to come back to coach this year? and now you’re going to blame him? i’d blame losses against he t’wolves, that bulls game, capt. jack’s absence for the first 7 games, letting that home game against the nugs slip away, or jackson’s inability to run back and play defense, al’s fear of taking it hard to the rim, or baron’s cold hand before i’d blame nellie.

i don’t think he’s a coach that can bring you to a ‘chip, but unless we get a young jerry sloan or phil jackson to revamp our team and go with the same ol big man half court offense, he’s our coach.

If we had one last night, peeps would say Nellie is a genius. That’s why he’s the coach, and people like us are watching the game cheering the dubs on. Chill folks.

Its tough blame Nellie. He has played an instrumental role in the turn around. But if he benced Baron only because of how he played in the first half, it was a mistake.

The caveat is we don’t know what happened. But come on guys… something happened. The post game reactions don’t even come close to passing the b.s. test. Baron’s needed a rest since November… it he sucked it up then, he’s sucking it up in a must win game. We’ve been around Nellie long enough to read between the lines. Maybe Boom and Nellie had a scrap at half, maybe he was hung over (Given Nellie’s drinking prowess, I doubt he respects a guy who can’t hold his liquor) but there is absolutely no way Baron was benched because he went 2-13 in the first half, or because he was tired.

Beching Baron down the stretch for performance makes no basketball sense. We’re not talking about MP, Croshere or CJ Watson. Your talking about your star player and leader. Its one thing to be down on him, but he gave them the best chance to win (unless he was hurt- or hung over). He has for the past two seasons been the go to guy, the leader, the best player. Our Kobe type dominant presence. In a must win game, you dance with who brought you. I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who has played or coached in the NBA who would disagree.

Not to mention the that the best half court match-up down the stretch would be to force Nash to guard Monta or BD. It would be like taking Barry Bonds out in the 7th inning of a playoff game because he struck out his first two times up.

The 3rd quarter run was impressive. They caught the Suns relaxing and played well. But the best predictor for future sucess is not a 12 minute sample size. I’ll take the guy who dominated 4th quarters all year over a guy who had a nice 3rd quarter stretch.

It will be interesting to see what happened (and fun to speculate until that time), but lets call a spade a spade. Something happened.

Nelson knew the playoffs were a long shot, and IF Baron had been up late and not prepared to give his all in the last ditch effort to make the playoffs as was rumored elsewhere, maybe maybe Nelson was sending BD a message that there is a limit to his leash and he jerked it back. Let’s face it, Baron is not easy to coach anyway, Nelson has gotten as much if not much much more out of him than most (all?) other coaches Baron has played for. IF Nelson plans to come back, maybe he was sending a message to Baron for next year, and if you don’t like the message you can opt out and play elsewhere … a power play? perhaps, but right now Nelson is holding one card, Baron the other – they can both decide whether to return but neither is likely to be as good without the other if they are in Oakland next year …

the offseason just got a whole lot more complicated than finding a PF

that was a shoddy move by nellie. he knew denver was not going to beat memphis and even if they did he knew the gassed warriors were not going to get past the lakers or hornets.

he took the last 1/2 of the last real game of the season to piss on baron for asking/complaining about playing so much and getting burnt out. that’s if i’m to guess as the conversation between the denver game and the phoenix game. something like this:

baron: (caught in a moment of frustration and poutiness) coach, dammit, i wish you hadn’t of averaged me over 40 minutes the whole season. you told me in camp i would avg 30-35. if you had done that, we’d be in the playoffs. i can’t even make a layup right now, much less defend i’m so burnt. so is our other captain (jack). he averaged 40 too when he’s got a fucked up toe, bad hammy, etc.

nellie: (thinking to himself) “you little ass”. says nothing.

fast forward to 2nd half of phoenix game…

nellie: (thinking to himself) “you little ass, you want a rest? i’ll give you a rest now that the season’s over. if we go one more game in this little fantasy of memphis beating denver it won’t be because of you!”. says nothing.

harsh? yes. but if i’m to guess that’s pretty much the way it went down.

the reason i didn’t feel too bad about the warriors missing the playoffs this year (even though i DID cry and think it’s an historical and monumental shame that they didn’t) is that in my bones i know they’d at most take one, maaaaabye two, against the lakers, hornet or spurs.

they just didn’t have the magic like last year. it seems down the stretch, the chemistry got worse, instead of better, as it did last year.

why? last year, nellie was cool. he’d join in the pre-game roundcircle thingy and go “BOOM!”. tell the press how he relied on his captains to lead and let them talk for THE COACH.

this year, as the season went on, nellie seemed more and more stressed. made things more and more about nellie. in interviews he’d say things like: “i needed pietrus to do (fill in the blank) for ME (emphasis added).

or… “i needed azubuike to give ME a break at that crucial time”.

in other words, it was shocking to hear him keep referring to ME or himself instead of the team. he talked as if it was all for his benefit that the team won, or his discredit if they lost.

when head honchos start talking like that and talking as if their subordinates exist to serve him, then it’s not good.

lastly, i know that nellie brought the magic back to the organization and they would never have done what they did last year or win 48 games this year without him. so at the end of the day i love him, but he really let his weaknesses as a coach tip the balance over his strengths in crunch time.

just my two cents.

if you want to blame someone, blame him.