Warriors Preview: Development of Youngsters Will Make or Break Season
by UOSportsDude on Oct 20, 2009 2:39 PM PDT
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The Golden State Warriors are the Oakland Raiders of the NBA. The similarities are eerie. And for any self-respecting Bay Area sports fan, that isn’t a good thing.
Train-wrecked front offices, apathetic coaching, and the love for a certain type of player that does nothing but look sexy in a uniform; I could continue, but I’m sure Warrior fans are well aware of the situation.
After languishing through 12 seasons wherein the team did not even get within sniffing distance of the playoffs, Warrior fans were repaid with arguably the most exciting month in franchise history.
Of course, the next season, Golden State went on to a set a record only to be expected by the most pessimistic of fan bases—compiling the most wins in the regular season, 48, without making the playoffs.
So now, after the obligatory front office dismantling of anything reminiscent of success, the Warriors are once again starting at ground zero. Or maybe lower.
Despite the curious offseason moves, the conclusion of last season left a lot for Warrior fans to get excited about. Monta Ellis started flashing his pre-moped quickness, Anthony Randolph and Brandon Wright emerged as legitimate frontcourt players, and Corey Maggette took the sixth man role to heart.
But once again, the Warriors managed to disturb the good will they had created when aptly named Captain Jack threatened to go all Al Harrington on Don Nelson. Jackson made a public request to be traded in August and later asked to relinquish his captaincy—Nelson obliged.
And if that weren’t enough, Jackson has been "taking it easy," to say the least, during the preseason.
Jackson picked up five fouls and a technical in less than 10 minutes in a matchup against the Lakers earlier this month, and was sent to the locker room by Nelson following a testy exchange.
Jackson never returned and a two-game suspension that cost the ex-captain roughly $139,000 followed.
So where does all this leave the Warriors for the 2009-2010 season? They certainly have the talent to be a threat in the Western Conference, especially with the Pacific Division looking remarkably weak—aside from the Lakers.
Ellis, Stephen Curry, Jackson, Randolph, and Biedrins form an explosive fivesome. And with Maggette, Turiaf, Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Morrow, and eventually Wright coming off the bench, the team even has nice depth to boot.
But Golden State is still facing the same problems they encounter every season: lack of size, lack of leadership, and too many guys who play the same position.
Once again, the Warriors will try to win by forcing the opposition into a fast-breaking score-a-thon, a strategy that has been sparingly successful in the NBA.
But if any team could do it, this might be the one. Biedrins and Turiaf are nice players, don’t get me wrong, but they’re no match for legitimate scoring big men like Tim Duncan or Amare Staudamire; especially if they find themselves playing Jackson, Randolph, and Biedrins at the three-four-five.
Last season, the Warriors were the youngest team in the league. So what did they do to rectify the situation? They added a rookie to the starting lineup and took the fire out of the only person in the entire organization who offered any semblance of direction—including the head coach.
Who are the Warriors expecting to emerge as guides to the youngsters? Speedy Claxton? Mikki Moore? Not a good strategy.
The Warriors are on their third GM of the decade—Garry St. Jean, Chris Mullin, and now Larry Riley—and it seems like each one tries to outdo his predecessor in adding more swingmen to the team. Imagine this possible scenario in the front office:
Chris Cohan: Larry, Mullin has the franchise record with six. I don’t think you can beat that. A steak dinner on me if you do.
Larry Riley: I was hoping you would ask me about that. I’ve been spending the entire season thinking about it.
Chris Cohan : Great! I never bought into the idea of landing a legitimate star like Amare or Chris Bosh anyway. What are your ideas?
Larry Riley : Here’s an easy one. You know how Jamal Crawford can create a lot of points by himself? Well, we can trade him for two overpaid, below-average guards who can’t do anything.
Chris Cohan : Oh! I like it.
Larry Riley : Hold on, you haven’t even heard the best one. We can trade Belinelli, who emerged last season as a clutch shooter and a solid defender, for Devean George. That guy is in the playoffs every year!
Chris Cohan : And then I can draft another two-guard instead of big guy like Jordan Hill, meanwhile making Monta unhappy at the same time!
Larry Riley and Chris Cohan in unison: Excellent (evil laughing).
Although I absolutely love Curry, it will take him time to adjust to running the point, as he’s only spent one season playing the position in his career.
But there is no question that Curry is already the best point guard the Warriors have—not that he has much competition. Expect rookie struggles and slumps, but it will be worth the growing pains, however, because if Ellis and Curry make nice, that is one dangerous backcourt.
Overall, I think it will take a minor miracle for the Warriors to return to the playoffs, but if things break right—lots and lots of things—there is a possibility.
It’s a good thing Golden State fans care more about Randolph winning the Rookie Challenge MVP award than the Warriors playing meaningful basketball in April. Oh well, maybe next year.
If you like this article, please check out the UO Sports Dude blog for more of the same!
This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!
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You lost me at Bellinelli emerging as a solid defender
Who only looked decent because he actually tried, as opposed to the rest of our team being spectators. Also I think taking Jordan Hill would have been a reach. The Warriors have tried for years to draft for need, failing miserably every time. The best thing to do in a draft IMO is take the best available and sort everything out later. We have too many guards, but at least we can sort a couple ones out as being the keepers instead of having a balanced collection of duds (I’m thinking POB, Fuller,etc.) Maybe the Warriors won’t be great this year, but I expect to see a lot of promise out of Randolph, Curry, Morrow, Ellis, Buike, Turiaf, and Biedrins for the future.
In the POB case...
POB really was the BPA. Hard to believe huh? I remember being okay drafting him, but I also wanted to see Ronnie Brewer or Rodney Carney drafted as well.
Warriors, Stupidest franchise in the league.
I told Randolph that Bill Russell would tell him to keep that ball in play and start the break.
RANDOLPH: "I know. But sometimes, you gotta let ‘em know."
(MT)
In the POB case
POB wasn’t really that much of a reach it was just a crappy draft with a huge drop of after Roy, Gay, et al. He was a bust but a chance worth taking bc you can get guys like Brewer and Carney thru free agency or d-league. You don’t need to waste a 9th pick on them. For example later that year the Ws essentially got their “Brewer” in Azubuike. So arguably given what was available they didn’t lose that much taking a chance on POB given what was available. Good gamble, didn’t work. It worked in the case of Beidrins and Randolph.
With Curry it was different bc Curry has way more potential than Brewer, Carney or the crap available in the 06 draft. Hill was more of a reach bc he was the best big available in a draft with a lot of talented guards (Derozan, Jennings, Holiday were still available to name 3)
I’ve been watching POB’s stats. He’s been improving, actually. He may become a decent backup. He’s a very big dude who gets a few blocks and is an OK rebounder, the last several games. Also, his FG% is usually a’right. He fouls a lot, though. Still, his stats were solid in D-league.
Welcome to the Pit of Despair! Don't even think about trying to escape.
eh
I don’t see any gain in th devean george trade though. We traded a solid young player for what. The fattest wing player in the nba?
The idea that Belinelli is a “solid” player is debatable. He appeared to have a nice outside shot. He could put the ball on the floor. His passes looked good when he actually passed, but he didn’t seem to be able to find open men that often, hence pretty anemic assist numbers. The notion that he was somehow going to be a point guard seemed to ignore this. He didn’t rebound well at all.
We traded for a free contract. We traded for an equal dollar contract, expiring this year, while his old team picked up the bill. George is a placeholder, nothing more. His appearances in the preseason don’t indicate that Nellie considers him anything more than that.
by jae on Oct 21, 2009 1:14 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Nice piece of writing
if your intention was to recirculate superficial impressions representative of those held by casual fans [as in your closing lines, when you refer to “Golden State fans”, it should be followed by the phrase “like me”], and to provoke disagreement with you. Your scattershot style is perhaps a symptom of youthful exuberance?
In re. to the most exciting month in franchise history, nothing has come close to the post season of 1975. To whom do you refer with “…took the fire out of the only person in the entire organization who offered any semblance of direction..”?? [Mullin, Ellis, Jackson?] Which rookie has been added to the starting line up? Curry hasn’t started any regular season games, and if you refer to him that would obviously be post-Mullin, but I won’t go further in over-analyzing what seems to me a combination of muddled thinking and jumbled writing.
Hope it made you feel better to vent.
I've read this same Warriors season preview at least 3 different places
I quit reading part way through the first few times to, because it shows very little insight into who the Warriors actually are and what is going on, positive or negative.
Someone appears to have done a cut-n-paste job of some very generic “write a preview of every NBA team to generate hits on my website” text.
By the way, I actually liked the previews GSoM did; they didn’t pretend to be unbiased and instead offered their own honest insight into what each team was doing. I expect that they were “wrong” on all sorts of things, but they were worth reading.
I was one of the few people who didnt really like Curry at all
but I would have slapped Nelson in the face, if he took Jordan Hill over Curry
I was one of the few people who didnt really like Curry at all
but I would have slapped Nelson in the face, if he took Jordan Hill over Curry
is it a joke?
Hill over Curry?
Randolph, Wright, Biedrins and Turiaf are better players than him
Every year for the last forever...
you could say this statement.
OT but don't know where to put this.
Tyreke Evans – Man I am intrigued with this guy. He looks like a beast in the making at the PG position. I know he doesn’t have much PG skills yet, but his dribble penetration is already unstoppable at times. I think Memphis made a big mistake taking Thabeet over this guy. What’s crazy is that I personally project him anywhere from a better Rajon Rondo, or smaller Anfernee Hardaway. I wish the Dubz could have him, but I’m more than satisfied with Curry, for now. Him over Hill is a no-brainer though.
Warriors, Stupidest franchise in the league.
I told Randolph that Bill Russell would tell him to keep that ball in play and start the break.
RANDOLPH: "I know. But sometimes, you gotta let ‘em know."
(MT)
Agreed
Tyreke would have been awesome, we really need someone who can post up. But his handles are showing to be something of concern, either way I’m sure he’s going to be a beast. Curry > Hill everyday of the week and twice on sundays.
by VERY VERY BUSY on Oct 20, 2009 5:08 PM PDT up reply actions
He looks like a beast in the making at the PG position. I know he doesn’t have much PG skills yet
That kinda makes him… not a PG? Maybe a SG?
You have been DFiBrillated.
by Dubs fan in Boston on Oct 21, 2009 11:57 PM PDT up reply actions
I’m kind of confused with a couple points on this post.
So now, after the obligatory front office dismantling of anything reminiscent of success, the Warriors are once again starting at ground zero. Or maybe lower.
How is it lower than ground zero? You need to look at the means to the past 2 seasons, not the end result. When we had a 48 win season we did so with little more than an 8 man rotation. Jackson and Davis were 1 and 2 in minutes played in the NBA. That is not a recipe for success. Our team just plain wasn’t that good, Don Nelson was just given lemons and made some damn good lemonade.
Last season everyone and their mom was injured. Seriously I think Rob Kurz’s mom was sitting on the bench in a suit that’s how bad it was.
This year is a new begining, everyone is healthy, Jack is being a douch but as long as he plays hard it fine with me. And we have a deep bench for the first time since Jesus walked the earth, how is it ground zero?
Larry Riley : Here’s an easy one. You know how Jamal Crawford can create a lot of points by himself? Well, we can trade him for two overpaid, below-average guards who can’t do anything.
Why is it confusing to trade one player who plays starter minutes for 2 players who are easy to keep on the bench, plus their contracts are exprining, all while trying to develop a young core?
It’s a good thing Golden State fans care more about Randolph winning the Rookie Challenge MVP award than the Warriors playing meaningful basketball in April. Oh well, maybe next year.
I’m hoping I just missed the sarcasim here.
One thing I noticed about last nights game
While Jack is still on the team, I don’t think we are going to see the ball hogging, high turnover, constant complaining Jack that we saw last year. With Ellis and Curry both handling the PG duties, Jack already looks like more like the 2nd or 3rd option that he was and should be. I don’t want to be too optimistic, but if the Warriors somehow are able to be competitive, maybe he will quiet down and just play ball. I realized after watching the game last night that we still definitley need him. No matter what we get back, it won’t make up for his loss.
by Pearlsofwisdom on Oct 21, 2009 10:25 AM PDT reply actions
Awesome, someone who watched the game. I have a question for you. It seems Nelson’s experiment was a bit of a fail. He said he was going to try playing Randolph, Turiaf and Biedrins at the same time. How did that go? Turiaf and Biedrins both looked like they had solid games, but Randolph’s stats were pretty bad. I know he went out for a while with a sore back, but how did he look when he was in the game playing the 3?
by VERY VERY BUSY on Oct 21, 2009 10:44 AM PDT up reply actions
how did he look when he was in the game playing the 3?
Don’t think we got a fair appraisal of the possibilities, the Mop tested the floor right near the start of the game and never got fully wrung out after that.
Standing on the moon
Where talk is cheap and vision true
Standing on the moon
But I would rather be with you
Somewhere in San Francisco
On a back porch in July
Just looking up to heaven
At this crescent in the sky
by Skeptic con Urquell on Oct 21, 2009 10:48 AM PDT up reply actions
I watched the game
That lineup got absolutely run in the opening minutes but that’s to be expected given they had never played together before. Randolph had a really, really bad game. I think he had one point and one rebound in 20 minutes. I actually don’t think he is ready to start at any position for us yet. I do like the Turiaf/Biedrins combo as they defend the post, rebound, and actually work well together in the 2-man game. I see Randolph as our backup four with Miki Moore at the 5, and maybe occasionally giving him some minutes at the 3 just to throw the other team off.
In the 3rd quarter our “big” lineup looked much better. We actually outplayed the Laker starters.
It was disheartening to not see our backups take the game over in the 4th. They played respectably but I wanted more. At least Curry played hard.
Sittin in my scraper watchin Oakland goin wild, ta-dow!
Just so you guys know...
I am a Warriors fan. I truly would love to be excited about the season because the team really does have a lot of talent. But the atmosphere of the team, with the rifts between players, the ignorance of the front office and the apathetic coaching style Don Nelson has displayed the last few season, has made it very difficult to have any sort of expectations other than another 50 loss season.
The UO Sports Dude - www.keithabecker.wordpress.com
I love the Warriors too
but i feel if we don’t make the playoffs this year which i want really bad but we most likely won’t, i want to see the development of Curry at PG and Randolph, Morrow, ect. When your a Warrior fan you have to find different things to get excited about evn when there might not be anything. But when we have a guy like Randolph we always have something to be excited about.
Die Hard Golden State Warrior Fan 4 Life!!!
The Golden Future
Curry-20pts,4rbs,10ast,2stl
Randolph-22pts,11rbs,3ast, 2blk
Morrow-18pts,5rbs,2ast,48 3pt%
Can't wait until GS make it to the PLAYOFFS!!
Living 4 a GSW Championship!!!
I’ll be excited if we can hold teams to less than 105 a game
Sittin in my scraper watchin Oakland goin wild, ta-dow!
by Supafishal on Oct 21, 2009 5:37 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
I know fans are delusional before a season
but seriously contend for a playoff spot? You don’t even know who several of the starters will be and will get crushed inside.
Randolph’s summer league was a mirage, he’ll never be great unless he can add about 40 pounds. He added about 5.
There’s no Baron Davis to make sense of the chaos of Donnie, to make it work and Donnie is just looking like he’d trying get fired so he can retire and still keep those $$.
There’s absolutely no chance.
So imitate the action of the tiger!.
Lend the eye a terrible aspect
- and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii
I really don't care if our Talent cupboard is barren or full
We will not get far without one word:
DEFENSE
If we keep surrendering a league “best” 112 points a game than we ain’t going nowhere.
Welcome to the Warriors, Stephen Curry, the 2009 NBA Rookie of the Year.
Panda's and Curry in the Bey Area. Who would've known?
Conductor of the "We're Back!" Bandwagon!
NO WAY!!
It’s nice to be optimistic about the season but the usual ppl here know that the dubs won’t make the playoffs…I don’t even think that’s a goal for the dubs this year..this year is %100 a rebuilding/development year
I think the Warriors CAN make the playoffs
I see no reason why not. All it takes to slip in to a 7 or 8 seed is one hot month and a .500 record the rest of the season. This is a team that is designed for playing hot in spurts (whether it be for a single game or for a series of games). If they can sustain one real hot stretch for 3 or 4 weeks during the season, they can position themselves to make the playoffs. A good example of this is Houston a few years ago. They were a .500 team that got crazy hot for a month, won 22 in a row or something like that, played .500 ball after the streak, and made the playoffs. While the Warriors won’t go on a 22 game win streak, they can get super hot and go about 16-4 or so in a month. Play .500 the rest of the way and you win 47 games. That’ll get you a 7 or 8 spot at least in this year’s West. And it’s definitely possible.
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