How to become a playoff team (and why the Warriors weren't)

by YaHeard on Jun 19, 2009 12:38 AM PDT Comment 21 comments

John Hollinger of ESPN has a set of sortable meaningful team statistics out for the 08-09 regular season. Here's a link.

I took a look at how the Warriors did in comparison to everyone else:

Pace - 1st
Assist Ratio - 27th
Turnover Ratio - 13th
Rebound Rate - 29th
Offense Rating - 11th
Defense Rating - 28th

We were in the bottom 3 in passing, rebounding, and defense.

Then I wanted to see just how important these categories were for playoff teams. The following shows how many "above-average" teams in this category actually made the playoffs. (ex: Only 13% of the "uptempo" teams in the NBA made the playoffs.)

Pace - 13%
Turnover Ratio - 60%
Assist Ratio - 73%
Rebound Rate - 73%
Offense Rating - 73%
Defense Rating - 87%

To summarize, the most KEY element for a team to make the NBA playoffs is defense. 87% of the above-average defensive teams in the NBA made the playoffs. We ranked only 28th. Another key element to making the playoffs is rebounding, in which we ranked 29th. Yet another key element is passing, where we ranked 27th. We can all thank Don Nelson for putting out lineups that can't rebound, can't defend, and for encouraging an isolation-oriented offense.

Poll

So what do we do?

20ppg + 20ppg + 20ppg + 20ppg + 20ppg + 20ppg = 120ppg... We need more scorers!

13 votes

We need a PG that will pass and players that can rebound/defend.

57 votes

We need a new coach whose approach to the game translates to winning basketball.

18 votes

We need new ownership that cares about more than just putting out an "exciting" product.

40 votes

We need more beer!

36 votes

164 votes | Poll has closed

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!

0 recs | Comment 21 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

what do we do?

well, with one more 20 pt scorer we could put up 140 ppg!

perhaps Nelson hopes by moving Ellis to PG we’ll play a better defensive lineup (insert KAz) and rebound a bit better too (insert AR) but will it be enough? hopefully …

New coach is coming soon, new ownership not as likely …

My vote is more beer

by hardcore on Jun 19, 2009 8:52 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Don Nelson says alot of things. But when sh*t hits the fan and we’re down in a tough situation, I’ve noticed that Nelson’s trump card is always playing the most potent offensive lineup he can (usually it’s smallball).

"We Deserve"

by YaHeard on Jun 19, 2009 11:53 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Plus Monta is a better rebounder than anyone we had at the point last season.

We need to improve on assist/turnover ratio, rebounding, and defense. Monta should improve that for reasons H.C mentioned.

Since “patiently wait for next season” wasn’t an option I had to go with more beer!

by myk on Jun 19, 2009 5:01 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for the numbers....

But I think this just reiterates what a lot of us already know about how poor of a defense and rebounding team we are. I was a bit suprised about the passing (27th) and thought we were a bit better than that.

We need a combination of the things you posted. A good pg and ownership that cares is what we need.

by Butt Secks on Jun 19, 2009 9:16 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Our passing

wasnt all that great. If you think back to the season, all we did was fast break and play the iso game

by T.I. on Jun 19, 2009 10:28 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wouldn’t blame our selfish passing game on an uptempo style of play. The Lakers are an example of a team that both passes well (ranked 3rd) and is uptempo (6th). Denver’s another one, uptempo and high assist ratio.

Our players just don’t move the ball well, or aren’t coached to move the ball as often as they should.

"We Deserve"

by YaHeard on Jun 19, 2009 11:49 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I will always vote for more beer.

There's a party in my mind.
And I wish that I was there.

by qin on Jun 19, 2009 9:33 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

it’s the right vote everytime.

heart of a champion, will of the warrior.

by cap'n hack on Jun 19, 2009 9:33 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Weed > Alcohol ANYDAY

WARRIORS BASKETBALL!!! Patiently waiting for a title...I may be waiting for a long time...

by JustSomeName on Jun 19, 2009 10:29 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Heroine>weed anyday

Don’t worry I’m not addicted……….Excuse me I need to go find a a syringe.

by ZaMzAm FiRe on Jun 19, 2009 11:00 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

wasn't a choice given!

by hardcore on Jun 19, 2009 11:21 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Blaming Nelson

is really easy to do, but it isn’t like he banished all of our defensive stoppers to the bench. Stephen Jackson, our best defensive player, got the most minutes on the team (and in the league). The problem is the roster, not the coach.

Sittin in my scraper watchin Oakland goin wild, ta-dow!

by Supafishal on Jun 19, 2009 11:01 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't fully agree

Demarcus Nelson is a defensive-minded PG, who was quickly dismissed in favor of CJ Watson.

Belinelli proved to be our best defensive perimeter player, yet was on the bench most of the time in favor of Jamal Crawford.

Wright, Randolph, and Turiaf all could have handled more playing time than they received. Instead, Nelson gave heavy minutes to Rob Kurz and Corey Maggette at PF.

"We Deserve"

by YaHeard on Jun 19, 2009 11:45 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Demarcus Nelson was inserted at PG, but it was a strange decision. It wasn’t a position he played in college and he never really looked comfortable as a primary distributor. He had more TOs than assists (and as an asside his FT% made Andris look downright competent). Sure, it was a very small sample, but nothing he did at Dook suggested he was ever cut out to be a point guard either. He might have been defensive-minded, but calling him a point guard in the sense of someone who could run an offense was a bit of a stretch. Reality was that he was so limited on offense that it was going to be hard to find time for him unless he was a stopper able to make his man put up zeros every time out.

Randolph saw his minutes increase as his play improved. I do think that prior to his injury Wright should have played more and Turiaf could have been used more (though his foul problems tended to limit the decision and as the only guy not named Andris really equipped to play center, he wasn’t always available for PF duties), but you’re off on Kurz. Kurz averaged 11mpg in the 40 games he actually played in. Given several of these were when Biedrins and Wright were unavailable, leaving Randolph and Turiaf as the lone bigs, saying that he got “heavy minutes” is more than a tiny bit of a stretch.

by jae on Jun 19, 2009 12:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Defense is obviously the #1 quality

When your shot isn’t going down, you have to stop the other team-period. The Warriors couldnt do this, but I think it is a mixture of players and coaching. Nelson could have put Turiaf and Biedrins in together more often, he could have played Bellinelli and Randolph more….but then where do we go from there? None of those guys are big scorers, and when the fouls pile up, what’s left on the bench?

Nellie opted to attempt to outscore everyone and try to be athletic on defense instead of actually talented.

At this point, I dont see the point in discussing it anymore. We need to see a change this year, otherwise the Nellie experiment has been a failure and he must move on

by warriorsvictim on Jun 19, 2009 12:15 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

well if nelson committed to playing only Dre, Ronny, Wright, Randolph at the 4 and 5

our rebounding problem should go done

by GSW9 on Jun 19, 2009 1:35 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Exactly.

We get out reboundede b/c Nelson loves smallball. Before we had Biedrins and nothing so it was forgivable, but now we have Biedrins, Turiaf, and Randolph to rotate at 4/5 with a splash of Wright.

Small ball needs to die.

Check out Goallineblitz - Free Football MMORPG
Build players, Build teams, watch games...

http://goallineblitz.com/game/signup.pl?ref=4892220

by FLAxwless on Jun 19, 2009 6:07 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

if this team stay healthy

we can make the playoffs and with a little more depth in the front court we would be in really good shape.

by Warriorfan on Jun 19, 2009 8:00 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Terrence Williams is a great defender, rebounder and passer

So obviously we all want one of the overrated point guards. ALL of the point guard prospects have glaring issues in at least one of the above areas, if not more, as well as other areas of their game.
Hill, Williams and/or trade. I believe Nelson and Riley are smart enough to follow this formula. They have also alluded to this, and I don’t want to hear anymore of this smokescreen BS.

by T-Money on Jun 19, 2009 9:57 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

injuries....

without injuries we woulda been much higher on rebounding and assists….even defense i think ellis is way better than crawford or watson

rebounding….woulda had beans in all season…woulda had ellis playin (hes a decent rebounder for his position especially compared to the rest of our guards other than morrow)

assists…well id also say ellis is a better passer than our other guards

either way i look at it…we coulda been significantly higher in all those aspects if we had a healthy roster

randolph + andris will be rebounding monsters

ellis
jack
prince/odom??? (I HOPE!)
randolph
andris

that lineup could have excellent rebound/assists and decent defense (can anyone say BLOCK PARTY!)

You know I spit technique to the freshest freak
Gimme a call you will see results in just a week
With the soul of a LOST HAWK
Is there a heaven for a Rap Cat, let's talk

by LostHawk on Jun 20, 2009 1:06 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs