Our biggest weakness last year was defense and getting rebounds. If we actually played REAL PFs at the position and not have Jackson or Maggette or even Azubuike at the 4. I think we could’ve won alot more games than we did. Having Wright and Randolph at the 4 would definitely help us in rebounds and blocks more so than having those 3s playing the 4. Let’s just hope Nellie comes to his sense this year and plays more “traditional” lineups. heh, I doubt it…ya can’t teach an old dog new tricks…

Of course, who would you want to be the 3rd 4 – maggs or george? Since we will need a 3rd 4 just because of foul concerns.

Or it might be another undrafted guy wonder?

There are only three constants in life. Death, taxes, and Don Nelson’s stubborn commitment to the unconventional.

Why would Don Nelson play any defense/rebounding at the PF position when there are so many points we can score and so many superstar veterans we need to give minutes to?! $5 says majority minutes go to this lineup: Curry, Ellis, Jackson, Maggette, Biedrins

This team will be much improved simply with health. Last year was a fluke, we’re much better than that. I think 50+ wins is pushing it a bit, though. I was thinking 40-42 would be realistic, 50+ would mean Randolph turned into a stud already….

It is nice to see numbers confirm what I (and, I suspect, many of us) believe regarding the potential strength of this team. It certainly seemed to me that the Warriors played better last year when they went with a more traditional lineup and it would appear to me that the Warriors have a better team than many are giving them credit for.

Last year was a rough year. Dealing with disgruntled players, front office politics, injuries of varying magnitudes to key contributors, and Nelson’s confusing choices regarding playing time made it hard to be a fan (but hard to look away either, if only out of morbid curiosity.) I am hoping the young guys have achieved whatever was necessary to convince Nelson that they can be trusted.

The optimistic view: Nelson wants to win. Playing the young guys more, particularly the young big guys more, looks to be a great recipe for making that happen. Nelson, having been a successful coach for a long time, can likely recognize this as well as any of us. (Riley’s quest for “beef” would seem to indicate a little faith in that concept as well.) Since this season is unlikely to be “lost” from the get-go – which is how Nelson described last season – maybe Nelson won’t spend it focused on trying out player combinations and giving tough love to the young guys.

I’d love to see the Warriors shock the west with 50+ wins (and see us start talking about those wins instead of the front office.)

Can the second winningest coach of all time really be shooting himself in the foot with a stubborn devotion to the unconventional?

Um… yes.

Having said that, I think this will not be a huge issue next year. Nellie got comfortable playing Randolph at the four once Randolph got good, and while I wouldn’t put much stock in his claim that Randolph will be the starting power forward, I do think that’s probably what will happen. If Randolph’s on the floor along with either Biedrins or Turiaf, things should probably be okay.

The real question is what happens when Randolph sits. What should happen is obvious: Wright should play the four that whole time. What will happen is an open question. There are no real indications that Nellie’s changed his thinking about Wright, so I’d expect that we’ll see a mixture of Wright and smallball. But it’s possible that Nellie will turn over a new leaf.

come november i expect minutes to come out like this….
monta- 40
jack- 40
buike-30
randolph- 22
biedrins- 32
--
curry- 12
morrow- 16
maggette- 32
turiaf- 16

….

i’d liek to see BWright get in the rotation but i doubt he will initially unless we have injuries or he vastly improves his rebounding and/or defensive awareness and shows something in preseason.

middle/end of season might be something else though…

How many coaches who played traditional lineups last year were losers? A bunch, I would say. Nellie looked pretty brilliant when the Warriors upset the Mavs and he didn’t look dumb the next year when he won enough games to be in the playoffs but wasn’t. So, in a sense you can say he has had one bad season in three, and this more than a few on this board act like he has taken a valiant franchise and dragged it through the dirt. Maybe the team would have won more games playing a traditional lineup. Maybe it wouldn’t have. The thing is either way it wasn’t going to make the playoffs. It was a bad team who lost its only superstar.

 p(. So, a lot of this is just splitting hairs in hell. Had Nellie been making the draft choices for five or six years, the Dubs would have a better roster and won more games. Had some idiot not got caught with his pants down in the middle of a trade and ended up with a limited player like Brandon Wright, the Dubs would have won more games. Had the Warriors held onto Barnes (far more important in the Mavs series than Harrington) it might have been worth three games. This is a franchise that has been making mistakes for decades. No, I wouldn’t play Maggette at power forward, but you got to play him somewhere if you are going to pay him. Who made that pickup? He’s a very un-Nelson like player. You can crunch numbers anyway you want, compared to the Warriors disastrous mistakes of the past “going small”—it if it a mistake at all—is small potatoes.

 p(. The Ws have spent the offseason trying to get a big man. They don’t have much to use to pull it off. They seem to have discovered that expiring contracts are worth more than a bunch of so-so bench guys that some people think are the next stars in waiting. In many years, Nellie hasn’t cut loose many players who could really play in his career. There have been a few, but the man assesses talent pretty well and is creative at patching holes. How many times can we have this conversation?

its not like he has Gasol, Bynum and Odom and sends out a lineup of fisher, kobe, vujacic, ariza, odom for 40 minutes

there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Berri: Unconventional lineups may have cost the Warrors wins. Might as well have been,

Unconventional lineups;

1. Due to injuries may have cost the Warrors wins
2. Due to poor draft choices may have cost the Warrors wins
3. Due to poor Upper Management vision may have cost the Warrors wins.
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JAE, we all understand your compelling need to keep up the blog postings, but please post more scientific articles under "science"!!! The last (2) postings that you have authored/posted/defended have lacked scientific credibility.