The Gold in Golden State

Like mostly everyone here at GSOM, I am a Big Golden State Warrior fan. Watching the finals and playoffs every year with out the Dubs hurts. I always dream of our Warriors being in the finals. The championship logo on our Warriors logo in the middle of Oracle Arena floor and on our jerseys. The Championship pregame warmups, the media coverage, the crowd all in the gold shirts going wild for our team. It's to good to be true but it seems as though the Gold belongs in Golden State.The Warriors don't get alot of respect in the NBA(not that we deserve alot) but we do desreve credit for having a solid foundation of young players we can build around. The bottom line is I am ready for GS to be in contention for a championship. The last time we had a championship was 1975! These are some steps that the Warriors should take to make sure that we are on the right road to bringing the Gold to Golden State.

Step 1: Keep the Young Core

This has been said alot here at GSOM that we should sell the farm for for Amare of Bosh but if you think about it the only way they come in a trade would be if the sign an extention. If Amare or Bosh would sign an extention wouldn't it be better for them to come here during free agency when we still have all our players? But we need to keep our young core(Randolph, Curry, Morrow, Ellis, Andris) and build aroung these guys. All 5 of these guys have proven to have a great work ethic and will continue to improve season by season. If they continue to improve than we could hopefully have a few All Stars(Curry, Ellis, Randolph, and maybe even Andris). I think one of Ellis or Curry will develop into a future PG for us, but this year we will see what each bring to the table.

Step 2: Gaining Respect

This year the Warriors need to get to the playoffs. This is the only way we will get good free agents to come here is if we win. The Warriors need to come in to training camp focused and ready to win this year. Nelson will be alot better this year as a coach because he wants the record for most wins as a coach. We are the under dogs this year and Nelson knows how to bring out the most in our team. If we can get out to a great start and have a good finish we have a shot at the playoffs.

Step 3: Anthony Randolph's Develpoment

All Warrior fans know the potential of Randolph. He is already one of the most exciting players not only on our team but in the league. Anthony is the biggest key to our succes this year and for hopefully the next 10 years. Randolph dominated in Summer league and got an invite to team USA so his confidence is very high righ now. This year Randolph doesn't need to dominate, but heneeds to show even more improvement. Randolph should be able to average about 15 points and 8 or 9 boardswith 2 blocks a game this season with more playing time. Randolph is our best bet to have many All Star seasons and I hope Randolph retires a Warriors and cements his name in NBA history, but at 20 years old he still has a long way to go.

Step 4: Having Good Role players

Guys like Ronny Turiaf, Kelenna Azubuike, Brandan Wright and maybe even guys like Jackson and Maggette are guys we should have on ourchampionship run. Role players are important on a good team and can be vital in winning the ring. Turiaf and Azubukie are great role players who we should try to keep on our team going forward. Ronny is a big guy who comes to play every game. He has shown some nice offensive ability with a good mid range shot but his best attribute is his Defense(Top 5 in block shots last year). Kelenna plays big and can pretty much do anything you need of him. Bukie has also shown the ability to hit clutch shots which is a very good key to winning a championship. Brandan could probably be in our young core but right now he is a solid big of the bench with potential to be even more. Maggette is a guy we should look at moving but if he is here you know what your going to get from him which is a guy who can flat out score and get to the FT line. If we are winning he may get consideration for 6 man of the year. It has been stated that Stack Jack would be much better if he is our #3 or 4 option and i couldn't agree more. If he stays, Jackson could be a good vet to have on our team.

Commitment to Defense and Rebounding

I think when you look at rebounding, if we play a more traditional lineup(no small ball) we can become a much better rebounding team. Andris is a great rebounder along with Randolph who has alot of potential to be come great rebounder. The biggest area is Defense though. Like we all know defense wins champions. The Warriors are one of the worst defensive teams and we are not going any where until we address this problem. The bad part is almost every guy on our team has the potential to aleast be an average to good defender but most of them don't seem to care too much about D. There has been to many games over the last 4 or 5 years where the Warriors would come out and play on both sides of the court. Those are the game where we win a game we are not suppose to win and we wounder how good a team we would have if we came and played every game that way instead of some games every once in a while. That commitment starts from the top(Nellie) and if Keith Smart becomes the head coach in the future we have a good defensive coach first. But everyone on the team has to come with that defensive mindset or we will never go any where. If we can become a good defensive team we will win more games on the road where our offensive has trouble getting going. We can always fall back on our defense to win the game if we become a better defensive team.

Step 6: New Manegement

For now i'm OK with Nellie coaching and Larry Riley as GM even though i liked Chris Mullin and i want Keith Smart to take overwhen Nellie's done. But wereally need to get rid of Rowell and Cohan. These two have been awful for a long time and we need a chande now. I would like for Larry Ellison to becomeor new Owner and we should just get rid of Rowell. It's time for a change and the only way we will ever see a championship is if we get new Manegement.

Well those are some steps that we need to take to get on the championship wagon. Of course these may not be all the steps so if there are any more please right below in comments. Us Golden State fans are the best fans in the the world and we deserve a championship. There is no telling when or if we will ever get one but when we finally do I think i speak for everyone that it will be the best thing in the world! Can you imagine the Warriors ever winning the title?