Golden State Warriors 112, Denver Nuggets 127- Quotes from TNT Thursday from Don Nelson, Charles Barkley, Doug Colins, Monta Ellis + Nellie doesn't play rookies myth

30 points + 13 assists + 7 rebounds + 2 steals + 1 block + 1 Hakeem Dream Shake = Stef-FUN!

TNT's Craig Sager interviewed Warriors coach Don Nelson after the third quarter. Nelson on his reputation of not liking to play rookies:

"I don't like to play bad rookies, I like to play good rookies and I've got a good one. Steph Curry is going to be a sensational point guard, we love him to death, he's the perfect rookie to have and I play him every moment I can."

JUMP for more Dubs related quotes from last night's TNT telecast!

Doug Collins on Warriors guard Stephen Curry:

"This kid (Stephen Curry) is a scoring machine, he absolutely has such a great feel to shoot the ball, he's a very good ball handler and an excellent passer."

Collins on the Warriors' style of play:

"(The Warriors) seduce you. All of a sudden you're scoring against them and you think the game is pretty easy. Ask Atlanta, they were up 17 going into the fourth quarter, they thought they had the game in hand. Golden State had a terrific fourth quarter, outscored them 35 to 14 and beat Atlanta, so they care capable of throwing up huge nights. They want to run and they want to take quick shots."

Collins on the Warriors playing exciting basketball:

"There is an old saying, if you're going to play bad at least be exciting. And they are. They don't come down and play a 90 or 92 point game and milk the clock. They play an open court game, they shoot the ball, they score a lot of points and they play an exciting brand of basketball. They've just got to get healthy and see what they have. They've got to get some big men healthy to see how good they are. Brandan Wright, Anthony Randolph, are these guys going to be good enough on the front line to be contributors to a playoff team?"

Warriors guard Monta Ellis on the passionate Warriors fans:

"Every night that we play here, even though our record is the way that it is, if you came here and watched us play, you would think that we are the second seed in the playoffs with the way our fans are. It's crazy, I never saw a team have a losing record and the fans still come out. They still sell out every night and the fans still bring that energy every night and that's what they do."

Charles Barkley on the Warriors offensive mindset:

"I don't like the way that Golden State plays. They play like a playground basketball (team). They play like the Phoenix Suns used to, just trying to outscore you. Their numbers are always going to be better than they should be. They just try to outscore you, they don't try to win and that's what Phoenix did a couple of years ago."

Thanks to Eric Welch at TNT for sending along these notes.

Barkley_nuggets_gsom_medium_medium

Don Nelson doesn't play bad rookies and gets rid of them fast- THANK GOD.

Let's revisit that first quote from Nellie about loving good rookies like Stephen Curry and not liking to play bad rookies. For as much unfounded whining as the national/ local media and fans alike have given Nellie over the years for not gift wrapping undeserved playing time to raw rookies, you would think they'd at least acknowledge that this old hoops mastermind has an uncanny gift for quickly identifying which young players will blow up and which ones need to go. And with the Warriors recent draft picks by Chris Mullin there's been a lot that needed to go (also see Grading the Mullin Picks):

Patrick O'Bryant? No. Gone within 2 years without even getting the seemingly mandatory rookie option picked up. He BARELY plays for the Toronto Raptors right now and probably won't be in the league next season.

Ike Diogu? Nope. Gone and 4 teams later his career has amounted to very little. Can you believe ESPN's John Hollinger was destroying the Warriors in the Pacers-Warriors 8 player swap over 2 years ago for giving up Ike?

Kosta Perovic? Good god no. He shouldn't have been drafted nor inked to a ridiculous 3 year deal by Chris Mullin. Guess what NBA team Kosta currently plays for? I'll give you 30 guesses and you still won't guess right.

Marco Belinelli? Don't believe the hype. Belinelli is one of the worst rebounding and defending guards in the entire association. If the Raptors are the least bit smart they won't waste $3.4 million on his option in 2011-2012.

Marcus Williams wasn't a rookie or 2nd year player, but let's not forget him either. Nellie quickly identified that Chris Mullin's costly 1st rounder exchange was simply foolish.

Moral of the Story: Nellie has an eye for young NBA talent. Don't let the haters confuse you.

Poll

TRUE or FALE: Don Nelson doesn't like to play rookies.

TRUE: Nellie hates all rookies regardless of whether they're good or bad

85 votes

FALSE: The names Mitch Richmond, Tim Hardaway, Chris Webber, and Stephen Curry come to mind among others

430 votes

515 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 15 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

We love him to death, he's the perfect rookie to have and I play him every moment I can."

Dang, the dreaded Nellie kiss of death. Poor Steph, now how long till he’s shipped out?

Lights please, lights please, turn off the lights.

by Skeptic con Urquell on Feb 26, 2010 11:39 AM PST reply actions

WOW! what a great stat line.

Curry continues to shine, both on and off the court. Our silver lining in a rough year. I only hope he stays with the dubs and helps us return to relevance.

by tjmax on Feb 26, 2010 11:40 AM PST reply actions

+1

The only thing that scares me is if we get that 1st pick in next year’s draft, we’d HAVE to get John Wall. And when/if we do, where does that leave Curry? I guess it’s a good problem to have.

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by JonDoe on Feb 26, 2010 1:15 PM PST up reply actions

That's why it annoys me

to hear everyone use the “Nellie doesn’t play rookies” blame last season when he didn’t play Morrow or Randolph. The reality is that Morrow and Randolph weren’t good enough players to be on the floor back then.

I challenge those who said it last season to step up and “man up” and admit that they were wrong about Nellie not playing rookies.

by IQofaWarrior on Feb 26, 2010 12:13 PM PST reply actions

I know people were saying that about Randolph, but were folks really saying that about Morrow? I can’t remember. I thought Nellie gave Morrow plenty of time overall last season, though there was a little midseason dip where Morrow’s PT kind of disappeared.

Nellie seems to really like guys like Stephen Curry and Anthony Morrow. Okay I know they can both shoot the lights out, but neither guy seems like a complainer and that’s a key theme. They both seem to have the attitude that “OK Coach, I’m going do whatever you tell me I need to do and not complain.” It’s refreshing to see that from 2 young guys on this team and see their games continue to grow and expand. In particular I really like how Morrow has worked hard to add a very viable post up element to his offensive repertoire.

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by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 26, 2010 12:18 PM PST up reply actions

I can't remember specifically

but some time during midseason, Morrow was only playing a few minutes at a time, and people wondered why he wasn’t playing more. Though I can’t remember specifically, I have a vague recollection that people pulled out the rookie blame on Morrow too.

Looking at the Morrow game log, there’s a giant drought of minutes around Jan 2009. That’s the most likely time period when the rookie blame was brought out.

by IQofaWarrior on Feb 26, 2010 12:49 PM PST up reply actions

Weren't good enough players to be on the floor

What does that even mean? Good enough for what? Good enough to win 43+ games and get to the playoffs? No, probably not. Good enough to play significant minutes on a losing team, that wasn’t headed anywhere last year? Yes.

by randolphforpresident on Feb 26, 2010 12:46 PM PST up reply actions

By “good enough”, I mean to have a versatile, stable, reliable presence on the floor. Last early/mid season, Randolph was unpredictable, wild, and completely out of control. He got better late in the season, but reverted back to his wild self earlier this season, and was slowly turning himself around again until he got injured.

Last season, all Morrow could do was shoot. As soon as a defender glued himself to Morrow, Morrow turned into a lump of clay and was completely useless. This season, Morrow is putting the ball on the floor, making moves around his defender, and showing signs of a potentially dangerous triple threat position. If Morrow was already like this last season, I think Nellie would have played him more consistently, probably not as a starter, but at least as a consistent bench player. Morrow’s dribbling is still scary.

Stephen Curry as a rookie can now pass, he can now shoot, he can dribble anywhere, and sometimes he can get to the rim, too. He’s already more versatile and reliable than Morrow and Randolph, even as sophomores. Much of that is credited to Curry’s high IQ and ability to learn fast.

And then there are other things like moving without the ball, or remembering plays, or whatever else nitty gritty stuff that’s required to play the game. Morrow didn’t know how to move without the ball. Randolph couldn’t remember plays, well this season anyway. I’ll have to extrapolate and assume he couldn’t do that last season either. Those are also factors in what’s “good enough”.

by IQofaWarrior on Feb 26, 2010 1:06 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

weren’t good enough to play over established veterans. since i knew they had no shot at the playoffs once BD left, i agreed that AR should have got more time. but playing young players over more capable vets is what tanking is. so what we were advocating was tanking.

and the truth is is that rarely will a coach admit from the start of a season that a team has no chance. once they were essentially eliminated, we saw AR’s time increase & the vets began to rest. if i were the coach of last seasons roster & knew i wasn’t going to get fired, i’d tank. but i’m certainly not going to blame the coaches who don’t.

by homer simpson on Feb 26, 2010 5:00 PM PST up reply actions

admit that they were wrong about Nellie not playing rookies.

They might not have been wrong. Nellie really din’t have a choice, with all the injuries he had to play everyone remotely healthy.
If we still had Jax and Law and Kellena healthy and Morrow , CJ, and Montay not missing games Curr-bury’s minutes woulda looked a lot different.

Lights please, lights please, turn off the lights.

by Skeptic con Urquell on Feb 26, 2010 12:22 PM PST reply actions

Check out his game log.

Stephen Curry has been starting and playing big minutes on this team since Day 1. It has nothing to do with Stephen Jackson, Acie Law, Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Morrow (who he seems to have great chemistry with), CJ Watson (who he also seems to play well with), and Monta Ellis.

Curry is good.
Nellie plays good players.
Nellie plays Curry.

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by Atma Brother ONE on Feb 26, 2010 12:32 PM PST up reply actions

Check out his game log

you can’t compare what did happen to what might have happened. The log and learning curve would look different if we had different players.

Lights please, lights please, turn off the lights.

by Skeptic con Urquell on Feb 26, 2010 5:14 PM PST up reply actions

When your team sucks

It’s worth at least experimenting with your rookies. Especially when you have a raw athletic talent like Randolph.

The Diogus, Perovics, and O’Bryants of the world were not sensationally athletic. They were all mediocre athletes (compared to the average NBA player) and even worse bball players.

However, Randolph is a sensational athlete and you feel like there’s something there.

I do get that rookie guards are generally more NBA-ready than rookie big men, but consistency is the key. Even if your promising rookie (or 2nd year) big man doesn’t get a ton of minutes, it makes a big difference if he knows his role and can come to the arena with a rough idea of what he will be expected to do that game.

When you have a good team, no point in investing minutes developing a rookie. When your team sucks, you probably should because there maybe a chance that the rookie can help your team not suck next season.

by Billy Frijoles on Feb 26, 2010 1:50 PM PST reply actions

there's been ample evidence

that mentally and emotionally Randolph has to work through lots of turmoil and instability; his fans who fixate on his physical skills could end up having their hopes materialize, but they should be equally prepared to take a fall. Ellis and Biedrins were rewarded as foundation pieces not too long ago, and yet I’m continually reading stuff about Randolph being that kind of player when he has yet to put in half a consistent season.

by the.monk on Feb 26, 2010 2:19 PM PST up reply actions