Open Wide ... Say Aaahhh...

by Sleepy Freud on Nov 5, 2006 8:30 AM PST

Take your medicine. Now.

Yes, it is time to tank the season.

Do we really want another mediocre 33-38 win season that ends in another #8-12 draft slot and another safe, boring pick "for need"?

Given that by all accounts the 2007 draft is the best in years -- and that Oden in particular is "once-every-decade" big man -- there is no sane reason not to try and shoot the moon this year.

Trade Baron, Murphy, and Pietrus for whatever draft picks or expiring contracts we can get (I'm not picky), install Monta at PG and rack up the losses while he learns the NBA ropes.

Obviously I would love to dump Dunleavy too, but now I'm thinking we keep him around because (a) no one in their right mind would give up a bag of balls for him; and (b) he's so execrably bad he will unwittingly help us to our goal of tanking the season. In fact, play him 48 minutes a game.

Look at this way: if we finish with one of the two worst records in the NBA we are guaranteed one of the five young studs Atma says are likely to be available in '07: Oden, Yi, Noah, Durant, Thaddeus Young. If we finish our usual 8-12th worst, our chances at them drop to like 5-10%.

100% v. 10%. Is that not worth one 20-win season??? In the end, what's the difference between 20 wins and 35?

Take the medicine. Now. It's long overdue. When we look at our '08 roster we'll all be glad we did it :

Ellis
Wagner
JRich
Diogu/Biedrins
ODEN

I consider myself a patient dude, but, as of today, I've finally had it with the same old business as usual. Who's with me?

Poll

Tank the 06/07 season?

OK, yes! Oden or Yi will be more than worth the short-term pain!

6 votes

No need to tank, we suck so bad we may get one of them anyway.

6 votes

I still have hope for the playoffs! (I also believe in Santa Claus and think George W. is doing a heckuva job).

3 votes

15 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!

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Comments

No

Tanking the season is the stupidest option. At least the draft lottery somewhat upholds the integrity of the game better than in the NFL and other major leagues. (And by the way, Oden might not come out this year.)

by reppin the bay @ Golden State Of Mind on Nov 5, 2006 8:57 AM PST reply actions

I'm hungry, Chef

Instead of worrying about who we might get let's figure out how to get the most from what we have. I'm sure these guys can play better than they've shown so far this season. Baron was an allstar, JRich played like one last year, Pietrus has athletic ability if it can be focused, monta is quick, biedrins shows good hands, and murph is a big man with good outside shooting ability. There's lots of teams around the league with less talent that are winning games, we've just got to put the puzzle together.

by Skeptic con Urquell on Nov 5, 2006 9:56 AM PST up reply actions

Hmmmmm

Hmmm...Interesting post.

The only problem is that if we could actually trade BD and Adonyl and Troy and we went with Monta and Ike and Andris, we might start winning!

by pineriver on Nov 5, 2006 9:18 AM PST reply actions

It's a tough one

I think if Nellie was 10 years younger he would by all means tank the season, but he's not. Nellie knows he only has about 3-5 years of coaching left in him and he's working on that timeline.

It's too bad cause this team really needs to be blown up- starting with the incompetent ownership and front office.

by Atma Brother ONE on Nov 5, 2006 9:51 AM PST reply actions

plus $1m motivation

by hardcore on Nov 5, 2006 1:54 PM PST up reply actions

Also

Haha, nice image work Sleepy. That's a hot web pin! Email us if you need help (although we're a little behind on all the email).

by Atma Brother ONE on Nov 5, 2006 10:21 AM PST reply actions

damn

i was gonna vote for i still have hope for the playoffs but part of that vote was also that i think george bush is doing a good job so i couldn't vote that one!

by travisl212 on Nov 5, 2006 10:23 AM PST reply actions

Time is right

It feels all wrong to tank the season, but this might be the exact correct time to do it - we have TWO first round picks next year (assuming the pick we get from the Dampier trade is not a lottery pick). The alternative is a 35 +/- win season, and even at best sniffing the playoffs. Those 2 #1s plus a high #2 mean we might be able to retool quickly with one or two decent trades and Nelson helping with the draft. The prediction here is that Nelson is the next GM anyway, better sooner than later

by hardcore on Nov 5, 2006 2:00 PM PST reply actions

They're writing songs of love, but not for us...

Honestly, I think we've all suffered so long we've become masochists.

It's like we look around the league at the truly great, franchise players -- Duncan, Garnett, Shaq, LeBron, Howard, DWade -- and think, "siiigghhh, if only we could get guys like that..."

It's no mystery! You get guys like that by (a) sucking; and (b) lucking into a Top five pick! Did Cleveland build their championship core gradually? Did Orlando?

We can get guys like that! By tanking for a year!

Sure, there are exceptions: teams like Phoenix and Dallas, who were mostly built through series of smart picks and shrewd moves. But that takes a lot of skill, and luck -- both of which are in short supply here.

And of course there's the converse: the fact that the times we have gotten high picks we've mostly squandered them on guys like Joe Smith or Dunleavy. But this year is different. There are true studs available this year. It might be an almost idiot-proof draft. As you say JB, this is the year to do it.

To be clear: I'm not advocating that we actually throw games -- of course I still want us to play hard. But it wouldn't be impossible for Mullin, with the green light from Nellie, to arrange it to make it a little tougher for the players to win games. Dumping Davis and Murphy -- solid NBA starters who are no part of any championship puzzle -- would be one way to achieve this.

And then, in '07, we awake as if from a long nightmare...

Larry Ellison in place of Cohan
Nellie in place of Mullin
Oden or Yi in place of Foyle/POB

by Sleepy Freud on Nov 5, 2006 2:59 PM PST reply actions

Not Quite

Actually, your theory is off by a bit. Teams get better by having good management. The Warriors would be a very good team if they made better personnel decisions. Does a team with Arenas, Vince Carter, T-Mac, Kobe and Dirk sound like it would win a few games? Tanking the season will not do any good if our management doesn't do a better job of evaluating and keeping talent. Drafting Oden would do nothing for the Warriors, as his teammates would still be terrible and they wouldn't be able to keep him after 3-4 years.

by chrisz42 on Nov 6, 2006 3:28 PM PST up reply actions

blasphemy

please no more posts like this, uncalled for. there's one thing you gotta realize, there are good teams out there that have managed to trade their way up the draft lottery. that's right, that means they've won games,and then traded away guaranteed talent (which we're working on developing some of our young guys into) for lottery picks while still battling the playoffs during the season... so there may very well be a chance we could do both if warriors management got better... that's our main problem. So either way, sooner or later, our management has to get good, draft or not, so we should focus on that, not intentionally losing! lol.