Also, someone tell Nellie a non-moving zone is unlikely to work in this league; I hear that the W's are supposed to be playing much more man-to-man after the trade -- since the new guys are so much more athletic -- but I've yet to see any evidence of it.  

Finally, beware: people are starting to notice Harrington's not an NBA four.

Hmmmm.

Watching Warriors = more Zoloft perscription refills.

blah.

if philly beats us friday, nellie should try moving beans to the 4 and use powell/foyle/harrington at the 5 and just have them box out the opposing teams center as far out as possible. powell & harrington should also be able to outrun the opposing big man w/o a head start.

who cares if our offensive floor spacing suffers - we don't take advantage of that anyway. we can still have bd/ab screens strongside w/ whoever's playing the 5 setting screens weakside to preoccupy defenders (or open up a shooter/driver).

basically, i'm tired of nellie always COPPING OUT & turning to the zone for defense. does this guy know what it means to make a defensive substitution? do we even have a defensive philosophy? like turning guys baseline ala the spurs. or something like trapping in this situation or where help defense is going to come from.

players & teams have career/season best games against us b/c we play matador defense. then all they have to do is sag into the middle on defense and foul anytime the warriors get into the middle to keep them from getting any easy buckets. eventually, our ball movement will cease and the desperation 3's will come.

The Warriors need to stop taking bone-headed 3's.  When will it hit them that if the 3's don't go down, then stop taking them?

Defend!  It looks as if the Warriors don't defend so that when the other team scores, they'll try to run it up the court, but then leads to a quick missed 3 or a turnover, and the other team scores.  Then this becomes mental and the Warriors give up on defense.

Play smarter.  As great as BD plays, he does take bad shots.  I question him taking those fadeaways or launching 3's.  I question S-Jax for creating a shot with a defender on him.  I question Pietrus's IQ.  I question Ellis driving to the basket with a premiere shot-blocker in the lane.  I question why Foyle is in the game looking for his offense.  

And everytime we start making a run, it seems like when we're down by a large margin and cut the deficit to 1 or 2 and have the chance to take the lead, rather going for a good shot, we try to lay the boom and launch a 3 hoping we can bring the roof down.  The Warriors don't rally because of launching 3's.  They rally by playing good D and taking good shots.  Just pathetic how they launch a 3 and miss, which then stops their rallies.

So why is it that with all that talent on our team, we still lose?  It's as if this franchise is cursed regardless of what players we bring in.  Maybe if we brought in KG, we still don't make playoffs.  I don't know how to explain it, but the Warriors just don't seem to get it.

I agree that too much zone is going to hurt every time.  Use the zone to change things up for very short stretches only. Manning up on defense takes more effort, but, hey, this is a pretty deep team so Donny needs to get people to sell out on defense and rotate people in and out a bit more to keep the energy level up.  I'd rather have 25 good minutes out of Jackson than 35 on cruise control, etc.

Finally, it is true that the trade value of guys like Barnes and Pietrus has never been higher.  To grab a rebounding PF, one who can get up-and-down the court, would be a perfect fit.  Harrington can score but he has never been and never will be a rebounder.

Hate to say it folks -- and we've tried our best to stay positive -- but over at SFist.com we've been questioning the Nellie hire and the validity of up-tempo small-ball from day one -- to much abuse from other media persons and fans who blindly latched on to Nellie's up-tempo small-ball as the second coming of Showtime.

It seems that everybody was caught up in the flash and dash of increased scoring and the, in our opinion, way overblown reverence for Nellie's "genius." But from the beginning, we've pointed out that Nellie's 30-year old system has never won ANYTHING! Never even been to an NBA Finals in 30 years. That's no accident or unlucky fluke of fate -- that's an inherent flaw with the coaching or the system. Or both.

It seems now that fans and reporters are walking around scratching their heads asking questions like "how is it that even bad teams come to live when they play the Warriors?" It's called blind devotion to up-tempo. Wake up people, just like the BS War in Iraq, the signs were there from Day 1 that the rationale war and the war strategy were bogus, but people refused to acknowledge reality.

How many times do we need to say it? Up-tempo is not going to win championships in the NBA. The Suns have the best roster you could hope to assemble for an up-tempo team, but how many titles or NBA Finals appearances do they have? Yup.

The Warriors need to get serious about developing a long-term blueprint for a championship. We've been asking since last year, "What is the plan?" Turns out, there is no plan except to wish upon a star and hope that somehow Nelson's coaching experience and courtside gravitas gets us into the first round of the playoffs sometime in the next three years.

Admit defeat and start looking for a new coach. Kick Nellie upstairs to the GM or VP position and hire a young, visionary coach who stresses the fundamentals of hoop like rebounding and defense and game control instead of just giving everybody the green light and hoping that our team outscores the other -- which by this time everybody should realize is not going to happen on a consistent basis.

Last night, we saw the season end. Visions of playoffs this year are dead, and unless the Warrior clean house from the head coach on up to the owner and commit themselves to developing a coherent plan for long-term success, it will be perpetually be the same thing over and over again.

Bottom line: the Warriors tried to makeover this team on the cheap by hiring a former coach who way back when led them to the first round of the playoffs. A coach with a system that is all sugar and carbs, but no substance. And Warriors fans should take some of the blame for blindly buying into up-tempo basketball. Yes, we know its fun to watch, when it works. But I don't care how many points the Warriors score, if they don't win, it ultimately isn't that fun to watch -- especially over the course of 82 games, or 12 years.

It is time for full-scale revolt Warrior Nation. Stand up and demand quality from Chris Cohan and Chris Mullin. Demand a coherent five-year plan for a championship -- make Mullin present the plan publicly so we can all see whether or not the front office has any idea what they are doing or have any interest in winning.

Cohan is never going to do anything as long as the O-rena keeps selling out and blindly accepting the company line, so Warriors fans, the power of the purse is with you. Make yourselves heard and demand competence. It can be done, and it can be done relatively quickly if there is a committment to success -- which starts with hiring the right people and adopting the right system.