The Warriors: Rubik Zirconia
For the Warriors, the future is a Rubik's Cube.
Remember that annoying symbol of grade-school geekdom? That's what the War-whirls are facing. To solve the Cube, one must first get an entire face (side) all one color. To progress any further though, one must be willing to break up that initial face in order to correctly position all the Cube's individual tiles for completion. It's tough, because breaking it up 
seems like a step backward, but with the Cube, as with life, sometimes you have to take a step back to be able to take three steps forward. It takes commitment and vision.
The War-winks have done the first part. They've got talent and chemistry, but not in enough quantities to get past the first round of the playoffs. This was clearly evident last week when the War-wizhows lost to division leaders the Suns and the Pistons. True, the games were very close and very exciting, but as with all the War-womps' games with division leaders this year (vs Suns, vs Clips, vs Spurs), they lost.
The Truthmaker Contributing
We know, we know: baby steps. We're more than willing to giving the Warriors some-time . . . and . . . space (Shatner, in case you missed it--hey, what can we say, our spot-on impersonation just doesn't translate well to the Web.), to improve and gel. But while fair-weathers jockey for position on the bandwagon, and everybody revels in the novel sensation of competitiveness, somebody needs to be looking ahead.
What is the Warriors' plan for victory? Granted, the standards for victory plans don't seem to be very high any more these days, but is there a long-term commitment to winning a championship? Or, because of years of doormattery, is good, good enough? Do the Warriors simply live in the moment and enjoy their new status as "playoff contenders," a major step up from years past, or do they start making moves now to get where they need to go to win a championship? If there is a serious commitment to winning a championship as the ultimate goal, is there is a timeline in place, or a stated strategy as to how this club is going to be built over the next two to three years to win it all?
A championship team can be engineered that quickly, but only if there is an unshakeable, defined, and carefully managed strategy for achieving the ultimate objective. This team is more than a good draft and multiple long-term contracts away from the title. Chris Mullin and crew need to use a salty mix of trades, free-agency, drafts, and creative contract structuring to bring everything together for a title run. They must twist their Cube, break up their completed side, and hope that they know how to bring everything back together in championship form.
Hey don't kill the messenger, we're not trying to whiz on anybody's campfire here, we're just making the point that the Warriors should not be satisfied with being decent. Because you know who is committed to going for it all? Fear the reaper, baby, here comes da' Lakers. Two years ago it may have seemed like a bad move to let Phil go and trade Shaq. Definitely broke up a couple sides of their Cube. But it also cleared the way for the Lakers to make larger future advances. Unlike the dire predictions by most experts that the Lakers might not even make the playoffs, we think the Lakers' moves will make them a force to be reckoned with at the end.
Moves such as picking up Ron Artest. Think about it. Who's the only coach in the league that can handle this guy right now? What fans in the league thrive on this kind of "personality"? Who is an owner with the wallet and the balls to go for the whole enchilada? (Answers: Phil, Laker fans, Jerry Buss) This one is flying under the radar right now, but you know Phil would love to have him.
He's just about got what he needs, and the team is starting to come together. If Phil can get Artest, he will have a nice little triangle of Kobe, Lamar Odom, and Artest. Look at his Lakers and Bulls championship teams and you'll see a lot of names like Rick Fox, Bill Wennington, Dave Corzine, BJ Armstrong, Jud Buechler, and Travis Knight. If he can add a force like Artest and maybe a pure shooter or another strong body up front (like Ronny Turiaf), it's off to the races. Contract commitments, cap restrictions, clashing personalities, and small thinking be damned, the Lakers always seem willing to find a way to make it happen.
The Lakers are putting the tiles together, turning the Cube, looking for that right combination. The Lakers understand the Rubik's Cube philosophy.
The War-wags could start by breaking up their frontcourt. In the recent losses to the Pistons and the Suns, the War-whips clearly demonstrated that they have a backcourt and maybe even a bench to match anybody out there. But Murphy, Dunleavy, and Foyle cannot hold the line against the best in the league. There is no doubt, this team needs more talent in the frontcourt.
TMurph can rebound and score, but his rebounding numbers have dropped from 10.8 per game to 8.6. And do really want your power forward hanging out around the perimeter, where he will have no shot at offensive rebounds? Aren't the Warriors paying Dunleavy $45 mil to make those three pointers? And where is Murphy in the fourth quarter? When it comes down to crunch time in the fourth quarter, Murph often comes up Jimmy Hoffa. The War-wots need a mean, thunderous, physical demon on the boards. A walking pogo stick with shoulders that cannot be kept away from the ball. A back-to-the-basket, down-on-the-blocks player who wears the other team down and wants it in crunch time. Start Diogu and bring Murphy in from the bench when the team needs an offensive boost.
Adonal Foyle grabs a few boards (7.2 ppg), stumbles into a point here and there (4.9 ppg, up from his 4.6 ppg career avg, but then his minutes are up five per game too), and blocks a shot or two (1.8 pg, down from career 1.87), but he cannot compete against the league's premier centers.
For those who contend that Murphy or Foyle are good enough, think of where this team would be with a Tim Duncan or a Rasheed Wallace or a Ben Wallace or an Elton Brand or, even an, dare we say it, Antawn Jamison.
As for Dunleavy, well, what can we say. He brings all the intangibles right, the stuff that doesn't show up in the box score? Fine. That's called a role player, not a starter. The War-whigs need a high-flying slasher who is also a defensive phenom. Some one like, say, Mickeal Pietrus. Start Pietrus when he returns from his injury and bring Duns off the bench.
The War-horts have to have a frontcourt presence; they cannot continue to get by with two outside players and an offensive non-entity. This frontcourt weakness was particularly evident in last Friday's loss to the Pistons. After scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter (Murphy and Foyle combined for 14 total points for the game), Rasheed Wallace said what we were all thinking, "I felt like they didn't have nobody to stop me."
Hopefully Mullin and GM Rod Higgins won't be afraid to turn the Cube. After all, it's not rocket science, right?