The Warriors: Looking Forward in the Rearview Mirror

There is nothing good about this decision, almost. Now, they did fire Mike Montgomery, a move about a year and a half overdue. Nelson is the second winningest coach in NBA history. He is the last man to lead this snakebit franchise to the playoffs. And he is just about guaranteed to get any team to the playoffs within a few years.

Sure, even a whiff of the playoffs sound good right now, but Warriors fans shouldn't start buying season ticket packages to guarantee their playoff tix just yet. They shouldn't let the Warriors front office off this easily. As we were saying, there are so very many reasons why Nellie is just depressingly, unintelligibly, mistakenly wrong for this team at this time. So very many reasons.

What a blow to franchise morale that the best on-court leadership the front office could provide is the burned-out coach from their last quasi-glory days 13 years ago, a coach with one foot in the Social Security pool. How depressingly sad is that? At 66, Nelson has been retired since the middle of the 2004-2005 season when he left the Mavericks because of health concerns, which we all know become less of a problem the older we get. Freakin' hello!?! He either can't or won't finish his last coaching job and yet the Chris' think this is the guy to jack a breath of fresh air into the team?

In fact, the Warriors may not even have Nelson's full attention. He apparently is still under contract with the Dallas Mavericks as a consultant, free to coach another team while collecting a Mavericks paycheck. This is how desperate the franchise is? They're going to pay his $5 million a year salary, pay Monty his remaining $4 million to go away, and still allow Nelson to get paid as a consultant by another NBA team? Shrewd Mully, shrewd.

Conspiracy theorists will tell you (well, maybe it's just us) that hiring Nellie, the creator of the "point forward" position, is just another way for the Warriors to continue force-feeding fans the "career" of 2002 number three overall draft pick Mike Dunleavy. Does anybody out there want Dunleavy playing more, or god forbid, handling the ball more? Apparently Chris Mullin does because with Nelson at the helm, Dunleavy is going to be out there leading the break--by turning the ball over at half court to the other team.

While you're choking that down, consider that Nelson traditionally eschews big men in favor of unconventional small-ball lineups and game plans. Guess what? The Warriors drafted two seven-footers this year and still have yet to fully evaluate the terminally potential-addled Andres Biedrins. Good call Warriors, that's thinking ahead. Say hello to Troy Murphy or Ike Diogu as your new starting center folks.

Wait, wait, there's more. Nelson teams can't play defense. Not in the fourth quarter, not at the end of the season, not in the playoffs. His teams are soft. Sure, it sounds like a perfect fit for the Warriors, but defensive toughness is one of the things that must change for this team to truly get better, and it ain't gonna happen on Nellie's watch.

And then there's the fact that Nelson doesn't necessarily do well with prickly superstars who are intent on doing things their own way, prickly superstars like Chris Webber and, gulp, Baron Davis. Have we all forgotten the horrible demise of the franchise in the wake of Nelson's implosion over Webber's perceived and/or actual intransigence? Flexibility is another thing that improves with age--keep telling yourself that.

For us, it's just the final nail in the coffin for Chris Mullin. With Nelson joining Rod Higgins and Mitch Richmond on the payroll, Mullin apparently is intent on putting the band back together. Next up, Timmy Hardaway. But the band wasn't that great in the first place (best finish: second in the Pacific Division in 1991-1992). And their combined front office success has only Isaiah Thomas impressed. Oh well, owner Chris Cohan seems content to settle for this sad attempt to relive the past, so we might as well roll with it. Anybody hear from Victor Alexander lately?

Picking Nelson is a lazy move that shows absolutely no imagination and reveals once again that the Warriors have no vision for the future. What? Gary St. Jean wasn't available? Why not Mario Elie? Elie would immediately bring passion, heart, and freakin' defense to a team that desperately needs all three. Elie is ready. This year is going to be tough no matter what. Let Elie and this young roster take their lumps and bond as a team this year, then head into next season as a team on a mission.

Oh he-ey, we just figured it out. Nellie probably just signed a special one-day contract so he can officially retire today as a Warrior. Yeah, that's got to be it. Nothing else makes sense.