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The Warriors: Hello Nellie-Ball, Goodbye Elie-Ball
The Contra Costa Times is reporting today that Warriors assistant coach Mario Elie will be not be back for the 2006-2007 season. Though Elie's status has not been confirmed by either Elie or the Warriors, the writing is all over the disappoint-smeared toilet stall wall that is the Warriors recent history of personnel management.
The team announced yesterday that it has hired Stephen Silas, the son of former NBA player and coach Paul Silas (it's nice to have connections), to join also freshly hired assistant Larry Riley on new/old/tired coach Don Nelson's staff.
With number one draft choice Patrick O'Bryant conveniently sidelined with a broken foot and an apparent coaching staff housecleaning in progress, it grimly appears that the second Don Nelson era is in full effect.
Don Nelson represents the NBA past, but it's Mario Elie that's history for the Warriors. Photo from The Daily Texan.
Too bad for Warriors fans. Whether Don Nelson can bring this team to the promised land of .500 with his up-tempo, no-defense, small-ball style of play (read: Mike Dunleavy as point forward) is questionable. As is whether or not he'll even last the entire term of his current Warriors deal, a feat he could not accomplish in either his last coaching gig or his last coaching gig with the Warriors. What is not in question is that the Warriors still have no viable plan for the future.
Elie is young(ish), and spirited. He is an up-and-comer who will be a head coach someday, somewhere. And we can just about guarantee that Elie's future team will play hard-nosed defense and compete with a lot of fire and intensity. We can also guarantee that Mario Elie is much more the future of the NBA than Don Nelson -- who do you think has a better chance of winning a future championship, Nellie or Elie? Exactly. Yet, the Warriors, in all their collective wisdom, have decided to let the future walk and the past talk. Another in a long, long, 12-year line of excellent personnel decisions.
Reactions are mixed around Warrior nation, but it appears the consensus is that Elie was not a Nelson guy. Gee, really. In addition to his impressive (although championship-less) coaching stats, Nelson brings a considerable ego and a proven disdain for defense and young players back to the Bay. He's also a My Way or the Highway type of coach, so how could he tolerate a player's coach like Elie with a knack for connecting with young players. In Nellie's eyes, this team ain't big enough for the both of them.
There has also been talk that Elie wanted out. Earlier this year, he interviewed for the Sacramento job, and there's no question he has designs on being a head coach. There's also no question he was getting little respect from management in Oaktown and had no real future role with this team. It's probably a good thing for Elie, because there aren't many teams he could go to from here that offer less hope of a future championship than the Warriors. His gain is our loss, and we'll be kicking ourselves in a few years when we watch Elie's Utah Jazz or Memphis Grizzlies hoist the championship banner that could have been ours.
This latest move just adds another layer of dubiosity to a Warriors franchise that can't seem to get out of its own shadow. If we were Keith Smart, we might think about dusting off that resume.