Ho' boy. Somebody better call FEMA. Fire up the buses and make sure that the Oracle has plenty of cots and bottled water, because there could be a CAT5 disaster looming in the Warriors future.
Last night at the Oracle, the team was able to withstand the Sacramento Kings, 126-113, in a game that the hometown hoopsters controlled from the opening minutes, but there's storm clouds brewing. Ironically, last year's killer storm, Hurricane Artest, was in the house to remind the Warriors about decision making. It was ironic, because the Warriors again find themselves toying with the idea of voluntarily welcoming an NBA bad boy into the fold even as their team chemistry seems to be taking on a little water.
In the course of blowing yet another fourth quarter lead on Sunday, this time against the Sonics, 119-117, it appeared that the inevitable waves of discord between headstrong team front man Baron Davis and headstronger old-school hardass coach Don Nelson might be lapping at the weakened levees of this Warriors season.
In the final 17 seconds, as the Warriors watched another victory slip through their grasp, Nelson pulled Davis from the game, to which the Diddy responded peevishly. Later, Nelson justified the move by admitting he had conceded defeat at that point: "We were in a fouling situation. I wanted to inbound the ball and play with the guys that were in there. If there had been a chance to win the game, I would have put him back in." Yeah, but why not just keep him in there, just in case? The bottom line is Nelson purposely did not play the team's best player and court leader in the critical moment of the game in order to make the point that this is his team and by god, he's going to be sure that everybody knows it.
So Davis stewed on the sidelines with his arms folded across his chest and watched Anthony Roberson and Keith McCleod try, unsuccessfully, to rescue the win. After the game, Davis had no comment. On Monday, he was saying all the right things, but . . . .
Nelson thinks he is probably just sending a message to his team. The problem is Nelson has a long and troubled history of doing this, especially with this franchise. During his first run with the team, he pulled similar moves with Tim Hardaway and Chris Webber. And we all know how that Chris Webber thing turned out.
Shades of Chris Webber for Diddy and Nellie? Just bring in KG and all will be well in Warriorsland. Photo from official Golden State Warriors website.
When they hired Nelson back in August, when he was running the team ragged in training camp, and just last week when the team looked lethargic and lost, we were saying it was only a matter of time until Nelson's unyielding and often petty personality was going to blow up in the Warriors' faces.
If Nelson and Davis can't get along, this season will be a disaster. Even worse, if Chris Mullin foolishly trades for Alan Iverson, it will be the Chris Webber situation all over again. Do you really think AI is going to put up with Nellie's crap? The Answer couldn't get along with Larry Brown, another old school hardass (and one who has actually won something in the playoffs), so how does anybody think Nellie and Iverson can co-exist? How will Nellie react the first time Iverson decides to blow off practice? Exactly.
Nationally syndicated radio jock talker Tony Bruno was on KNBR 1050 Tuesday morning saying the Warriors would be stupid not to trade Monta Ellis, Davis, or JRich for Iverson. Talk about stupid. Bruno showed unbelievable ignorance with regard to Ellis, the state of the Warriors, and attendance figures, but he's not a local so we can excuse his on-air stupidity. Bay Area fans should know better though. Do we really need to go through the whole argument against bringing a brilliant but perpetually unhappy star to a fragile and impressionable team like the W's? It's the Ron Artest debate all over again.
Iverson's personality and attitude aside, the Warriors are loaded at guard. The backcourt is not the problem. The problem is the frontcourt, shooting, and defense, none of which AI can really help with (let's not forget, he gets his 30 points per game, but generally shoots only 40 percent from the field; 30 percent from three-point range). The guy the Warriors should mortgage the team to get is Kevin Garnett, and we've been saying this for a solid year now. With Garnett in the frontcourt, this team would be dangerous. And, it would have leadership with character, the kind of character you would want your kid to have. KG could also mentor fledgling big men Andris Biedrins and Patrick O'Bryant, two guys who aren't getting much big-man wisdom from Nelson or Adonal Foyle.
It seems that every other team in the league is looking to make deals to get better, but the Warriors haven't pulled off a decent transaction since they got Baron way back in February 2005. Compared to their playoff drought, that ain't bad, but if they hope to end their playoff drought, that ain't good. If there was ever a time or a reason to mobilize every available resource, it's now. Garnett could singlehandedly swoop in and rescue the Warriors from their pathetic 12-year rooftop.
Let's get back to that Sonics game for a second. The Warriors are going through a Jeckyl and Hide (yes, we know it's spelled Hyde, but we're trying something new here -- humor -- bear with us) phase right now. One game they seem to have the formula for success, such as when they sliced and diced a darn good New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets team last Saturday in the Oracle. The next game, they are nowhere to be found. (See, now the whole Hide thing makes sense -- not really funny, but at least it makes sense.) They're also pretty good at pulling their disappearing act in the fourth quarter of games they should and need to win.
One of the main reasons why this team is losing fourth quarter leads is because they cannot play a half court game. At the end of the game, this team has to be able to run some half-court sets to burn clock and set up high-percentage shots. They cannot keep jacking up outside shots, small-ball style, and hope to win, especially if the outside shots aren't falling and they can't get any rebounds. Aside from Biedrins, there is no frontcourt presence, zero, zippo, nada. Because Nellie has decided he's only going to play first-round draft choice O'Bryant in garbage time, that doesn't leave many options. We like Matt Barnes as a small forward and Troy Murphy as a Steve Kerr-like strategic outside shooter, but neither is going to stake out the paint and help the Warriors hold a fourth quarter lead.
And neither is Alan Iverson. And neither is sitting the team's best player in the final minute of a game in the balance. The water is rising Warriors fans, and unless Warriors management mobilizes and gets some relief for this team in the form of a top-tier big man, in a couple of months Anderson Cooper is going to be poking his nose around the devastated bowels of the Oracle looking for survivors of the Warriors 2006-2007 season while Warriors management laments we "don't think anyone anticipated" things would turn out so badly.
Oh yeah?
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
If you're going to rag on Allen Iverson at least spell his name right.
And by the way, it's Keith McLeod, not however you spelled that. If you payed attention to the game, you would know that.
You would also notice that Ellis is a subpar player, and completely useless playing off the ball. If you've been a Warrior fan for a long time, wouldn't you be tired of us waiting on potential players, and lookin forward to the true immediate talent that will push us into the playoffs?
If you think AI can't do that for us, just take a look at the roster he took with him to the Finals.
I'm for trading Ellis, that's for sure. Baron and JRich, I'd take a little more time to consider.