Last season came on the heels of the 2007-2008 season in which the Warriors just missed the playoffs, being the first team who won at least 48 games in the regular season to not make the postseason. They would go on to lose Baron Davis, Mickael Pietrus, and Matt Barnes before the 2008-2009 season started. They'd then trade Al Harrington before the season was over. And let's not forget Monta Ellis and his moped accident which caused him to miss nearly the first half of the season.
In the mean time, decision maker Chris Mullin was stripped of his powers thanks to Don Nelson and team president Robert Rowell and Nelson's friend Larry Riley was given Mully's job. With Baron Davis gone, there were rumors that Mullin was trying to trade Stephen Jackson, thinking that without Davis, Jackson wasn't as valuable and not necessarily the one to step into Davis' leader role. But before Mullin could do anything, Rowell signed Jackson to a new contract, thus making Jackson nearly untradeable in a seller's market. This is soap opera level stuff right?(I'm grouping a bunch of things I've read during the off-season and will link to the places I read at the bottom.)
All Don Nelson's children...
This year's off-season reads like a soap opera and if someone wants to make a movie about a dysfunctional basketball organization, this might be the team to follow.
According to some reports, Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis were told after last season that the Warriors would deliver them a big man in the off-season and that the team would make a rush towards the playoffs rather than become a rebuilding team. And on draft night, it looked like the Warriors had a chance to get that big man in Amar'e Stoudamire. Now I'm not sure he would've ever been happy coming here, but it seems that when Stephen Curry became available for the Warriors, any deal that would've made Phoenix happy for Stoudamire went out the window. Nellie didn't want to part with Curry.
Jackson supposedly became upset because the Warriors didn't get their big man like promised and that lead into a frustrating preseason where he gave up his team captaincy and was suspended for two games.
In preseason game against the Lakers, Jackson was guarding Kobe Bryant and Bryant was getting into his head. Bryant supposedly called him "Young Fella" which set Jackson off. Jackson had five fouls in the first half and was frustrated at both the replacement referees who were calling the game way too closely for his taste and at Nellie who left him in to accumulate the five fouls. After coming out of the game, Nellie tried to put his hand on Jackson's shoulder and Jackson pushed it off and told him not to touch him.
As the Warriors' world turns...
The Warriors did get a big man, just not the kind of big man who will lead them to the promise land. They signed veteran big man Mikki Moore. They also traded Jamal Crawford and in return landed former Warrior Speedy Claxton and Acie Law. No word on whether Mookie Blaylock, Vonteego Cummings, Bobby Sura, or Larry Hughes were available. Actually, I'm sure Hughes was available.
Marco Belinelli was traded in a multi-team trade for Devean George. And to top it off, young big man Brandan Wright was hurt again and will be out for a while.
They'll run out Jackson (until they can actually trade him), Ellis, Curry, Andris Biedrins, Corey "Bad Porn" (I'll let you look up why fans have been calling him that) Maggette, Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf, Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Morrow, and CJ Watson. There's definitely talent on this team, but like usual, too heavy in guys who can get up and down the floor and not heavy enough in guys who can play defense, be physical, and score in the flow of the game when they can't run.I know that we won't see this because it's just not Nellie's style, but I'd love to see Curry, Ellis, Morrow, Randolph, and Biedrins get a lot of playing time together, though not necessarily all at the same time. It would give the Warriors an idea if these guys can play with each other. Anthony Randolph needs to be looked at as the future and they should build the team around him. Who plays better with him between Curry and Ellis? Is Morrow a better player at the shooting guard than Ellis, or does Ellis' penetration style work better with someone like Randolph? They have to use this season to answer those questions and figure out a way to get something in return for Jackson. Do you get rid of him early so that his stench doesn't ruin the team from the outset, or do you allow him to play himself into being traded?
This upcoming season has the looks of another wasted year and a mid lottery level draft pick for next year. Wait, that's what always happens.
Photo of Stephen Jackson by http://fanbase.com/member/rachna
Photo of Anthony Randolph by http://fanbase.com/member/prakash
Places I read to put together the points for my article:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/expertsarchive;_ylt=Ag4p9AyKI4OA1llh7PyThdfTjdIF?author=Adrian+Wojnarowski
http://48minutes.net
http://www.warriorsworld.net/
http://www.ibabuzz.com/warriors/
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