When Is Enough, Enough?

This article was originally posted on Fanbase.

When I think of the 2009 season for the Warriors, it brings back terrible memories. It reminds me of the year 1994. Let me create the parallel for you.

In 1993, the Warriors traded the rights of their first round draft pick Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway (and some future draft picks) to the Orlando Magic for the rights to Chris Webber. For the Warriors, who were more "little engine that could" than truly good basketball team, this was a match made in heaven. Chris Webber gave the Warriors a post presence that they hadn't seen since the days of Nate Thurmond. But he was also athletic and could run, fitting into Don Nelson's uptempo style.

Even though those Warriors lost in the first round of the playoffs, 1994 looked bright. All-star point guard Tim Hardaway was coming back from injury and the team would be at full blast. But Webber and Nelson couldn't get along. Supposedly, Webber didn't like playing center. He didn't like Nelson's backhanded criticisms. And he didn't like the Bay Area because he feared earthquakes. For a guy who called himself "The Big Bad Wolf", he sure came off as a pansy. But that's what happens when you're completely catered to since you were in the 8th grade.

Nelson was the adult here. He could've changed up his style to accomodate his new meal ticket. But something just didn't vibe between the two guys. The Warriors even traded for center Rony Seikaly so that Webber wouldn't have to play the five spot. It's too bad they had to trade Billy Owens, one of Webber's best friends on the team, to get him. The miscommunication here was very transparent. Webber was traded to Washington and soon thereafter, Nelson was gone too. You've heard about the curse of the Bambino? Ok, I won't go that far.

It would take the Warriors thirteen years to get back to the playoffs after the Webber/Nellie debacle. Thanks to a shrewd move by Chris Mullin to steal Baron Davis away from the New Orleans Hornets, the Warriors were back in business. In 2007, the Warriors became the NBA's most fascinating team to watch and upset the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Mavs were the number one seed in all of the playoffs, but behind Davis, the Warriors were the story. Who was also apart of the Oakland revival? Well, none other than Don Nelson. Mullin's other shrewd move was to talk Nelson out of retirement to replace Mike Montgomery as head coach.

In 2008, the team won 48 games and just barely missed the playoffs. I believe 48 wins is the highest number of wins for a team to ever miss the playoffs. Though Jason Richardson was traded before the season for rookie power forward Brandan Wright, the rest of the group was still there. Monta Ellis came into his own and Andris Biedrins was continuing to improve. All they had to do was resign Davis, and the group would be ready to run again and they'd be able to add another young piece to the mix.

But the Warriors couldn't resign Davis. Though Chris Mullin was the man technically making the moves, the word on the street was that team president Robert Rowell was the man behind not resigning Davis. He thought that Davis was asking for too much money and for too many years. Nellie was also seemingly behind some of the personel moves and Chris Mullin was being pushed aside. There's your thanks for giving your old coach the keys to the car Mully. All of a sudden, everything that was so good was about to turn terribly bad.

Monta Ellis didn't help the matters by ruining his ankle playing pick up basketball and then lying about it. And all of a sudden, the Warriors were throwing money at broken down players when the one player they deemed broken down was the guy who lead them to their resurgence. Gilbert Arenas and Elton Brand said no. Plan F, Corey Maggette said yes.

How can a franchise who made all the right moves just two years prior become the laughing stock of basketball again? Well, they can do so by not learning from their own mistakes. They created the blueprint for all franchises to see how not to deal with your superstar athletes. They showed that when you give your head coach too much power, he can start tinkering with things based on who he likes personally and who he gets along with to make his job easier.

Nellie's had help in destroying their franchise twice now. Even if they have exciting young players like Ellis and Anthony Randolph, the management isn't right. The object should be to win as many games as possible, while also getting the younger guys to step in when you need replacements.

I've been here before. It wasn't fun the first time. And it's even more annoying going through it again. When is enough, enough?

Webber photo from Wikicommons
Nelson photo from miles5226

Tim Hardaway - The Golden Years

In 1986-1987, the Golden State Warriors made the playoffs and upset the Utah Jazz in the first round thanks to players like Sleepy Floyd, Purvis Short, and Joe Barry Caroll. But a year later, Don Nelson would replace George Karl as coach, and Floyd and Carroll would be traded for Ralph Sampson. They'd go from being a playoff team one year to only winning 20 games the next.

After drafting Mitch Richmond in 1988, the Warriors now had two-thirds of what would become Run TMC. Richmond joined sharp shooter Chris Mullin, making one of the more dependable offensive twosomes in all of the NBA. Richmond was the rock. Michael Jordan once called him one of the toughest match-ups of his career. Mullin was the veteran and someone who led by example, showing dedication and effort after nearly squandering the early part of his career with personal issues. In 1989, Nelson drafted someone who would fill out the remaining piece Run TMC. Tim Hardaway brought the free spirit and toughness of someone who spent his early days playing in the playgrounds in Chicago. And he also brought a wicked crossover.



When the Warriors drafted Hardaway out of the University of Texas at El Paso in 1989, one of his main roles was to stop Kevin Johnson. Actually, if I remember correctly, one of the first questions that Hardaway was asked after he was drafted was if he could stop KJ. I think his response was a simple, "Yeah." Johnson had destroyed the Warriors in the playoffs in the 1989-1990 season. Johnson was one of the quickest players in the league and was pretty much unstoppable facing the likes of Winston Garland. But it wasn't really Garland's fault. No one was stopping KJ in those days. It made sense for Don Nelson to draft Hardaway, who may have never stopped KJ, but sure made it hard for KJ to stop him.

Hardaway was easy to like. He played the game with a smile on his face, but with a chip on his shoulder. He was measured at 5'10, but would always claim to be six feet tall. If you tried to call him Timmy, he would remind you that his name was Tim. But you could call him by his nickname Tim-Bug, or just Bug and he'd be fine with that. He was one of the most competitive players in the league, but he allowed you to see the joy on his face when he was playing the game he loved.

Hardaway averaged nearly 15 points a game and dealt out nearly 9 assists a game in his rookie year. The only reason he didn't win the Rookie Of The Year award is because a man by the name of David Robinson was a rookie that year as well. Even though Hardaway energized the team, helping them lead the entire league in scoring, they didn't make the playoffs and finished with an under .500 record. You could argue that Hardaway's sophomore effort might've been the best of his career. He averaged nearly 23 points per game to go along with 9.7 assists per game and the Run TMC triumvirate together averaged nearly 73 points combined per game. The Warriors upset the San Antonio Spurs and David Robinson in the first round of the playoffs, but lost to the LA Lakers in five games in the second round.

Hardaway was quickly becoming one of the best and most exciting young players in the game. He was known for his great first step and also for his crossover dribble. It was originally called the "killer crossover" and somewhere along the lines, it was then dubbed the "UTEP 2 step", which I always thought was lame. The crossover was sick and he was getting to the hole at will. He had an awkward jump shot which came out of his hands like a knuckle ball, but he didn't need it very often early in his career. He was taking guys to the hole.

Before Hardaway's third campaign, Don Nelson broke up Run TMC. He traded Mitch Richmond to the Sacramento Kings for rookie Billy Owens right before the new season was about to start. With Owens, Nelson saw a versatile guy who could get up and down the court who had some size and could pull rebounds and then run the break himself. Even though the trade wasn't all that popular with the fans, you couldn't argue with the results. The Warriors won 55 games in 1991-1992 and Hardaway's third year was comparable to his second. He increased his scoring and assists, but he started to take more outside shots, hurting his shooting percentage along the way. But his his body was already starting to slowly break down. Even though the Warriors were one of the NBA's dandies, they would be upset by a hungry Seattle Supersonics team in the first round of the playoffs.

The following year was a bad one for the club as the injury bug bit them hard. Owens, Mullin, Hardaway, and Sarunas Marciulionis would all miss significant time with injuries. There was a bright spot to that 1992-1993 team. His name was Latrell Sprewell. With Sprewell, they finally had someone who matched Richmond's defensive intensity and he was athletic enough to be good on offense, even though he didn't have very many offensive moves. He just flew past and jumped over guys. Hardaway and Sprewell were going to be one of the best backcourts in the league.




The following year, the Warriors traded for the draft rights of Chris Webber. Webber would bring a certain dynamic that the Warriors hadn't had since the days of Nate Thurmond. He was going to be a dependable post scorer, a tough rebounder, and someone who put fear in the other team. As a power forward, he had the talents to be one of the all time best. But Nelson had him playing center because he was athletic enough to, but also because he didn't have anyone else. With Webber at center, Owens at power forward, Mullin at small forward, Sprewell at shooting guard, and Hardaway bringing up the rock, the team was going to run and not too many other teams would be able to stay with them.

But just as the basketball gods giveth, they also taketh away. Hardaway would miss the entire season after tearing his ACL in training camp. The Warriors would never get to see their dream fivesome on the court at the same time. With Avery Johnson as the point guard, the Warriors won 50 games and Sprewell came into his own. Webber didn't have dominating statistics but he was a game changer. It didn't matter in the playoffs though as they were swept by Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns. Webber and Nelson weren't geting along and Webber didn't want to play center. He also didn't want be on the West Coast. Nellie was able to trade for Rony Seikley so that Webber didn't have to play center, but that only made it worse because he traded one of Webber's best buddies in Owens to do so. Owner Chris Cohan backed Nelson and gave him the ok to trade Webber to the Washington Bullets for Tom Gugliotta and some draft picks. It would go down as the darkest day in franchise history.

Hardaway returned from injury the following season and he his stats were ok, but he wasn't himself. He wasn't driving to the basket as much and heaved up over 7 three-pointers a game, which was eye opening because his game was all about quickness and getting to the basktet. By shooting so many three-pointers, it showed a small dent in the armor of one of the most confident players in the league. He couldn't get to the basket as easily anymore. Even though Webber and Owens were gone, a lineup of Hardaway, Sprewell, Mullin, and Rony Seikley should've been good enough to compete for a playoff spot. But Hardaway wasn't 100%, Mullin only played one-fourth of the season, and Seikley was a disappointment. Nelson quit, leaving Warriors fans with neither Nelson or Webber, which was terribly frustrating since it was both of their egos that caused the problems in the first place. There was also some discontent between Hardaway and Sprewell. While Hardaway was away, Sprewell became the go to guy. There was a bit of an alpha dog struggle in the backcourt when Hardaway came back from injury.

I remember reading Slam magazine and Hardaway and Sprewell were the focus of the cover story. They acted like they were the unstoppable backcourt that they were expected to be. Hardaway even said that Sprewell was like Mike (Jordan) except he just had smaller hands. But they didn't get along or play all that well together and the Warriors only won 26 games. Hardaway was traded the following year to the Miami Heat.

Hardaway only played 5 1/2 seasons with the Warriors (he sat out one full year) and played 6 years with the Heat. And even though he was in the playoffs with the Heat consistently and even helped them get all way to the Eastern Conference finals in 1996-1997, he's far more famous for being one of Run TMC. It was because he helped ignite a suffering franchise and was a part of one of the most entertaining teams in the NBA in the 90s.

While his reputation suffered late in his Warriors career because he was the old dog and Sprewell was the new dog, I never felt that it was deserved. You only need to look at the 1992-1993 season when Hardaway stepped aside to allow Magic Johnson to start in his place in the All-Star game. Johnson was out of the league after contracting the HIV virus, but had won the popular vote. Hardaway was probably the best point guard in the league. It was Hardaway's year to shine, but he knew Johnson's accomplishment was bigger than the game. And when Magic thanked him, he looked like a kid in a candy store. That's how I remember his style too. He played basketball like he was a kid in a candy store.

Thanks to sportsecyclopedia for the timeline.

http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nba/goldst/gswarriors.html

Last Night's Run - The Rims Get Small

The Warriors can't shoot
It was one of those games. But it wasn't supposed to be one of those games. It was supposed to be high scoring, up and down, not fundamental, and wild and crazy. But it was none of those things. It was one of those games. It was one of those games where the home team plays a bit harder than the other, even if there were tons of fans dressed like seats in the arena. It was one of those games where one team simply couldn't make an outside shot so instead of taking things to the bucket and getting closer, they just kept shooting outside shots. Because you know, the percentages should even out right? How's this for shooting?

Bad Shooter	FGM	FGA
S. Jackson	6	21
C. Maggette	4	16
A. Harrington	3	15
T. Hardaway	0	17

I know, Timmy didn't play tonight even though if he did, it would've been an improvement. But the reason I put Timmy there is because if you remember that game, the Warriors still won even though Timmy couldn't find the broad side of the barn. Why? Because he was only one player. Chris Mullin was able to bail him out and the Warriors won. Here, when you have three guys who feel the need to chuck up shots without much success, it's detrimental to the team. At least Andris Biedrins came to play as he scored 14 and pulled 22 boards. Also, we had an Anthony Randolph sighting for one minute.



Marc Gasol, Pau's angry little brother, was the only player for Memphis to really play well, at least offensively. He went for 27 and 16 and looked smooth and rough at the same time, if that makes any sense.

OJ Mayo and Rudy Gay both went 6-13 shooting and neither got to the free throw line so Gay still leads Mayo by a large margin in shots taken.

I almost forgot. The Grizz won 90-79.

More on Iverson for Billups
Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don't Lie has a really good recap of why this trade is much better for Denver than Detroit.

Detroit's taking another chance, and though there's the possibility the team might whiff in free agency, it hardly matters. They've cleared cap space and developed even more options. If nothing happens this summer, then they can run the kids for a year before trying to clamp down on the 2010 free agent market. After all, only Tayshaun Prince ($11.1 million), Jason Maxiell (reportedly about $5 million), and the backcourt tandem of Stuckey and Aaron Afflalo (combined to make $4.7 million) will be on the books that summer.

Nobody, not even Joe Dumars or Iverson himself, will be able to anticipate what sort of impact his presence will have on this year's Pistons team. AI's game is that unique. But given the far-reaching implications of what this deal could do for Detroit, again, it hardly matters in the long run.

Geoff Lepper says that Denver might've received some short term cap relief, it won't help that much in the long run.

The Nuggets save some $8 million in the short term; Billups ($11.1 million) and McDyess ($6.8) represent more than $4 million in savings over Iverson's cost ($21.9 million), which is doubled because the Nuggets are — even with this cost-cutting move - slated to go several million over this season's luxury-tax threshold of $71.15 million.

The deal could get even sweeter if the team is able to negotiate a favorable buyout with McDyess, who reportedly won’t play anywhere but Detroit.

But unlike Iverson and his soon-to-expire deal, Billups is on the books for another $25.2 million in '09-'10 and '10-'11 combined (there's also a player option for $14.2 million in '11-'12) and McDyess - unless a buyout is reached - will pull down $6.8 million next season.

So, in exchange for some short-term relief, the Nuggets have cast their lot with a 32-year-old point guard who has never led an up-tempo attack before in his life.

Tim Kawakami says that Denver got better, even if it doesn't make them a lot better.

The Nuggets aren't good enough to challenge in the West, but the Nuggets weren't going anywhere with AI and, in their spot, desperately needing new talent around Carmelo Anthony, it’s probably better to add Billups and his longer money than it is to let AI walk away next summer just to save some cash.

If I have this right, since the summer, Denver basically has traded Marcus Camby (given away a few months ago for cash purposes) and Iverson for Billups and McDyess plus some extra salary savings to use on Linas Kleiza's new deal and maybe some other things.

Again, nothing spectacular, but it's better than Denver sitting around and letting that roster atrophy and watching Carmelo get nasty and pretty soon he's ready to get the heck out.