Finding New Homes

Warriors are doing what they can to cash in on free agent frenzy this year. For once, they got rid of dead weight and brought in David Lee, Charlie Bell and coaxed Brandan Wright to come and help turn this franchise around. I’m glad we aren’t dead like the Clippers. They have to share the same building as the much more popular and successful Lakers. Every number 1 pick they’ve taken has either been really bad (Danny Manning who?) or get hurt (Blake Griffen). I’d say that last 10 years of picks, the Clippers have done a half decent job, nabbing Chris Kamen and Lamar Odom. But at the end of the day, they still are the bottom of the pack.

Warriors on the other hand, don’t have the everyday pressure of another team dominating the headlines. However, they do have the pressure to be successful as they are the team of the Bay. No one wants to root for the Sacramento Kings. It’s hot up there! Golden State Warriors are suppose to represent the people of the Bay and for the first time in many off seasons, they’ve made some moves to help the Warriors gain more respect.

A quick look at David Lee and his numbers aren’t staggering. He seems like a big, slow man who only succeeded in the Big Apple because there wasn’t anyone else. But his numbers also do show that he can hang in the big boy league. He averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds last season and has improved each season. I also think that being in a place where youre number 1 and 2 guards are threats and a dominating force on offense, will only help Lee continue to rack up numbers but open the game up for Ellis and Curry.

The newest news is that the Warriors agreed to a sign-and-trade deal with the New Jersey Nets for Anthony Morrow. With all these old Warriors leaving and new faces arriving, it is hard to say what kind of season the Warriors will have. I hope that in the first half, they are able to find some kind of chemistry that will help win some games. Though Nellie is not big on defense (or at all), the guys the Warrior brought in are guys that can and will play defense. I believe that if they do play some good defense, they have the capability to continue to put lots of points on the board.

Finally, the biggest off season the Warriors need to do is either get rid of Nellie or understand that they are going to have another losing season with. Clearly, the coaching style of Nellie is back in the 80’s where it worked because guys, overall, weren’t at talented. But the game has changed and Nellie hasn’t. As fans of the Warriors, we have all suffered watching a great team crumble because of management and lose games because of poor coaching. I am an advocate of getting rid of Nellie for someone who can teach the game and take the best of out of each player and mix it together for a great team. Obviously longevity is not something normal in the professional world, as it is a business, those who know the game and play some kind of defense has survived and have been successful with different teams (i.e Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Gregg Popovich.)

Warriors are headed for much need re-vamp of the line-up. Now only if they did that for the coaching staff, would they be really headed in the right direction.