Tag Archives: golden state warriors

May 8, 2014

Good Night Mark Jackson

By chappy81

Oh the life of a Warriors fan. W’s fans have had plenty of down time over the years to reflect on bad decisions since we’ve seen so many of them. Strangely I’ve found this whole Mark Jackson fiasco entertaining, but mostly because of the reaction it got. It seemed like a lot of people around the bay area wanted heads to roll in the front office for it. I watched about 90% of their games this season, and more than a handful of times they looked unprepared and unmotivated. Especially against some of the weaker teams in the league. I’m not saying that I’m an expert, but for a guy that’s supposed be such a good motivator, you shouldn’t be losing that many of those types of games especially not 10 of them over a year in a conference as good as the West. If they won 5 of those 10 that I thought they should’ve won, they would’ve been ahead of the Rockets and Blazers in the standings. The lack of preparation showed on the offensive end as well with isolation plays taking up way too many possessions. Another thing that really bugged me was the hockey substitution pattern he had, especially when their bench was proven to be terrible. Why would you put in 5 not very good players at once? Can’t you mix and match some starters with the bench? Anyways, the only thing I was really concerned about when I heard the MJ news was, I hope they get someone that Curry likes enough to stay here when his contract is up in 3 years.

I’ve heard a lot of outrage from national media, local media, and fans, but in all honesty I think it stems back to the previous ownership group that didn’t get anything right on just about every level. I’m not the biggest fan of Lacob as a person and how visible of an owner he is, but he sure has helped them come a long way from when he first bought the team in 2010. I might be one of the few out there that truly trusts this ownership group. After someone gets fired you have to look back at the series of smart moves which gave Mark Jackson the tools to actually be a successful coach. After all, your team is only as good as your players, and without the pieces you don’t go from 27 to 48 to 51 wins. The way a lot of media seems to spin it, is that MJ was the only reason they made the improvement.

The first move they made that really got me excited about the new regime wasn’t a player signing, it was hiring The Logo, Jerry West as an adviser to the team. After years of watching the clueless Larry Riley sign bad contracts and trade players away and see them excel elsewhere, we finally had someone we could lean on and trust to make the right moves. He was instrumental in the selection of Klay Thompson and Draymond Green during the 2011 draft who look like damn good players at the moment.

They then promoted Bob Myers to the GM position. I wasn’t overly excited about that one, but the former agent has pulled off some great moves in his time here. The two players that were on that 2011 team that are still here when he was hired are David Lee and Stephen Curry. He pulled off the Bogut for Monta trade, which obviously worked out better for the W’s than it did for the Bucks. That trade also freed up the team to be Curry and Klay’s team and helped them grow into the players they are today. He made the cap sucking corpses of Andris Biendris, Richard Jefferson, and Brandon Rush turn into the swiss army knife Andre Iguodala. He found the valuable assets in Jarret Jack and Carl Landry for the 12-13 season. Oh and he hired Mark Jackson to coach this team. Sure, they’ve had some mis-steps like using the amnesty on Charlie Bell instead of Andris Biendris, but at least that move was to make room to give Deandre Jordan and Tyson Chandler offer sheets.

So why am I not bent out of shape that they let Jackson go? Because there’s starting to be a track record with this ownership group and making SMART decisions. Honestly if you told me three years ago when they took over that they’d be in back to back playoffs and have one of the best starting fives in the league, I would’ve probably thought you were on crack. It has happened though, and contrary to public opinion it seems like this ownership group has a plan, and is being tactical in the way they are making moves. I’ve never been able to say that or thought I’d be able to say that. They stuck out with Keith Smart, and did well with Jackson, but weren’t satisfied, so we’ll see if they find THE guy this time around.

11 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Sports

March 22, 2012

Boo’s, Sapp, and Bounty

By chappy81

BOOOO – Not sure why, but booing the Warriors owner on Chris Mullin’s jersey retirement night got a TON of media attention. When I watched it live, I honestly didn’t think much of it. I thought it was a little excessive in that, the only things Lacob has done wrong is make too many promises to a fanbase that has been through a lot empty promises by management. If you don’t believe me, then read Simmons article on the most tortured fans in the NBA. Honestly if I was there, I would’ve booed him. Some were booing because of the Monta trade, but I’d boo because they didn’t amnesty Biendris, who we all knew wasn’t good based on his last two seasons, and ended up wasting the amnesty on Charlie Bell’s expiring contract. For all those saying it was disrespectful and ruined Mullin’s night, I’ll bet you anything Mulley was on the fans side at one point, but he’s too classy to boo. Especially when he was run out of Oakland by the previous owner as a thank you for building the We Believe team, and trying hard to keep Baron Davis. Joe Lacob made a round of media appearances in the Bay Area the day after the booing. He swung and missed on his explanations too. For some reason he still says they’re a playoff team this year, c’mon man, you can’t truly believe that, I didn’t before the season and definitely don’t now, we’re not stupid even if we do fill a stadium for a team that has a 30% winning percentage. He also contradicted himself by saying he might boo himself too, but probably not. He also pronounced the fan-favorite Monta Ellis’s name wrong twice in this interview. He said Mon(TUH), not Mon(TAY) like it’s really pronounced. Did he even know his best players name that they traded away? He doesn’t seem to understand the fans frustrations, and he’s not like Mark Cuban even though he seems to be trying to be. I know it’s going to take some time for the ownership group to figure it all out and distance themselves from the Cohan era, so hopefully this teaches him a valuable lesson. Maybe he should take a page out of Jed York’s playbook and stop making silly predictions and just lay low letting the team and the staff they put together do their thing until they start winning. Since Jed let the powers he put in charge do their thing, the 49ers sure have turned it around, maybe the same will happen for the Warriors.

Snitches – Warren Sapp tweeted out that Jeremy Shockey was the “snitch” for the whole Bounty gate thing in New Orleans. Shockey responded with an angry denial. It’ no secret Sapp was one of my least favorite Raiders and is in the Jamarcus category on the all-time hate list. If he’s as lazy as he was while wearing the Silver and Black as he is with his reporting I’m already siding with Shockey, and that was before I saw that Shockey said he’d take a polygraph to clear his name. Sapp is also one of my least favorite NFL announcers. I’d rather listen to Shaq’s NBA analysis, than Sapp’s NFL take. I truly hope he gets fired for making this type of claim without stating any kind of evidence. It’s sad how much of an attention whore he is.

As for Bounty Gate itself, I guess it was a fair penalty. Goodell plays the role of father figure to the NFL, and just like when you lied to your parents as a kid, the penalty gets twice as bad when you get caught. I’m not sure I agree with taking away a bunch of draft picks though. Seems like missing their coach for the year is enough in my book. I had an interesting conversation with some Raiders fans and if something happened to them similar to what happened to the Saints. Can you say DEATH PENALTY!?! I bet they’d either be contracted or lose every first round pick for the next decade that they didn’t already trade away, and unfortunately Al Davis wouldn’t be around to sue the pants off the league.

14 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

March 14, 2012

Adios Mississippi Missile

By chappy81

I haven’t written about the Warriors all year, because like the old saying goes, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say it at all. When Mark Jackson and the W’s front office promised the playoffs at the beginning of the year, I thought whoa, easy on the promises, do they know what franchise this is?!? I actually wanted them to stand pat this year and see what they have instead of making a hasty trade for Dwight when he said wasn’t going to stay in the Bay Area. Fortunately they didn’t gut the team for him, because I feel like they have a solid core of young players (4th youngest team in the league). Unsurprisingly, they haven’t looked like a playoff team especially going 5-10 in games that were decided by 3 points or less. Regardless of what they have or haven’t done this year it’s culminated in the biggest trade of the seemingly not so interesting trading deadline this year. Shortly after hearing about the Warriors trading Monta, Udoh, and Kwame for Bogut and Jackson I was admittedly mad. I chewed on it for a little while, digested it, slept on it, now I’m ready to poo out my real thoughts on the trade.

Monta Ellis – I think the only reason I was mad is because Monta was the only one on the team that makes those exciting hold your breathe types of plays on the team. Unless you count every time Curry makes a cut on his seemingly always broken ankles. Every year Ellis has been in the NBA he’s gotten better, and added something to his game. He will be greatly missed in Warriorland, and I want to thank him for all the highlight reels and game winners he made for us. I’ve always felt he should get more calls from the refs than he does, but he’s so quick maybe the refs can’t see the contact. He also should’ve been an All-Star at some point, but now that he’s in the East maybe that will finally happen. The most exciting part about him leaving this year is going to be seeing what rookie Klay Thompson can do. He’s already looked great in the limited minutes he’s been on the floor, but being Monta’s backup doesn’t really get you that many minutes. Now with a full time run, we’ll get to see what kind of shooting guard we drafted, and if he is indeed the all around player we think he can be.

An Actual Bold Move for Basketball Reasons – I think the part that riled me up a lot yesterday was that we put Udoh in the trade, and got back Stephen Jackson instead of someone useful like say Ersan Ilyasova.  Udoh was finally healthy and showing the promise that made the Warriors pick him in the draft two years ago, but if that was the breaking point for the deal then I’m okay with it, because it’s a bold shake up. For first time in a long time, it’s clear the Warriors have a direction. They’re usually stuck in suck mode, but not sucky enough to get a good draft pick or make the playoffs. I’m actually for them sucking the rest of this season, because in this lockout shortened back to back game fest, I didn’t see them coming out of it well. If that meant trading away our biggest trade chip for a true center that the Warriors haven’t had on their roster since before I was born, so be it. This might be one of the first times I’ve been impressed with the new owners. They made a move that wasn’t fan popular (trading away the most popular player doesn’t usually get a good reaction from fans), isn’t a PR move, it’s not payroll/cap driven, and it definitely wasn’t ticket sales driven, because who will really want to watch this team the rest of the way especially if they shut Curry down like they should. They delayed being any good the rest of this year to possibly be a lot better in the future with a much more traditional lineup. I can’t commend them enough after years of head-scratching trades whether it works out well or not. This trade hasn’t been positive yet, but you can tell they’re putting together some kind of plan, which is a first time since Mullin was our GM that it seemed like we have a plan. Plus, the value for Ellis wasn’t as high as Bay Area fans thought. Yes, he’s a great player, but sometimes he was a black hole, couldn’t guard bigger SG’s like Kobe, and being undersized isn’t overly attractive to every team.

Warriors New Frontline – I can confidently say David Lee has been more important than Monta this season, and probably more consistent on a nightly basis. Putting him next to a hopefully healthy Bogut gives them the frontline that can compete with the large frontcourts that every other team has in the west. It will also make Lee that much better not having to do all the scoring down low, and will also prevent him from having to guard centers half the time when Biendris is in his usual foul trouble. Then there’s the fact that we actually have a true center opposed to guys like Foyle, Dampier, and Biendris. Come to think of it, I can’t remember being excited about their center since Manute Bol was on the team. Bogut also gives them that defensive anchor that Mark Jackson really needs to have to make this a strong defensive team. I have to admit I did keep Bogut one year in my fantasy basketball league, so I fully understand his upside, especially being in his prime at 27 years of age, and they will have control over him for three years compared to Monta’s two years (Monta had said he’d probably exercise his players option after next year to become a free agent). Bogut just needs to stop having the freak accidents to make this trade worthwhile for the Warriors. I’m not sure we can truly evaluate the trade until we see him play next year, so the jury is still out. I was pretty happy to see how mad some of the Bucks fans are about losing Bogut in the trade.

They might be bad enough to keep their draft pick – This trade also gives the Warriors some hope of keeping their draft pick this year. If you didn’t know, the Warriors traded their first rounder in this years draft for Marcus Williams to NJ back in 2009, who played a whopping nine games for them. That pick was then traded to Utah in the Deron Williams deal. The only way they keep the draft pick is if they lose their way to the worst seven in the league, since the pick is top seven protected. If they do suck their way into keeping their pick, then it would roll over to the next years draft, where it’s only top 5 protected. Even if they are the 7th worst team, there’s no guarantee they’ll get the 7th pick because it seems like every year at least one team leap frogs them into the lottery, and pushes them back a pick. They’re already better than a lot of the Eastern Confrences bottom feeders, so one can only hope. Despite last nights trade inspired performance from the Dubstitutes, they only beat Sacramento team that is just plain bad this year. I’m sure with one of the toughest schedules left in the league (something like 11 or 12 back to backs left) they will have a prolonged losing streak giving them a shot at keeping their draft pick, and at the same time get a good look at their young players. My hope now is they just let Curry rest so he doesn’t keep re-injuring those ankles, and lose their way to keep their draft pick.

Stephen Jackson is back – I have a hard time seeing where Jackson fits into the Warriors roster at the moment, but Dorrell Wright has been a disappointment this year. He was a cancer towards the end of his Warriors days, but maybe after getting out of Milwaukee with a coach he couldn’t stand will get his head right. Plus, he did give us Warriors fans a lot of good memories in a franchise that produces few. I thought they might try to flip him right away for something more constructive to the future of the team, but it sounds like it takes 48 hours for the trade and physicals to go through, so that will be after the trade deadline passes, unless he reports early, which I don’t see happening. I’ve read they’ll either trade him after the season or buy him out when the season is over. If that doesn’t happen at least Jack will eat up some salary cap so they don’t make a ridiculous offer to some free agent this off-season. I also wouldn’t mind holding onto Jack next year when he’s in a contract year with something to prove, so he can get paid. I’m just glad Rowell isn’t around to negotiate a new contract with him or we’d probably end up with Jack until 2020 at $10M per year hoping for We Believe 2.0.

13 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

January 28, 2012

Golden State Warriors “Live Forever”

By chappy81

Even if your not a Warriors fan, I bet you’ll find this video above pretty cool. It even gave me a few goosebumps along the way. If you didn’t like that one, maybe you’ll like the Kings version. A few days ago I wanted to write a state of the Warriors address, but in the end you can sum up this years team in two words, “very disappointing”. Also, if I put myself through evaluating all the players on the team, I might piss myself off too much, so here’s an abbreviated rant on what baffles me the most about this team. I never thought they’d be a playoff team this year with the second youngest roster in the NBA, which is why I didn’t put them on my list for our Western Conference predictions, but I thought they’d be better than they have been. They’ve had a few good wins here and there, but the bad so far has heavily outweighed the good. It’s becoming more and more apparent that Curry and Ellis aren’t that great of a pairing in the back-court together as neither seem to be all that consistent, and while one is doing damage the other seems to be standing around watching too much. Should we bring one of them in off the bench? Try it, why not for a game or two, because it’s not working as currently constructed.

The more glaring hole in the roster for the past four seasons though is their big men. David Lee can’t be their only inside presence on offense and defense, and every game it becomes more apparent. Kwame actually did look good for the seven games he played, which says a lot about our other options at center, but once he went down we were stuck with nothing at center. Why the owners decided to use the amnesty on Charlie Bell and his expiring contract instead of using it on the ever eroding “I don’t draw contact because I’m scared to shoot free throws” Biedrins will baffle me for years to come, but with Larry Riley as your GM, it’s about all you can expect. Seriously what was the point of bringing in Jerry West as an advisor if you were going to still let Riley make the final decisions with the personnel? The new owners promised change, yet stuck with a used car salesman in Riley who couldn’t sell Monta a moped. Ok Riley, I’ll give you Brandon Rush for Amundsen as a solid trade, but other than that, he’s made one mistake after another giving up assets for poo poo platters, and he IS the reason we might not have a first round draft pick if we are outside the top 7 picks in one of the deepest drafts in recent memory. Don’t be surprised if there’s a fire Larry Riley post highlighting his years of crapping on the Warriors roster before this season is over. I can’t stand anything about this guy anymore, his choices, his face, his voice. We went from “We Believe” under Chris Mullin as GM to “We’re picking between 7th and 10th in the draft every year, but are just good enough to never be in the top 3”. Well played Riley, well played.

Oh, there is a bright side to the big void in the middle. My new mancrush, 20-year-old Jeremy Tyler, has played some more minutes over the last few games, and looked pretty solid when he has been in the games. He’s made some mistakes, but definitely more controlled than let’s say Anthony Randolph’s type of mistakes. At least he showed he can hit a jumper and finish strong with a dunk which is more than Biedrins has done for at least three years. Also, the other rookie, Klay Thompson, after a rough start has looked like what everyone thought he’d be a versatile player that can defend and hit shots from all ranges. Same as Tyler, he makes mistakes, but let these kids grow since we aren’t going anywhere. It’s not much of a consolation considering the owner and coach promised the playoffs over the off-season, but both might have been foolish to make those predictions. Oh, and I do like how Mark Jackson has gotten them to play better defense, but maybe he needs to run some offensive practices too because they turn the ball over way too much. Yes, defense wins you games, but empty possessions where you don’t even get a shot up loses you as many games as not playing good defense.

14 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Sports

January 26, 2012

RFP Of The Day: Chris Mills

By mceezy

It’s been a while since the last RFP of the Day post. Shoot, it’s been a while since my last post at all. But, as Chappy often says, life got in the way. Today he reminded me of an old story that brought back more than just that one memory. Former NBA player Chris Mills will always be a random remembered player as far as I’m concerned, but he’s probably forgotten by many. My first regular season Warriors game was Opening Night in 2000. Golden State was a good 6 years removed from being at all relevant, and I had just moved to San Francisco after 15 years of being a Sacramento Kings fan. But here I was, at the beginning of my career as a Warriors fan. The big theme of the year was a picture of two sets of eyes belonging to Antawn Jamison and Larry Hughes with the caption: “Think we’re on to something…” Well, who knows what that something was, but I was pretty excited to be in the O-rena that night. The Warriors were playing the Phoenix Suns, led by Oakland product Jason Kidd. He f*cked around and got a triple double. Danny Fortson made his Warriors debut to the tune of 18 points and 18 rebounds. Unfortunately, he suffered a season ending injury just 6 games into the season. What few people realize is that he was on his way to establishing himself as one of the game’s better big men. Not only did he notch a double double in all six games, he was averaging 16+ pts and 16+ rebounds per game. Anyway, the game naturally went down to the wire. Chris Mills had scored 16 points off the bench, and he proved to be the hero when he hit a buzzer-beating game winning three to lift the Warriors to a 96-94 win over the Suns. That’s the main thing I’ll always remember him for.

The more memorable story is the one Chappy brought up today. I can’t remember the year, but it the Warriors were hosting the Portland Trailblazers. If memory serves me correctly, it was a tie game when Rasheed Wallace hit a 19 foot jumper at the horn to give the Blazers the win. The Blazers of course celebrated like they won the NBA Championship, and I guess some of the fans didn’t appreciate it. On their way into the tunnel, many of the Blazers began exchanging words with the fans. All of a sudden, guys like Wallace and Zach Randolph were charging into the stands to fight some people. Looking at the roster of the Blazers at that time, I’m willing to bet Bonzi Wells and Ruben Patterson were in there too. Unlike a few years later when World Peace wreaked havoc on the Palace at Auburn Hills, Wallace and Randolph and company were restrained before they got too deep into the stands where they were trying to get. But you know who else took exception to the Blazers antics? Chris Mills. Rumor has it Mills went to the locker, grabbed a gun, and stormed outside to greet the Blazers team bus. Supposedly, there he stood, waving the gun around and barking at the players on the bus to get off and meet him. The bus had to sit and wait until Mills was calmed down enough to leave the scene. I’m not sure what ever happened with that, but I think Mills got away with it.

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Random Forgotten Player, Sports

November 26, 2011

Hoops are back on!

By chappy81

The only thing I saw in the CBA deal details that I actually cared about was the amnesty clause, which gives teams the right to waive one contract on thier roster without a penalty. Goodbye Andris Biendris, and finally back to the on-court basketball talk! The lockout isn’t completely over, but it sounds like both sides are ready to approve the most recent deal. Throughout the lockout, I’ve been keeping tabs on some of the W’s players and what they’ve been up to. One of our draft picks, Jeremy Tyler, got me pretty excited when he made the video above showing that he’s staying in shape and ready to try and make the W’s roster. He looks like a 6-11″ 286 pound beast in the making. Oh yeah, and the best part about this guy is we bought his draft rights for a cool $2M off of the hard-line penny pinching Jordan in the draft last year. I hope this is another one of those Jordan blunders he seems to be getting more and more famous for as an executive!

7 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Sports

June 28, 2011

A Spending Spree, Starring the Warriors?!?

By chappy81

Making it Rain like Uncle Scrooge in Oakland!

When Peter Gruber and Joe Lacob bought the Warriors, it was a wait and see kind of deal in my mind. Being a Warriors fan over the past few decades you rarely know what direction they are going or if they even have a plan to begin with. It feels like the new owners DO have a game plan that we are finally seeing put together. Not a whole lot happened last year aside from them trading for David Lee during the off-season. At the end of this year, I figured I’d give them at least one more season to figure out how the NBA worked and what it takes to build a winner, then I’d start getting critical. I was pretty sure they weren’t planning on making big changes to the team since we are pretty close to the cap and won’t have money to sign a bunch of free agents heading into the lockout, but much sooner than I expected they made some big moves that really impressed me. They didn’t make a lot of moves that effect the on-court players, but in the front office we’ve been significantly strengthened, and seems to have some stability for the first time in god knows how long. All the moves led up to today where they bought a D-League team, the Dakota Wizards, and capped off an impressive pre-lockout flurry of moves that shook up our whole front office, and made Warriors fans like myself believe that the owners aren’t the cheap bastard we used to have.

Their first major move was hiring on Jerry West as our main consultant. I’m sure he didn’t come to Oakland cheap. It ultimately gave the organization instant credibility, and an amazing sound board to bounce ideas off. Their second move was hiring Mark Jackson to man the bench. Not positive if he’s going to be a great coach, but he seems like he’d be great at teaching Curry and Ellis how to manage games better, and be consummate professionals. I hope he’s the next Doc Rivers, but you never really can tell. I mean if you gave Doc Rivers the W’s roster, would he be able to bring them to glory? Probably not… Shortly after hiring Jackson, they acquired a top assistant in Mike Malone, who they somehow outbid the Lakers on. Does that mean he didn’t get along with Mike Brown during his time in Cleveland? I dunno, I guess you’d have to ask him.

Fast forward to the draft last week. It’s been awhile since we had a draft that didn’t have one mind boggling decision in it. Our picks made sense. Our previous owner would sell our picks for cash from time to time, which is why this years draft was so surprising. They actually bought the rights to Jeremy Tyler the 39th pick for $2M (a huge project that could be nothing or could be an All-Star), but the fact that they were spending money instead of just trying to make money during the draft was amazing to this longtime Warriors fan.

Today it was reported that they bought the D-League franchise, the Dakota Wizards. It seems like a great move, because the Warriors seem to be calling up D-Leaguers more than any other team, and have been very successful in doing so! They are now one of only four teams that have a “farm system”. Seems like a perfect place to let Tyler develop into a player, right? It will also keep Jeremy Lin busy instead of riding the bench in Oakland. Now they can sign players that they just want to look at. With access to their own team in the D-League that team can be run with the same concepts as the pro team, which will help them immensely when players are called up to the NBA because of injury or a player X sucking. They also can groom coaches whether they are assistants or head coaches. The team won’t be moving to Northern California until after the upcoming season, and if the Kings move, maybe Arco PowerBalance Pavilion wouldn’t be a bad site for the team!

19 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Sports

June 21, 2011

Doin Work NorCal NBA Draft Preview

By mceezy

The NBA Draft is becoming more and more like the MLB Draft with all the unknown players. These days, it’s pretty much one-and-done college players and international guys who most of us have never heard of. Fortunately Chappy still keeps up on his scouting and put together a mock draft for us, but I’m going to zero in on the Kings and Warriors. I’ll start with the Kings, mainly because they pick first out of the two teams. Also because at number seven, there will be fewer players off the board, so it’s easier to narrow down the search.

# 7 pick – Sacramento Kings: If ONLY one of the following names is available at number seven, it’ll be Brandon Knight, Kemba Walker, Kawhi Leonard, or Jimmer Fredette. I’d like to think those names are also in order of preference, but of that, I’m not so sure. The main area of need for the Kings to address in the draft is the point guard position. The verdict is in from last season and it looks like Tyreke Evans would be more effective off the ball. Marcus Thornton is locked in as a building block for the team as well, but after the opening tip, there’s no reason both of those guys couldn’t play with a third guard on the floor. Brandon Knight is the top PG in the draft, but also widely considered to be long gone before the Kings make their pick. That’s why it’ll likely come down to whoever is available between Walker and Leonard. Personally I hope it’s Walker. The Kings desperately need a small forward, but they need to get a veteran who can step in right away. They simply can’t afford to roll with Francisco Garcia and Omri Casspi at the three this season. Leonard’s defense and rebounding would be much-needed, but unless he can produce right away, it’s going to leave a gaping hole at the wing. The wild card pick would be Jimmer. Most people think he’s a stretch at number seven, and some even question whether he can be effective in the NBA, but the Maloofs may not be able to resist the fanfare that is Jimmer Fredette. One of the greatest draft picks in Kings history was also a reach of sorts, taking the iffy Jason Williams at the same slot back in 1998, which in a way, kickstarted the Kings into contention. Maybe a quick little white guy who can pull up from 28 feet on a fast break is what a team needs to get over the hump. In all seriousness though, I really think his shooting is exactly what the doctor should be ordering for them. They are awfully short at long range shooting, and adding Fredette would seemingly help extend the defense. With guys like Evans and Demarcus Cousins, who are already elusive in traffic, Jimmer could be the most impactful selection should the team go in that direction. It will probably take a perfect storm to happen, but I would welcome the consolation, should the other two more highly-touted guards, Knight and Walker, go off the board.

# 11 pick – Golden State Warriors: It’s a lot tougher to call who the Warriors are even considering, let alone who they may take at number eleven. Most of the chatter out of Oakland these days is in regards to how many trades they propose with Monta Ellis, or how many trades are proposed to them for Stephen Curry. The Warriors obviously need size, but they try that every year and it never really seems to work out. It’s been 10 years by my count since the W’s had a successful selection at power forward or center – that’s if you count Troy Murphy (which I do). The list of name since then includes Andris Biedrins, Ike Diogu, Patrick O’Bryant, Brandan Wright (acquired by draft day trade), Anthony Randolph, and Epke Udoh. Most don’t expect the W’s to break this lineage either, with Bismack Biyombo the most popular choice. If not Biyombo, it will likely be another international big man. However, guys like Klay Thompson and Alec Burks are getting a lot of hype of late, probably due to the likelihood of an opening down the road at the shooting guard position. Monta Ellis’s departure seems more like a matter of when, not if, so the front office seems poised to find a bigger replacement to plug into the lineup once that happens. I think the team would be best served trading the pick for a veteran big man. I don’t think this year’s #11 pick would make the Ellis-Biedrins-Udoh for Dwight Howard offer any more enticing, but maybe it would be enough for the 76ers to throw in Marreese Speights or Thaddeus Young in that Ellis for Iguodala deal. If they don’t trade the pick, I expect Jerry West to put his stamp on the first draft pick of his Warriors tenure, whoever it may be.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

June 6, 2011

Mama, There Goes That Man….. To Oakland

By mceezy

Who better than the Doin Work crew to weigh in on the new hire?…..

MCeezy – It’s too bad that my first reaction to the Golden State Warriors’ announcement of Mark Jackson as their new head coach was, “THANK YOU, now we don’t have to hear that silly catch phrase during every ABC or ESPN NBA game!” It certainly wasn’t the worst announcer’s phrase there ever was, but I’ll be a much happier person without ever having to hear it again. Let’s just hope the good people in the Warriors front office don’t turn it into some marketing campaign. You can’t be too surprised by the hire, since Jackson’s name was openly floated around as a serious candidate for the job. I really thought, however, once the Lakers hired Mike Brown, it was pretty much opening the door for either Brian Shaw or Rick Adelman. The primary knock against Shaw was that he had no head coaching experience, and most believed that the Warriors were set on hiring a guy who had been a head coach before. That had me thinking an Adelman return to the Bay Area was imminent, but then it seems like Jerry West came in and advised the W’s front office that they needed “a young coach to grow with the team.” I’ve got to believe that when you go out and hire Jerry West, you’re going to have to take his advice on your first decision.

Hand up, man up! Jackson will bring much needed toughness to the GSW

So, Jackson it is, and I must admit I’m feeling pretty neutral about it. I think I’ve always assumed an older coach is better, because he’s owed more respect. But I guess these days, even the younger guys are getting pretty old. Anyone who I watched play still seems 40 or younger to me. Although if you’re Stephen Curry, you were born during Mark Jackson’s rookie year, so I guess he seems pretty old. Having said that, I don’t see Jackson having any problems winning over the respect of the team. As a player, he went to the playoffs in all but two of his 17 seasons. He was a leader on every team he played for, even when he was far from the best player. Add to that, his knowledge of the game is pretty highly regarded from every person I’ve heard talk about it. When you compare him to guys like Lawrence Frank and Dwayne Casey, it’s easy to say that Jackson is the last guy I’d worry about players wanting to play for. I wonder if he can bring Jeff Van Gundy with him to be an assistant…..?

By – Although I wouldn’t have minded giving Keith Smart one more crack at turning our franchise around, I totally understand why the new ownership ultimately decided on a coaching change.  Once Smart was shown the door, the Rick Adelman and Brian Shaw buzz started circulating.  Most Warrior fans I spoke with would have been accepting of either, but upon further discussion and thought, I began to sell on the idea of Adelman returning to Nor Cal.  I don’t believe he would fit in with the makeup of our team as it is.  I definitely still welcomed Brian Shaw, whom I most notably remembered for being one half of the “Shaw-Shaq Redemption” duo back when “The Big AARP” was still in Orlando.  I felt it couldn’t do us any harm to hire someone who got to saturate in Phil Jackson’s winning genius.  I assumed the Lakers wouldn’t let him walk though.  When Mike Brown arose as a potential Warrior head coach candidate, I nearly collapsed.  Thank god the Lakers have given up on winning championships, and snagged him.  At this point, I remember speaking to my friend about potential coaching candidates, and I threw out Mark Jackson’s name.  I told him the one thing I wanted on our new coach’s resume, was he be a former NBA point guard.  And one with little to no athleticism at that.  Kevin McHale, Lawrence Frank, Dwayne Casey … all names that came and passed, thankfully.  Then tonight, we finally got our man.  The man whose name I threw out.

C'mon Dubz fans, you know you're excited about CoCo being at our home games!

I’ll tell you why this will work.  As I mentioned earlier, I truly believe the Warriors needed a former NBA point guard with little to no athleticism to be our coach.  These are the type players who depend on court awareness and intelligence to succeed in this league.  This is why Magic Johnson was a terrible coach.  Not to say he was unintelligent, or had a lack of court awareness, but he relied a lot on athleticism to gain success.  Imagine him trying to coach his point guard.  “What do you mean you can’t run a full court break, split two defenders on the way, and drop an under-the-legs-behind-the-back pass to your trailer in stride for the dunk!?  And why aren’t you 6’8”!?!?”  The players who don’t rely on athleticism understand how to be successful through fundamentals, both offensively and defensively and are better suited to teaching it.  It’s the key to their survival.  Marc Jackson didn’t just survive, he thrived as an NBA point guard.  The Mark Jackson’s of the world end up being an extension of their coaches on the court , so whether they knew it or not, they gained some form of coaching experience, just by playing.  This is why I believe someone like Chauncey Billups will be roaming the sidelines in the future.  Another thing about Jackson is, in my opinion, he’s the perfect age for the job, and Jerry West happens to agree with me.  Being that the foundation of our team is built-in our back court, we needed a coach who was young enough to relate to our baby studs, Steph Curry and Monta Ellis, but old enough for them to still respect, and fear him … yet, young enough for them to still remember what a terrific player he once was, and remember the numerous playoff battles and rivalries he was a part of.  I think Mark Jackson fits that description.  Or at least he’s as close as it get.  Ultimately we won’t know how capable he is of leading our team until we see him do it.  But hey, at least we didn’t hire Mike Brown.

Chappy – To say I was surprised is an understatement. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention to the coaching search, but for some reason I thought they were going to take longer to pick one. Anyways, I think it’s a decent hire, and agree with everything that both of the guys above me said. I’m happy he won’t be announcing games anymore, and liked the way he played when he was in the league. I am not going to jump to any quick conclusions about a guy that has never had a shot at coaching a team. Off the top of my head when Mark Jackson announced games, he always talks about defense over and over. It’s a concept that our team has been allergic to for many years. We usually give up the most ppg in the league, but atleast we’re among the leaders in points scored as well. Small consolation prize that isn’t that fun after awhile. If Jackson can figure out a way to annoy them to the point that they start playing defense, we know it was a good hire. Random excitement update if this Igluodala-Ellis deal happens to go through. Jackson will really have a team that can defend. So judging Jackson, is going to be solely on the defensive end. If he can’t get them to play some D, then he wasn’t the right hire…. 

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May 23, 2011

Mondanity

By mceezy

It’s actually far from mundane where the sports world is concerned, but the A’s got swept by the Giants and I’m not really able to see a lot of positives out there at the moment. The world is lousy right now as far as I’m concerned, but at least we’re all still here, right? Well, maybe minus 100+ of us out in Southwest Missouri. That storm was nasty, and while I constantly question why anyone would settle in Tornado Alley, I don’t think anyone could have seen one of that caliber coming. Oh, and we also lost a legend in the Macho Man Randy Savage. Dude took intensity to a whole nother level and probably should be credited as one of the primary founders of the concept of swagger. Turning my attention back to sports, here’s what captivated my interest now that the weekend is over….

FIRE BOB GEREN – I told Chappy the other day that we need to bring back the “Fire Bob Geren” movement. That was before they got swept in San Francisco, and have now lost 5 in a row to drop to 22-25 on the season. People who aren’t fans of the A’s – which apparently is all but 10,000 people in this world – will say Geren doesn’t exactly have a lot of talent to work with. The reality is he has the best pitching staff in all of baseball. Even with injuries to Dallas Braden, Brandon McCarthy, and Tyson Ross, as long as Cahill, Anderson, and Gonzalez are still standing, they’re alright. Admittedly the offense is terrible, but they went out and got Josh Willingham, Hideki Matsui, and David Dejesus. None of them are all-stars, but each has proved himself as a big league hitter, which is something I can’t say for guys like Daric Barton or Cliff Pennington. This is Geren’s 5th season as Manager, which is practically an eternity in this day and age. The problem is he’s Billy Beane’s best friend, so you can’t count on him firing his best friend. Now, if he were Lamar Odom it’d be another story! (And if you get that reference you should be ashamed of yourself)

If you care to hear more about the Fire Bob Geren Movement, head over to AthleticsNation, where someone apparently felt the same way I did waking up this Monday morning. Only this person must not have a job to go to, because this is the longest blog post I’ve ever seen. On the other hand, Geren’s managerial shortcomings can provoke one to express a lot of frustration, so I completely get it.

Joakim Noah Called Someone a Fag – Man, why is this such a huge story today? Maybe I tuned in at the wrong time, but this entire Thunder – Mavericks 2nd quarter broadcast has been all about Noah’s “homophobic slur.” Now don’t anybody comment on why it IS such a big deal, because I’m not saying he shouldn’t have been fined and publicly reprimanded. What’s frustrating for me, and everyone else out here in California, is it has been acceptable to be gay for like 20 years now. I’m tired of seeing the rest of the country showing up all late to the party trying to overcompensate. Add to that this ridiculous commercial with Grant Hill and Jared Dudley telling us that it’s rude to call things gay. Please, Jared Dudley grew up in San Diego. I’ll bet my life he’s called plenty of things gay in his day. I guess these commercials are breaking news to a large population of the U.S., but what’s next, Shane Battier and Blake Griffin telling kids it’s okay to be of mixed descent? Get with the times. (I just saw on the ESPN ticker that the Phoenix Suns President announced he’s gay. That happened like two weeks ago. It’s a big move for him, but we should have moved on by now.)

Ray Lewis NEEDS to Remain in the Public Eye if the NFL Has a Lockout – If you saw Sal Palantonio’s interview with the Ravens’ linebacker you know what I’m talking about. I like Ray Lewis on the field a lot, but I MAY just like him even more in a different capacity, like, say a reality show. He might even have a career as a pro wrestler. Shoot, just as long as he keeps doing interviews I’ll be interested. Just watching the man talk…. it reminds me of nights in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco. You know that old probably homeless, possibly a crackhead grandpa that tries to talk to you and you just keep walking? Well I have a tendency to engage that guy in a conversation. I may not always take away something constructive from it, but grandpas always seem to have a way of making it seem like what they’re telling you is the most earth-shattering stuff you’ve ever heard, even though you have no idea what in the world they’re talking about. That’s the same feeling I get when I watch Ray Lewis talk. I just want to see more. (If there’s a fantasy football season, I’m naming my team “Evil, Which We Call Crime”)

Asdrubal Cabrera is the MVP of the American League – Sure, Jose Bautista has better numbers (he just hit his 19th HR of the year tonight), but how is HIS team doing? I’m the last guy you need to notify that the Cleveland Indians have the best record in baseball, seeing how I made them my preseason pick to win the AL pennant. I can’t say I saw Cabrera being this good though. If I did, I would have drafted him instead of Omar Infante in the 22nd ROUND of our fantasy league’s draft. True, yesterday’s 5-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI performance may just be fresh on my mind, but thanks to a little ESPN2 exposure tonight, I’ve just watched this kid go 3-4 with another home run, plus a key go-ahead RBI double in the 8th inning. If the Indians do end up making it to the World Series like I’m predicting, it will because Asdrubal Cabrera got them there.

Warriors Hired Jerry West – This is exciting for obvious reasons, but I’m not sure what effect it will actually have on the team on the floor. It doesn’t seem like anything will really get the Warriors over the hump anytime soon, but you wouldn’t just bring on Jerry West if you didn’t have a good reason would you? Well, maybe. Like Matt Steinmetz points out, it will, at the very least, give the Warriors  a little more credibility. If I were a free agent, I’d probably let Larry Riley go to voicemail. But if Jerry West were calling…. You see where I’m going with this. We’ll see what the results end up being, but this is the biggest hire since the Chris Mullin / Don Nelson regime was brought back, and THAT got us that one memorable playoff appearance, so there’s reason for optimism. Just like comedian/actor Kevin Hart says, “You ain’t a Warrior if you don’t G.S.!”

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April 27, 2011

Warriors End Their Relationship With Smart

By chappy81

The Warriors announced today that they are parting ways with their coach Keith Smart. I wasn’t overly impressed with the job he did coaching, but didn’t feel he did enough to get let go, and wouldn’t have been upset to see him at the bench one more year. It’s probably for the better though. The new owners need to move as far as they possibly can from the old ownership, and so far they haven’t really done much maybe this is a sign of changes to come. I’m pretty realistic about my teams, and I didn’t think the W’s would make the playoffs this year as their roster was constructed at the beginning of the year, which I guess isn’t much of a bold prediction since they rarely do anything. Maybe if everything came together perfectly they would’ve had a shot to make the playoffs, but that didn’t happen, and management decided it was time for their first big change.

Smart did a few things that I questioned during the season, like keeping Biendris out there when he obviously didn’t have anything to contribute. Sure, we didn’t have a lot of options at center, and the team is paying Biens a ridiculous $9M per season, but Smart should’ve seen what we all saw, a player that just didn’t have the heart or desire to be out there more than ten minutes a game. His second mistake in my mind was playing Ellis way too many minutes. Sure he was out best player, but 80% of the time at the end of the game he’d be too tired to make an impact. His elevation wasn’t there because he played about 5 too many minutes, so we’d lose. I loved how Smart was a players coach, but maybe he was a little too much of a players coach. I mean, he let Acie Law talk himself into the lineup regularly. You just can’t let that happen! I wish Smart the best of luck, and hope he finds another home. He was our assistant from 03-09 and our head coach last year, which is actually a pretty long tenure in the Warriors organization.

I have no idea who they will end up with as their coach for next year, but I’m hoping it’s Rick Adelman or at least someone proven. I’d hate to give the job to someone that has no experience again. We are a very young team that needs someone that can keep their attention and respect. Not so sure Smart had that from them. He had their respect, but not so positive about their attention.

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February 21, 2011

Handicapping The Rest Of the Warriors Season

By chappy81

I’m a firm believer that until your team hits the 38 mark in the loss column you aren’t out of the playoff picture during the NBA season. The Warriors have 29 losses, so there isn’t a lot of room for error after the All-Star break, but I’m not giving up on them especially with the West is as open as it’s been for years. It’s up for debate on whether Portland, New Orleans, Denver, or Utah can hold on to the 5-8 spots in the West especially with injuries, coaching changes, and trades lingering for all these teams. By my count on my playoff loss barometer of 38 losses only Sacramento and Minnesota are truly out of the playoff picture with the LA Clippers having 35 losses, they should be the next team out of the picture, which leaves 8 teams including the Warriors for those last four spots.  The Warriors are 4 games out of the eighth spot, but only 5 ½ away from the 5th spot. The Warriors have been playing some great basketball over the last couple of weeks aside from the two games they played against the Suns where they could’ve sent a D-league team on the court in their place and done just as good. During their recent solid streak of play they beat Chicago, New Orleans, OKC, Utah (twice), and Denver over a ten game stretch, which were all quality wins in my book. So, I figured now would be the best time to handicap the rest of the year going through each game deciding if they’d win or lose. I gave them a few big wins along the way, and a couple of losses to bad teams and teams who I know they have trouble against. Continue reading

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January 28, 2011

In Search of a New Mancrush…

By chappy81

I think with the NBA more than any other sport I develop mancrushs yearly. Even if the player I fall for isn’t the best of the best in the league or will ever be a top five player, I always find myself completely in tune to what that player is doing on the court and in their personal lives. My most recent was Stephen Curry, and although I still have a bromance for the kid, he’s getting married, so I’m in search of my next crush. Blake Griffin? I like him, but his robotic ways with the media doesn’t do it for me. Sorry Blake, at the beginning of the year I was about to jump on board, but your off the court presence just doesn’t do it for me. It got me thinking back to all the fun crushes I’ve had over the years, from Arenas, to Wade (until he won his championship), to Amare, to CP3, to Curry crushing it at Davidson. Ok, my mancrush didn’t peak on Curry until he was drafted by the Warriors, but even before that there was a bromance brewing when he took Davidson deep in the tourney. This all got me thinking of where the bromances all started. The first time I can truly recall an infatuation with a player was Rickey Henderson, but he still wasn’t the all-time crush. With hoops it was all about my mancrush on Latrell Spreewell for a solid five years. (I mis-spelled Spreewell on purpose because my favorite saying when I was ten was Spree For Three, so I think I thought that was how you spelled his name at the time).

Latrell Spreewell, what can you say about a guy that passes up guaranteed contracts and finds himself broke? Nothing too much that hasn’t already been said, and my mancrush was a shadow of what it originally was by the time he was broke. Two years removed from Mitch Richmond’s departure to Sacramento the Warriors picked Spree with the 24th pick in the draft. Mullin and Hardaway were still on the team, but the sign was on the wall, they were about to go into a decade plus rebuilding process. Maybe the mancrush came along because that’s when I started listening to gangsta rap, and that was when it was at it’s best. Those guys were real thugs back then, you want to know how I know they are more hard core than the rappers around now? Because most of them are in jail right now, point, set, match. At the time, there was nobody more gangster than Spree in those cornrows on the court. Playing under Don Nelson, and being one of the few productive players, he played nearly 48 minutes a game. It was something that really attracted me to the guy. He would play all 48, and look like he could go another 48 just proving the guy was in phenomenal shape. He was the reason my favorite number is 15, which says a lot since you may or may not know how much I loved Rickey Henderson. I never thought he was in the wrong for choking coach Carlisimo. Honestly, wouldn’t you strangle the coach if he was telling you what to do with this crappy roster in 1997? Seemed fair to me, and I’ll stand behind it till I part with the earth. To this day, Spree is the last Warriors player to make the All-Star game. No Jamison, no Richardson, no Davis, no Arenas, no Hughes and probably no Ellis making the mid-season exhibition this year. We get no respect… So my question for the commenters is who was your first mancrush, and who, if anyone is yours at the moment?

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January 10, 2011

Clippers-Warriors Game Thoughts

By chappy81

The Warriors were a step slow all game long...

It was the first time my Warriors headed down to Socal to play the Lakers ugly stepsister, the Clippers, so naturally I had to go. I usually avoid going to games that the dubs play the Lakers, because we pretty much know what the result is going to be. The Warriors usually play good against the Clippers for obvious sucktitude reasons over our lifetime, so every time I go to Staples Center I want at least a shot at seeing my team come in and win. Yesterday the Warriors had a horrible 2nd half performance, and saw three players foul out (Beindris, Lee, and Wright), but overall I was the most excited to just see Blake Griffin live.

As far as first impressions go on Blake, he is pretty freakish, and I got to see a couple of his league leading dunks. I was a little surprised how big he was in a muscular sense. The kid looked like a taller version of Corey Maggette. Fortunately, he isn’t nearly as one dimensional as Maggette. The Warriors constantly double and triple teamed him throughout the game, so I didn’t get to see many highlight reel dunks, and even with all the extra focus on Griff, we still couldn’t stop him from putting up another 20-10 game. His highlight of the game was pretty amazing to see Baron throw a lob from close to halfcourt for him, but aside from that I didn’t get to see a lot of high flying dunks. Here’s the dunk I was talking about…

DeAndre Jordan actually impressed me more than Griffin, which was probably the shocker of the afternoon. Jordan is a force in the paint grabbing 13 boards and blocking 4 shots. He cleaned up a couple of Clipper misses with thunderous dunks including an awesome off the backboard putback (can’t find it on youtube), and he also sent a few shots away including a twisting and turning Monta Ellis drive through the paint that riled up the crowd.

Baron Davis was probably the second best Clipper on the court after Jordan, which caught me off guard. Anyone that’s owned him on a fantasy team this year knows what I’m talking about. Anyways, Baron looked rejuvenated against his old team. He was sinking threes, driving to the hoop with authority, and dishing the ball like Sterling was booing him. He set up Gordon for a huge first half, and everytime Davis gave him an open look with a pass, he was knocking it down.

Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin were impressive, but for some reason Baron and DeAndre were the reasons for their dominating win.

As for the Warriors players I was very disappointed. Only two guys showed up for the contest, and it wasn’t either of our special backcourt players or our newly acquired PF David Lee. Only one of our starters played well. Dorell Wright started the game on fire, and was the only Warriors player to do anything on the offensive end efficiently. The second best player of the day for our squad was Vlad Radmanovic. Yup, I said it. He was the only guy out there giving 110% on the court. He was getting in the face of Clippers players, and throwing Baron and Eric Gordon on the ground during some hard fouls of frustration. He was in essence the only guy on the floor that I really thought was trying. There was a funny quote from Baron after the game about the little face to face stare down after Vlad threw him to the ground and both benches cleared a little. “”I told him I had mine longer,” referring to his beard over Vlad’s beard.

I also got my first glimpse at our rookie Epke Udoh. He wasn’t active in the NY-Warriors match up I went to with MCeezy and Dyslecix at Oracle. I actually kept thinking Udoh would be a solid pro when I was watching him at Baylor, and really liked what Udoh brought to the table when he was on the court for his limited minutes Sunday afternoon. He swatted a couple of shots, and actually helped them get back into the game by playing some defense, and was part of the crew that cut the lead from twenty something to eleven. Shortly after he left the game, they were down by 15 again never to come closer.

Hopefully when I head up to Staples on January 22nd when they play the Clippers again, it will be a more entertaining game with a better result, like a Warriors victory. A random Warriors fact, their team is playing with a full roster for the first time since 2008. It’s basically the first time that they haven’t had guys injured not suiting up, which is remarkable to think that it hasn’t happened since 2008. So far they are 2-1 with a full squad. Hopefully they can keep that 66% winning percentage going with a full squad.

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January 7, 2011

Doin Cali Storylines

By chappy81

Jim Harbaugh is going to be the 49ers new coach for the next five years. Great signing for a guy who is forever embedded in California going all the way back to High School, to coaching Stanford, and now his newest job as the 49ers head coach. Solid move by the coach for choosing the Niners over the Dolphins. It was a great move to stay where his family is, and even more so because he decided to go with the NFC West over the AFC East. I think he liked beating Pete Carroll so much in college in Pete’s last year at USC, he wanted the chance to do it twice a year in the pros. I’m not a big Niners or NFC fan, so that’s all I have to say about that, maybe By will have a post on it sometime later breaking it down, because it is the biggest thing they’ve done since they beat the Giants in the playoffs.

The Raiders fired Cable a couple of days ago as Mceezy already told us. I’ve let the feelings I had on the firing set in a little more over the last couple of days, because originally, I was pretty mad since the Raiders players seemed to respect Cable so much. Now, I’m not quite as mad as the initial shock of the announcement. I’m thinking that Al hired on Hue Jackson as the OC last year, because he wanted to groom him into the next HC. Hue improved the offense by leaps and bounds this year by actually getting them into the endzone last season. I remember last year, we went through a three game stretch where all we managed were field goals, and watching the offense was painful more times than not. They might have scored a TD in that three game stretch, but it was a defensive one.

Anyways, my theory goes like this. Al was going to roll with Cable this year, and see how Hue did with getting the offense functioning like a real offense again. Both were reasonably successful, so no changes were made for the first half of the season. Al probably would’ve kicked Cable to the curb if had a crappy record at the bye week, but that wasn’t the case. Since they were still in the hunt, Al decided to let the year play out and waited through December to see if Cable could get them to the playoffs. He didn’t, and when Cable emphatically said after the season finale win over the Chiefs “we aren’t losers anymore”, that probably pissed Al off more than anything, and was the final straw in a tenure that had him switching QB’s, punching assistants, and receiving battery charges from ex-girlfriends. If they don’t hire/promote Hue Jackson who has the players respect already, then it will be another one of Al’s crazy decisions that I will never understand. The players overall were outspoken against the firing, but I think having a familiar face leading them next year would negate some of that negative energy. So the moral of this rant, if Al hires Hue then I’ll believe he really had a plan. If Al hires someone else, he’s should be checked back into the insane asylum.

The A’s new ballpark. The Oakland City Council approved spending  ¾ of a million dollars into looking at a site in downtown Oakland for a new baseball only park for the A’s. I’m not really sure what this means, but I know there isn’t going to be a stadium anytime soon. I think this was a counter to San Jose trying to find a place to put the A’s, which Lew Wolff has longed for. It’s sad that the MLB still hasn’t concluded their research to decide where is the best fit for the A’s new park if there is one, after only two years of research. If they put me on that committee, I bet I could figure it out faster than two damn years!

Speaking of San Jose, how does the San Jose Hornets sound? It wouldn’t be possible till 2014 (when CP3 is gone), but Larry Ellison easily has the funds to buy the Hornets from the league and the wherewithal to make that move happen. He might do it just because he got punked when he was trying to buy the Warriors. It would be a pretty bold move to try to steal them away to San Jose, especially since the Warriors have as strong a fanbase as any in the league. I wonder if he’d just do it to take money and value away from Lacob and Gruber who bought the Warriors? Probably, because I think this guy HATES losing at anything, and I’m sure losing out on buying the Warriors is still eating at him. Five NBA teams in California seems like a little much, especially when three are in Northern California. I guess we will see how it all plays out, but I thought it was an interesting rumor nonetheless. The Kings are the most likely to move of the current teams here, so maybe there would still only be four teams in Cali if Ellison bought the Hornets.

The Lakers shenanigans leading to losing. I always love when Lakers fans start panicking after a few loses. I’m sure if I was a fan of theirs I’d be a little worried, but seriously, they still have the third best record in the west, so stop bitching Laker Nation. Even though their players are missing practices because of their IPhones, Ron doesn’t like the way Phil yells at him, and Odom is convincing teammates to sign waivers to be on his reality show, they shouldn’t be worried. They’ve gone through much worse with Kobe and Shaq, so they will right the ship. Last year just before the playoffs started, they played some of their worst ball of the season, and that sure didn’t seem to stop them from winning a championship. December and January isn’t the time to worry about the Lakers. This is a team that has been to the finals three years in a row. Sometimes you probably get bored during the season. I think that’s what is happening here more than anything…

19 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports