Tag Archives: Keith Smart

November 16, 2010

Welcome, Saviors

By By

Not completely lost amidst the Warriors near melt down, was the introduction of new owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber to the Bay Area public.  Their speeches were short, sweet and simple.  But the impression left was meaningful.  Yes, there’s still plenty of season left, and although a 7-4 record looks, and feels good now, there hasn’t been a 7-4 team to make the playoffs in NBA history.  We play 82 games.  It’s uncertain how the rest of the season will play out, but we Warrior fans have got to appreciate the new energy that’s surrounding our organization.

It’s easy to give credit to Keith Smart.  And he deserves it.  He’s so definitive in his demeanor that he even sways me, the harshest critic, into believing that what ever decision he made was the right one, despite the results.  He’s a true leader on the sidelines.  Credit could, and should be given to the new Monta Ellis.  His attitude has been nothing but positive since getting married.  His maturity has risen to the point that you forget that he’s only 25.  He’s still a kid himself, but he’s ready to be the older brother on this young squad.  But I can’t help but think that all this positive energy must have started up top.  The very top.

Joe Lacob has experienced winning at the highest level with the Celtics.  And now he brings that tradition, and that winning formula to what he calls, a great market.  He’s correct.  His first words to Warriors’ fans, “You are the best fans …”

Someone knows how to butter us up.  But it’s true.  Unlike other sports teams in the Bay, or anywhere for that matter, it’s hard to point out a fair weather Warrior fan.  Or a bandwagoner.  I’ve been going to Warriors games for over 16 years, and from 1994 to 2010, the Dubs have been selling out, or at least coming close to it.  I could be wrong, but one things for sure, the arena never felt empty, even when we were losing.  And now we have owners who want to reward us for our loyalty and commitment.  I can’t wait for these next few years, because I don’t feel stupid for expecting great things.

So on behalf of all Warrior faithful, we just want to welcome Joe Lacob and Peter Guber to the Bay, officially.  And thank you, ahead of time.

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

October 25, 2010

Warriors 2010-11 Season Preview

By chappy81
The Warriors funniest fan as far as trash talking goes… Mistah Fab!

During yesterday’s football Sunday all I could think about was the hoops season that is right around the corner. This years Warriors team is completely different than last year. Aside from Curry, Ellis, Biendris, Reggie Williams, and Branden Wright everyone else is new. Change isn’t a bad thing for us, which started this off season with the arrival of  new ownership group, and a sort of new coach (sort of is because he’s been the W’s assistant for seven years). I was a little surprised that the Warriors made this many changes from last years team that we never really saw on the court together. The 2009 unit broke the record for games missed due to injuries, and half of our 9 man roster ended up being D-League call ups. Oh well, maybe management knew something, and this new crop of players can put up huge numbers in the games played column! I guess if you’re a new management team coming in, you’d want to get as far away from the Chris Cohan era as possible, so I don’t blame them for blowing up the team a little. I’m not expecting them to make the playoffs this year. I mean I could see that happening, but that would take a perfect transition with a lot of moving/new parts involved. I’m really just looking for improvement over the season. By had a much more optimistic expectations of them, putting them as the sixth seed in the west. I hope he’s right, but I’ll temper my expectations for the time being! Here’s the Warriors story lines I’m most intrigued with for the year.

David Lee

Lee was our big long term acquisition this off season. I can’t lie, I haven’t seen him play very much. He seems to be a great blue collar type player that will give you Brian Cardinal type effort when he’s out there. In the limited time I’ve seen him play I can’t say he’s great at any one single thing, but very good at everything. It’s refreshing to have Lee and Curry as the franchise face after having quite a few slackers as our stars over the years. I do have one big question for Lee. Is going against true power forwards every night instead of going against centers going to hurt his productivity? While in NY, he was their center, going against opposing centers nightly, which he could out quick 90% of the time. I think that was a reason why he was able to put up such big numbers in scoring and rebounding. Now he will be guarded by quicker and more talented power forwards while also having to contain them on the other end of the floor. I’m not saying centers aren’t athletic, but forwards seem to be a lot more polished presently in today’s NBA. I’m also wondering how the roll on the pick and roll will go with Biens out on the floor. Center’s don’t really need to cover Biens because he has very limited offensive abilities. Will the sagging/cheating center leave Biens to clog up the lane making it tough on Lee to finish? We shall see.

Defense Continue reading

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

September 23, 2010

Ode to Nellie

By chappy81

It was announced all over today that our new Warriors regime (Lacob and Gruber) would like a fresh start this training camp without Don Nelson holding the keys to their new investment. They can’t officially make moves for the team, but they made it clear to Cohan and Co. that they’d like Keith Smart at the helm to start this season. As By said, the Smart era is upon us! As much bashing as Nellie took over the last two seasons it’s hard to remember why they wanted him in the first place, but looking back he was easily my favorite Warriors coach of my lifetime, and for that I thank him for bringing me some joy in the postseason which is more than I can say about any of the other coaches they had.

Growing up people always wondered why I liked the Warriors. It was hard to justify, but in the late 80’s Nellie made me a huge fan throwing together the Run TMC package of Mullin, Hardaway, and Richmond. Sarunas Marcuilloneus is still my favorite international player of all time. From that moment on, I was going to be a Warriors fan for life, and going to their games every time I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa probably added to it as well. He retooled the dubs with Spreewell and Chris Webber after the Run TMC days were over. Nellie’s teams made the playoffs in four out of his seven years as the Warriors coach. Little did I know then that they wouldn’t make the playoffs for a loooong time after he left, because the beginning of the Cohan Era started in 1995.

His second stint with the Warriors was highlighted by his inability to get along with players, and that shouldn’t have come to a surprise to the fans, since he was behind selling Chris Webber away for a poo poo platter after just getting ROY honors. Alas, he did give us a magical season in 2007. It was probably one of the most exciting teams to watch in the league, unless you’re a big fan of defense for some reason. The year after they won the most games of anyone to miss the playoffs, so he still hadn’t lost the team yet, but that offseason he broke everyone up starting with Baron. Even in this day in age where we only remember what was said last, I still love the guy, even though he was the main catalyst behind breaking up two good teams. He gave me the best basketball for my team during my lifetime, and I’m grateful for that  no matter whatever other stuff happened. I wish him the best, and hope that the Smart Era isn’t like the Montgomery, Carlesimo, Musselman, and St. Jean Eras. It can’t be worse than them, and it looks like our new owners actually want to acquire talent that fits together. I’m cracking a Bud Light right now just for you Nellie!

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