a8bil wrote:Interesting Gatling...sure you're not trolling? If not, you're certainly one pessimistic fan.
Some food for thought: Maggette replaces Baron's scoring, almost exactly, but he does it on 5 fewer shots per game, i.e., Maggette should give us more productive possessions.
The Warriors WITH BARON couldn't win to start the season last year. Didn't start winning until SJAX returned to the team. Arguably, SJAX was the important cog, not Baron. It seems to me that fans tend to remember Baron's last second heroics, but tend to block the last second flops. The fact is when you have a player like Baron who demands the ball in his hands in crunch time, he will win some and lose some, but it was the team who put him in the position to win it or lose it.
Not a troll or a pessimist just a realist. Those other teams in the West are too damn good. I don't know why the team started out emotionally flat last fall. It was not just the lack of Jackson and JRich. The whole team was standing around watching on defense instead of utilizing their quickness advantage to create chaos.
On offense I think a lot of Warriors fans have underestimated the degree to which everybody's open shots depended on Baron penetrating and forcing the defenses to sag in order to stop him. I have doubts whether Monta can replace Baron in the pick and roll with Andris.
When the fast break is not there this team will probably have to clear a side and let Monta or Maggette work one on one the way Nelson used clear a side and have Sprewell go one on one.
Do you remember how the pre Baron Warriors could never hold a lead for the last 2 minutes of a close game. The opposing team would start playing their crunch time defense and the Warriors offense would just break down. Baron Davis single handedly changed that prior to Nellie's arrival.
I approve of 80% of Baron's chucking. A 33% three pointer is a good percentage shot. Long rebounds are bad but not so bad that you need stop firing 3s. I only had a problem with Baron chucking when he chucked so much that the team offense got rusty.
Baron can't be replaced by Maggette. Baron made the team offense work. When Baron got tired the offense bogged down.
Maybe Monta can replace Baron but I doubt it. Monta and Maggette can definitely replace Baron's scoring but everybody's FG%s are likely to go down without Baron orchestrating the offense.
Monta is a great scorer, Biedrins is a very good team defender, Jackson does a lot off things well, but Baron was this team's best player.
a8bil wrote:The Warriors got TERRIBLE production from Barnes last year, and he burned nearly 20 minutes per game. Hard to imagine we don't improve on that.
Catalog the Warrior's losses last year and you'll see a common thread through many of them--we were beaten on the front line. With Turiaf, we should hold our own on the boards and perhaps slow down the 4/5's of the opposition a bit.
Barnes even is his sucky year last year was one of the leagues better passing forwards. Barnes was not complete trash.
I like Turiaf. I was surprised that he did not have better rebounding stats than he did. He has good blocks stats. Too bad we can't play Turiaf on defense and Harrington on offense. Turiaf will be a little undersized if he plays back up center.
Too bad the Warriors can't play Wright on defense with Harrington playing offense. I hope Wright has added something to his game this summer.
a8bil wrote:We will miss Baron's leadership, but it's not like the rest of the team doesn't have it. Monta was making great decisions in the second half of last year and Maggette loves to have the ball in his hands at crunch time. Statistically, the Warrior's are better than what they were last year, so they should be in a better position to make the playoffs. They just need someone to step up and lead them there. I think it will happen.
"Statistically, the Warrior's are better"..... Because of Maggette's numbers?
I will be very surprised if this years team is as good as last years team.