RealGM

Maybe its in the gamethread, I don't feel like combing thru it.

But what to make of Baron being benched for the 2nd half? It pretty much played out how you'd expect. No more bad shots, chucking 3's, warriors get back in it, but in the end, we still need him to be the guy in the 4th quarter.

Also, does this have any bearing on whether he opts out or not?

It seems like such an odd time for Nellie to take his first stand with Baron..I mean this whole season we went for the playoffs on the backs of Baron and Jack...Nellie wouldnt risk playing our inexperienced players, all for this playoff push..So here we are 1 half away from keeping our hopes alive for the last day, and Nellie decides now is the time to make a statement..Why now? I just don't understand..It's not that I'm against Nellie here..I love the fact that the franchise decided it wasnt going to be held hostage any longer,,but now? After all the sacrafices that were made? Strange.

To me it looks like we'll swap Baron for Gilbert?

Imagine this board if Memphis beats Denver on Wednesday. lol

Nellie is obviously tanking for THABEET.

How was Baron after the game? Did he or Nellie have anything to say besides the lie that Baron needed rest?

Espn's sports analysts, Skip Bayless and the other guy...forgot his name asked the question, Should Nelly be fired? for not putting Baron/star player back in the second half specifically back in 4:28.

Personally I wanted Nellie to put Baron back in the second half and was kind of surprised that he didn't. Granted he shot 2 for 13 but I was assuming Nellie was gonna put him back but he didn't. I was like WTF? especially when the W's were leading. So when the Suns came back and still no Baron, Nellie seemed to me that he was either trying to get himself fired and or prove BD wrong that they can win without him. I dunno but that could be the end of Nelly and BD?

They basically responded that Cohan/Rowell needs to find out which person are they committed to in the upcoming season? Baron or Nelly...

If it's Baron, then Nelly could and should be fired. If it's Nelly then I could see Baron being dealt since Ellis is gonna be future PG.

There should be NO justification for Nellie keeping Baron out of the game the whole second half. That was just ridiculous. The whole season came down to yesterday's game..... And Nellie didn't put your best players in to have a shot at winning the game. Unbelievable....

Should Nellie be fired for benching Baron? Stupid tabloid media.

Dude deserves a medal. It was about damn time.

Chubby Chaser wrote:There should be NO justification for Nellie keeping Baron out of the game the whole second half. That was just ridiculous. The whole season came down to yesterday's game..... And Nellie didn't put your best players in to have a shot at winning the game. Unbelievable....

He never does.

Nellie will never win a ring. He's too damn stubborn.

The_Believer wrote:Nellie will never win a ring. He's too damn stubborn.

Really going out on a limb betting against a gimmicky senior citizen

How about, Baron will never win one?

i love baron, but it didn't surprise me and it didn't bother me that he didn't get back in the game toward the end of the the 4th. he really wasn't in it anyway.

baron had a pretty sucky game the last time we played in sac. don takes baron out, we close the gap and look like we have a chance to win. he puts baron back in the gap grows again and we lose badly.

when baron is focused, motivated and on point he is almost unstoppable when he wants to be. best player or not, when he's just going through the motions he's a serious liability.

510Reggae wrote:Should Nellie be fired for benching Baron? Stupid tabloid media.

Dude deserves a medal. It was about damn time.

Basically.

I felt like from the tip-off Baron was playing like he felt his season was over and the game was pointless. It seemed to me that Nellie just gave him what he was asking for. If he'd have done it two weeks ago, who knows? it might have snapped Baron & Jack out of their funk and got us the extra wins we needed.

That said I think Baron just bent over a barell. Nellie bought a TON of rope with all the free reign he gave these guys the last two years. The only way for Baron to play this is that he just cared so much about making the playoffs that his dissapointment crushed his spirit and he didn't have anything to offer in that game. He can fall on his sword and say Nellie did the right thing. That's the best postive spin you can put on it (and it is pretty close to the truth.) ANY prolonged stench over this, or any malcontentness with Nellie in the summer or next season, and Baron's going to be permanently branded incorrigible, and play out the rest of his career on 2 year deals with bottom feeder teams. Baron needs Nellie right now more than Nellie needs him.

This is a win-win for next season as long as Cohan is willing to pay 1 year of Lux tax because there's NO WAY Baron should opt out of 17million with this being the final lasting impression of his 07-08 season.

man sleepy. you woke up and started speaking the truth like never before. all i can say is amen brotha.

zero wrote:i love baron, but it didn't surprise me and it didn't bother me that he didn't get back in the game toward the end of the the 4th. he really wasn't in it anyway.

baron had a pretty sucky game the last time we played in sac. don takes baron out, we close the gap and look like we have a chance to win. he puts baron back in the gap grows again and we lose badly.

when baron is focused, motivated and on point he is almost unstoppable when he wants to be. best player or not, when he's just going through the motions he's a serious liability.

I think that can be said about every player. I think the problem for Baron is that the disparity between his motivated and unmotivated play is SO great, and the risk of unmotivated play is high because he is ultimately a hot head.

Sleepy51 wrote:I think that can be said about every player. I think the problem for Baron is that the disparity between his motivated and unmotivated play is SO great, and the risk of unmotivated play is high because he is ultimately a hot head.

right, right. it seems like baron can be his worst enemy at times.

it's a long summer i think things with baron, nellie and the team will work itself out. i'm concerned, but i'm not gonna throw the baby out with the bath water either.

zero wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



right, right. it seems like baron can be his worst enemy at times.

it's a long summer i think things with baron, nellie and the team will work itself out. i'm concerned, but i'm not gonna throw the baby out with the bath water either.

+1

give them both a power forward and everything will be hunky-dory.

I missed the game until the 8:22 mark of the second quarter, so I didn't see all the Baron suckage.

I suspect there is a different explanation than a Nelson/Davis rift, though that's just a guess. There were allusions from the broadcast crew in recent games that Baron had a personal issue. Is grandma ok?

Watching Baron on the bench I didn't see any signs of anger. Instead he looked like something was wrong.

Pulling out *the grandma excuse* again?

I would certainly concur that he looked more upset than angry. What was wrong? Of course it could be grandma and that would be horrible, but there hasn't been any word on that front.

What we do know is that he didn't hit his two major goals this season. No all star, no playoffs. That ver well might have been "what was wrong." I don't think it's too much armchair psychology to take the possibility seriously that he just cracked over the season's failures.

And yes, LF that still counts as quitting.