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Article by Ray Ratto from Sportline.com:
http://www.sportsline.com/columns/story/10780777

You have to hand it to Don Nelson, and even if you didn't, he'd take it from yours.

What we mean by this is simple. Having gone out of his way to make up publicly with his most notable bete noire, Chris Webber, by signing him earlier this year to a benighted deal that accomplished nothing, the Golden State Warriors coach seems to have created a new one in Baron Davis.

Here's your scenario. The Warriors have to beat Phoenix to keep their minimal playoff hopes alive. Davis goes 2-for-13 in the first half and doesn't play at all in the second. Warriors, who trail by 16 in the third quarter, rally to lead by 11 in the fourth, and then lose. Davis leaves without speaking. Nelson says Davis got a "much-needed rest."

Don't take it personally, Baron. Perhaps Nellie forgot you were, you know, on the roster. (AP)
Now what do you think happened?

Scenario A: Nelson sits Davis, team goes well. Nelson stays with hot hands, team deconstructs. Davis, feeling the scapegoat, leaves.

Scenario B: Nelson sits Davis, says something Davis doesn't like. Davis says something back. Davis benched.

Scenario C: Davis says something first, Davis benched.

Scenario D: Neither one says anything, Nelson thinks Davis' play is hurting team, Davis benched.

Scenario E: Nelson has a senior moment, forgets Davis is on the team. Davis benched.

Now, for the bonus round, guess what happens now.

Scenario A: Nelson is fired.

Scenario B: Davis is allowed/encouraged to find a new deal.

Scenario C: Nelson does not return and Davis leaves/is freed anyway. Webber can't hold his tongue, says, "Da-amn. This is d

I personally think Ratto is an idiot.

He seldom has anything to say about the Warriors unless he sees an opening to be cynical and pessimistic and take shots at people. Baron and Nellie have by all indications gotten along great all year. If he wants to take one game, with circumstances none of us understand, and equate it to what happened with Webber and Nelson, I guess he can do that, but he comes across as a total drama hound.

I don't give a rat's a$$ about Ratto, I just found his take interesting and I'm pretty certain that there will be much discussion on (with the sad ending we had to the season) it unless Nellie/Baron/the FO can come up with a rational explanation I think it's good discussion for a message board, that's all. Although I don't necessarily agree with Ratto's take, I do think that these possibilities are a reality right now, especially with Nellie's propensity to burn bridges with star players, and more importantly it opens up discussion on something that I think is going of major interest for this franchise and it's fans. At least it's a good starting point I believe. If you think it's a crock, then I'd say just vote neither of them.

So all of a sudden there is a big Baron/Nelly feud? Just because Baron got benched for half a game? Give me a break.

I've felt that there has been a problem all season. The problem is that Nelson was afraid to bench Baron or Jackson even when they were completely stinking up the gym. This makes the rest of the team, guys like Harrington, feel all warm and fuzzy when they get pulled after making a single mistake.

But it's unfortunately what Nelson has had to do to keep these two head cases happy. The joke is on him though. There is no keeping them happy.

I want nelly to go. No more small ball.

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. My guess is Baron was unfit to play for some reason (family tragedy, illness, hangover, other?) so Nellie benched him for the good of the team, but Nellie and the organization are not commenting on it to avoid making things worse.

uteptwostep wrote:I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. My guess is Baron was unfit to play for some reason (family tragedy, illness, hangover, other?) so Nellie benched him for the good of the team, but Nellie and the organization are not commenting on it to avoid making things wors.

It seems like Baron's had more family tragedy's than the Kennedy's.

So far the poll tells us

a) Let Don Nelson go 32% [ 8 ]
b) Let Baron Davis go 12% [ 3 ]
c) Let Both of them go 40% [ 10 ]
d) Let Neither of them go 16% [4]

So far it looks like C is the winner: let both them sunvabiatches go.

Souvlaki wrote:So all of a sudden there is a big Baron/Nelly feud? Just because Baron got benched for half a game? Give me a break.

I've felt that there has been a problem all season. The problem is that Nelson was afraid to bench Baron or Jackson even when they were completely stinking up the gym. This makes the rest of the team, guys like Harrington, feel all warm and fuzzy when they get pulled after making a single mistake.

But it's unfortunately what Nelson has had to do to keep these two head cases happy. The joke is on him though. There is no keeping them happy.

Happy doesn't necessarily = doing your job well. They don't have to be happy, they have to win.

I've come around on this issue to deciding that this was Nellie dropping his giant brass balls on the floor and declaring that next season, he will be the undisputed boss. He gave these guys free reign for a year and bought loyalty. The result was one great half a season and one stinky half a season.

Now he can come back next year and say: me and my 20 some years and 2nd all time wins are going to tell you how we fix the second half of the season. You two clowns stop shooting, get back on D and pass the ball to Tay.

Strange as it may sound, this little incident has restored some of my faith in Nellie. I felt for a lot of this season like the "lesson" he learned from the Webber/Ewing incidents was to just surrender and cower to veteran players. It's nice to see some spine from him at a time where he can totaly eff with Baron's offseason ambitions.

This season was entertaining, and we overachieved for half of it, but it was a practice run. (You can't pretend to be for real with the way this roster was put together this year.) Next season is Nellie's swan song, and next season I expect to see a much tighter ship.