Playoffs 50/50 Chance?

[kevin44]

It's hard to say how good this team will be, but we all know the west is tough. I have to believe it will come down to 6 teams fighting for 3 spots. Warriors, Suns, Dallas, Denver, Clips, and Portland. I think we are as good as any of the other 5 teams I listed, but without a true PG I am a little worried.

[Abyss Impact]

Were making the playoffs, according to Monta Ellis in an interview on Warriors.com

[sanddude909]

I'd like to think that the W's think they have a little something to prove after Davis left for the Clippers and will be playing this season with a chip on their collective shoulders.

No matter how much haterade is thrown around here, the fact of the matter is that we just completed our most successful 2-year run in recent memory. Much of that must be credited to Davis, for all his faults.

Still, I hope that the Warriors enter this season on a mission to show that while Davis was the most important cog in their wheel, he isn't irreplaceable and this team can be as good as the Davis Warriors of the last 2 years.

I'm already on record as saying that the Lakers, Spurs, Jazz, and Hornets are locks. If the rumored Artest trade goes through, Houston is a lock as well. With Nash, Stoudemire, and O'Neal, Phoenix is a lock, so that makes 6 spots taken.

The last 2 spots will come down to the Warriors, Blazers, Nuggets, Mavericks, and Clippers.

It will probably take 50 wins to make the playoffs again, and I'll reserve judgment until after I have had a chance to sit down with the entire schedule after all summer trading and signing activity is over.

[kevin44]

The Suns are no lock. They need Grant Hill to play 70 games and how many games will Shaq miss? Nash is another yr older and they don't have much of a bench.

[old rem]

The Suns and Mavs both have age issues and already had slipped a bit last year. The Spurs are a team that has been great,but really counts on 3 guys to be there,and 100% all season. They have not gained much out of the draft in quite awhile.

We flipped 3 rotation players and nobody will be surprised if Harrington gets swapped. Ellis + Jackson had good years and will now change positions. Nellie has to reconstruct his tactics and use young guys he avoided using....with a few more now in the mix.

The Clips add 2 guys who can make a HUGE impact,but they have to blend in and stay injury free. The Clips have been the leaders in injury problems in recent years. They also do add another lotto guy who is....currently injured.

Portland add 2 more Super Rookies to a team that's big plus.....and big minus...is their youth.
Nugs keep their volume shooters but lose the shotblock-rebound monster in a pure salary dump.
Nene + K Mart are good sometimes,also an injury worry. No depth.

Chances are that injury issues hit either the Clips or Nugs.

While nobody was looking the Wolves assembled a pretty nice team. Miller + Love can score. So can Jefferson. A healthy Foye can take back PG from Tellfair and Brewer is better suited to SG than SF,while Miller fits better at SF,so both gain. With McCants,Gomes,C Smith, they have some bench.

The OK Runaways have about a dozen centers and F's and no real SG. They drafted another PG, so they have a bunch of depth there,except it looks like 3 REAL GOOD backup PG's and no good starter.
Seems logical they do a deal, balance stuff, get Durant to F where his rare rebounder talents resurface. They don't seem in any hurry to make a move....ironically...after moving the whole thing a thousand miles from lovely Seattle to the dust bowl.

The Kings have a supporting cast and one ace scorer. One lucky trade and a good draft and they can get on track. The Griz? The Gasol deal says all you need to know. They are adrift on the big river with out a rudder or a clue. another year as the Easy win on West sceduales. That will mean another high lotto,but I think the ownership is focused on selling or moving and neglects the details that lead to winning.

[Warriorfan]

I don't think the warriors are as good as any of those 5 other teams but with injuries the other teams may come down to GS. The Warriors just lost thier PG of the now and hopefully have many young players to integrate in into the rotation.

If the Warriors are way back in the standings I see a Nelson jump ship and a total youth movement at the trade deadline.

[Sid the Squid]

They're going to have to pry Nellie off of Randolph's dead body before Don will quit....He's been waiting for Randolph since the early 80's when the point-forward position was created in Milwuakee

I'd be OK with a year or two of Nellie..But we would need to give Moncrief a head coaching promise and a guaranteed contract.

[darobster17]

If the W's are to make the playoffs, there are three things that need to happen imo.

The departure of BD and acquistion of Maggette and Ellis/Willimiams will need to payoff immediate dividends in the upcoming season. Ultimately we will need someone that can be the playmaker/differencemaker that BD was...Ellis and Williams and or Maggette really need to be on the same page early and often. If SJAX is constantly trying to be "that guy", the W's are in trouble...

The revised & improved bench players and our rookies will need to show up and make an impact on a consistent basis...Last season, the W's bench did not have a pulse. It may be Nelly's fault but since Nelly for the record has made some commitment to play his rookies, that will mean BWright,Belli and AR will have to come ready to play and something to prove. AR no doubt will be the one rookie that is very confident about his game and skill.

The duo of Ellis-Biedrins I think is the X-factor for the upcoming season. These guys got their contracts/$$$ so they are expected to produce. It will be interesting as to how Nelly coaches and utilizes these two guys. It is nice to hear that Biedrins is working on to develop a 15 foot jumper.(Pick and Pop?)

I think we will see a Monta,Maggette,SJAX,AR and Biedrins lineup with Marcus Williams and Buike subbing in for Monta or Maggette respectively. Harrington will exclusively play at SF and Nelly try to exploit that Harrington mismatch more. That means no more Harrington camping behind the 3pt line or play out of position... Bwright/Hendrix will sub for AR if he's in foul troubel while Turiaf/Hendrix will backup Biedrins.

Belli and Morrow will fight for the designated shooter/scorer off the bench. Since Kosta will bolt for Euro, I expect the W's to sign either a big man like Louis Amundson and or retain C.J. Watson. Here's a deal that's MIGHT interest both teams. W's deal Bellinelli and Bwright for Javaris Crittenton,Hakim Warrick and future draft pick.

Getting Crittenton and Warrick is a low risk-high reward for the W's imo...

[WarFan]

Here's a deal that's MIGHT interest both teams. W's deal Bellinelli and Bwright for Javaris Crittenton,Hakim Warrick and future draft pick.

Belinelli for Crittettenton I like.

Wright for Warrick and a 1st? Are you kidding me? Warrick is basically Wright's worst possible outcome. No way I put Wright in that deal unless that 1st is unprotected and guaranteed to win the lottery.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Last years top 7 teams in the West are this years top 7 teams in the West.

My pick for the 8th spot this year is the Clippers.

I think the Warriors, Nuggets and Blazers are about equal and should each get about 40 wins. They would all do better if they were in the East.

Of course some good team will get wrecked by injuries and more signings and trades will happen.

[darobster17]

I figured that in order to get Memphis more interested, we might have to include Bwright because there not gonna make that Crittenton for Belli deal unless they get another player they like in return.

I think if Memphis doesn't land a top 3pick in the 09 draft, that pick should go to GS to offset the loss of Bwright and the possibility of losing Warrick to free agency. Now would that work?

[WarFan]

I'm not so sure that Memphis would want much more for Crit than Beli by himself. As far as I can tell from their board they're looking for a "shooter." My main issue though is that neither Beli or Crit is likely to get much run on this team next year anyways, so it doesn't look like a huge need to me. Before we acquired Williams I thought Crit would be a good piece to trade for but never in a deal involving Wright.

Basically, if Memphis wants to swap Crittenton for Belinelli straight up, cool. If they want more than a future 2nd rounder attached to the deal, forget about it.

[sanddude909]

Last years top 7 teams in the West are this years top 7 teams in the West.

My pick for the 8th spot this year is the Clippers.

I think the Warriors, Nuggets and Blazers are about equal and should each get about 40 wins. They would all do better if they were in the East.

Of course some good team will get wrecked by injuries and more signings and trades will happen.

At least the top 6. I'm still not sure that Dallas, even in the short run, is better with Kidd, but any team with Nowitzki and Howard and Kidd, with Stackhouse coming off the bench, is probably good enough for the 7th spot.

[Subaculta]

Last years top 7 teams in the West are this years top 7 teams in the West.

My pick for the 8th spot this year is the Clippers.

I think the Warriors, Nuggets and Blazers are about equal and should each get about 40 wins. They would all do better if they were in the East.

Of course some good team will get wrecked by injuries and more signings and trades will happen.

I would pick the Blazers to be much more likely to catch lightning in a bottle and make the playoffs. Roy is a stud and will take another step forward. Aldridge and Outlaw should continue improving - add Oden and an impressive draft class to the mix... these young guys could make some noise.

[Paul Is On Tilt]

I like to think the Warriors will at least battle for the last spot in the west. Hopefully our young kids surprise us and then that would make our playoff chances a little better.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Last years top 7 teams in the West are this years top 7 teams in the West.

My pick for the 8th spot this year is the Clippers.

I think the Warriors, Nuggets and Blazers are about equal and should each get about 40 wins. They would all do better if they were in the East.

Of course some good team will get wrecked by injuries and more signings and trades will happen.

I would pick the Blazers to be much more likely to catch lightning in a bottle and make the playoffs. Roy is a stud and will take another step forward. Aldridge and Outlaw should continue improving - add Oden and an impressive draft class to the mix... these young guys could make some noise.

I agree with you. Silly me; when I wrote the above I was still under the false impression that for some bizarre reason the Blazers traded Brandon Roy to the Pacers. Turns out it was the rights to Brandon Rush that was traded to the Pacers. Now it's the Pacers who look stupid in that trade.

My revised prediction has Portland anywhere from 3rd to 8th, the Clippers in the 9th spot and the Warriors and Nuggets tied for the 10th and 11th spots.

[a8bil]

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.

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.

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.

[Left*My*Heart]

What I see missing will be ball movement. Baron is a chucker, but he also would pass the ball. Mags will need to pass the freakin ball, as well as Randolph or this team could end up playing a game of one on five. You can also add Ellis and Jack to that list of offenders...Ellis to his credit shoots well enough that you want him to take his shot.

What we didn't fill was our need for a SG or big PG to play along side Monta. Mullin says it will be Jack and I have seen Jack play the SG position with the Pacers and Spurs very well. He has the ability to even D up on most PGs. I assume the Warriors will pick up another SG from NBDL or who knows maybe Marco will step up.

I thought the bench was going to be a major contributer last season and it turned out to be a nightmare. If we had reliable bench production last season, IMO that the rookies would have gotten more burn. This team needs to have a bench if they plan on running so much. They can't end up having tired legs at the end of the season. Turiaff shouldn't suck as bad as Croshere or Weber and two of our milk carton kids are gone...Pietrus and Barnes. Hopefully Buike will be consistent and we get production out of Randolph, Hendrix and Wright..

This is such a young team that I find it hard to call them a playoff team. If Randolphs plays like he can and avoid the rookie wall...who knows...

[Sid the Squid]

Ellis is not a chucker...If the shot is not there, he passes the rock...

Randolph will be our 1st option at the point of attack (point-forward if you want to label him)...KG played 28 minutes a game his rookie year..Randolph will too.

[Left*My*Heart]

Ellis is not a chucker, but I can see where he can gets into that one on one isolation game at times. When you shoot the ball at over 50%, who is to argue with that?

I love Randolph and I think he can play a lot of minutes this season.