Here’s a great article by Rasheed Malek over at Warriorsworld.net giving us more reasons to dislike Bob Fitgerald.
Hopefully the Warriors will terminate this douches 5 year extension and bring in a team of Greg Papa and Tom Tolbert, professionals that just calls it as they see it as opposed to shilling for a poorly run franchise. Also if they can, keep Jim Barnett around to do Warriors Roundtable or something. Barnett is good peoples, they can have him do some of the halftime/end of game talk with Roye or Steinmetz too, because that ’stache needs to be on tv.
THE NAPOLEON COMPLEX – Basketball is a vertically played game. The ball has to travel upwards and down through the hoop in the most simplest terms. This game is generally considered a big man’s game, but among the skyscrapers and tall trees exists a breed of basketball player that dares to play along. These men do not have the long, lanky limbs that reach towards the heavens, but they have the passion, the skill, and most importantly . . . the heart. This is a tribute to those players that gave the vertically challenged the hope and the dream to someday rise up and throw down on the Shawn Bradley’s and the Mark Eaton’s of our lives. I still can’t dunk. I gave that dream up a long time ago because I still believe that 10 feet is not geometrically correct (8.5 should be the official height of every hoop in the world), but I will still use this as a metaphor to overcome any adversities in my life. Here’s to the little dudes with the balls to prove people wrong. Here’s to the Napoleon Complex in all of us.
Example: Dude, that is a totally awesome Napoleon Complex. Where did you get it, Target?
Here’s a clip I found paying homage to the little dudes in the past of the NBA. Appearances include Kevin Johnson, Robert Pack, Isaiah Thomas, Spud Webb, Stevie Francis, Baron Davis, AI, and a few others. These guys were almost as amazing as my pair of LA Gear catapults that didn’t do jack crap for my game. Damn you Karl Malone. You and your stupid hand behind the head dunk – which we will break down in another edition of the dunktionary. Anyway, enjoy the clip.
Here’s ex-Warrior Will Bynum turning Tyson Chandler into Tyson’s Chicken. As in Tyson’s Chicken TV dinners that you buy at the grocery stores. Hehe. Get it? Get it???
Uh-em. Anyway, rolling right along, here’s Derek Rose turning Greg Oden into Greg Owned-Him. Hehe. Like he dunked on him and so he like owned him. Hehe.
Finally, we all remember this one. No explanation needed. Plus, I couldn’t think of anything clever with Kirilenko.
The goal behind any move is to get your team closer to winning a title, not does this deal make your team a little better in the short term? Why do I hate this deal so much? If you’ve been a Warriors fan for the last 10 years, you should know why. You all have your opinion and I have mine, but within the next few years I believe we will look back and it will show that the Warriors got the raw end of this deal. Here are my thoughts on this deal, add your comments if you want to refute anything I have to say.
- Getting rid of Anthony Randolph will haunt us in the same way the Mitch Richmond and CWebb trades have haunted us. People don’t think that AR and Stat will mix well in NYC, but Stat played center for the Suns the majority of his career, so I think he’ll be just fine playing center in the Eastern Conference against much lighter/shorter centers opening the door for AR to play the PF position. The Knicks also have the ability to surround him with better players until he matures because people actually want to sign with them. But, the biggest difference is that AR will finally have a coach in D’Antoni that will know how to coach/use him and not try to fake out the team with crazy mismatches or yanking him after his first mistake.
- For a team to succeed you either have to be good in the draft, savvy in free agency or be a destination where players want to go. The Warriors strike out on all counts and the addition of Lee kills two of the three. David Lee makes the Warriors good enough to not make the playoffs. You know what that gets you? Years after year of getting the 10-14 pick in the draft. This was the Warriors system in the 90’s, they always played well enough to not make the playoffs and you know who they ended up with? Juggernauts like Todd Fuller, Clifford Rozier, Adonyl Foyle, Jeff Foster. They also just nuked whatever cap room they were going to have for the next few years with the addition of Lee’s bloated contract to the already albatross contracts of Monta Ellis ans Andris Biedrins. So the only thing the Warriors can fall back on is being an awesome destination city. Too bad the front office ruined that.
- David Lee doesn’t play defense very well. He may be good pick and roll partner with Steph, but it doesn’t matter, the amount of times he’s gonna get burned on the other side of the court, his output will be a wash. Randolph would have also been a good pick and roll partner with Curry once he was coached right, but he would have also been a difference maker on the other end. You have to allow young players to grow together and to build that chemistry.
- You throw around 6 yr./$80 million contracts when you are close to a title or when you can bring on a player that will make a difference. The Warriors are no where near a title and Lee is not a difference maker. The Warriors are in a rebuilding mode and if you don’t think they are, you are delusional.
- There was a rumored trade of Kevin Love and the #4 pick for Randolph and the #6 pick. If the Warriors front office turned down that trade, they should all be thrown into prison. I was happy at the time the Warriors didn’t give up AR, but if I knew this would have been the outcome, I would have pulled the trigger on that trade in a heart beat. Would I rather have David Lee and Ekpe Udoh or Kevin Love and DeMarcus Cousins for Anthony Randolph? That’s such a tough decision. Oh wait, no it’s not. You go with the younger tandem with the bigger upside. Except for when the team’s being run by a bunch of morons.
- The Warriors could have tried to pick up Josh McRoberts or B.J. Mullens or drafted Greg Monroe. All of them are similar players to Lee and wouldn’t have cost the Warriors at least $10 million more a year for the next 6 years and a potential cornerstone player. But that’s the Warriors M.O.; always go with the worst scenario.
- Lee is 28 years old. Randolph is turning 21 soon. That’s a 7 year difference. AR has 7 years to become a 20/10 guy and at a fraction of the price that they just signed Lee for.
- Larry Riley wanted to show people he was a good GM and that he can improve this team in the short run. He knows he’s not going to be the GM once this team is sold, so his only bet was to dupe any future employers into believing that he made moves to improve the team because now they’re winning a few more games than last year. He wasn’t going to dupe teams by having a rebuilding team, so why not trick them by getting a few more wins from more NBA ready players like Udoh and Lee and killing any long term potential this team had. “See my moves won the Warriors a few more games because they already have 2 more wins than this time last year.” And you know what, there are enough stupid teams in the league that will actually believe his b.s. and will give him a job. That’s what irks me more than anything, dumbasses like Riley will continue to work in the NBA, while you could probably pull a kid off the street and they’d be able to do a better job than him.
When you have one of the most loyal fanbases in all of sports, you reward them for their patience by letting them watch players grow into the player they all envision him to be. You allow the fans to grow with the team, I truly feel I was robbed of that. I wanted to look back and remember that the team sucked for 20 years, but I stuck with them and I watched Curry and Randolph become the players they are now. I would have been happy to go through that, because you’d have a connection with the team. That’s why the Oakland A’s don’t have many fans, once you become invested in a player the team ships him out, that’s not how you make a connection with your fanbase. Thanks for taking that away from my Golden State. I’m pissed right now, but once this team is sold, I’ll be right back rooting for them and I’ll just remember this time as another way of the Warriors front office screwing over the fans. But, everytime I see AR making an All Star team or every highlight they show on ESPN, I’ll become bitter again about what could have been. I guess it’s the badge of a Warriors fan…
Welcome to the Warriors David Lee, now you can bitch about Steph blocking you in practice instead of on live tv.
As reported by Marcus Thompson yesterday on his blog, the Warriors are thisclose to trading Anthony Randolph and change for the rights to sign David Lee to a crazy 6 year deal starting at a salary of $13 million a year. Does Cohan hate the Bay Area so much that he’s going to run this ship into the ground before he sells. What’s his next move going to be? Sending Steph Curry to the Charlotte Bobcats in another sign and trade deal for Raymond Felton? If this trade goes through, I think I will finally renounce my allegiance to the Warriors and officially become a Kings fan. I would also hope for the Ellison to purchase the Kings from the Maloofs and move them to San Jose. I wouldn’t care what happens to the Warriors anymore after that, maybe Mark Mastrov will buy them and move them to Las Vegas. Good riddance.
Am I going overboard for renouncing my allegiance to a team who trades a multitalented PF with enormous upside that hasnt reached his ceiling yet because of a coach that never coached him right for an all star power forward? No, I don’t think I am. Anthony Randolph is 20 years old, super athletic, plays defense, has crazy upside (that he may or may not reach) and is well thought of enough that he was invited to train with the Olympic tryout team at the age of 19. David Lee is 28 years old, made 1 all-star team while playing on a team that stripped the team bare to get into the Lebron race, is athletic, can score and rebound, and plays horrendous defense. What else am I missing here? Oh yeah, the Warriors will kill their cap situation that they’ve used the past year trying to get under. What was the point in giving away Jamal Crawford, Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette if you’re just going to turn around and throw it away on another non-difference maker in David Lee? Why not try to save that money and go after Yao Ming next year? Even if he’s injured the whole time, at least you’ll give yourselves a presence in the most populated country in the world.
If this trade even comes close to happening, I hope David Stern steps in and saves the Warriors from themselves and puts a moratorium on all moves the Warriors make until the sale of the team because anytime you get shafted by the Knicks in a trade you’ve just shown you’re not capable of walking across the street by yourself, much less running a professional sports team. It’s the only way that anyone can stop the “Idiot Quartet” from destroying this team any further. I also hope for David Lee’s sake that he doesn’t agree to the sign and trade with the Warriors, he just needs to talk to Mike Dunleavy about how Warriors faithfuls treat Warrior management mistakes.
Finally, if this trade goes down it will be Chris Webber for Tom Gugliotta and a sack of nickels (getting 3 1st round draft picks, to make up for the 3 1st round draft picks the Warriors gave up to get CWebb and which were never better than the ones the Warriors gave away because the team sucked) all over again. As a Warriors fan, I don’t think I can go through that again…
The free agent negotiation period began yesterday and a ridiculous amount of bad contracts were given away. Like Tim Kawakami, I’m glad the Warriors are almost capped out and trying to reduce costs. Otherwise they may have given Drew Gooden a 5 yr./$32 million contract, so they could add another skinny power forward to the mix. If the Warriors are smart they could make some moves to improve their team and fleece some of these GM’s that proved yesterday that they are capable of being duped. Let’s look at a few trade scenarios with these GM’s that I would love to see happen for the Warriors this offseason.
Memphis Grizzlies gave 0-time All Star Rudy Gay a 5 yr./ $80 million contract
- Memphis receives – Monta Ellis – They’ve shown interest in Ellis for the last 3+ years and probably still want to add him to their ball hog/no defense team. Memphis’ potential starting 5 – Ellis/OJ Mayo/Gay/Z-Bo Randolph/Gasol(I feel sorry for the other Gasol)
- Warriors receive – Xavier Henry/Mike Conley/Darrell Arthur – Warriors get a SG to pair with Curry, a flyer on a decent back-up PG who’s worn out his stay in Memphis and cap filler that can get 6 fouls on the other teams big.
Atlanta Hawks gave playoff choker Joe Johnson a 6 yr./$119 million contract
- Atlanta receives – Vladimir Radmanovic – After giving Joe Johnson that crazy deal, they’ll need to save some money so they can max out Al Horford soon. Radman comes off the books in 2011.
- Warriors receive – Marvin Williams – Not an ideal pick up, but he’s paid a reasonable salary 6.5 mil., plays his SF role well and fills a huge need at the SF position.
Charlotte Bobcats – Sadly, no crazy contracts yet, but I have a feeling the Tyrus Thomas 5 year/$70 million extension is coming real soon.
- Charlotte receives – Andris Biedrins and Charlie Bell – After all of these horrible contracts have been thrown around(Amir Johnson 5 yr./$34 million), Beans contract looks like a bargain. They’ll be interested in this trade because Beans is still young, plays good defense, will be one of the better centers in the Eastern Conference and has a contract that’s better than anyone they’ll overpay next year. Charlie Bell is a cap filler that they can buy out.
- Warriors receive – Tyson Chandler – Decent pick up for the Warriors. Like Beans, he’s injury-prone, skinny and a horrible free throw shooter, but he’s a better defender and has a little more size on him to handle the center position for the Dubs. The hope is that Chandler can revive his Camby 2.0 game, but even if he doesn’t he’s only on the hook for one more year.
The ideal situation for any team as young as the Warriors is to pick up players that can grow together and would enjoy playing together, similar to the OKC Thunder model. These trades bring on board players that aren’t selfish, gets rid of a potential locker room cancer in Monta Ellis (who was mentored by Captain Jack) and gives the Warriors one of the best young teams in the league. They’ll also have the room to maneuver with short/expiring contracts and good young pieces to play around with in trades.
Warriors 2010/11 roster PG – Stephen Curry/Mike Conley
SG – Xavier Henry/Anthony Morrow
SF – Marvin Williams/Kelena Azubuike/Reggie Williams
PF – Anthony Randolph/Brandon Wright/Darrell Arthur
C – Tyson Chandler/Ronny Turiaf/Ekpe Udoh/Dan Gadzuric
Next up in our “Ideal Situations” columns, we’ll look at the potential head coaches.
THE ALLEY-OOP – a basketball play that essentially transcended the outer reaches of the fine line of what is deemed impossible, the alley-oop defies the laws of reality and forever revolutionized the game of basketball. Since it’s inception, the alley-oop has managed to capture the minds of the world and at times has instilled a sense of unity in times of war and despair. The alley-oop requires the work of two teammates and consists of one teammate lofting the basketball near the vicinity of the basketball rim (the “alley”) while a second teammate elevates to catch the basketball in midair and slam dunks the ball (the “oop”).
Example: The patient is going into cardiac arrest! Give me an alley-oop stat!!!!!
Throughout basketball’s great history, it is a rarity to capture many of the earlier feats that have helped paint the landscape of basketball as we know it today. Luckily for us, the birth of the alley-oop has been captured and has been stored away only to have been authorized by the ABA to be shown right here on thewarriorsblog.com as an exclusive!!! Behold. The majesty that is known as the alley-oop.
As much as it still stings, I can’t deny that this was one of the best alley-oops in NBA history.
The W’s can do some damage in the playoffs themselves. Boom to JRich from long distance.
One of the many plays that made Zeke one of my all time favorite baskeball players to watch growing up. This is vintage Isaiah showing that it isn’t all about the dunker. The passer can add some flash to the mix too.
Sometimes though, it can be both parties involved. Pre-NRA Gil (plus fro) and JRich taking a page out of Zeke’s cookbook and adding some extra seasoning.
I’ve been a Warriors fan for the better part of my life and most of the time, I just shrug off things that the team does after a few minutes of annoyance. It’s the Warriors, their M.O. is to always be the stupidest person in the room. Questionable moves, failure and stomach punches, it comes with the territory. But a strange thing happened after the Udoh pick. I was upset about the pick as usual and after a few hours, the anger was still there. Every time I heard the sportscaster tell us who the Warriors drafted, I wanted to throw something at my tv. I tried to sleep it off, but I woke up and realize what had happened yesterday and I became upset again. This doesn’t happen to true Warrior fans, we usually can just take the bad and shrug it off. Was the news of the eventual Warriors sale and the good fortune of landing Curry last year, making me hopeful about my Warriors? Was I really hopeful that lighting would strike twice for the team and DeMarcus Cousins would drop to #6? Who knows, but I do know after the Warriors were in a prime position to pick up at least the third best player in the draft just before the season ended, I was expecting to receive more than Ekpe Udoh. So who is to blame for this draft disaster? Let’s take a look at the main culprits. Read more »
The NBA Draft is one day away. Most people see this day as the most important and interesting day for the Warriors, mainly because they’ve been to the playoffs once in the last 18 seasons, so the only day of hope Warriors fans get is Draft day. Read more »
Marcus Thompsen III just reported that the Warriors have agreed to send Corey Maggette and his 3 year/$31 million contract along with a 2nd round draft pick(44th overall) to the Milwaukee Bucks for Dan Gadzuric(1 yr./$7.5 mil) and Charlie Bell (2 yr./$8 mil). Read more »
As reported by 
The NBA Draft is one day away. Most people see this day as the most important and interesting day for the Warriors, mainly because they’ve been to the playoffs once in the last 18 seasons, so the only day of hope Warriors fans get is Draft day.