I have a bunch of posts coming up but wow, I take a day off and my last post got a little action in the comments, and I missed a chance to throw the hands! And I haven't ripped into the Bulls yet. That's what I get for taking the day off... for the record, I took a day off from work, tried to enjoy the beautiful day, went to see Spider-Man 3 (sorry, can't recommend it - it got silly, wasted great story lines, sort of like X-Men 3 did, by blowing through too many of them in a short period of time, and I have no idea what that little part with the music was about... on the real, that was some Will Ferrell level of silliness that did not belong in a movie that takes itself somewhat seriously).
Anyway, because I wasn't around earlier, I rushed the earlier post on the Knicks-Warriors comparison, and left out some important stuff.
One, Isiah Thomas and Chris Mullin are both GMs that were much maligned and criticized. Now Mullin is being hailed as a genius by the media for his deals. The same cat that signed Foyle to an impossible contract. I think it's great that Chris Mullin is allow redemption... it's a beautiful thing. As a player, Chris Mullin was always a favorite, and might, in fact, be my favorite white player of all time (not that you should classify players by race, but people often classify minority players by race - "Ichiro is the best Japanese player in MLB", "Clemente the best Latino of all time" - so since white people are a minority in basketball, we'll give them the same treatment). I recognize that Bird is better, but I never liked him much - he was a Celtic. But Mullin - he was a local boy. Played at St. John's, lead us to the Final Four. Ran, hit shots, could drive, could score big. He was fun. Plus he was the best player in NBA Live '95 for the Sega Genesis.
Now Chris Mullin gets redemption. Great. Isiah Thomas will never get that. The Knicks could pull a Golden State next season (no, really - they could - they could win 40 games, make the playoffs as an 8-seed, and pull off the upset), and no freaking way the press would give him the redemption that Mullin is getting. But that's okay, the fans will give him his due if his plan comes through....
Isiah took risks, like Mullin. Mullin rolled the dice when he traded for Baron Davis two years ago. Nobody wanted Davis - he was had for Dale Davis's expiring contract and Speedy Claxton. Baron Davis had an uninsurable contract. He misses too much time due to injuries. He's also a loser. Mullin then rolled the dice again, after a few seasons of failure, picking up Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington. Jackson of course was available because he was too "thuggish" for Larry Bird and the Pacers. And no one wanted that headcase, right?
Isiah's Knicks also rolled the dice. Marbury? Headcase, loser. Q-Rich? Uninsurable. Same with Curry, an enormously talented player with health and work ethic issues. He rolled the dice, that's the only way to make it happen in the NBA. Or you can sit on your hands, and hope to score via the draft.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Show me one team, when we get to the Conference Finals, that was built by drafting or signing premier free agents (not mid-level types, which Isiah has been signing). The Pistons - Rasheed was a headcase, ten times worse than Stephen Jackson or Marbury. Billups was a scrubby mid-level free agent. Tay Prince was a great draft pick, but he was picked 23rd in the 1st round. Rip Hamilton was acquired via trade, and was not expected to be the player he was. The Nets? Kidd via trade. Vince Carter via trade. Both were discounted, because they were no longer wanted by their teams. Only Richard Jefferson is a lottery pick on that team. The Cavs and Spurs are both built around #1 picks overall, who also happened to be once-every-ten-years type of talent (Duncan, LeBron). The Jazz? One lottery pick (Deron Williams) plus a great free agent signing - Carl Boozer. Plus Okur (from Detroit) and AK47 (#24 pick). On and on...
The beauty of the Warriors is this: This is not a team of young'ems reaching their potential. This is not the Celtics sitting around, waiting for Rondo to become the next Kidd, etc. This is not Chris Paul taking over the league. This is a veteran team that is full of historical underachievers who have had their moments, but never dominated like they were capable of.
The difference between the Warriors and the Suns? The Warriors aren't All-Stars. Nash, Stoudemire, Marion: 11 All-Star games; 2 MVPs, 5 NBA All-Team (four 1st team, one 3rd team), 1 ROY. Baron, J-Rich, SJax: 2 All-Star games, one 3rd team All-NBA. The Suns are SuperStars; the Warriors are stars, at best. They ain't going to the Hall of Fame. Harrington's career, while fine, is closer to being like Matt Barnes (a waiver wire scrub) than it is to being like the Suns. Even Bo Diaw on the Suns is not a veteran playing big once again; he was a young player who never got a chance, who got that chance in Phoenix.
That's why we can all root for the Warriors. The Warriors represent every struggling franchise with good, talented players who have had their moments (Q-Rich, Marbury, Crawford) but have yet to reach that level again. A team of players who could be big again.
A couple of notes on the comments: Rickhouse pointed out that Q-Rich is not J-Rich; believe me, I know. J-Rich is my favorite player on the Warriors. Not that I don't like Baron or the rest; I like them all (Barnes, SJax, Biedrins, EuroJordan, Ellis), especially Baron, but Richardson is my dawg. He gets better every year, whether hitting threes or dunking on heads. He's Vince Carter without the whininess. Seriously, look at their numbers. I'll address my feeling on Vince Carter when I do my posts on the Nets, but I really like Richardson. So, yeah, Q-Rich is not J-Rich. But Q-Rich can do some of those things - he can post (he's a big SG/SF), hit threes, play great man to man defense, and rebound well. When he's healthy. That was my point, not that he could equal J-Rich, but that he's a decent player.
On Eddy Curry: yes, he is too slow for the Knicks to run with. Duh. The Knicks play a half court offense when he is on the court, and they do well. He can score in the paint like very few in the NBA. But when he is on the bench, they run. That's part of the reason that the Knicks had so many big comebacks from huge 1st quarter deficits... because if the fell behind big, then they would go small and run.
On Don Nelson: yeah, I remember his beef with Ewing. Nellie was crazy, and I was glad he got fired so we could get back to making sense again. But Isiah would be wise to take some notes on what Nellie is doing in GS, and apply them to the Knicks.
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