No less than two days after the ABA-style, lack of defense, disaster loss by the Golden State Warriors to the Phoenix Suns, the team has some more detrimental drama on their hands.
We all know that this season is over, and has been since the Monta Ellis "moped" injury. And we also all know that Don Nelson has requested that the recently acquired point guard, Jamal Crawford (who came over in the Harrington to the New York Knicks deal) should either inform the Warriors that he will opt out of his contract at the end of the season or the Warriors will attempt to trade him. While I don't have a problem with this decision from a long-term team standpoint since Crawford is due 20 million over the next two years, making him quite an expensive commodity given that the Warriors have already locked up almost 150 million in the contract extensions of three players (Ellis, 66 million, Biedrins 50-something million, and Jackson, 40-something million). The problem I do have is why make such a statement by the head coach towards the tail end of a worthless season. It just adds more negative vibes to the already uninspired team.
Nellie announced earlier today that Crawford will be benched for the next two games. This is definitely a direct result of his recent statement regarding the long-term position the Warriors have with Crawford. Not sure if it is going to get the intended results. Crawford would be smart by sticking with his current contract given the economic conditions present. There is no way that a team is going to give him more money, especially is such a short amount of time. Yes I know that he has the best handles on the team. Yes I know he has put up more than a few 50 point games in his career. Yes I know he leads the league in 4 point plays this season. The fact remains that his expensive contract and shoot first approach does not work for what the Warriors need in their point guard of the future.
There is no doubt the warriors need a PG, as well as a PF who can score. Watson is a nice D-league addition, but his size and ability will limit him to a solid backup role at the point. Golden State does have the emerging Anthony Randolph and Brandon Wright, but both of those kids need to put on the some serious weight/muscle to bang down low with the premier, front court players in the league. A guy like Amare Stoudemire would have been a nice addition before his optical nerve damage, but even then his contract was running out and even then he was not a long-term solution.
So once again, the Warriors continue their state of chaos and dire straits. Marco Bellinelli will be coming back from missing a couple games with a turf toe injury and will start in place of Crawford. If Bellinelli learns to take care of the ball and play better defense, he could be a good point guard solution, but then again it is not his natural position. The team needs a slasher and distributor, not one who is going to be tempted to hoist up the three-ball when he starts the offensive set. There are too many scorers on this team, and not enough defense and creating with the intent of distributing. Oh well. Maybe we can look to the draft and pickup a PG or PF, but then again it will be an adjustment process for the young player regardless of who he may be.
GAME NOTES:
- Stephen Jackson will not be playing tonight due to exceeding the limit of technical fouls allowed per player per season by the NBA.
- Kelenna Azubuike takes Jackson's spot in the lineup
- Baron Davis will be playing at Oracle for the first time since leaving the Warriors this offseason
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