People always look up to heroes because they always save the day. Heroes take that small glimmer of hope that we have and shine a bring light upon it. Heroes can look at a situation, assess it quickly to find the best way to keep everyone safe. Heroes put everyone’s well-being in front of theirs. Heroes don’t expect anything back for their assistance. If a hero has a choice between saving 2 people, he or she still tends to find a way to save both.
But, what if a hero needs to be saved? Every hero has a weekness. They may publicly show you that nothing bothers them, but they are people too. Heroes have families of their own that they worry about. Heroes have people that they look up to. Heroes get tired. A hero can worry if that girl he has a crush on likes him back as a person or just because he's a "hero." Heroes need to take time to unwind and have a beer everyone once in a while without having to worry about saving someone when they are buzzing out with their buddies.
So, who saves a hero?
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Tough Times With Don Nelson and the Warriors
I was a supporter of Don Nelson coming back to the Golden State Warriors a few years ago. I mean, look at what the team had offered us loyal bay area GSW fans with the years after the Chris Webber/Nelson fiasco, which I still blame on Webber being a spoiled brat coming out of college crying because a coach actually had the balls to actually yell at him when he wasn't following the gameplan and all. I was thinking that Don Nelson along with one of my all time favorite Warriors, Chris Mullin, was going to make good things happen. We get Baron Davis. Unloaded Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy (I liked Murphy though) and got Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson. Little bits came along and guys like Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes played important roles along with these others 2 years ago in one of the greatest 2nd half season runs I've ever seen. I'm not talking about just upsetting the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs, but I'm talking about the last 2 months of the regular season where everything was working for the team. I mean EVERY 3-Pointer was going in. Loose balls led to something like 16-2 scoring runs at least 2 twice a game. Everything was looking great. Last year was a fluke year because the West had so many good teams with winning records that the Warriors missed the playoffs barely.
Then, this 2008 offseason happened. We all knew that Baron wanted an extension, but I thought he would play out the final year of his existing contract this season and then possibly next year he would leave as a Free Agent since the Warriors weren't going to give him that fat contract. Baron leaves. I wasn't happy at how the whole thing played out, but Management (not Mullin as he got Baron a 2 year contract that Baron agreed to, but "management" overulled) started looking at saving $$$$ again and figured, let Baron go. So Baron left within hours of free agency, not something I was expecting. As expected, Barnes left and so did Pietrus. Then, Harrington gets mad after he finds out Nelson gets a contract extension meaning that Harrington was going to play the undersized PF and C under Don for 2+ years, so he wants out. I know alot of people hated Harrington, but to me he would of been a good bench player being the 6th-7th guy that could play 3 positions and a spot starter, but he thought he was a bigger star in his mind. Let's not forget, that the Warriors were trying to get Harrington from Atlanta a few years back, so he's been on GSW's radar for a while. Then, Stephen Jackson signs an extension, hurts his hand, continued to shot 0 for a zillion 3's, and has been playing like crap- just sit Stephen for the holidays and let that shit heal otherwise you are just making the team worse. I'm a Stephen Jackson fan, but when you are hurt and you can't produce, why can we all see it, but not you o Capt'n Jack who I think still leads the league in turnovers? Only Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant seem to be the only ones that can play at an extremely high level when injured or sick with the flu, but thats another story.
So as the drama goes, Marco Bellini complains to the media about how he's being handled with no playing time and all the while, Don Nelson has been telling us for 1+ years that this guy doesn't know how to play basketball. So, after the media writes about this, Bellini gets playing time and we learn he can actually play, does try to play defense, can dribble, can pass- basically be more than just that 2 minutes a month 3 pointer shooter, which is what Don Nelson made us think. During this time, we figured that Don Nelson was also saying that Brandon Wright and Anthony Randolph can't play, but when they play they look impressive. But then again, they could play 30 minutes 1 night, DNP the next 3 nights, then play 2 minutes, then DNP for the next week. You have Anthony Morrow that everyone thinks could be a good player since his breakout game versus the Clippers in LA, but he's run into the same playing crapshoot as Wright, Randolph, and others like Rob Kurz, Markus Willians, etc....
Anyways, I still go to Warrior games this season, enjoy the games, including seeing other team stars, but the last 2 days this drama is making things worse............ Nelson says he's tired and he'll let his 2 assistants take over to teach defense 'cause he can't do it anymore. Rumor is he told Anthony Randolph to ask his agent to shop him for trades 'cause he ain't that good in practice (try telling Allen Iverson that he ain't good in practice and we'll see where that goes!). Don Nelson is an old man that admits he likes to drink alot, wants to go to Hawaii all the time, and that 2 year contract extension he got looks like a joke. We always hear about how he manipulates the media, makes other's adjust to him, but I think he's confusing himself that doesn't know what he believes anymore. Sounds like a man that is FINALLY ready for retirement. I know that the contract extension was to try to bring stability to a team that is so unstable, but if he plans to get rid of all the players via trades or piss them off then want to get traded, he's just going to run this team into the ground. Part of the reason he's still coaching is he wants that all time coach winning record, but if the last 50 wins are meaninless over the next 1+ years, how is the latter part of his legacy going to be viewed? In my gut, I think he wants to win, but seeing that it's a steep uphill challenge, he looks like he's going to bail on us like he did to Dallas. Maybe Don needs to take a 2 week vacation and see if he comes back re-energized. I know he doesn't have the best team, but the minutes he plays his guys are so confusing.
Hopefully, after Don takes this little vacation, Monte will be back, Maggette's 2 hamstrings will have healed, Jackson's hand will be healed, everyone with the flu gets healthy, and we can make a 2009 run to try to get to .500. That's what I want right now. This team hasn't excited me for a while now and I don't know why I keep spending so much money on them. Must be them damn bobbleheads, tshirts, signs, hot dogs, and the Warrior Girls.
Look at the players that aren't on the team now actively that made up the 2006-2007 team:
Matt Barnes, Baron Davis, Monta Ellis (injury), Al Harrington, Patrick O’Bryant, Mickael Pietrus, Zarko Cabarkapa, Adonal Foyle, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Josh Powell and another all time favorite, Jason Richardson. Alot of them were bench players, but that is still a lot of turnover from their playoff run and there's no more "We Believe" in Oakland. That team is gone and so is our mascot Thunder! C'mon guys let's make this work. I still have Boston, Toronto, Cleveland, Phoenix, and Philly games coming up, so make me proud. There was a point that every game I went to was always a win. That has changed drastically. I just want some moral victories and let's not let the Clippers and the Kings have a better record than us. Chris Jericho came back to WWE to "SAVE US" and now it's almost Monta's time to try and save us!
Then, this 2008 offseason happened. We all knew that Baron wanted an extension, but I thought he would play out the final year of his existing contract this season and then possibly next year he would leave as a Free Agent since the Warriors weren't going to give him that fat contract. Baron leaves. I wasn't happy at how the whole thing played out, but Management (not Mullin as he got Baron a 2 year contract that Baron agreed to, but "management" overulled) started looking at saving $$$$ again and figured, let Baron go. So Baron left within hours of free agency, not something I was expecting. As expected, Barnes left and so did Pietrus. Then, Harrington gets mad after he finds out Nelson gets a contract extension meaning that Harrington was going to play the undersized PF and C under Don for 2+ years, so he wants out. I know alot of people hated Harrington, but to me he would of been a good bench player being the 6th-7th guy that could play 3 positions and a spot starter, but he thought he was a bigger star in his mind. Let's not forget, that the Warriors were trying to get Harrington from Atlanta a few years back, so he's been on GSW's radar for a while. Then, Stephen Jackson signs an extension, hurts his hand, continued to shot 0 for a zillion 3's, and has been playing like crap- just sit Stephen for the holidays and let that shit heal otherwise you are just making the team worse. I'm a Stephen Jackson fan, but when you are hurt and you can't produce, why can we all see it, but not you o Capt'n Jack who I think still leads the league in turnovers? Only Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant seem to be the only ones that can play at an extremely high level when injured or sick with the flu, but thats another story.
So as the drama goes, Marco Bellini complains to the media about how he's being handled with no playing time and all the while, Don Nelson has been telling us for 1+ years that this guy doesn't know how to play basketball. So, after the media writes about this, Bellini gets playing time and we learn he can actually play, does try to play defense, can dribble, can pass- basically be more than just that 2 minutes a month 3 pointer shooter, which is what Don Nelson made us think. During this time, we figured that Don Nelson was also saying that Brandon Wright and Anthony Randolph can't play, but when they play they look impressive. But then again, they could play 30 minutes 1 night, DNP the next 3 nights, then play 2 minutes, then DNP for the next week. You have Anthony Morrow that everyone thinks could be a good player since his breakout game versus the Clippers in LA, but he's run into the same playing crapshoot as Wright, Randolph, and others like Rob Kurz, Markus Willians, etc....
Anyways, I still go to Warrior games this season, enjoy the games, including seeing other team stars, but the last 2 days this drama is making things worse............ Nelson says he's tired and he'll let his 2 assistants take over to teach defense 'cause he can't do it anymore. Rumor is he told Anthony Randolph to ask his agent to shop him for trades 'cause he ain't that good in practice (try telling Allen Iverson that he ain't good in practice and we'll see where that goes!). Don Nelson is an old man that admits he likes to drink alot, wants to go to Hawaii all the time, and that 2 year contract extension he got looks like a joke. We always hear about how he manipulates the media, makes other's adjust to him, but I think he's confusing himself that doesn't know what he believes anymore. Sounds like a man that is FINALLY ready for retirement. I know that the contract extension was to try to bring stability to a team that is so unstable, but if he plans to get rid of all the players via trades or piss them off then want to get traded, he's just going to run this team into the ground. Part of the reason he's still coaching is he wants that all time coach winning record, but if the last 50 wins are meaninless over the next 1+ years, how is the latter part of his legacy going to be viewed? In my gut, I think he wants to win, but seeing that it's a steep uphill challenge, he looks like he's going to bail on us like he did to Dallas. Maybe Don needs to take a 2 week vacation and see if he comes back re-energized. I know he doesn't have the best team, but the minutes he plays his guys are so confusing.
Hopefully, after Don takes this little vacation, Monte will be back, Maggette's 2 hamstrings will have healed, Jackson's hand will be healed, everyone with the flu gets healthy, and we can make a 2009 run to try to get to .500. That's what I want right now. This team hasn't excited me for a while now and I don't know why I keep spending so much money on them. Must be them damn bobbleheads, tshirts, signs, hot dogs, and the Warrior Girls.
Look at the players that aren't on the team now actively that made up the 2006-2007 team:
Matt Barnes, Baron Davis, Monta Ellis (injury), Al Harrington, Patrick O’Bryant, Mickael Pietrus, Zarko Cabarkapa, Adonal Foyle, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Josh Powell and another all time favorite, Jason Richardson. Alot of them were bench players, but that is still a lot of turnover from their playoff run and there's no more "We Believe" in Oakland. That team is gone and so is our mascot Thunder! C'mon guys let's make this work. I still have Boston, Toronto, Cleveland, Phoenix, and Philly games coming up, so make me proud. There was a point that every game I went to was always a win. That has changed drastically. I just want some moral victories and let's not let the Clippers and the Kings have a better record than us. Chris Jericho came back to WWE to "SAVE US" and now it's almost Monta's time to try and save us!
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