Warriors Have Every Right to Think Playoffs

What started out as a rebuilding year has become an '06-'07 repeat


This season was supposed to be about rebuilding. Well maybe not rebuilding, but retooling. Tinkering. Tweaking. Whatever you want to call it, fans, coaches, and players definitely thought the "P word" was a ways away -- the Dubs of the future, not the present.

But things have changed.

Mullin (or Rowell, or whoever is actually pulling those strings) has done it again and gotten something for nothing. A big something. A something that can turn this season around.

Like I've said before, Crawford may not have been the best all-around player on the market, but he's something special on the offensive end, and the Warriors can use his help.

Many nay-sayers have questioned the Warriors and their style of play - opting for high scoring and brushing aside defensive fundamentals - stating that a team so bad on the defensive side of the ball could never win a championship. The Warriors can never win a championship while giving up 105 points per game. I disagree.

What I believe - and the Dubs' personnell moves mirror this philosophy - is that, in today's NBA, it's more effective to have an identity that plays to your strengths than to try and be a great all-around team. Defense works for some - the Spurs for example.

But look at the Suns. They traded away their identity along with Shawn Marion for the Big Diesel. Would you say they're closer to winning a championship now? The bottom line is the players on the Suns simply work better in an uptempo system. Nash is at his most effective when running the floor. Same thing with Barbosa, Diaw, and Amare.

Same thing with the Warriors.

From signing Maggette to trading for Crawford the Warriors have made a definitive statement - screw defense, we're about scoring points. Aside from the development of Andris at the center position, this is actually a significantly worse defensive team than we were last year: Baron has been replaced with Watson/Nelson/Williams who are all terrible perimeter defenders. Harrington has been replaced with Crawford - also a defensive liability. Pietrus and Barnes were two of our better on-ball defenders and they're also gone.

And all this has been replaced with firepower. Maggette is a top-tier scorer when he wants to be. So is Crawford. So how will the Warriors' little experiment play out? Hopefully the extra points on the board will outweigh the exceptionally high oppenent ppg this team is looking to end up with.

And hopefully a team recognized by it's high power offense will be able to keep playing to the identity that made them relevant again.
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