Miscreant Warriors Succeeding
Published by Jack Cobra April 10th, 2007 in NBA, Fans, Herlocker, GS Warriors, Cool Club, Baseball, Gilbert Arenas, Fantasy
(The Cavalier is on an extended leave of absence. He did not write this as he is busy working on his love letter to Boney.)
In the world of sports it seems too often finding the right ‘mix’ of players means trying to bring a bunch of good natured players who have a good ‘locker room presence’. While that seems to work at times (see: Pistons, Detroit), I don’t think that should be the steadfast rule, just look at the Golden State Warriors.
Last night the Warriors beat the Utah Jazz and in doing so, pulled themselves into the 8th spot in the Western Conference Playoff Race. Could we be looking at a modern day version of the movie “Major League” where a team full of cast-off’s and miscreants come together with a veteran coach to become a successful team? Let’s look at some of the players on the roster of the Warriors.
It all starts with Baron Davis, the talented point guard who forced his way out of Charlotte. He’s had the reputation of being a lazy player who is only out for himself. Stephen Jackson, the player the Pacers and the city of Indianapolis, couldn’t get rid of fast enough. Al Harrington….a talented player who has played on three teams in two years. Monta Ellis, the 2nd Round Draft Pick by the Warriors in 2005 who only played in 49 games last season. Matt Barnes, who is normally the first player off the bench has played with five teams in five seasons. Finally, their Coach Don Nelson…..we all know the story of this vagabond coach who has been around the block many times. I could make a case for most of the players on the Warriors roster but I’m working on a word count limit here….
Point being, instead of people believing that just ‘great locker room presence guys’ can come together to reach a goal; should we begin to think that players who have something to prove, who may have seemed selfish before…can come together to do the same thing? (kind of like the Bad News Bears, too?)
6 Responses to “Miscreant Warriors Succeeding”
- 1 Trackback on Oct 22nd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
well, technically those 2004 pistons were a semi-get-together of outcasts out to prove themselves as well. at that time, billups (a high draft pick) was a journeyman struggling to find his game, ben wallace had yet to establish himself as the defensive centerpiece that he came to be known as, and rasheed wallace was leaving behind a legacy of technical fouls, underachievement, and playoff collapses in portland. larry brown was also coming off the allen iverson era that fell short. and we all know that the we’re-at-our-best-when-everyone-doubts-us angle has been done to death with the detroit pistons.
you know sports are turned upside down when the warriors are the most successful bay area sports team.
look at the knicks roster….dont they have something to prove with all of their lackluster careers?
That they do…unfortunately, they don’t seem to have the ‘intestinal fortitude’ to do so. Although, as SML pointed out in the other post, a lot of the Knicks players are still relatively young so there is still time.
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links: