THE OFFICIAL SAN JOSE SHARKS SEASON THREAD!! PLAYOFFS VS CHICAGO WCF series 0-1

[lazyj10]

Isn't Randolph banged up?

 

[dont be a menace]

man i really do have too many W's in offbad's keeper league

i'll be open to trade Maggs but for Randolph.. if it's a good enough offer then i may have to seriously think about it

 

[daprescription]

He practiced with everyone else and didn't look hurt. During the little scrimmage, he was going up and contesting every shot, like he always does. If he is"hurt", then they are handling it terribly.

 

[daprescription]

[h2]Warriors could open 7-1, and I'm still predicting 34 wins: Month-by-month breakdown[/h2]
Posted by Tim Kawakami on October 27th, 2009 at 11:12 am | Categorized as NBA, Warriors

* You have to see this KNBC video of Don Nelson calling Chris Cohan "the perfect owner." My buddy Raj Mathai didn't quite break up into laughter when Nelson said this suck-up absurdity, but you can tell Raj is thinking about it. This does make sense: To hell with winning games or even being coherent or treating your employees well. It's all about Cohan being perfect for Nelson to manipulate, to screw up a franchise, to push Nelson out there as a ticket salesman.

In that vein, perfect players: Todd Fuller, Danny Fortson. Perfect GMs: Dave Twardzik, Garry St. Jean. Perfect coach: Brian Winters. Epitome of all perfect Warriors things: Robert Rowell.

Perfect owner: CHRISTOPHER COHAN! (Only for Nelson and Robert Rowell. Historically awful for everybody else. BUY TICKETS BUY TICKETS)

-Injuries change everything. There's no way to guess about the Warriors' prospective injury future for this season, and injuries are obviously huge when you're trying to predict the course of a season.

No way to guess about the W's, though it's usually safe to bet that they will suffer slightly more than the usual NBA slate of middling to serious injuries and one or two mainstays will be sidelined for much longer than was originally diagnosed.

Already, three of the top up-and-coming big men in the West have gone down: Minnesota lost Kevin Love for a while and Al Jefferson seems very iffy , while the Clippers have lost Blake Griffin for more than a month.

All the Warriors need is to stay 100% healthy (sure thing!) and watch Carlos Boozer, Pau Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge, Amare Stoudemire, Tim Duncan and Nene go down, and that would guarantee the Warriors a playoff spot in the West!

Print up the playoff tickets.

Reality check: I went through the schedule, tried to go with the Warriors' historical trends (get hurt, complain about the injury-spate, hit the skids in Feb-March), and I'm predicting a Montgomery-like 34-48 record, tied with Houston for 10th/11th-place in the West.

This could change based on Stephen Curry's development, or possible lack of it, on Anthony Randolph's growth, or lack of it, on Stephen Jackson's departure or proper behavior (yes, or lack of them), and on Don Nelson's determination to care about this team beyond February.

Or lack of it.

This is just a guess. I can and almost certainly will be proven wrong. But I think these things will happen:

-The Warriors' super-soft early schedule means they'll start 5-3 at the worst, and possibly 7-1, and get the shills shilling at all-time super shill level. But the NBA works that way, sometimes you start with the toughies, and this year the Warriors have been hand-delivered many early victories.

Won't mean they're any good. Might give them some early confidence. Then the real tests start.

-Nelson will get his 24th victory, passing Lenny Wilkens on the all-time coaching victory list. Not many people will care that much if it pushes the Warriors' record to 24-31, however.

(But I'll guess Nelson's all-time win No. 1,333 comes Feb. 10 at Oracle over the Clippers, the game before the break. Big hugs for BD and Nellie!)

-Curry will move in and out of the line-up, depending on Nelson's feelings about Monta Ellis, Acie Law, Anthony Morrow, Randolph, Phil Ivey and Willie Nelson.

-Curry's shooting percentage will fluctuate between the high 30s and low 40s, but not go much higher. He'll have a tough time vs. faster, larger NBA guards. He will pass it nice, though. He'll get killed defensively but not many in the Warriors organization care about defense.

-Ellis will realize, or might have already realized, that he's being set up for failure, pairing him with Curry in the starting backcourt and making sure the Warriors will get pulverized defensively. Fair-haired child Curry won't ever get blamed. It'll be Ellis.

-Jackson won't get traded until late-January, at the earliest, and only if Cleveland, Dallas or Denver panic at the wing spot.

-Andris Biedrins will start to get heat from Nelson. I can't exactly say why, but I can feel this one coming. Nellie Intuition.

-Ticket sales will not be good. We'll hear more about a possible Cohan sale. The Warriors will keep denying it.

On to the prediction… In previous seasons, I've gone opponent-by-opponent to produce my season prediction. (Last year's prediction: 35-47. Actual record: 29-53 and I sure was wrong about the "uninteresting" part.)

I did something different this year, not because I think the opp-by-opp measurement is badly flawed, but I think if we go through the course of the season maybe I can give a better feel to the marathon.

To the breakdown…

-- OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/

-16 games: 7 home, 9 away.

-Notable: Schedule's kind to Warriors right away-three of their first six opponents will be on the back end of back-to-backs, including Houston tomorrow (Rockets open tonight in Portland). Warriors don't have their second BTB until Game 9.

Warriors' five-game Eastern trip starts Nov. 11 in Indianapolis, but they don't get heavy wood until Game 4 of the trip, Nov. 17 in Cleveland and then Nov. 18 in Boston. Soon after that trip, Warriors have another brutal road BTB at Dallas Nov. 24 then at San Antonio on the 25th.

Lakers come to Oracle Sat Nov. 28.

-Summary: First 8 games are all winnable against non-elite teams (Memphis, Minnesota, LA Clippers) and nothing tough on the road until late in the month. Warriors should start 5-3 or 4-4 at worst and 7-1 is possible.

Then there could be a major losing streak.

-Predicted Warriors record for Oct/Nov: If things are going well, this could be 10-6. But I'll say 7-9… (6-2 start, 1-7 finish).

-- DECEMBER/

-15 games: 6 home, 9 away.

-Notable: Lots of road games. But before the homers start shrieking about the tough, tough unfair, really, CRIMINALLY UNFAIR schedule, there's two key points:

1) Everybody plays 41 home and 41 road games, and only shills scream like it's some awful surprise that some months are tougher than others. 2) Six of the Warriors' December opponents will be on the back end of a BTB, including the last three in a row.

(Poor Houston gets its second consecutive back-end of BTB visit to the Warriors on Dec. 3. Who in Houston made the NBA mad?)

The Warriors are home vs. Phoenix on Dec. 26 (after the Suns play on Christmas night in LA vs. the Clippers), home vs. Boston on Dec. 28 (after Boston plays the Clippers on the 27th) and at the Lakers on the 29th (after the Lakers play in Phoenix the night before). The last one is also a Warriors' BTB.

The Warriors go on a five-game trip in the middle of the month, and 2-3 is possible. There are two killer back-end of BTBs for the Warriors-at Detroit a night after playing in Chicago and then at New Orleans later in the month after playing in Memphis.

-Summary: A coin-flip month, with some tough home games and a slew of 50/50 road games, and lots of schedule-breaks (again). This is when the Warriors will either go surprisingly towards .500 or will start bottom out.

-Predicted Warriors record for December: A great run would get them to 10-5, a bad one would be 4-11. I'll say 6-9.

-Cumulative prediction thru December: 13-18.

-- JANUARY/
-15 games: 9 home, 6 road.

-Notable: The easiest month of the season. No serious road trips and seven straight home games, from Jan. 4 (Sacramento) to Jan. 22 (NJ). Cake month.

This is probably where the Warriors have to load up on the victories, because they might not see many more the rest of the way.

LeBron James' Cavs come to Oracle Jan 11, on the back end of a BTB (play in Phoenix the night before).

-Summary: If Don Nelson is holding things together, it wouldn't be out of the question for the Warriors to go 10-5 in January. It's all set up for them to do it. The Warriors do have 4 BTBs of their own, but the rest is cushy.

-Predicted Warriors record for January: It's EASY. 9-6. Anything less would be very bad.

-Cumulative prediction through January: 22-24. (Lots of homer engine-revving.)

-- FEBRUARY/

-12 games (All-Star break): 9 home, 3 road.

-Notable: Not a tough travel month, obviously, but the home games aren't easy, except for OKC and the Clippers before the break.

Plus the three road games are all tough-at Houston, at Dallas the next night, and at the Lakers in both teams' first game after the break. (So Curry, Randolph, Morrow and Maggette might be tired from their co-MVPs in the All-Star Game and Curry winning the dunk contest. I kid!)

-Summary: You've go the trade deadline, got the break, got the dog days of the season… This is where bad seasons start to happen and despite the home-heavy Feb schedule, I think it'll start giving problems for the Warriors right here.

-Predicted Warriors record for February: 5-7… 7-5 would not at all be out of the question, if the Warriors were a strong-minded franchise. But they're not.

They're owned by Chris Cohan, run by Rowell and coached by Nelson. Weak-minded teams generally fall apart. I think a 5-7 Feb prediction is being kind, but I'll stick with it.

-Cumulative prediction through February: 27-31.

-- MARCH/

-16 games (7 home, 9 road)

-Notable: Now the toughness begins. Any kind of Warriors' surge will depend on Curry, Randolph and Morrow, if they're all still healthy and ready to roll.

Trip to the South-at Miami, Orlando (next night), Atlanta, Charlotte (next night) and Atlanta-to start the month. Four total Warriors BTBs. Tough home games against Portland (Blazers on a BTB), Lakers, and Dallas, later tough roadies to San Antonio and Utah.

-Summary: This will be a hard month no matter how you look at it. And if the Warriors start piling up some injuries, this could be a season-killer.

-Predicted Warriors record for March: 2-14 is not out of the question; I'll be nice and go with 5-11.But the Warriors have to win every game they're supposed to win to get to 5 March wins. No slipping up at home vs. Memphis or Toronto.

-Cumulative prediction through March: 32-42.

-- APRIL/

-8 games: 3 home, 5 road.

-Notable: One last very late East trip to get in their games at Toronto and at Washington. Dunno where those teams' heads will be, either.

-Summary: I gave the Warriors a few coin-flip games in the early months against Minnesota and the Clippers, mostly because of those two teams' known injury losses. I'm giving the T-Wolves and the Clips the April wins because usually bad teams even out against each other. (Except the Warriors vs. Memphis last year.)

-Predicted Warriors record in April: 2-6, mostly because of the balance-out factor.

-Cumulative prediction through the end of the regular season: 34-48.

 

[mjdalegend]

Nellie kissing (*#$& up to his boss.

 

[lazyj10]

Like I commented on TK's blog...

!*$ do you expect??

I'm not going to post on here about my job/firm/partner.

Nor would I ever do anything in public that could be misconstrued, regardless of how I feel.

Of course Cohan is a perfect owner in certain senses. Does he suck at being an owner, absolutely, but that wasn't Raj's point/question.
Nellie of course would love a owner who is the polar opposite of Cuban, just read the arbitration docs.

 

[dont be a menace]

SMH at the dude in charge of the money league im in. dude did a draft last night without me in it, now i'm forced to go with whoever was drafted on myteam. and he hasn't even updated the league with players in it.

 

[tim lincecum]

If the Warriors go 7-1, I can already hear Fitz go crazy on radio and praise Nelson and choose callers who want to praise how great of a coach Don Nelson is.

 

[dont be a menace]

finally got to see my team. wasn't horrible but definitely needs fixing. got questions though to those who might wanna help..

this is my team.
Parker, Ginobli, Westbrook, Maggette, Stoudemire, West, Lee, Bargnani, Villanueva, Gomes, Terry, Deng, Nowitzki


so i'm not really sure on these players since i don't follow them since i don't care to pick em.
Ginobli, Bargnani, Villanueva, and Gomes.


there's a lot of decent FA's available since it's only a 8 person league.

all i have are scoring PGs and Duhon is available. But the dumb $+! host decided to make it 50 cents a transaction which will be counted at the end of theleague and will be added to the buy in. i'm trying to add him to drop Ginobli/Gomes.
Jackson and Howard is also available but can't decide for either one to replace Ginobli/Gomes.

and i'm seeing how it'll play out with Deng since I had him last year and dude was injured a lot. from the looks of it, my needs in terms of categoriesis assists, maybe 3pts, and steals.

 

[lazyj10]

I'd trade Parker, personally....and pick up Duhon since he's fantasy stats can be easily inflated due to the system of his coach.

 

[dont be a menace]

eh i would but all the other teams have good PGs already. bigs were drafted first in my team and guards were last from what it looks like.

so keep Manu? or just wait and see? already dropped Gomes for Duhon

 

[lazyj10]

I think Manu would be fine, I just think Parker is an avg at best PG for fantasy. If you could parlay him into someone who can pick up your weakeness area, doit.

 

[kl9]

Gomes is a fairly good player. I picked him up because he's a 15/5 type of a guy.

Not to mention Miller (right? ha) ,Al Jefferson and Craig Smith are gone...I'm pretty sure he'll get PT.

 

[tim lincecum]

Originally Posted by KL9

Not to mention Miller (right? ha) ,Al Jefferson and Craig Smith are gone...I'm pretty sure he'll get PT.

Al Jefferson will be in the line-up tomorrow.

 

[japanair21]

Al Jefferson will play.

He's back.

 

[dont be a menace]

Originally Posted by KL9

Gomes is a fairly good player. I picked him up because he's a 15/5 type of a guy.

Not to mention Miller (right? ha) ,Al Jefferson and Craig Smith are gone...I'm pretty sure he'll get PT.

yeah but when it's only an 8 player league, i don't need to dig that deep. like I said, Jackson and Howard are still available but idon't know who to drop since i just picked up Duhon for Gomes

 

[dland24]

I know you guys are well aware of my distaste for the Curry pick. All biases aside, can someone please tell me what it is he has done to earn a start overMorrow tomorrow? Im curious.

 

[bangdak]

i like this stattracker thing.
but people use to pay money for this?

 

[daprescription]

He can dribble, pass, and get steals. You would start Ellis and Morrow in the back court

? I'd start Azubuike over Morrow.

 

[kl9]

I guess I don't know the updates,

, nevermind.

Damn you big Z.

 

[gusyouout]

Originally Posted by dland24

I know you guys are well aware of my distaste for the Curry pick. All biases aside, can someone please tell me what it is he has done to earn a start over Morrow tomorrow? Im curious.

He can pass the ball and he's willing to pass the ball. He can create shots better than Watson, Morrow, and Ellis who are all SG's (twowho have PG bodies). So starting Monta at PG doesn't help since (I don't think) he can't play the PG role. If Monta could create shots and controlthe tempo then they should play with a Monta/Morrow backcourt, but Monta can't so I'm fine with them trying a Curry/Monta backcourt instead.

 

[dland24]

Originally Posted by daprescription

He can dribble, pass, and get steals. You would start Ellis and Morrow in the back court

? I'd start Azubuike over Morrow.

I dont think having an Ellis/Morrow backcourt is any sillier than having an Ellis/Curry backcourt. I agree with you though, Id rather start Jackson at the 2and have Buike start and play the 3.

For the record, I DO hope Curry does well. I am definitely rooting for the kid. I just didnt like the pick.

 

[daprescription]

This team just needs a PG. We all saw how horrible the team looked last season. If you start Azubuike, then you have Ellis trying to bring the ball up on everyplay (or Jackson), neither can dribble very well.

 

[paul is on tilt]

Originally Posted by BangDak

i like this stattracker thing.
but people use to pay money for this?

For those of us in money leagues, having up-to-date FG% and FT% is very helpful at the end of every week. Everything else is pretty much easy tocalculate if you want to keep it manually. Personally, I didn't want to keep logs and stuff every week just to tally up my score so I dished out the $10for StatTracker.

 

[eagle 0n]

Well, I'm ready for the new season and another go round with the regulars in this thread

I'm excited but don't really have any expectations. I think we can finish 9-10th in the West, maybe sneak into the playoffs

WE should be able to beat Houston tomorrow, especially since they played tonight. I expect us to go up by 25 pts only to give up the lead in the 4th qtr andbarely squeak by with the W.