The boos came justifiably, resulting from recent decisions, resulting from the a multi-decade history that reads like an incompetence instruction manual. And to those outsiders who school-marmed Dubs fans for booing: BOOOOOOOOOOO!!! This is not your scene, please pontificate elsewhere. The last thing I need to read is an another East Coast media tut-tut over how GSW fans should comport themselves. If you’re usually in bed by West Coast tip-off time, please don’t bother worrying after why the Bay rabble roars. Yes, the event was uncomfortable, but no one was physically hurt. This was just the honest, peaceful expression of collective angst, triggered in part by Lacob’s awkward injection into Mullin’s ceremony.
But here is my fear: What if Joe Lacob overreacts? The natural tendency is to immediately address a public embarrassment and this is what Lacob has been doing in radio and TV interviews. I take no issue with the PR onslaught, but I simply hope that the “address the problem now” mentality doesn’t seep into organizational strategy. The sad truth is that Joe Lacob cannot make any hasty decision that salves this. A long-term strategy is the only fix.
What Lacob can do, what the Warriors can do, is exactly what they’ve been doing since the trade deadline: They can keep tanking like captive fish. While ticket holders might rightly feel offended by a trade that ended the season, there is no going back. The worst mistake would be to play veterans in an ardent attempt at showing GSW fans that times are a’ different. To do this, would be to do exactly as the penny-wise, pound-foolish Cohan regime did. If Mark Jackson and Joe Lacob try to win in an effort to prove “a new culture” they’ll keep the old mediocrity in place. The best move is for the Warriors to pursue their top-seven-protected pick via some of the worst basketball these angry fans have ever seen.
I respectfully disagree with your opinion about tanking, Ethan. I don’t think a team should ever try to lose games. It’s very bad for team morale, and antithetical to building a culture of consistent effort and hard play, not to mention depressing to watch as a fan. Mark Jackson and the staff are diligently building a healthy attitude of hard work on that club that I wouldn’t want to spoil; he should play whoever is giving the maximum effort and keep pushing for wins.
If the Warriors play hard for the rest of the season, I’ll be satisfied, whether they keep the pick or not. I’m confident, for the first time in years, that the Warriors are on the right track. The trade was a good one, an aggressive one, made with the approval of Jerry West and everyone else in the organization, and the Warriors continue to make moves to improve — drafting Klay Thompson, trading for Brandon Rush, accumulating draft picks and Bogut last week. And Lacob and Riley have been outspoken about continuing to move up in the draft this year, beyond what they’ve already done through trades.
People just have to be patient. I’ve been a Warriors fan since the early ’80s, when I went to lots of games as a kid and witnessed years of hard play that yielded few results. After Run TMC the team has been crap, and with crappy ownership. Now Lacob and the rest are working hard to undo mistakes made under Cohan, and exploring all possible avenues for making the team better. Let’s rise above the temptations to play poorly and trust that a consistent, fierce effort, from the front office to the roster, is gonna lead to good things.
Seriously, I have “hope” fatigue. Personally, I’ve mentally spun the Warriors tragedy into positive PR for 25 years, despite how utterly ridiculous and futile that effort is and has been. Hey, we’ve all read Bill Simmons’ discertation on the topic. If you haven’t, please do.
I’ve spent hours (God, the number of hours) watching the games (tv or live), reading the articles, discussing ad nauseum with others how bad it’s been over the years and how to fix it. I don’t get paid for paying this much attention. All of these hours (and hard-earned dollars) of devotion have earned me precisely DICK. I don’t even get the respect of being ackowledged as part of the most hard-core fan base in all of pro sports because almost everybody farther away than Sacramento has ZERO regard for the Warriors OR their fans. And by “regard” I mean “the slighest modicum of common acknowledgment.”
I towed the franchise line this season…AGAIN. “Be positive! Believe!” I’ve stood by Lacob & Co. and shamelessly defended them despite not fully agreeing with every move. Obviously, it’s going to take far more than my wimpy little fan devotion to make any impact whatsoever.
This rebuild (or whatever is going on) should have started at least 15 years ago. I’m sorry if my bubble has burst at the end of another losing season in the 18th (nearly) consecutive of such seasons. I’m just exhausted of doing this year after year. It’s about this time of year I feel like a desperate crack-whore for participating in this. I feel like such a sucker.
I will be back next year, but my patience is entirely gone. I’ve been tolerant to a fault all this time. And it only hurts me because the franchise has already taken all my time and money that I’ll never get back.
BTW, I didn’t boo Lacob. For what it’s worth, I still think he’s a decent chap.
THE PERSON WELL DESERVING BOOS IS LARRY RILEY, WHERE IN THE HECK WAS RALLY WHEN ALL THE BOOING WENT ON FOR LACOB!? LACBO DOES NOT DESERVE THIS BOOING, LACOB’S HEART AND SOUL ARE ON THIS TEAM JUST AS MUCH IF NOT MORE THAN ANY OTHER FAN. BEFORE LACOB WAS A WARRIOR’S OWNER, HE WAS AND STILL IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE A WARRIOR’S FAN, LACOB WAS A WARRIOR TICKET HOLDER BEFORE BECOMING AN OWNER. THIS GUY IS DOING EVERYTHING HE CAN TO ESTABLISH A GREAT TEAM. WE WERE A MEDIOCRE TEAM WITH MONTA ELLIS AND EKPE UDOH AND BROWN THAT WERE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT TO THE PLAYOFFS ANYWAY, THE TANKING WAS ALREADY IN MOTION ANYWAY, 4 GAMES BEHIND THE 8TH SPOT WITH 5 OTHER TEAMS IN FRONT OF US AND IN BETWEEN THE 8TH SPOT!!! SMALL BALL DID NOT CUT IT! AND NOW WE HAVE A FORMIDABLE LONG SOUGHT CENTER WAY BETTER THAN CHANDLER, DEANDRE JORDAN COMBINED. WAY BETTER THAN DWIGHT HOWARD, ANDREW BOGUT IS AN ALL AROUND PLAYER, GREAT DEFENDER, GREAT REBOUNDER AND SHOOTER AND HE DOES MAKES HIS FREE THROWS. I WOULDN’T TANK THE SEASON IF WE MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, IF WE WERE TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, WE CAN GET ANDREW BOGUT AND STEPHEN CURRIS BACK AND STILL GET OUR FIRST TOP PICK TO COMPENSATE FOR LOSING UDOH AND ALTHOUGH, JEFFERSON IS NOT A SUPERSTAR, THE GUY BRINGS A GREAT BASKETBALL IQ WITH GREAT EXPERIENCE AND MENTAL TOUGHNESS THAT IS GOING TO HELP US ALLEVIATE FOR THE LACK OF DORRELL WRIGHT’S SHOWING. OVER ALL, THE TRADE IS GREAT FOR NOW AND THE FUTURE, WE’LL AMNESTY ANDRIS BIEDRINS, SOMETHING WE SHOULD’VE DONE THIS YEAR. WE’LL BE FINE, LET’S SIGN HICKSON NOW!!!
Although I like the trade u dont follow Warriors that often do u Wil? Warriors already wasted the amnesty on Charlie Bell.
tank you very much
there is no justification for purposefully tanking the season, I hope that we still have to give away the pick, Which will still happen if the Jazz Don’t make the playoffs(lottery protected-duh). In that game, the warriors took 6 and half minutes to score their first point, against a Timberwolves team the night before was to busy fighting amongst themselves to compete against the Kings. Thats boo-worthy by any means. Especially on a night meant to honor warrior’s greats, the current team played like Hot Garbage, thats worthy of boo’s.
Management created a roster with ;poor draft picks(Iman Shumpert, Marshon Brooks Alec Burks >Klay Thompson),(C.Wright,Jenkins,Tyler should be in the D-League),bunch of jump shooting wings, lack of depth in the paint, and 2 guys(not including steph) who play point but aren’t really suited to handle the ball for long.Thats boo-worthy. Now i here their considering trading in all their draft picks for 1 lottery pick-thats almost certainly boo-worthy. Its for to imagine with the lack of depth around a Bogut,Lee,Curry core this team will be that much better than it is now currently. I stand by the booing fans because their team has taken 3 steps back(compiling over the hill (Jefferson)and often injured players,keeping useless Beidrins, shrinking cap space, not developing rookies(more than just Klay) where alot of other teams bound for the lottery made moves that will push them 3 steps forward(acquiring solid vets, freeing up cap space,releasing useless players).
Popeye, We didnt clear up cap space for this season, BUT if this Curry, Bogut thing doesnt work out then Jefferson,Beidrins, Boguts contracts all come up in a couple seasons where we then could fully rebuild. This was a good trade. We are set up to compete at a high level if no one gets seriously injured next year and if someone does then we can finally start over with plenty of cap space. You guys need to look beyond just the trade for the next year and think about everything. Centers are not easy to find in this league and even though ours is injured there was no way Ellis was worth Bogut if Bogut was healthy.
Yes. Tank this mutha out.
I’m a long time season ticket holder and don’t really care about a few meaningless wins to close out the season. I want the Warriors to be strong for the future, and keeping their Top 7 pick will go a long way to bring about a better results us die-hard fans deserve.
Let’s be honest, if they keep the 7th pick, it will be a 6 player draft and they will draft the wrong player.
Del,
This draft is supposed to be the deepest draft in a long time. Even the pick from the SPurs we should get something out of it.