Monday Morning Fresh feat. W’s beat writer Rusty Simmons

This week we bring to you a Q&A with Warriors beat writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, Rusty Simmons.  Rusty joins me to talk about the year that way, Monta/Steph’s relationship and what to look forward to this off-season.  We also catch you up on the latest episodes of WarriorsWorld TV and more, hit the jump to get started.

Q&A with Rusty Simmons

Warriors had a season to forget; injuries, losses, turmoil, etc…   The Warriors had it all this past season.  What would you consider the low point of the season? What would you consider the high point of the season?

The lowest point in the season was Nov. 14 at Milwaukee. Most people will remember Brandon Jennings going off for 55 points, but this game signaled more than the fact the Warriors were going to play poor defense for another season. It was the game Kelenna Azubuike blew out his knee and the game Stephen Jackson really started to hold the Warriors hostage. His postgame comments made it clear that he was no longer going to be a professional about his desire for a trade, and the Warriors had to move him before the disease set in.

I’ll go a little off the grid for the season’s high point. It would be easy to circle the emotional last-second win at Toronto that tied Don Nelson for the all-time victories lead or the season-ending win at Portland, in which four players logged 48 minutes. Instead, I’ll go for a 127-122 (I think) loss at Atlanta. After that game, Corey Maggette deemed that the Warriors were Stephen Curry’s team. When the veteran spoke, it became so. It was a turning point that Warriors fans could remember fondly for the next decade.

Most Disappointing player? Most surprising player?

I realize it’s a little unfair, but Andris Biedrins was the most disappointing player. The double-double machine became a 5-and-7 guy. I know he was hurt, and I respect that he tried to play injured without complaining. But no one went into the season expecting Biedrins to average 4.8 points and 10 percent free-throw shooting during the 23 losses he participated.

Reggie Williams was the most surprising player. When he was signed — after a dozen other D-Leaguers had already been grabbed and the Warriors couldn’t ink Courtney Sims — I was told that Williams couldn’t do anything but score. “He doesn’t see his teammates and he can’t defend anyone,” I was told by scouts time and again. Williams was the opposite of that. His first three games were against DWade, Vince Carter and Joe Johnson, and he held his own. He became one the team’s most reliable offense initiators. He rebounded. Oh yeah, and he scored. The Warriors got an absolute bargain in getting a two-year deal out of him.

How would you characterize Stephen Curry’s rookie season? Did he show out better than you expected?

I was assured by people who knew him better than I did that Curry would make shots, even when his release looked awful during summer league and training camp. I was assured by people who knew him better than I did that Curry could be the Warriors’ point guard, even when he looked un-athletic and out of shape in the season’s early-going.

What no one told me was that he would completely win over his teammates within a season. Nelson refers to the young players as “Curry’s guys,” and he might as well refer to everyone that way. When a player needs his teammate’s cell number, he asks Curry. When a player wants to know the nightly plan on the road, he asks Curry.

Curry played about the way I was told he would. His stats are a little better than I imagined. What he did in the locker-room and with the heart beat of the franchise is beyond anything I was told or imagined.

Is there any doubt whose team this is as we move forward? Stephen Curry seems to be the new face of the franchise, how likely is it they move Monta this off-season? Lots of talk about Monta possibly heading to Memphis, could the Warriors grab Rudy Gay in exchange for Ellis?

This is a great question; it hits right at the heart of the situation and I’m not sure I have a good answer. First let me say, “This is clearly Curry’s team, just an offseason apart from Monta Ellis being assured that it was his team.” That’s where it gets tricky.

Few NBA players have been given the keys, had them taken away this quickly and remained happy about the whole thing. Ellis, understandably, probably wouldn’t go for it.

The Warriors spent countless money and hours proclaiming Ellis as the face of the franchise. In this economy, it’s hard to swallow those expenses when you’re wrong. The current regime, rightly or not, can’t pull the trigger on a deal that ships out the guy they elected president. Of course, if there is new ownership who hasn’t been tainted by the mistakes of the past, it all gets a lot easier.

The normal thing would be to look at Memphis, where they’ve proven a desire to get local-boy Ellis (though I don’t see them giving up Gay in the deal). But mostly a new ownership can start fresh, explore every opportunity (without overvaluing its own players) and look for the deal that makes the most sense. Man, would that be refreshing.

You’re one of the individuals closest to the team and have a good ear to what’s going on in Warriors land.  From Monta’s initial comments made in Camp about Curry to the end of the season, did you still see or hear of any animosity between the two or was everything kosher and more the people on the outside trying to make something out of nothing?

There is really no way to sugar-coat this: Ellis never gave Curry a chance to get along. Whatever happened to Ellis as a rookie has stayed with him. He says things like, “No one patted me on the back” and “No one took care of me.” Ellis won’t do that now.

It would be interesting to see what would happen next year, after Curry drops the apparently-hated rookie tag. Would Ellis warm up to him? Would it be like it was after the season-ending win in Portland when they sang in the showers? Would Ellis start accepting another star guard, giving him love or — gasp — cheering for him from the bench?

I don’t think we’ll ever know. From what I gather, Ellis needs worth to be proven to him. He plays 40 minutes a night when he’s not healthy and he asks “What did you do for me?” It’s that kind of thing. It’s stuff that a teammate can’t fully answer until at least 82 games have past. That’s why he doesn’t talk to the youngsters and why Curry never had a chance.

Let’s talk about GM Larry Riley, he took over controls last off-season and had an interesting first season as Warriors GM.  With new ownership coming in soon, isn’t Riley somewhat of a lame duck and how would you grade his season as GM? Did he do enough to shed the label of being Nellie’s “Puppet”?

I’ll start at the end. I think Riley proved he is not a puppet, making several moves that Nelson either didn’t agree with or had no knowledge of. I would grade his season as a low C, drafting Curry and finding Williams — a first-round talent off the heap — but failing to make anything out of the expiring contracts in Raja Bell, Speedy Claxton, Devean George and Acie Law. Don’t forget Anthony Morrow and C.J. Watson, who each got trade-deadline inquiries but remain to confuse this offseason.

When the new ownership comes — whether that’s in July or September — Riley is out. He knows it. He is drafting, signing free agents, etc., for right now. That’s probably the worst thing possible for a team that is supposed to be rebuilding and developing talent.

Unfortunately, we’ll never be able to fully judge his regime. We’ll know him only as the guy who always answered questions and somehow left lots to answer.

There seems to be a portion of those who follow the Warriors who believe the team can’t be assessed because they were limited due to injuries this season. While others say, the Warriors brought in injured players and even if healthy this team isn’t going to do much. Where do you fall on this back and forth?

I think it is fair to say, “The Warriors can’t be assessed because of injuries.” I also think it is fair to say, “The Warriors, as composed, aren’t good enough to compete in the West.”

Anthony Randolph was a world-beater, who had been hired by U.S. Basketball to beat the world last summer. Andris Biedrins was a sure double-double at this time last year, but has become a sure double-trouble these days. Brandan Wright was better than both by the time training camp ended, but, all we know for sure is that, he dressed better than both on the inactive list.

None played up to par, and even if they had, would they be good enough to beat the Lakers? Dallas? Phoenix? Utah? Denver? Portland? Oklahoma City? San Antonio? Houston? Memphis? New Orleans?

Nelson and Riley agreed that it would take some luck to get into the top eight next season. I’ll go further and say, “It will take the gift of the basketball gods.” Maybe to the tune of 501 games lost to injury by San Antonio, Phoenix and Houston.

You were out for the pre-draft combines and workout recently, what position do you think the Warriors need to address most? Which player do the Warriors want and which do you think they end up with on draft night?

Regardless of what else is said about the Warriors, I think they have a good base. A starting lineup of PG Curry, SG Azubuike, SF Williams, PF Randolph, C Biedrins is pretty nice; especially if that means you’ve gotten rid of Ellis and Maggette contracts. With C.J. Watson, Anthony Morrow, Brandan Wright and Ronny Turiaf as a second team, you need a 3 — hopefully, Wesley Johnson.

Knowing that Randolph is getting more trade play than Ellis these days, you’re lineup might look more like this: PG Curry, SG Ellis, SF Azubuike, PF Wright, C Biedrins. The backups would be Watson, Morrow, Williams and Turiaf, so the need would be a power forward.

Of course, none of this matters. As one scout told me, “Nellie will start looking at tape in June. He’ll see a half of a Georgetown game and be convinced who his guy is.”… Obviously, that guy is Greg Monroe.

Thoughts on Cousins? If he’s available at 6, warriors can’t pass him up, can they?

Funny.  DeMarcus Cousins could be the No. 1 pick, but he can’t be the No. 6 pick.

I was told that the Warriors “wouldn’t touch Cousins because he’s Benoit Benjamin.” Cousins hasn’t done much to defend himself. Teammates at the Combine best described him as “unpredictable,” and he was 292 pounds at 16.4 percent body fat. Sounds like the Warriors got this one right.

Map out the ideal off-season for the Warriors, who buys the team? Can they ship out Maggette, Monta or Biedrins and for who? What moves get them back from the land of irrelevance and into being a team which competes for the playoff?

It was your first season as Warriors beat writer, how was it? What were the highs and lows of the job?

OK, the ideal offseason: Larry Ellison bids $500 million and instantly stops the chase to buy the team by June 23. With Jerry West, and others, already in place, Ellison ships Maggette, Radmanovic and the No. 6 pick to Portland for a future conditional first-round pick that will never be realized.

Then, Ellison trades Ellis to Memphis for the No. 12 pick (nobody realizes the deal also includes Rudy Gay on a verbal promise) and the Warriors select Hassan Whiteside. With the extra cap room, the Warriors use the fact that they play in front of the best fans in the world to sign an unknown free agent, named LeBron James.

Clearly, this won’t happen for a number of reasons. But it was kind of how I dealt with my season. I consistently appreciated what the game and other teams had to offer.

Every time I got shady about working 13 consecutive days and flying four out of five nights, I remembered that I was getting paid to watch basketball. When I couldn’t get excited about watching the Golden State D-Leaguers, I realized that they were about to play Miami, Orlando or Atlanta. The highs and lows of my personal season happened on the same roadie and aren’t for print.

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