4
23
Mar

Preview: Warriors at Houston

by

Golden State
Warriors

@

Houston
Rockets

Toyota Center
5:30pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
October 27, 2010 • Recap
Rockets 128
Warriors 132
 
November 24, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 101
Rockets 111
 
December 20, 2010 • Recap
Rockets 121
Warriors 112
 
March 23, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 112
Rockets 131
 

The Warriors finish up their road trip tonight in Houston, as they go up against an under-performing team that is hanging on to the last thread of its playoff life. So while this may be the easiest team the Dubs will play on this trip, it may also be the hungriest. Aside from the Hornets game in New Orleans (which feels like it was years ago), the Warriors have generally been terrible in final games of their road trips so I can’t say my expectations are very high.

Which is why I’m much more interested in a piece of news in this morning’s Chronicle: Warriors sources are leaking to Rusty that Larry Riley is expected to be retained after the season.

I can’t say I’m thrilled at this news. While Riley has probably had the best performance of the fireable-3 (Smart just doesn’t appear capable of outcoaching anyone, ever, and Rowell absolutely needs to go for both past performance and PR reasons), it’s not like Riley has made a ton of killer moves. Getting rid of the Jackson and Maggette contracts was impressive, but the Lee signing has hardly been a game changer (though at this point it’s clear that if there’s any contract that is holding down this team, it’s Biedrins’).

The bench this year has generally been terrible, as Lin and Amundson have been basically worthless (though those may be more on Lacob than Riley), Gadzuric and Bell have performed like the salary dumps that they are, and Radmonovic has been slightly more productive than those two but still overpaid.

His two draft picks, Curry and Udoh, show promise but the jury is still out. And his two other pickups, Reggie Williams and Al Thornton, are decent but extremely limited players at this point.

So I can’t say I’m thrilled by this news. Smacks of comfort over actually basketball acumen, or — imagine this — a desire to really shake things up on a team that desperately needs a change in philosophy. Again, there are bigger villains than Riley here, but it’s not like he’s been brilliant either.

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  • http://profiles.google.com/kirklandj Jake Kirkland

    I really wanted to like Smart as he seems to be a good person and the players like him but he has to go. The Curry situation is a mess. Monta needs to play less minutes and his handling of Adrien and Williams of late have been pretty bad. It is never a good idea to have a coach coaching to save his job when the team is already out of the playoff race and needs to see that some of their young guys have.

    On Riley, I would be happier seeing him go than stay. I know expiring contracts were not worth what everyone thought this year, but one more year in a row the Warriors fail to move them for something of use. It’s not like the 2nd round pick will see playing time unless the Warriors suddenly change philosophies. The Lee signing was horrible. He is just not that good and does not make the other players around him any better. TK’s column suggesting Udoh might be a better starter in the 4 spot as the Warriors are actually a better rebounding team with Lee off the floor was interesting. I know I am a hater but I just cannot deal with Lee getting paid so much to be the 4th best player on the team. I will give Riley credit for the D-Wright signing, but you have to have more makes than misses. Udoh has become a better player than I thought he would be but I think it is becoming obvious that Monroe was the pick they should have made all along.

    And Beidrins … don’t know what to say. I thought his contract was a good one at the time. I think confidence is an issue, but the loss of Baron Davis was the deal changer. Baron made Beans so much better (as he did with other players) in that stretch where he really cared.

    • Anonymous

      Ah, I totally forgot to mention the Dorell Wright signing — that is definitely one Reilly deserves a lot of credit for. Pretty much agree with everything you say above, though I am a bit more sympathetic about Lee (I don’t think he’s worth what he’s making, but if he were making $2M less per year and had a coach who actually knew how to use him I don’t think it would be nearly as depressing).

      • http://profiles.google.com/kirklandj Jake Kirkland

        I was thinking the Marcus Williams disaster was on Riley too but that was Mullin who had more than his fair share of misses. Riley keeps stressing that Lacob values 2nd round picks which is not the best way to build a playoff team. Second round players are role players in a good situation, Monta Ellis in a great situation but more often then not can not even make the roster, let alone get meaningful minutes. Maybe the D-league success the Warrior’s have had can translate to 2nd round pick success but I am skeptical.

        The other thing with Lee is that unlike Monta and Biedrins his salary goes up every year rather than staying flat. So that $2M talent gap is only going to get larger and larger going forward, unless something changes.

        • Anonymous

          I guess one thing that’s nice about the emphasis on second round picks is the overall change in philosophy that it signifies: instead of trying to make a buck and basically not even try, they’ll see if they can’t find a gem here and there. Try, basically.