By Justin Taylor
I hope everyone enjoyed Media Day and the first day of
training camp as much as I did.
It’s so nice to actually see something instead of hearing and
speculating on stuff that won’t matter in a couple of weeks for what felt like
a year. This is when the rubber meets
the hardwood and guys can start sinking or swimming. I had to go silent because there was literally nothing to
talk about. Now I’m back for my
first training camp as an irrational Warriors fanatic “blogger” with my top
five preseason storylines to over examine and sweat over until things get real.
Andrew Bogut’s Ankle
Three weeks ago I would have made the two top stories Ankle
One and Ankle Two. Stephen Curry
(Ankle Two) has been medically cleared to play and all of the PR coming out of
Oakland is positive; I know I’m
shocked too. That’s great news but
it isn’t the critical story that Bogut’s ankle is. With Jarrett Jack on board we
could have afforded to ease Curry back in. I couldn’t be more nervous about going into the season
without seeing this teams centerpiece in uniform even once, unless you count
media day of course.
I’ve been turning blue from holding my breath and I have no
nails left from biting them while waiting to SEE any good signs that Bogut is
ready to go. Optimism is a
fleeting concept when you’ve been a Warriors fan long enough to remember the
Joe Barely Cares trade but not long enough to remember our championship
season. I’m hoping for the best
but bracing for the same old shit.
That would go something like this; Bogut isn’t ready for opening night,
works like hell to get back but isn’t in shape and aggravates the injury
because he tried to rush it. That
scenario sounds all too familiar but I’m still hoping for hope's sake that this
is the year the mold is broken.
Even if I know better then to expect the best here’s how I
see the Bogut situation to playing out; The Aussie is 100% healthy as advertised,
gets 25-30 minutes opening night and gradually adds to that workload until he’s
averaging 35 minutes a night by about the third week of the season. Around that time he starts reclaiming
his spot as a top five center in this league and allows us fans to finally feel
like we’ve got the big man this team has been chasing since before Reagan was President. All I can say in this
scenario is that Dwight Howard has had his last 40/20 game in Oakland which
means a whole lot more now that he’s a Laker. It also wouldn’t be a best case scenario if it didn’t allow
the next top preseason storyline to unfold…
Andris Biedrins
Funeral
Speaking of rotting corpses…I’m wondering if the Warriors
are finally going to schedule memorial services for Andris Biedrins. It’s only right and it has been a long
time coming, he did die almost three years ago after all. Once the Warriors finally bury Biedrins
body six feet under the depth chart they can finally start moving forward with
younger, hungrier and more talented options. If Ezeli isn’t ready to assume those minutes then it will be
on Mark Jackson and his staff to base the game plan on the personnel and prove they
are in fact NBA caliber coaches. Andrew Bogut might be the best thing to happen
to Biedrins since Baron Davis. He
had the single best quote from media day when he said, and I’m paraphrasing, “Andris
just needs to realize that he’s not a terrible basketball player.”
Watching Biedrins start another game might be more then I
can stomach at this point. I might
recommend that we start passing a hat at games to collect donations that management can use to buy him out if that happens.
Starting Small
Forward
I still think that it should be Brandon Rush in the starting
lineup come opening night.
Harrison Barnes should be forced to beat out Richard Jefferson for back
up minutes before he is handed anything.
As of right now Rush is the best shooter, defender, rebounder and
decision maker of the three and the competition within the second unit will be
good for the whole team in my mind.
Handing anything to the rookie is counter productive when you have the
kind of NBA caliber depth that we’re showing on paper right now. If Barnes can come in, send Richard
Jefferson out to pasture and push Rush for that starting job we’ll all be
better off for it.
Jack Jenkins and the
Dubstitutes
If you’re a regular reader on this website just let me know
when you get tired of me pumping up the Jarrett Jack-Charles Jenkins combo
coming off the bench. For those
coming to the site via Twitter get ready for the rollout of the #JackJenkins
hash tag because I’m expecting big things from these guys. They are the most solid, tough and
interchangeable bench backcourt duo in the league and it might be one of the
things I’m most excited for in 2012.
Between them and Carl Landry we’ve got three players in our second unit
that many teams in the league probably wish they could trot out with their
starting five.
The Warriors biggest addition last year was a bench that
actually had NBA players on it. We
went from having a second unit that featured Reggie Williams as the first guy
off the bench to one that Greg Papa dubbed the “Dubstitutes” after they
outplayed the starters in a lot of games.
We’ll miss Dominic McGuire and his “bring your hard hat and know your
role” mentality but if your bench is good enough to say that there isn’t room
for one of the best defensive specialists in the league someone is doing something
right.
Draymond Green,
rotation player?
There has been a good amount of excitement surrounding Green
ever since we stole him in the second round of the draft. Anybody who isn’t on board the Draymond
bandwagon are no doubt selling tickets on the “He’s a tweener with no position”
train. I’m all in on the former as
opposed to the latter because I remember a guy named Antawn Jamison even if
they aren’t fond memories. The
difference is that I think Green is a better player who comes into the league
without the additional pressure of being a top five pick.
As much as I’d love to see Draymond force all those
naysayers to eat crow all season I just don’t see it happening. Who’s minutes are going to suffer as a
result of Green’s presence in the rotation? Carl Landry? Doubt it.
Will he outplay Rush, Barnes, and Jefferson to get minutes at the three?
It’s possible but unlikely. The
most likely scenario that would benefit his chances of cracking the lineup is a
heavy dose of small ball while Bogut recovers, plays his way into shape and
gets babied when he does return to full strength. He can back up Landry when Lee inevitably ends up playing a
lot of center in that case. If and
when he does kick down that door it’s going to be another one of those icing on
the cake situations right up there with Harrison Barnes being a legit starter
at small forward and Festus Ezeli outplaying Andris Biedrins’ decaying carcass
to assume the backup five spot.
If I’ve left out any headlines that you’re watching closely
let me know in the comments or on the Tapped in Golden State Facebook page
where we’re up over 700 strong before the season has even started! As always, Go Warriors!!!!
