| What Needs To Improve Authored by Payam Jahromi - August 28, 2005 - 9:06 pm
Two weeks in Hawaii and I come back to find that absolutely nothing has happened in Warriorsland, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Two trade exceptions expired and the team still has their full mid-level exception. Whether they use it or not we’ll have to see. In the meantime, Warriors fans can only hope that the players are working out hard and on their weaknesses.
Having said that, here is a brief list of what I wish each Warriors player improves on from last year:
Adonal Foyle: Conditioning to begin the season. Foyle always seems to have terrible starts only to finish strong and make a big impact. With his huge contract, he must be ready to contribute in November.
Troy Murphy: Attitude, confidence, post moves and defense. When Murphy is right, he plays fearlessly and with an attitude. When he struggled last season, you can tell his confidence was a little shaken. He’ll never be a great post player or defender, but he can always improve in those areas. His transition defense was atrocious at times last season.
Jason Richardson: Ball-handling, free-throw shooting and better first step. He often loses the ball when in traffic and that has to stop. He also needs to get to the line more and shoot a higher percentage once he’s there. I didn’t mention the defense because he really improved last season. I’m assuming he’ll keep improving in that area. And despite his great athleticism, he doesn’t have a great first step to the basket.
Mike Dunleavy: Toughness, rebounding, shooting, defense and post skills. I know, sounds like a long list, but he’s playing for a contract and he has the potential to be a much better player. For a guy his height, he should effectively post smaller players, something he hasn’t done his first three seasons. At the end of the season, his 3-point shot was lights out. I hope he’s working to keep it that way. Toughness and rebounding go hand in hand, and this is the biggest area of concern for me. When he’s grabbing rebounds, the rest of his game seems to flourish. When he’s not, the rest of his game disappears.
Baron Davis: Conditioning. There isn’t any more you can ask from him than what he did after the trade.
Mickael Pietrus: Rebounding and decision-making. This guy has scary talent, and when he’s on we all know how valuable he can be. First he needs to play a full season. Once that happens, everything else should fall into play. Must be more aggressive on the boards and not stand around.
Zarko Cabarkapa: Defense, rebounding and post moves. When he got minutes, he was a waking mismatch on offense. He can take you off the dribble and create or hit the 3. He could use some better post moves in case teams figure it out and put small guys on him. His defense was pretty poor and must improve some.
Derek Fisher: Given his talents, there really isn’t too much he can improve on. Don’t get me wrong, for a point guard he can be a better ball handler, passer and decision-maker but do you really expect him to improve on those things in his 10th year? Love him or hate him, he is what he is.
Andris Biedrins: Post moves, patience and discipline. In the minutes he gets, he picks up a ton of fouls. He must learn how to avoid cheap fouls yet still be aggressive. He has the ability to get his shot in the paint, and in the summer league games it appeared as if that lefty hook has improved. Keep working on it big man.
Calbert Cheaney: I’d give his cheerleading skills a nine out of 10 last year, so he can always strive to be a 10.
I got a lot more positive feedback on my “Wedding Jobs” article than I expected. In the future I’ll have to write something like that again. The wedding and honeymoon went well.
You can email me at pjahromi@sbcglobal.net |
