| I Finally Abandon Ship Authored by Christopher Reina - May 22, 2009 - 4:17 pm
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In and of itself, it might not be too bad (though the season ticket part of it is especially egregious), since I've come to know Ridder as a decent guy. But it was just enough to finally pop a massive pimple called the Warriors that has been growing for two decades ever since Chris Cohan assumed control of the franchise.
Every positive feeling I've ever had about the Warriors is now covered in pus and there is no going back.
Over the past 15 years, I've had one foot overboard and one foot still reluctant to jump ship on the club. That right foot dangling out over the water was trying to protect itself from the dangers that the left foot was too loyal to ignore. Both feet are off the ship and up the coast to Portland, where I'll no longer feel any remorse in being a huge Blazers fan in secret.
I just can't stick in there anymore. I'm too embarrassed for them and for myself. I really went out with a whimper when there was a small part of me hoped the Warriors would move up to first or second in the lottery. That will be remembered as my final moment of pulling for the Warriors. It is the only glimmer of hope, that somehow the Warriors win the lottery when a LeBron James or Tim Duncan or maybe John Wall is out there with the top overall pick.
Cynically, the Warriors are run with the bottom line as the absolute priority. The game is to spend just enough on player personnel to fill the arena with the same loyal people that will accept a team without a genuine interest in truly competing. The Warriors are masterfully competent at playing this game and should conduct seminars for the Grizzlies, Wolves and Hawks.
For a more generously opinion, the Warriors have tried to compete year in, year out, while playing a highly exciting brand of basketball during the book ends of two Nellie years, but have been woefully outclassed and outmaneuvered at every turn.
In the landscape of Bay Area sports, the competence of the Warriors has become par for the course. Twenty-years ago the 49ers won the Super Bowl, the A's beat the Giants in the World Series and the Warriors swept the Jazz in the first round of the playoffs. Everything has changed dramatically since then.
The 49ers are now run by Eddie DeBartolo's sister and her family, with no Carmen Policy in sight.
The A's are fortuitously run on the field by Billy Beane, but are largely irrelevant with an owner that is more interested in real estate than in fostering a winning culture.
The Giants were competitive for nearly the entire tenure of Barry Bonds, but have employed a general manager that cannot develop homegrown hitting if his life depended on it.
The Warriors are owned by a man who almost certainly has served more lawsuits than his NBA franchise has had playoff games (14) during his term of ownership.
The Sharks have become the beacon of excellence, but remain soft, and have yet to get past the second round of the playoffs.
The nature of how the Warriors defeated the Mavericks in the 2007 playoffs should have fostered enough good will to last another three or four seasons of 'simply doing the best they can no matter what the record.' The Warriors have nothing, if not a patient fan base.
The Warriors squandered that good will in less than two years time. Through a series of squabbles and power grabs, the Warriors have traded a former five-time All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist who was far from a perfect GM but was truly a competitor as the face of who runs the organization for a mediocre henchman named Robert Rowell. Rowell is joined by the AARP club of Don Nelson and Larry Riley, who are unlikely to be interested in being around to see the young group of talent come into their prime.
The entire NBA is modernizing with younger GMs that intimately know the machinations of the CBA, use advanced stats and just generally use new models of thinking that have created perpetuated success in places like San Antonio and are being duplicated in Portland, Oklahoma City, Houston and Cleveland. The Warriors would be far better served with a Tom Penn, David Morway or even a Bill Simmons running the player personnel side of things.
Nellie is one of the game's greatest innovators and showmen, but there is a reason why he has won as many games as he has without winning an NBA title. The game and the methods for winning into the postseason have passed him by, just the same way as it has for Al Davis and the vertical passing game.
Cohan does not appear poised to sell the club anytime soon and although Rowell is firmly entrenched in the ownership's bunker, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he really doesn't need to go. But he does need to go away from the spotlight. How many other executives in a similar position to Rowell with other professional sports teams are as frequently named in a topic of conversation? Almost none and there is a reason for it.
Almost none and there is a reason for it also applies to Golden State's chances of winning an NBA title, at least while Cohan is owning. |
