Follow up to previous comments...
Tri Tran
>In article <2211ed...@no-names.nerdc.ufl.edu> u490...@elm.circa.ufl.edu (Arun Ramamurthi) writes:
>>kste...@ptdcs2.intel.com (Kent Stewart) writes:
>>
>>>> we'll just have to wait for the season to begin and progress,
>>>> then we can take more pot shots at the situation.
>>>
>>>Or perhaps we could just enjoy the team that takes the floor? Naaaah.
>>>Whining and complaining's so much more fun.
>>
>>Kent, the fans are not "whining and complaining". They are just
>>pointing out the obvious-- the Warriors are far from a perfect team and
>>need to do some more improving before being able to compete with the
>>likes of Phoenix and Seattle.
>
>I beg to differ. Comments such as "that lazy ass Billy Owens" *are*
>whining and complaining, and have little or nothing to do with what
>needs to be done to take the team to the next level.
>
I posted the original comment calling Owens "lazy ass" because,in
my mind, he is! Owens reported to camp over weight last season because he
hadn't been working out in the summer, yet we know that it's for his own
benefits that he'd work and improve himself during the time off. After all,
the man gets paid in the 6 digits to PLAY. I know that probably all of us
would work our collective asses off if we'd only get the odd change of him
annual salary (2.3 mil a year or somewhere close to it) Even his coach Don
Nelson publicly talked about how he thought that Owens should work harder
in the off season in the Ralph Barbiery show earlier this year.
>And even though we lost a playoff round to a Seattle team that was playing
>out of their minds 2 years ago, this team has been becoming increasingly
>competitive with the two teams you mentioned. Phoenix used to absolutely
>kill us. We were one of the first teams to beat them this year, and then
>we damn near beat them on their home court a week later. One of the
>measures I had of the team improving is when we started beating Seattle
>in Seattle. The head to head series the season we ended up facing each
>other in the playoffs was extremely close.
>
>We're not better than them, but we're able to compete with them right
>now. I'll bet you a lunch right now that we'll be at least 5-5 against
>this duo in the regular season.
>
>That's not a championship, but it's hardly cause for wailing and gnashing
>of teeth. Yes we need to improve, but the team is competitive right now.
>In Billy's first year we were one of the only teams to beat every other
>team in the league. We seem to own the best midwestern teams like Utah
>and San Antonio and we're pretty even with Houston. Even though Dallas
>now sucks, virtually nobody sweeps the texas triangle road trip, and
>we've done it a couple of times, and nearly did it a third. Throughout
>Nelson's tenure we've been extremely competitive on the road.
>
>Yes we need to improve, but I think you're wrong if you think we're that
>far away from Phoenix or Seattle. We're a far ways from being superior
>to them, I'll admit.
>
>I don't mind speculation about what we need to improve. As tough as it
>is to trade a captain, I wonder sometimes if we shouldn't trade Mullin
>for a decent center so that Billy could start at SF and Spre at PG,
>bringing rooney off the bench. I love all three players, but starting
>all three leaves us too small to defend well.
>
>I just start to get pissed off at the team not receiving recognition
>for how good they actually are, and players such as Billy getting
>denigrated as a "lazy ass" because of something some snot-nosed
>reporter insinuated in the green sheet one day. One can care about
>the team without being abusive and insulting.
I do not dispute the fact that we are a good team, but I hope for and
even expect, the best. I do not ignore what the W's have been able to
achieve, sometime against much adversities, but I also do not settle for
anything but the championship ring.
Please do not insinuate that I listen to "some snot-nose reporter". I
acknowledge that there are probably some people on this very net who's more
knowledgable that Scott Ostler, C.W. Nevius, not to mention the jokers at
the S.J. Mercury. I stated MY opinion, based on MY judgement and analysis.
Please feel free to disagree, but please do not think for me.
If you bring a team to play in tournaments, and your SF consistently
dribbles left handed, and loses the ball occasionally doing this. Yet he's
right handed and can practice dribbling with the right hand to go both
ways. He never bothers even to try to do this, for 3 tournaments in a row.
Don't know about you, but I would think that he's lazy and not serious
about winning for HIS TEAM, and I would one day tell him exactly so and ask
him not to mind if I didn't ask him back for the next tourny. Now this is a
small analogy of what I think about Owens. Only in his case, HE'S
consistently talking about being an all *. Yet he can't shoot free throws, the
open J's, reporting to camp overweight... Yes, I think he's lazy!
Later,
Trit
P.S. BTW, anyone knows any over 6' tall good ball handling Asian in the Bay
Area, who'd want to play on my team? :-)))