Warriors Fans Boo Lacob

This video of the Lacob Getting Boo'd Night from last year needs to be housed at the Nextians. Douche Chills when Rick Barry decides to scold the crowd. In my humble opinion this booing forced Bob Meyer's ascension as the public face of the front office. The crowd was pissed at Monta being traded for Bogut and for the the ownership being so pumped up to move to San Francisco. In case you didn't know, at least a third of all attendees of Warrior home games live in Oakland and probably about 60% live in the East Bay. The Warriors moving to SF makes it much harder, and more expensive, for these Warrior fans to make it to the game. It was around this time of the booing that Lacob and Crew decided to hide Bogut's micro-fracture surgery. They then forced him to play limited minutes early in this '12/'13 season to appease the fans/season ticket holders. We won't know for a while what these minutes did to Bogut's health.

The team is cruising right now at 16-8 off to their best start in about four decades. And I don't fault the moves that Lacob and Guber for putting together a culture and an office to get this start. And I thank them for not trying to get taxpayer money to fund their $500 million SF Stadium (man, these guys are rich). But Lacob needed to be put in place last March. NBA fans are smart. A lot smarter than users of autotrader.com and Invisalign are when him and his extremely smart and wealthy buddies of Kleiner Perkins.

SF Arena 2017 -- Artists Rendering

The city is very grey

Ominous clouds are on the horizon as a mist hovers over the retrofitted Bay Bridge. It is 2017 and President Hillary Clinton is just finishing her first year in office after holding Romney to one term. Somehow Cable News and the NYT convinced the sheeple that the collapse of the Euro was all Romney and Bush's fault as Hillary wins in a landslide.  She is a mere 6 months away from introducing Huma Abedin as her first lady. Sadly, Bill Clinton deteriorated to nothing just after her inauguration as President H.Clinton feels that enough time has passed before admitting to having an affair with Anthony Weiner's wife Huma for over 10 years. Weiner is made the Secretary of Health and Human Services for playing along.

The fog rolls over the city on a cold day yet sailboats harmlessly cruise the bay before a late fall Warriors game at SF Arena. There are no cargo ships in sight and sailing is of high importance. The sun is rising in the East meaning it's morning.  Wait a second, why are so many people sailing at sunrise?  And doesn't fog usually roll through the city like that in the evening? Does fog even make it to SOMA after powering it's way through the city? That's some serious Sunset District fog in this artists rendering of SF Arena, the most amazing Arena known to man.

In 2017 Kayaking is all the rage

 It is 2017 obviously meaning that people love to kayak. Especially old ladies in sunhats. Might as well get a kayak ride in before seeing the Dubs host the Seattle Superdupers.  Thankfully, Joe Lacob has free kayak parking. Roughly 25% of all Warrior game fans kayak to the game. Full grown Monterrey Pines tickle the landscape. They were imported from 17 mile drive as there are no Monterrey Pines at Piers 31 and 32 currently and they take forever to grow.

Warrior fans come in all shapes, sizes and colors. But not one of them is older than 35

Hot girls with butter faces and boob jobs are now Warrior fans. Franco Finn's younger brother and his nephew are at the game. Fans go crazy in the breezeway as the starting lineups are announced.  Hipsters wander and people still have smartphones in 2017. A full view of the Bay Bridge pulls fans away from their seats. Everyone wants to get a glimpse of the ubiquitous sailboats that this part of the Bay is now known for.

Mark Jackson; Warriors Head Coach

New Warriors Advanced Statistics Guy

The boo birds are all over the internets today regarding the hiring of Mark "I've Never Coached Before" Jackson. But before we get into it too much, let's throw out some randumb Mark Jackson facts via Wikipedia:

• Did you know that Mark Jackson's brother was the 500 lb baller Escalade of the And 1 Tour?  RIP Escalade.
• Did you know that there's a rule named after Mark Jackson?  Just Google "Mark Jackson Rule" and be amazed.
• Did you know that Mark Jackson is half Dominican? That's pretty cool.
• Did you know that Mark Jackson played at St. Johns with Chris Mullin?  There's some Dubs ties right there.
• Did you know that Mark Jackson played for 5 Hall of Fame coaches during his playing career (Lou Carnesecca, Lenny Wilkens, Jerry Sloan, Pat Riley and Larry Brown). Me neither.
• Doesn't Mark Jackson look a lot like Doc Rivers?
• I can't wait for Warrior Fans to start tracking the Jackson-isms that he spits out at press conferences throughout his tenure. 

I know Jackson is annoying in the announcer’s chair.  But when you listen to other coaches during the broadcasts in the huddles and locker room, these guys aren’t geniuses.  This tells me that it doesn’t take a whole lot of brain power to communicate to these guys.  Heck, Phil Jackson dumbed it down to the Nth degree when trying to get Lamar Odumb to catch a sugar high and play well.  Only Doc seems to successfully speak on a high level to his squad as evident in the awesome “The Association” series.

Going from a coach who made one shot while at Indiana to one who made 14 playoffs during his playing days is a huge upgrade.  Players respect coaches who have experience in The Association and Jackson has plenty of it. Heck, all the players probably think he’s great as an announcer, too.

Lacob "only" gave him $2mil/year for 3 years which had to factor into it (Nellie was making $6mil/year).  Since this is his first gig Lacob was able to pay him accordingly.

Read the Tim Kawakami blog which has a transcript of Jerry West.  West seems to like Jackson…a lot.  That same blog talks a lot about Mike Malone who is going to join Jackson GSW as an assistant.  Malone was on Monty William’s staff in NOLA and is some sort of defensive guru a-la Tom  Thibodeau and helped the Chris Paul’s become one of the best defensive teams in the league.  West was fired up about getting this guy. Plus, Malone provides a good option if Mark Jackson ever requires canning.

Warriors GM Larry Riley did say that "he's going to have some real strengths in communicating with players" and this seems to be a very strong theme of Lacob's hires: Bob Meyers was a successful agent before becoming Assistant GM, Jerry West is the frigging logo, and now Mark Jackson who is probably friendly with 90% of the players that actually matter in The Association.

Now let's look at the other options The Warriors had. I don’t like JVG.  He only cares about defense and slowing the game down limiting possessions.  The Knicks and Rockets of the past were turrible to watch even though they won.  He wouldn’t have fit the ID of the Dubs and even if he was hired and changed them around to be defensive focused, it would have sucked kinda.

And I’m still laughing that the Lakers got Mike Brown.  This dude is such a scapegoat and I'm not sure it is possible to wipe the Cleveland stink off of him.  I can't wait to see how him and Kobe get along.

Some people out there would have preferred San Antonio Assistant Tom Budenholzer or Mavs Assistant Dwane Casey.  Or perhaps Lawrence Frank.  The line of tried-and-failed coaches on Association Team benches is large.

The Warriors now have a direction, a focus.  It's on personality, being direct with the fans and media, and it's on defense. This defensive focus points to the Monta being shipped out for a true SG defensive stopper in Iggy being a possibility.  I’m not sure if I like that trade (because Iguodola speaks with a lisp) but I wouldn’t be pissed if it went down.  But the Sixers are being sold currently so this may hold up the potential swap.

Anyway, Warriors dot com has some solid audio and video HERE

Momma, There Goes That Man!

 
Notes on Grand Master Lacob's signing of "Hand Down Man Down" Mark Jackson as the new Warriors Head Coach:

• Cam Inman of The Oakland Tribune: "This is a familiar storyline to the Bay Area, and a recent one, too: A franchise stuck in a playoff drought just hired a first-time coach who happens to be a former player and licensed minister. Let's hope Mark Jackson doesn't bomb like Mike Singletary did in a 49ers tenure that goot extinguished before he could finish out the 2010 season. By reaching the playoffs in 14 of his 17 seasons as a player, Jackson obviously has ambitious goals for a franchise routinely absent from the postseason. ... Phil Jackson might have been a more convincing -- albeit unattainable -- choice considering his ring collection. But Mark Jackson's selection should bring energy and renewed interest to one of the league's most loyal fan bases."
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: "The Warriors' hiring of Mark Jackson a few hours ago caught most Bay Area types by surprise. The sense was that the process would drag on for another week or so, with owner Joe Lacob waiting to speak with Dallas Mavericks assistant Dwane Casey after the NBA Finals. But Lacob just seems to love the drama. He loves the surprises. (See his hiring of Jerry West as a consultant). Whether he has a clue about successfully running an NBA franchise is another matter. This is a risky hiring, to say the least. ... Jackson's hiring surely seems to further the notion that the Warriors plan to bust up the undersized backcourt of Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis. It doesn't work and was never going to work. Ellis, who was skeptical from the start, was only telling it like it was. And is. Serious trade talks to continue."
• Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News: "As a coach, strategist and day-to-day manager of an often rocky locker room, broadcaster Mark Jackson is a total blank slate, an unknown, a great leap of faith. He has zero high-level coaching experience, so Jackson is a giant sideline question mark, in capital letters and triplicate. But the Warriors, it is clear, were not exactly aiming for any of those specific things when they surprisingly hired Jackson as their coach Monday. Co-owner Joe Lacob was going for something else, something less tangible and something a lot riskier: Headline-making, room-dominating personality. 'You want to have a guy who's strong enough to be in charge,' general manager Larry Riley said Monday night. 'Mark has a strong personality -- not abrasive, but he has a strong personality and should have the right mix to be able to lead our team.' Yes, even the Warriors have to couch this hiring with words such as 'should have' and 'we think,' because Jackson has a long career as a player and now offbeat announcer, but no track record as the boss. Nobody knows what kind of offense he will run, what kind of players he will lean on (other than the point guard) and how he will deal with the daily grind of the media and the like. ... The Warriors aren't an easy team to coach, and Lacob thinks a strong dose of attitude and confidence can overcome a complete lack of most other qualifying traits. It's a risk. Not a small one. When Lacob says he is willing to take them, he isn't kidding. It's just his personality."

Gracias to True Hoop for compiling the quotes in Tuesday's First Cup.

Warriors Ownership is getting REAL

NBA Unscripted -- Golden State Warriors

The upcoming NBA Unscripted episode on the Warriors is obviously a must watch for Dubs fans (Thursday, March 31st, 7:00pm on NBA TV).  But in looking at the trailer, this seems more like a "buy season tickets" video than something that is in anyway real.  The owners and players are WAY too upbeat about putting up banners and being a good team.  If it was more focused on the reality of their situation (coming back from 6 points down in 12 seconds last night 3/29/11 vs. The Thunder and then stinking in OT to lose) then it would be much more interesting.  Talk about the flaws of the team and how it hurts.  Explain that you have many good pieces and just need one more to be a consistent playoff team.  Contemplate on how games got away in a league where you can't let many games get away and expect to be successful.

Although this Unscripted episode may be about something different than this trailer hints at, I'm sure it's all just fluff. Peep it:



So my conclusion is one of two things.  This episode was shot at the beginning of the season on Lacob and Gruber's tour of the media when they were really excited about being owners were claiming big things to everyone.  Or these guys are just Hollywood hype artists doing what it takes to keep our routinely gullible fan based pumped about mediocrity.  Either way, it is not a good sign.  Better than the Cohan regime, but not a good sign.

Warriors Ticket Promotion; Free Turkey

New Golden State Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Gruber have been making the rounds lately after the sale of the franchise was approved last Friday.  Monday's game had a "50% off everything" promotion (which was awesome b/c it included beer) and now new management has an even better ticket-selling idea:  go to the Nuggets at Warriors game next Monday 11/22, purchase 4 tickets, and get a FREE Turkey.

I'm really confused.  These guys sound good in the media but the email promotions coming from the organization they now officially own are really wacked out.  What type of NBA fan gets excited about a free turkey?  My mom sure as heck isn't going to the Warriors game for a free turkey.  I would know what to do with a "Free Turkey" voucher from Lucky other than try and donate it to one of the guys on the walkway between the Oracle and BART.  More to come on promo-gate as the emails keep pouring into my inbox.

New Warriors Owners are Very Happy

Now that Joe Lacob and Peter Gruber have been officially made owners of the Golden State Warriors, they would like to say "thank you" to the loyal Dubs fans with a ticket promotion.  No longer are players being used to market the team.  And thankfully, the Warriors aren't using LeBron and Kobe as marketing tools with the message of "we suck, but check out these really good players who are going to whoop us!"  But plaster the faces of the new owners on an email campaign?  This is weird and slightly funny.  Enjoy their mugs: