Team USA Minicamp Roster 2013

Thankfully The Warriors won Vegas summer League giving Warriorfan NBA diehards something to do these past two weeks. Bazemore the PG with a 6'11" wingspan was quite entertaining as he earned Summer League All-Star status. Reverend Draymond Green's 20 pound weight loss led to some new and quicker dribble-drive moves from Mr. Everyposition.

But getting excited about NBA Summer League is not a good idea. Remember when Marco Belinelli was the Dubs Savior after scoring 37 points in one fateful summer league game? Ouch.

But on Thursday July 25th (tomorrow) we have the 2013 Team USA Minicamp exhibition game at 9:00 pm on NBA TV. You might be wondering who some of these guys are and I will give you one hint before you Google the lineups: 2 dudes are still in college. Does that help? I liked Blue Team 2 until LARRY SANDERS! sprained his ankle in workouts yesterday. Plus, they misspelled his name. They forgot the exclamation point.

Warriors Make The Playoffs!

Klay made his first 9 shots, scored 30, made the playoffs

Steph (7th pick) was fired up after outplaying Ricky Rubio (4th pick)

Congrats Dubs. Don't go to baggage claim yet because this is just a quick stop and you've got some more traveling to do.  The baggage robots running on IBM software will get your bags from your regs season plane and put them on your playoff craft (thanks, Coach Jackson. that was awesome).

You guys are excited and get to shave your beards now. In Steph's case, "thank the high and mighty lord Jesus" he's probably saying. Just because his face is now back to it's childlike, marketable state.  Hopefully you're mom will be in the crowd a few times this playoffs? I know she still does Seth's laundry and lives in Raleigh or something (wherever Dell resides while doing Bobcat games).

Klay Thompson had one of his best games of the year until he kept shooting in the second half. He started off 9/9 and was icewater.  His Washington State ass got into it with crazy Luke Ridnour the Oregon Duck in the 3rd quarter.  That was on the only time Klay changed his expression.  This year.  There's potential that Klay's mom is hot but she doesn't flaunt her goods like Sonya does.

This is Killa Klay and his Moms

Coach Jackson is a preacher and he loves to help and serve. He's been dropping dimes his entire life. On the hardwood he hooked his teammates up to the tune of  10,323 assists in the NBA. Just third on the all time list, yo.  He drops spirituality on his Van Nuys congregation with his wife. Preacherman preaches well. Except when some stripper was trying to extort him for some cash claiming she had nude pics of Coach. We all got skeletons though, right? It's what makes us interesting as real human beings. Don't hate.  You've done some pretty skeezie shit. Don't lie.  Now Coach has boringly motivated his team of kids n' vets to a playoff birth. Good on ya, here's a sprinkling of Coach of The Year votes.  Now trim up that neckhair with your players.

You guys deserve it. And grab a milkshake latenight.  There's a Barneys and a Nations within a couple of miles of the rOracle.  It'll be a subdued celebration, but still fun in a "all I care about is ballin' " and "praise the lord" kinda way.  I'm not hating. I'm just saying that this is in stark contrast to 2007 when they were spraying b-lights all over the Portlandia visitors locker room and Czar Stern eventually had to tell Nellie to not pound brew pones at the podium for post game interviews.  Something tells me that Jack and Landry play the veteran role by day but have secretly gone to about 55 strip clubs together this season.

This has been a pretty exciting season if you like defense and somewhat smart basketball. Even when the media tried to stir some controversy about the front office lying about Bognut's microfracture surgery nobody really cared. Bogut stopped smiling but has got his health up to where race-walking back on defense is fine. Bog's still shut down that Viking/defending Western Conference Player of The Week Pekovic last night.  I think Pek made just two buckets over The Big Hobble.  Limp all you want, Bogs.  You know how to play defense and it's finally making a difference for these dubs.

Good on ya, Warriors.  This has been a confidence building year. You guys belong here and this wasn't some crazy excitement PR hype BS like it was before. The plan is working.  We all know that This Guy is excited to be back in the Playoffs as a Dub.

Jarret Jack Throws Dorell Wright's Shoe Into Stands

The Dubs are playing great right now. After defeating Philly on 12/28 at The rOracle they now sit at 20-10. This is the first time they have 20 wins before the New Year since 1917. TRUTH.

Part of the reason for this great record to start the season has been the bench play from Carl Landry and Jarret Jack. Both of these guys get heavy minutes when it matters most and both have been starters before in The Association. There's a good argument that The Dubs have the best bench in the League and are currently right up there with the bench units of The Clippers, The Spurs and The Thunder (sitting starter Kendrick Perkins immediately makes The Thunder a better team, but I digress).

Jack and Landry are good because they are smart. So when Jarrett Jack notices that former Warrior Dorell Wright lost his shoe, he calmly picks up Dorell's shoe and tosses it into the stands.  Jack then gets the ball at the top of the key and nails a three pointer over the shoeless Dorell. Jarrett Jack then laughs for 30 seconds because he knows that what he did was smart and that it is not against the rules.

As a Warriors fan, you gotta love this stuff.

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.

Kent Bazemore: Best NBA Bench Celebrator

Here are some OG Nextian produced clips from the 3rd quarter of the Dubs home game victory over the Pacemakers. The person of focus is Kent Bazemore who is the most awesome bench celebrator in The Association today.













You think that the bench doesn't matter? Huh? Warriors have the best bench celebrator in the game and are easily the best team in the NBA this season. Coincidence? I think not!

New Orleans Pelicans

So the New Orleans Hornets may change their name to the Pelicans, ehe? Pelicans are pretty dang fierce:



So if New Orleans goes with the Pelicans then Michael Jordan will change the Charlotte Bobcats back to the Charlotte Hornets. The Utah Jazz will still be the Jazz and people in LA will continue to wonder where all the Lakes and Clipper Ships are.  Native Americans will protest the name "The Warriors" while somehow the NFL team in our nations' capital still gets away with being call "The Redskins". That's almost as bad as the "Columbus White Guys" which is the Cav's D-League team. Speaking of Washington the Wizards still must be the Wizards since "Washington Bullets" is just waaaay too offensive. Ever heard of the second amendment of the United States where we're allowed to own guys and shoot things and prevent tyranny? Bullets are awesome. But not as awesome as Magic who's Disney-asses took down the Warriors last night in laughable fashion all because David Lee sucks at defense and his team actually rebounds better when he's on the bench.

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.

Warriors Gangam Style

Well Franco Finn isn't useless then!

2/2/12: Jazz @ Warriors

Curry and Monta decided to play basketball last night.

Pacers @ Warriors 1/20/12

The Warriors lost the game this time.

1/11/12: Warriors Beat Heat

It started off as gumbyorpokey. Last year it was the infamous orangino.  I thought all hope was lost for this season as the NBA web sweepers took off these prior YouTube accounts which put together great highlight packages of every Warrior game.  They wouldn't just play a few Warrior made shots and call it a clip show. They'd let the announcers talk, they'd show the flow of the game which included Warrior turnovers, missed shots, as well as great plays by the other team.  They'd of course show Warrior Owner Joe Lacob going apeshit (8:18 mark of video below).

Now they are back! As gumbyandpokey, a hidden youtube account, and access that I won't share unless you IM me on AOL, I can hopefully post the storytime clips for all Warriors games this shortened season.  Enjoy Tuesday's comeback victory over the Heatles.  Gumby/Pokey/Orangino is back serving us all.  Amen, brother:

Warriors Beat Heat 1/10/11

Down 17 points a few minutes into the 3rd Quarter, Golden State began to turn it on.  The Big Threetles began to crap the bed and Nate Rob chipped in some great bench points with Dorell Wright finally having a decent game (it took long enough, DORELL!) vs. his former team.

This all caused Warrior Owner Joe Lacob to freak the hell out:



If you didn't happen to "Witness" the game (and LeBron's crunch time settle-jumpers) read about it HERE

Manute Bol: True Association Stories

Manute and Mugsy

 I once slapped Manute Bol a five.  It was a high 5 for me, I remember having to jump up to reach his outstretched hand.  It was a low 5 for Manute.  He just hung his gangly limb down for me to slap.

I was 12 years old coming from the bowels of Oakland Coliseum (now know as rOracle Arena) with my fellow Loma Verde Jammers teammates.  We were going to match up against the Our Lady of Loretto Wildcats for an intense game of halftime entertainment for the rabid Golden State Warriors fans. The Warriors were coming off the floor headed to the locker room to strategize with coach Don Nelson.  They were battling the Portland Trail Blazers that night and Manute ended up with 10 blocks.  Obviously he made a difference in this contest!

The Warriors that season  featured Chris Mullin, Terry Teagle, Mitch Richmond, Rod Higgins and Winston Garland.  The Dubs that year went 43-39, beat the Jazz in Round 1 of the playoffs, and lost in the Conference Semi's to the Suns.  It was a great season by Warriors standards.  Heck, the Warriors even had the young Steve Alford and John Starks on the bench.

After slapping 5's we made our way to the court.  The floor looked huge even though it was the same size as Hill Gym in Novato.  It probably had something to do with the 15,025 seats that surrounded the court.  Most were obviously empty as fans were getting more beer, hitting the head, or waiting in line for processed meat snacks.  But I still remember the crowd noise when we made a shot, stole the ball, or bounced a dribble off of our foot out of bounds.  The biggest roar came when there was an 8 kid pile up at mid court as we hustled for the loose ball.

I remember bricking a wide-open jumper that would have given us the first points of the "game".  We lost 4-2 with the low scoring being attributed to the absolute shock of 6th graders playing on the Coliseum floor during halftime of an actual NBA game.  Thankfully, the Jammers never once lost a game to the Wildcats in games that counted winning the Novato Championship 3 years in a row.  This is still a hilarious antidote to share with former Jammers and Wildcats when we run into each other.  After the exhibition, one of my teammates saw Jerry Rice a few rows back and shook his hand.  The experience was incredible.  It is burned in my memory.

Bol and Spud Webb were on the same semi-pro team after college

The Bay Area at the time was fascinated by Manute.  Here was a 7'7" Sudanese man, skinny as heck, with a funny accent who would shoot occasional 3's and block tons of shots (4.3 blocks in 22 minutes/night that season).  After getting dunked on by Michael Jordan, he supposedly invented the phrase "My bad."  I remember Don Nelson talking about how he couldn't play more than 25 minutes a night because of his size.  He would just get too tired and his frame couldn't take more than that.

Manute played two seasons in Golden State before being traded to Philly for 1st a Round Draft Pick that the Warriors used to get Chris Gatling.  Bol returned to the Warriors at the end of his NBA career in 1995 to play just 5 games before retiring.

Don Nelson loved Manute.  We loved Manute.  Heck, even Charles Barkley loved Manute:

In Philadelphia, Bol fast became friends with Charles Barkley. "You know, a lot of people feel sorry for him, because he's so tall and awkward," Barkley said of Bol in a 1990 SI feature. "But I'll tell you this -- if everyone in the world was a Manute Bol, it's a world I'd want to live in. He's smart. He reads The New York Times. He knows what's going on in a lot of subjects. He's not one of these just-basketball guys. Basketball's just one percent of it. You know what he was talking about the other day? Milk. He was saying that he grew up on milk straight from the cow. Squeezed it himself. Milk. He says, 'Charlie, what's this lo-fat milk, this two percent milk, all of this other milk? Cows don't give lo-fat milk, two percent milk. We shouldn't drink it.' I don't know. Maybe he's got something."

Bol was active after his retirement.  He continued to play pro basketball in lesser leagues.  He was on Fox's Celebrity Boxing in 2002 defeated William "The Refrigerator" Perry by unanimous decision.  That same year he also signed a one day contract with Indianapolis Ice in the Central Hockey League.  Because he couldn't skate, Bol never made an appearance in the game.  Bol became the tallest jockey ever in by racing in the Indiana Horse Racing Commission.

As this TrueHoop piece points out, Manute loved to drink Heineken and stay out late.  Manute was seen as a side show to a lot of people.  But Bol was dedicated to the Sudanese liberation and his humanitarian efforts engulfed the last years of his life.  I would advise reading the TrueHoop piece, checking out an excerpt of the e-book over at Sports Illustrated, and possibly even purchasing the e-book at The Atavist.

These memories from my teen years are brought up learning about Bol.  And all Nextians should know the full story of Manute.

2011 Grizzlies vs. 2007 Warriors

Leave it to Bethlehem Shoals to write a diatribe comparing the 2011 Grizzlies and their 3-1 lead as an 8 seed over the 1 seed Spurs to the 2007 We Believe Warriors dismantling of the Mavs.  Essentially, the Grizz are closing the book on the Duncan 4-ring dynasty and no one sees anything other than a 4-1 victory.

PEEP THIS RIGHT HERE

Shoals (RIP Free Darko) makes the point that these 8 seeds have very little in common.  Although he did forget to mention that the 2007 Dubs went on a season ending win streak and won on the last day of the regular season to make the playoffs while the Grizz intentionally lost their last two games so that they could match up against the Spurs.  But I'll give him the benefit of the doubt because he is awesome.

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.

Flip Saunders -- Coach of The Wiz

This past weekend on Saturday night I saw Flip Saunders walking around Union Square. He looked a little lost.

The next afternoon the GS Dubs went on to beat his team by 10 points.  Boom.

Game 2, 1975 NBA Finals Warriors/Bullets

The Warriors won game 1 in Washington and come back home to the Cow Palace. Their home court was the Coliseum in Oakland but for some reason there was a "scheduling conflict" so they played in the Cow Palace. Here is game 2 thanks to Youtube Uploader DownsA530:

Part 1 (enjoy the awesome intro)


Part 2 (Dubs start off a little slow but pick it up)


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7 (Halftime Show)


Part 8


Part 9


Part 10


Part 11 (video starts to get bad)


Part 12


Part 13 (video quality isn't very good)


Part 14

Cam & Bilbo Weekly Chat: THE State of THE Warriors

Cam & Bilbo. AKA: BoNote

Bilbo: The State of the Warriors - I feel like they are moving in the right direction but there are games that leave me scratching my head. The recent Laker game is a great example. They played well for three and a half quarters and just let it slip away. Granted, Kobe has a habit of killing teams in the 4th, but I felt like they still should have won. The Jan 1st match up was another game that showed their potential. They dropped 72 in the first half against The Heat but let it slip away in the second. I really believe that if they can string together a few solid wins they go on a roll. Their schedule is great through February with 14 of the next 17 at home. Do you think they could make a push and steal the 8th spot? I could see Portland slipping now that Roy is out forever. Phoenix, Houston and Memphis are in the hunt, but I could see the Dubs doing damage now that everyone is healthy.

Cam: Sweet! 41 games in is the perfect time to do some Warriors predictions. At least the head scratching losses were versus great teams. The early January halftime leads of 14 vs. the Heat and 8 vs. the Magic were awesome, but it wasn’t surprising that both games eventually were lost. The Dubs had injuries and were closing out a brutal road trip. The Warriors beat Charlotte on New Years Eve. Then on New Years Day they had to play the Heat. I personally think that The Miami Thrice were a little hung over on New Years Day which helped with that halftime Warrior lead. And then after their second half stinkbomb and eventual loss in Orlando, the Dubs closed out their 5 game road trip with a win in New Orleans (probable playoff team). The contest vs. The Lakers last week was awesome but Kobe and Odumb dominated the 4th Quarter. The Lakers are waaay better than the Warriors and if the Lakers play really well for even part of the game, it’s currently impossible for the Warriors to beat them. Hence the 10 game losing streak to the Lakers. But that being said, I’m fired up that the Warriors are performing on this long and relatively easy home stand. Beating the Blake Griffins on Friday, New Jersey in the Monday matinee, and the last second Monta Ellis money jumper win on Wednesday vs. the Pacers has produced a nice little 3 game win streak. At 18-23 and with only 4 road games in their next 17 against some beatable teams, this is the time for the Dubs to put up or shut up. If they’re back above .500 with Monta being a coaches choice All-Star at the end of February, they’ve got a good shot. Here’s to hoping the injuries don’t creep up again. Because March is essentially all on the road and they play some great playoff teams. But let’s back into this: What do you think the Warriors need to be at after beating Minnesota at home on February 27th in order to make the playoffs? I guess you need to start with what their record needs to be and the end of the season and then look at the remaining schedule and see who we can legitimately beat.

Bilbo: Please continue, fine sir. It sounds as if you have some more knowledge to drop.

Cam: Dude, in looking at the remaining schedule I honestly see the Warriors going between 17-24 to 22-19. I see 5 games that they probably will lose but could possibly win if they are playing well. The 22-19 mark puts the Dubs at 40-42 for the season. And a sub .500 record isn’t making the playoffs this year in the West. Honestly, do you see the Warriors winning any of these 5 games in a row: @Thunder, @Memphis, Dallas, @Portland, @Lakers. The only game they really have a shot of winning is @Memphis and this is one of the five “could go either way” games I mentioned above. This is one of two 5 game losing streaks I’m seeing in the remaining schedule. The Warriors play 17 games vs. likes of Magic/Mavericks/Spurs/Bulls/Nuggets/Jazz/Celtics/Hawks. Let’s call these teams the Bad Ass teams of the league. Not only are they playoff teams but they are super legit playoff teams. Many homers will then say “yeah, the Warriors could beat these teams for sure!” Well, they’d have to beat a lot of them to make the playoffs. In the first half of the season the Warriors played 15 games against the Bad Asses. Do you know how many they won? One game vs. The Jazz in early November. Unless the Warriors somehow take it to another level where they can win 5 or 6 games of the 17 against the Bad Asses, it’s looking to me like the terrible losses to crap teams earlier in the season have already caught up with them. And that is a good lesson for a playoff team in the NBA: beat the crap teams or plan on beating up on a lot of Bad Asses instead.

Warriors Talking Points; 1/5/11 Warriors @ Hornets

Warriors (14-21) @ Hornets 1/5/11, last game of the 5 game road trip.

gumbyorpokey is back with his highlights! Gotta love the Barnett gator eating and Udoh rewind


Talking Points (with gumbyorpokey back on the recap and these notes, you don't need to read anything unless I link to it)

• Warriors were down 11 at half looking like they were limping home on the last game of a 5 game road trip.
• Remember when the Hornets started off 11-1?  They're still 21-15 so this was a big road win.
• Biedrins was back after missing 9 games with an ankle. He played sparingly, 13 minutes total leading to a -14 plus/minus.
• This was the first game that all Warriors were healthy in the last 202 games. Amazing stat.....and time to fire the training staff.
• Warriors won the turnover battle commiting a season low 8 of them.
• Warriors were down by 10 starting the 4th quarter and tied the game in just 3 minutes.
• Warriors built a 10 point 4th quarter lead only to choke it away until Udoh's shake n' bake, Lee's cold blooded jumper, and free throw shooting got them the win.
• Warriors got to the line 32 times!  But they still lost the FT battle 32-33.
• Curry & Ellis scored a combined 50 points this game.
• They are saying this was Epke Udoh's coming out party.  He's a quick leaper and was +17.  He scored 6 points on a follow up tip in, his first dunk of the season after a great Monta dish, and the Scola-esq shake n' bake of David West.
• Amundson pulled down 12 boards but is shooting a pathetic 30.8% from Free Throw.
• Next game:  @ rOracle Friday 1/7 vs. Cavs.  Finally home where they play 14 of the next 16 in Oakland.

Warriors Talking Points; 1/3/11 Warriors @ Magic

1/3/11 Warriors (13-21) @ Magic: where 2nd Half Collapse Happens (again)

It looks like gumbyorpokey isn't doing awesome video recaps anymore so we are left with the Comcast Sports Network junk where they talk over everything:


Talking Points (so you don't have to get home early from work to watch this game):

• The Warriors were up 53-44 at halftime.
• The Warriors lost 18 to 35 in the 3rd Quarter and lost 19 to 31 in the 4th.
• Hubie Brown always says that good teams win the 3rd Quarter.
• This is the second game in a row that the Warriors rapidly gave away a halftime lead.
• David Lee DNP because of a bruised tailbone.
• Lin is back from the D-League.  Lin and Law will get guaranteed contracts for this season but Carney will not.  Carney is rumored to be cut soon.
• Ellis was -24 this game in 38.8 minutes.  Radmanovic was best on the team at -1 in 23 minutes.
• Some have said that the Warriors need to scrimmage at halftime so that they don't have a chance to rest.
• Next game:  1/5/11 at 5:00 PT @ Hornets.  There's a rumor that Larry Ellison is going to buy the Hornets and move them to San Jose.  That would be awesome.