Wrong, Rick Barry! It’s Joe Lacob who should be thanking fans

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Steinmetz

The Warriors honored their 1974-75 championship team on Monday night, and the star of that team, Rick Barry, was his usual outspoken self. Barry, the greatest of the West Coast Warriors, was in a scolding mood and he let some Warriors fans have it for their behavior three years back during the Chris Mullin jersey retirement ceremony.

For those who don’t remember, near the end of the celebration, Warriors owner Joe Lacob was vociferously booed for an extended period of time, blemishing what should have been a coronation for Mullin.

“All those fools that were booing during the Chris Mullin ceremony should be writing letters to Joe Lacob apologizing for what they did because it worked out pretty good,” said Barry, who was there that night.

With all due respect to the Hall-of-Famer, he’s dead wrong. In fact, I’d go the other way: Lacob should be thanking Warriors fans for booing him that night. The owner needed it and deserved it.

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Warriors No. 1 seed … now what?

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Steinmetz

Just got done watching the Warriors frolic with the New York Knicks.

Their record is now 5o-something and barely double-figures, I can’t keep track. Incredible, but with about a month of the season left, the Warriors are, and will end up with, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Nobody is going to catch them in the West, a remarkable thought in its own right. Knowing that, how much do you think about what happens after that, the playoffs?

Crazy as it seems, the Warriors have a month to play with. OK, maybe not to play with, but to perhaps strategize about what they want to do heading into the playoffs. We know it will be intriguing to find out which team will wind up the No. 8 seed, but the Warriors can’t control that.

Or can they?

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Posted in Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, Sal and Steiny | Comments Off on Warriors No. 1 seed … now what?

What’s up with David Lee?

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Steinmetz

A buddy of mine recently asked me what was going on with David Lee. He wanted to know why Lee wasn’t even playing enough these days to keep in shape. I figured I may as well share my reply. Here’s what I wrote:

Well, the simple answer is David Lee is out of the rotation. Steve Kerr doesn’t think Lee’s one of the eight most valuable players on the team. It seems obvious Kerr likes his starting five, plus Andre Iguodala, either Mo Speights or Festus Ezeli, and then Shaun Livingston.

A few things are clear.  One, Draymond Green is obviously a better and more effective player at this point than Lee. Last year, with Lee doing his usual thing on offense, and Green not where he is now, it was easier to keep Lee in the rotation. Plus, the stakes weren’t as high last year as they look to be this year.

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