49 Subscribers

As the Warriors have just completed another terrible season (Don Nelson, either blow up the team and redo it like you always like to, or just leave, please), I felt like reminiscing about the best Warriors of the last 15 years, ones of the worst runs in NBA history.

*1994 = 1994-1995 season, 2009 = 2008-2009 season

1) Latrell Sprewell (1995-1997) Latrell was a true franchise player when he was a Warrior. Could score, defend, pass, and thrill- trademark 2 hand tomahawk. It could be argued that he shot the ball too much, but he had to; he wasn’t selfish, he just knew it was all on him. Latrell was our only hope. It turned out he was also crazy. He hurt me personally when he choked PJ, not because he choked PJ, but because he got himself kicked off the Warriors. An aging, over the hill John Starks was the Warriors best player the next season.

2) Baron Davis (2005-2008) I think most fans would disagree with me not placing Baron #1 here, but Baron never made an All-Star team as a Warrior, while Latrell made the All Star game twice. Also, Baron had some players (see 3, 5, 8, on this list) around him, at least a much better talent set than Latrell did in the dog days. Latrell was everything. Nonetheless, Baron gave Warriors the greatest thrill of the last 15 years, the Boom on AK47.

3) Jason Richardson (2001-2006) J-Rich made Oakland legitimate for a while, winning 2 dunk contests, and giving up the third to Fred Jones because he didn’t feel like winning it on a non-spectacular dunk. For some reason, J-Rich was better in the half court than he was on the break. If I were to define Warrior, I’d start with J-Rich.

4) Antawn Jamison (1998-2003) Back to back 50 point games, including one versus Kobe and the Lakers. Averaged 25 pts per game in 2000-2001. Got injured and couldn’t participate in the 2000 NBA Dunk Contest in Oakland. Hard to say anything negative about him other than the fact he was supposed to have been Vince Carter.

5) Stephen Jackson (2007-2009) our current day Latrell Spreewell. Does everything on a terrible team. Possibly crazy.

6) Chris Mullin (1995-1997) Chris would normally be ranked higher, but when this era started, he was already 31 and no longer a superstar.

7) Tim Hardaway (1995-1996) Like Mullin, Tim’s in this more because of his work before this era. He was only around for 1.5 years before getting traded to the Heat, with whom he was a two time All Star and All NBA player. I’m sure glad we traded him. Fail.

Monta Ellis (2005-2009) I’m not sure sure ME8 really belongs here, but I’ll be optimistic for once. He could become the next Kevin Martin, a 25 PPG scorer on an awful team. That’s probably the best we can hope for.

Now that we’ve noted the best of the last 15 years, let’s do a Warriors and remember the worst:

• [FAIL] I was originally going to do the best 15 Warriors of the last 15 years, but I simply couldn’t find enough people. Sorry, Sam Jacobsen.
• [FAIL] Then I tried 10.
• [FAIL] Then I settled on 8.
• [FAIL] It probably should have been 5.
• [FAIL] The Warriors have averaged 30.2 wins over the last 15 years
• [FAIL] They have finished less than 10 games behind in the standings exactly once (last year’s 48 win season)
• [FAIL] The Warriors have the record for most wins in a season without making the playoffs
• [FAIL] The Warriors had 21 wins or less for 5 consecutive years
• [FAIL] Managed to get the #1 overall pick only once in all this time
• [FAIL] With that pick, they got Joe Smith.
• [FAIL] If comparing to other failure teams, like the Timberwolves, remember the Timberwolves at least had Kevin Garnett for 10 years.
• [FAIL] Hosed one of its best all time (and nice guy) players: Chris Mullin
• [FAIL] Charge its fans $15 for parking at the Arena
• [FAIL] Got Jason Richardson, Troy Murphy, and Gilbert Arenas all in one draft class. None are currently Warriors
• [WIN] I guess the Clippers are just as depressing

Related posts

• Could Jose Calderon Be a Warrior? (2)
• Monta, Monta! (And1, Warriors) (0)
• Warriors vs Nuggets, Dec. 28, 2007: I Will Be There! (0)