Warriors don't get to fight on
By R. J. Santillo
STAFF WRITER
As 16 NBA teams gear up for the post-season, the Golden State Warriors are home and awaiting the NBA draft.
Never before has an NBA team won 48 games in a regular season and been forced to prepare for the draft lottery instead of the playoffs the day after the season reached its conclusion.
After logging a 48-34 record this season, the Golden State Warriors were left on the outside looking in as they finished the season in ninth place, two games out of the last playoff position — owned by the Denver Nuggets.
The Warriors have recorded the most wins in any given season for any team that failed to make the postseason since the NBA team expanded to its 16-team playoff format in 1984. The previous mark was set by the Houston Rockets, who won 45 games in the 2000-01 season.
After a magical season that included the eighth-seeded Warriors knocking off the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs in 2007, Golden State will be forced to settle for a different kind of history this year.
As the Warriors enter the off-season they are surrounded by uncertainties. Head coach Don Nelson informed the team last week that by July 1 he will make a decision on whether he will return for his third season as coach. Up-and-coming point guard Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins are free agents. Matt Barnes, Mickael Pietrus and Patrick O’Bryant are all unrestricted free agents, and Kelenna Azubuike can opt out of his current contract.
Perhaps the most intriguing decision revolves around Baron Davis, who is owed $17 million this year if he sticks around for the final year of his contract. Davis has commented that he wants to stay in Golden State, but has hinted that he would like an extension.
To top it all off, the Warriors hold the miniscule chance of 0.5 percent of winning the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery.
After overcoming their 0-6 start, the Warriors went on to win 40 of their next 57 games to position themselves for a playoff push. However, the bottom fell out as Golden State stumbled to the finish as they dropped 11 of their final 19 games, including two losses to the Denver Nuggets which ultimately decided the final playoff position in the Western Conference.
The factor that makes everything sting a little bit more is the final standings in the Eastern Conference. The Philadelphia 76ers finished the season in the seventh position, with a final record of 40-42. As for the eighth spot in the East, that’s where you’ll find the Atlanta Hawks, who ended this year with a record of 37-45.
At the conclusion of an unforgettable 2007-08 season, the Golden State Warriors will go back to the drawing board to figure out exactly what went wrong this year.
As the speculation and uncertainty around the Warriors continues to grow, general manager Russ Smith has a full plate of decisions to make entering the off season. The Warriors will return in the ’08-’09 season with their eyes on the playoffs as they do each year, but neither the team nor its fans will ever forget this past season and what could have been. |
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