Another NBA season is upon us, and wouldn’t you know it, the
Warriors are right on schedule. Chris Mullin is out for six-to-eight weeks
with a chipped thigh bone, Chris Webber is still in contract limbo, and the
answer to the team’s prolonged search for a big man will begin the season
without knowing a single play.
For the third consecutive year, a team that looks so promising has been
fractured by injuries and poor timing. But unlike the past two seasons, the
Warriors aren’t worried about getting off to a poor start. It’s where they
finish that counts, and coach Don Nelson already has taken the liberty of
proclaiming his team as an NBA title contender.
Assuming that Mullin gets healthy, Chris Webber and Carlos Rogers show up
with fat contracts and thin bodies, newly acquired center Rony Seikaly blends
in with his new teammmates and point guard Tim Hardaway and his surgically
repaired knee hold up to the rigors of an NBA season, the Warriors should be
capable of at least giving Nelson’s prediction a run for its money.
Even with the departure of promising forward Billy Owens, traded Wednesday
to the Miami Heat for the 6-11 Seikaly, the Warriors’ projected starting
lineup includes four former, current or potential All-Stars — Webber, Mullin,
Hardaway and All-NBA shooting guard Latrell Sprewell. Throw in a two-time
Sixth Man of the Year in Ricky Pierce, a heralded rookie in Rogers and, most
importantly, a legitimate center in Seikaly, and the Warriors look poised to
challenge Houston, Phoenix and Seattle for Western Conference supremacy.
”We have a great blend now of young and old,” Nelson said following
Wednesday’s trade. ”I’m a little worried about our start, but I was worried
about that anyway. But it’s not the start this year that’s going to count,
it’s the finish. I hope that we’ll be contenders at the end of the season.”
Right now, the Warriors probably won’t be able to compete with the league’s
elite teams. As a result, Nelson may be placed in the uncharacteristic
position of watching his team lose games it should win. Nelson is renowned for
keeping his team focused throughout the regular seasons, especially against
the league’s lesser teams, but he vows that all of his tinkering with this
team will be geared toward the postseason.
”I don’t think you’ll see what this team is all about early on,” Nelson
said. ”I think we’ll see what they’re all about late in the season. I hope we
can attack the playoffs differently this year. In the past, it’s been more of
a survival test for us. This year, I’m going to try a different philosophy. We
may even cost ourselves a game or two in the regular season, but we’re going
to be as ready for the playoffs as possible.”
Unlike two years ago, when the injury-ravaged Warriors sputtered to a 34-48
season, making the playoffs is now a foregone conclusion. Despite losing
Hardaway, the team’s co-captain and All-Star point guard, to a season-ending
knee injury in training camp, the Warriors rolled to a 50-32 regular-season
record in ’93-94 before being swept in the first round by the Phoenix Suns.
The acquisition of Seikaly gives the Warriors a true force in the middle
for the first time since Nelson became the coach in 1988 and allows Webber,
the ’93-94 Rookie of the Year, to move to his true position, power forward.
Chris Gatling, 7-7 shot-blocker Manute Bol and rookie Clifford Rozier can also
be used at the center spot. Fellow first-round pick Rogers, who can play all
three frontcourt positions, would be the primary frontcourt reserve — if the
Warriors can sign him.
At full strength, the Warriors will have a collection of big-time players
that must learn to play together on the fly. Seikaly, Pierce and Rogers,
acquired in a draft-day trade with Seattle (for Sarunas Marciulionis and Byron
Houston), are newcomers. Mullin, who looked comfortable and effective before
getting hurt last week, will miss significant playing time for the third
consecutive year and faces yet another adjustment upon his return. Role
players Bol, Victor Alexander and Keith Jennings will be asked to contribute
in specialized situations.
It all shapes up as a very entertaining combination, one with a potential
for internal combustion. Last spring, Webber clashed openly with Nelson, who
was so shaken by the turmoil, he contemplated quitting. Sprewell seemed to be
in Webber’s camp, while Nelson enlisted Hardaway as an inactive ally. Now
Nelson has pushed Hardaway back into the role of team leader, with old-liners
Mullin and Pierce in tow. And Owens, who was tight with Webber and feuded with
Nelson last spring, is no longer around.
It seems trivial, but don’t write off the fact that the Warriors voted to
switch from black to white shoes this season. The vote was conducted during
Webber’s contract-related absence — Webber, a black shoe devotee, advertises
such a model for Nike — and Hardaway says it’s final.
”The first thing is, this team has to become close,” Hardaway said.
”Once the team becomes close with each other, then you go from there.”
As we’ve seen over the previous two seasons, the Warriors will go only as
far as their good fortune will allow.
