Tag Archives: derek fisher

The Warriors Standing Tall in the Wild Wild West

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By Kaleb Page

In today’s NBA it cannot be denied that the Western Conference is the best conference. With teams that are contenders to win not only the West but an NBA title as well. The surprise of the year thus far is the historic start the Golden State Warriors have that sees them sitting a top the Western Conference and in most minds as the best team in the league.

With a team this successful it is also a surprise since the coach is just a first year man. Fresh out of the broadcasting realm, Steve Kerr was granted a great opportunity. After the Warriors let go of coach Mark Jackson they wanted to get a new basketball mind that seemed like the hot item at the time. This past summer when Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher were two of the big names on the market, teams needing a coach looked at them as must haves. With Fisher having a tough time in New York with the Knicks and Kerr finding success with the Warriors it seems that the Warriors got the better end of the deal. There is one caveat to this scenario however.

Is Kerr just the recipient of being handed the keys to an already tuned up machine? For years Golden State was the laughing-stock of the league with no relevance at all, until they hired Mark Jackson who took the role of giving the team an identity and some sense of discipline they had been lacking for years. With Jackson putting in a lot of the leg work it leaves me looking at this run the Warriors are having with some skepticism.

Mainly this is caused by the fact that Jackson was a good coach and for all the work he put in didn’t he deserve a longer leash? I guess sometimes a change is nice, but is there really any difference from this team to last years with Jackson? I don’t see much besides the emergence and progression of players like Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson (just to name a few). These progressions that more than likely were coming even if Kerr wasn’t the coach.

The Washington Post article on Kerr was interesting talking about how this coach could be seeing the Erik Spoelstra treatment in not getting enough credit for what he is doing with the team. While I do hold my reservations since a lot of the foundation was laid by coach Jackson, there is something to be said for what can be done once that foundation is laid down. For what its worth Kerr looks to be making a great foundation into a great project in the works.

Hopefully the work done thus far this year turns out and Kerr can fully show that his coaching is the reason for this success. If Kerr is the bright coveted disciple of the Phil Jackson coaching tree then this Warriors team full of talent could become an all-time great team poised for a great run for years to come with its core of young talent.

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The New York Knicks Woes

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The New York Knicks are off to their worst start in franchise history 5-21. They are becoming a laughing joke in the already terrible eastern conference. There are so many problems within the Knicks organization. Those problems can be the record itself, team chemistry, the coach, and the triangle system. The article Chris Broussard wrote about the Knicks’ woes covers the above topics.

To start everything off, Broussard jumped right into the fact that the Knicks are 5-21 on the season. With any teams, a record like that can be very discouraging. Confidence is at an all time low and frustration is at an all time high. I’m sure, many teams are beginning to not take the Knicks seriously as a basketball team especially since they are in a joke of a conference.

With the losing record, it brings me to Broussard’s second point, team chemistry. Apparently, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Carmelo Anthony, never liked each other and the fact that the Knicks can’t buy a win surely isn’t helping. Insiders have said that players are not working hard in practice and that is transferring over to games.

In fact, players have started to argue in the middle of the games even though they are fully aware that there are cameras everywhere.

The next topic of discussion is the coach Derek Fisher. Many players are used to having a soft practice like previous years with Mike Woodson. Derek Fisher has fast past hard tiring practices and some players are unhappy with that.

I believe that professional athletes can be spoiled ungrateful brats. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that you need to practice hard so the games are easy. In my opinion, Fisher is one of the most respected players to every play the game, he also has multiple championships.

Lastly, the only thing that the Knicks players seem to agree on is they feel like they should stop running the triangle offense. Players feel like it not only is the current offense not working, but also they feel as though the competition knows exactly how to guard the offense.

I feel as though that is just an excuse and if the players would listen and work hard at the offense it could possibly help them. When Knicks owner Phil Jackson was coaching the Los Angeles Lakers, they ran the triangle offense and it won them six championships.

Overall, I feel like the Knicks are starting to give up on the season and it’s so early on. I feel like Phil Jackson definitely needs to consider trading players starting with the obnoxious J.R. Smith and maybe even considering Carmelo Anthony.