Golden State Worrier

For the 11th consecutive year, the Western Conference playoffs will narrowly elude the grasp of the Golden State Warriors.  For a fan of any other team, missing the playoffs brings a small element of excitement, because it brings with it a chance at the #1 overall pick in the draft lottery.  But for Warriors fans, there is no such feeling.  There is only dread, knowing that if the Warriors did indeed win the right to draft first, they would somehow manage to screw it up.  However, this general dread of NBA Drafts is becoming an outdated sentiment in the Bay Area, as the Warriors have quietly begun evaluating talent as though they were actually running a team.        Jason Richardson and Troy Murphy have finally begun to live up to their ginormous contracts, which appeared at the time to be the greatest heists the NBA had seen since…..well, since the Warriors re-signed Adonal Foyle only months earlier.  Gilbert Arenas, the Warriors’ 2nd round pick in 2001, is rapidly becoming a star, and beat Golden State Monday night with a game-winning layup.  Michael Pietrus and Jiri Welsch are both playing well as reserves, and Andris Biedrins is at least the most exciting rookie the Warriors have had in years (being 7 feet tall at age 18 qualifies as exciting around here).  So while the Warriors still lose just as much as they ever have, at least now they’re doing it with some decent talent.

        Of course, the other reason Warriors fans have no cause for concern over the #1 pick is because they know it’s not coming.  Only once during their tenure as bottom-feeders have the Warriors picked first overall, when they took Joe Smith in 1995.  They had a great shot at the top selection in 2002, when they finished the season tied for the league’s worst record with the Bulls.  According to the rules of the draft lottery, by finishing with the worst record, the Warriors could pick no lower than 3rd.  So what happened?  The Warriors picked 3rd.  The man who went first overall in the draft that year is a man named Yao Ming.  The Warriors ended up with Mike Dunleavy, Jr.  And so our story begins.

        I’ve mentioned this before, but when we drafted Dunleavy, I’ve never been so upset with one of my teams over a draft pick before.  Not only did the Warriors commit the cardinal sin of drafting a Duke player, but they drafted a Duke player who looked just like Harry Potter.  Before his career was even a month old, my friends and I had already tagged him with a nickname which I won’t repeat here.  Let’s just say it’s a combination of Dr. Evil’s top assistant and the part of your body above your neck.  Somehow, he slowly changed everyone’s opinion of him, and Warriors fans actually had high hopes for Junior heading into his third season.  But the holes in Dunleavy’s game haven’t improved since last season, which means that little question has started to slowly creep back into the brains of every Warriors fan: What the hell is wrong with this guy?!?!?!?

        For all of Dunleavy’s natural skills, he never really seems at ease on a basketball court.  He always appears tentative or worried, as though he’s waiting for some perfect play that never develops.  Good things generally seem to happen when Junior has the ball in his hands, but he always looks like he’s one move away from handing his dribble over to a defender.  And while Dunleavy is at his best in transition, he too often passes the ball as soon as it’s passed to him on the break, like it’s a hot potato.  That’s how I played basketball in 6th grade CYO, and no one was picking me third in the draft.  

        The most frustrating thing is, you never know which Mike Dunleavy is going to show up on a given night.  Some nights, Dunleavy looks like every bit the lottery pick, knocking down turnaround threes coming off screens, making passes under the hoop that few players would have even thought to make, and even fewer would have been able to execute.  But that’s usually only a third of the time.  In most Warriors games, Junior looks like a scared rookie, or some sort of baby calf trying to dribble a basketball.  In fact, nearly every action photo taken of Dunleavy in his 3 years in the NBA looks like Edvard Munch’s classic painting, “The Scream”.  Dunleavy always looks like he’s just seen a ghost, and yet somehow he’s supposed to run a team.  Not a trait you look for in a player whom Chris Mullin freely admits is more talented than he ever was, and one that Warriors analyst Jim Barnett compares to Larry Bird.  Mullin and Barnett are my two favorite basketball guys of all-time, and Dunleavy is making them both look like they’re ready for a pair of bifocals and a spot in a Florida retirement home.

        There have been rumors that Dunleavy is headed to the Clippers, where his dad coaches when he’s not modeling new suits from the Mafia Boss clothing line he so avidly supports.  But while I can’t see the Warriors trading Junior just yet, I also can’t seem him sticking around for a long time.  Dunleavy has always seemed to be looking ahead to his next team, where he can play next to a star or two, where his selfless talents would be more appreciated.  But that could just be Junior’s tentativeness again, never really able to embrace the moment and take charge.  

        Whatever the case may be, Mike Dunleavy, Jr. appears to have quite a bit of talent locked up in that skinny frame of his, and is either unable or unwilling to let it out in every game.  And while fans are the first group to grow frustrated with players like this (the only thing preventing me from yelling at the TV during Warriors games is a case of bronchitis that’s left me sounding like The D.O.C.), team management generally exercises a bit more patience.  To a point.  If Dunleavy can’t get his game together this season, it may be time to bounce him to another team and let Frenchy run the show.  After all, if you’re going to miss the playoffs anyway, wouldn’t it be better to do it at full-speed?