SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento Kings coach Paul Westphal and Warriors coach Don Nelson might not know it, but they find themselves in similar situations. Both are experienced coaches trying to guide young teams, each with a few veterans sprinkled in.The expectations for both teams are low, with few believing either team will sniff the NBA's postseason. Both teams have intriguing rookie point guards (Tyreke Evans/Stephen Curry), talented but flawed shooting guards (Kevin Martin/Monta Ellis) and promising second-year power forwards (Jason Thompson/Anthony Randolph).
But stop right there. That's where the comparison ends.
Hopefulness and positivity surround Westphal and the Kings these days, while despair and pessimism cloak Nelson and the Warriors. The two franchises are separated by just 75 miles, but there seems to be a world of difference between the two.
"I really like these young players," Westphal said before the Kings won their fourth straight by beating the Rockets 109-100 on Friday night at ARCO Arena. "They're hungry young kids for the most part or veterans who have been kicked around a little bit and have something to prove. They're giving everything they have. They're playing hard and playing together and it's really fun when it's like that."
The Warriors were 3,000 miles away at the time, taking care of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. But fun is not something they're having. Stephen Jackson wants out and is making a nuisance of himself. Ellis and Nelson have under-the-surface issues that are becoming less and less under-the-surface.
The fan base is clamoring for Randolph to play more, but Nelson is reluctant and unwilling to play the kid more. But perhaps most striking is the joylessness that seems to envelope Nelson, who sits just 21 wins shy of earning the all-time mark for NBA coaching victories.
If and when Nelson does pass Lenny Wilkens' all-time record later this season, it figures to be a sad honoring. Think about it: When it happens, the Warriors are likely to be 24-40 or 24-48 or 24-55. Or, perhaps even worse, the thing could linger into next season.
On Friday in New York, Nelson admitted: "This is a difficult team to coach so far."
Yet throughout training camp and into the first week of the season, Nelson maintained he was excited about the Warriors. Few, if any, believe that. Now, there's talk that Nelson might even step down, although that seems unlikely considering he's still owed approximately $10 million of the remaining $12 million on his deal.
Nelson's critics would argue that he doesn't seem to be coaching much these days. His practices are short, and he delegates an inordinate amount of responsibility to his assistants. Assistant coach Keith Smart handles the entire defense, a responsibility given to him last season.
Nelson, 69, looks dispirited on the sidelines, the days of leaping off the bench to argue a call or shout out instruction gone. The polite way to put it is that he doesn't look engaged.
But it's not just Nelson's demeanor, it's what he's conveying with his words. He seemed to go out of his way recently to suggest that the only reason he's still coaching is because the organization begged him to stay there.
"Actually the organization wanted me to do two more years," Nelson said on Friday. "I was ready to retire after last season and so I signed on for two more years and I'm going to oblige my contract."
That's much of the issue. To Nelson, coaching right now seems like an obligation. For Westphal, it's the opposite.
"All I can say is so far, so good," Westphal said. "Everybody has embraced what we're trying to do and they're giving their best. You never know what tomorrow is going to bring in this league, but right now I don't have anything to complain about with regard to their attitudes or effort.
"It's we all want to be a part of bringing this franchise back to life in this city. The chance to be part of that and take steps in that direction and what it will look like when we finish doing that is what excites me the most."
It's hard to imagine the Warriors are excited about their future, particularly in the immediate. They're 3-5, which isn't all that bad, but consider this: The combined record of the teams they've beaten is 3-26 (Memphis, Minnesota, New York).
And now they're looking at the following stretch: at Milwaukee, at Boston, at Cleveland, Portland, at Dallas, at San Antonio, L.A. Lakers.
Meanwhile, the Kings are 5-4 and playing hard. But Westphal knows there's a thin line between success and failure, optimism and pessimism, and, yes, even he and Nelson.
"Look ... come back 40 games from now before you start talking about magic," Westphal said. "All I can say is we're having some good things happen and we hope to keep it up."
Down the road a piece, it's an entirely different story.
More Steinmetz on Twitter: @matt_steinmetz
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Another lame story about an east bay team sucking and somehow Sacramento is happier and better ... Well Duhhhh!!! Sacramento doesn't have the selfish "me-me" Jackson to deal with ... a simple no brainer of a situation ... but worthy of writing about? Hell NO! Jackson's cancer had spread to Monta and not sure if Ellis will turn into a cancer cell or not ... but he sounds like another Jackson with his "Curry and I can't play together" but it takes no brains to figure out the Kings don't have the Jackson cancer ... so of course the coach is happier! The Warriors have a great young team and that is why Jackson is doing what he's doing ... he needs his ego stroked and with all the young talent on the Warriors he can see his time is limited in being the focus ... and it's all about Jackson ya know! So now Matt has joined the trash writing Mariotti and Nancy Gay to simply write a story to stir crap and somehow it is a legitimate article? Boy internet sportswriters are just trashy scum! Another stupid no story!
C'mon, Matt. It's all Nelson's fault, right? Certainly can't blame the crybabies (Slack-Jack, Monta, and A.R.). And now even Curry is upset about playing time - maybe we can blame Nellie for that too! Sheesh...
What a shit comment.
Article talks about how all preseason and even 6 games ago, Nellie maintained he was happy coaching a young team. Also said him and Jack will work as long as he is still around.
Obviously his latest comments have shifted. There are articles on ESPN and other media outlets about this. Are they stupid too?
Mr. Steinmetz just used the comparison with Westphal to make it a bit more interesting. How often do you see a Westphal quote anywhere?
You must be a Laker fan.
LOL ... Laker fan?
You can stick up for this hack written story about nothing if ya want ... but the comparison is as lame as the story is! Westphal not having a whining "me -me" cancer like Jackson has everything to do with how a team chemistry is and although Jackson claims to be there and ready to play anyone who has watched any of their games sees this spoiled malcontent pouting at the end of the bench when he is not playing and pays no attention to what the coaches are telling the players during a time out ... he sits there acting like he has got something really stinky under his nose and is about as into the game as peanut vendor!
Mr Steinmetz is just making up crap and dissing another bay area team like Nancy Gay and Jay Mariotti and Blackstone ... just writing BS spin and trying to make controversy where there is none. Jackson is a cancer but I don't blame them for not just offing him for a nobody just to get rid of him ... In fact if I was Nellie I would spot him when someone who really wants to play needs a rest and let him rot on the bench and watch his ego throw the guy into a even deeper mode of self-destruction. Odds are Jackson will get himself suspended before long and then you'll see a shift in the Warriors in a positive direction. The Warriors have a good young team without Jackson but I am sure playing alongside a malcontent egomaniac like Jackson does affect the teams moral but you can't cow to these spoiled selfish mental cases like Jackson. Nellie will do fine and I haven't noticed any drop off on his part as far as interest in the team and the game being played. Just more shoddy reporting by Mr Steinmetz and more than a bit of azz sucking on your part. Stupid article ... stupid defense Jordan! Matt must be a friend of yours! If he is ... watch your back!
Matt,
A sad story for me. Nellie deserved better than to be in the Bay with a bunch of scoundrel journalists yapping at his heels, a poorly managed organization for support, and a mixture of babes, pouters, and shouters to put on the floor.
Last night on League Pass, Johnny Mac, the Bucks color guy, was reflecting on Nellie's great defensive teams in Milwaukee. What distinguished those teams? Intelligence, Johnny Mac said. They were smart guys who got the schemes.
He'll go out rich. Hard to feel too bad about that. But if you were a fan of his for more than 30 years and you cut your season-ticket teeth with five seasons of those Milwaukee teams, it's just hard to watch this.
I don't think he came to the Bay to build and a play with a bunch of kids. I think he came to play with Baron and the best guys he could put around him. And that worked. Until Baron left. Nellie should have probably gone then too. There really wasn't much left for him to do.
The fans are irrational. Randolph isn't ready to play more. He really hurt them on the boards and defensively last night, Curry needs to be brought along slowly. His key player for moving the ball wants to go. And what he has left are a bunch of one-dimensional players. When Nellie got to Dallas and found a mess, he jettisoned the whole gang and started over. He drafted Dirk, he traded for Steve, he traded for Van Exel and the skinny center. It wasn't perfect, and Dallas went a couple of rounds further a couple of years after he was was gone. But they are falling apart, trying to figure out what to do with Dampier, and Nash is thriving in Phoenix. Nellie was always smart.
All thos basketball talk assumes some ideal. If Nellie had had Duncan, he would have won some championships. If Weber had played the role as a young man he ended up playing as an old man, he would have won a championships. And if Dave Cowens knee hadn't gone off, it would have been one hell of an Eastern Conference Champtionship with the 76ers in 1983.
But none of that happened. It's hard for me to believe those 21 games matter that much. Lenny Wilkens reigns and no one considers him the best coach of all time. I don't know why he's still there. As you point out, he doesn't look like he's having much fun.
As always, thank you for writing balanced and intelligent copy. You restore my faith in sports writing on a daily basis.
LOL ... talk about a lot of butt sucking on BS spin! You may know something about Don's past but you certainly don't know what balanced and intelligent copy is ... I would bet that you are a hack buddy of Matt's by the kissing sound you make on Matt's ass. Funny how "the fans are irrational" but your lame azz kissing you give Matt is somehow not irrational. So mediamav26 ... do you work as a sleazy internet sports hack too? Probably so. This was and still is a stupid azz story about nothing. Keep up the rotten biased writing Matt and your buds will suck you azz anyway! LOL ... Fanhouse and internet sports writing is the WORST! They spout their bias so clearly it comes across as shoddy writing and ignorant BS spin except to those in the fraternity of internet sports writers ... those who are so sure their BS spin has some kind of value in todays world. What a joke mediamav ... You can add all the color you want to Matt's story ... but it is still trash with no real value.