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2012 NBA Draft: According To The Mocks, Who Will The Warriors Choose?

2012-06-20T14:00:20Z

Even though they often look extremely inaccurate in hindsight due to a variety of reasons -- including trades and unpredictable general managers -- mock drafts are also a lot of fun. Besides ridiculous wardrobe choices and awkward handshakes/fist-bumps/man-hugs between players and commissioners, drafts aren't as entertaining as your favorite cable network would like you to believe. For drafts, it's all about the anticipation, the permutations, the predictions.

Before chatting with Golden State Warriors announcer Tim Roye for his "Mocking The Draft" feature, I wrote up my own Mock Draft over on BASG, but I only got to choice No. 7 ... where I have the Golden State Warriors picking Jared Sullinger (KNBR host and former Warrior Tom Tolbert agreed with me, by the way). That's not necessarily because I think Sullinger is the most talented player the Warriors could select (although his interior scoring and rebounding could prove valuable in Golden State), but instead because I see the Warriors going for a "safe" pick, since they need size and probably won't have a first rounder next season.

While I had my reasons for mocking Sullinger to the Warriors, let's check out what the mockers who do this for a living (or at least more often than I do) think. To help in that respect, I went over all the mock drafts I could find that have been updated since June 1 (most are available here). That's a total of 46 mock drafts, which led to a total of eight different players theoretically going to the Warriors. Here they are, with the number of mocks that have each player going to the Warriors in parentheses:

1. Perry Jones III, PF, Baylor (10)

Jones' production was up and down at Baylor, but he's 6' 11.25" with his shoes on and can run and jump with anyone. Here's the question: will the Warriors gamble on someone who's been criticized as an inconsistent, passive player in college?

2. Jared Sullinger, PF/C, Ohio State (8)

I explained why the Warriors would be interested in Sullinger here. Golden State needs a small forward, but the best ones will probably be off the board by pick No. 7 and they need frontcourt depth almost as badly. A starting lineup that includes Jeremy Tyler and Mickell Gladness only looks good when you're blatantly tanking.

3. Terrence Jones, SF/PF, Kentucky (7)

Both Terrence and Perry worked out against each other at the Warriors' facility. Terrence isn't quite as big as Perry, but he's a better ball-handler and contributed to a National Championship team. It'll be interesting to see whether teams think Terrence Jones' talents were overlooked on a team with Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and others, or if he isn't quite the star teams are looking for in a Lottery pick.

3. Harrison Barnes, SF, North Carolina (7)

I don't see a scenario where Barnes drops all the way to No. 7, but many clearly disagree with that assessment. Barnes has a smooth, pro-ready game and a vertical jump (38 inches from a standstill) that leaves scouts drooling. If he's available, the Warriors almost certainly would pounce.

5. Bradley Beal, SG, Florida (5)

Whenever a guy is compared to Ray Allen, teams take notice. They should. Beal's a fantastic athlete who can shoot from anywhere. Beal is another guy who seems unlikely to drop all the way to the Warriors, but if he does they'll have to think long and hard about taking Beal and moving Klay Thompson to SF.

6. Austin Rivers, PG, Duke (4)

I actually thought about mocking Rivers to the Warriors. Not only would he be nice insurance in case Stephen Curry hurts his ankle again (or signs elsewhere after the 2012-13 season), he'd also be the Warriors' third son of an almost-NBA-star, along with Curry and Thompson. If the Warriors are obsessed with pedigree, they could do worse than Rivers.

7. Andre Drummond, C, Connecticut (3)

If nothing else, he'd give the Warriors a better backup center option than Tyler. Drummond blocked 2.7 shots per game in his freshman year, and would immediately become the team's second-best low post defender behind Andrew Bogut. Drummond has a lot of work to do to become a Lottery-worthy prospect on the offensive end, however.

8. Jeremy Lamb, SG, Connecticut (2)

His measurables are off the charts for a 6' 5" shooting guard. Lamb is fast, he can jump, and he possesses a 6' 11" wingspan. Like Beal, if the Warriors really like Lamb they could move Thompson to SF and start Lamb at the 2 without the size concerns that they faced when Curry played next to Monta Ellis.

Bay Area Sports Week in Review is an SB Nation Bay Area feature written by Bay Area Sports Guy. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Who Is Kirk Lacob, Anyway (Besides Joe Lacob's Son)?

2012-05-21T14:00:02Z

The Golden State Warriors announced earlier in the week that Kirk Lacob, co-owner Joe Lacob's son, was named Assistant General Manager of the Golden State Warriors. It wasn't necessarily a surprise move; the Warriors have been grooming the younger Lacob for a while for this very promotion, and he already had a voice in personnel decisions before the recent title change.

But what qualifications does Kirk Lacob possess? For those who don't follow the Warriors' front office all that closely, it's pretty easy to assume straight-up nepotism. Daddy buys the team, son gets a great job -- a pretty common story. On the surface there seem to be similarities to Jed York's story, how he became top boss of the San Francisco 49ers. However, there are several differences.

First, Jed's father John York was a reluctant leader and it showed, while Denise Debartolo York wanted no part of speaking on behalf of the team. She may have had tremendous influence in terms of how the money was spent (and still may, for all we know), but she wasn't making football decisions. When Jed took over for John in that department fans were skeptical, yet hopeful that having someone who seemed more comfortable in (and passionate about) the role of NFL owner would do a better job. After some rough patches, it appears with a new stadium on the way that Jed's on his way to becoming one of the most powerful figures in Bay Area sports.

On the other hand, Kirk Lacob's father is far more comfortable in the spotlight than either of Jed's parents. Joe Lacob may be even more unpopular than John York (considering the infamous fan display during Chris Mullin jersey retirement night). However, Joe has a say in everything the Warriors do and, unlike John, seems to really enjoy it. Unless I'm reading things incorrectly, Joe will probably be the Warriors' head man for the next two decades, maybe even longer.

No, a better comparison for Kirk may be another person in a high spot on the 49ers: Paraag Marathe. Since "Lacob" means Joe around these parts, Kirk's going to be spoken of mostly on a first-name basis by most fans. In similar fashion, the 49ers' Chief Operating Officer might as well pretend like he's a famous Brazilian athlete and drop the "Marathe" -- especially since barely anyone uses his last name anyway.

Paraag has other duties, but most people know him as the 49ers' "capologist." After serving in large part as an unfortunate symbol of the York regime's incompetence (Who's deciding whether or not Nolan challenges the call? Oh great, It's Paraag!), he's now widely praised as an astute salary cap architect. Kirk brought similar analytical skills with him to the Warriors, as Tim Kawakami wrote back in November of 2010:

Lacob confirmed that his son, Kirk, is the team’s director of basketball operations, reporting to GM Larry Riley.

This is not a surprise, since Kirk is probably even a larger NBA follower than his father, and had lined up a job with Steve Kerr in Phoenix this year–until Kerr resigned as GM last summer.

Kirk Lacob, just out of Stanford, said he will do a lot of statistical analysis and some salary-cap functions, as the fourth man in a four-man front-office shop.

Yeah, that read "just out of Stanford." So we know Kirk's young. How young? Hard to tell (25?), but according to his Linkedin page we have a good idea of the rest of his resume. Lacob did five(!) internships before becoming the Warriors Director of Basketball Ops, including this one with the Boston Celtics (in Lacob's words):

I worked with all three departments. Helped Community Relations with planning for the team's largest community fund raising gala, overseeing team to community donations, player appearance events and restructuring the internal inventory system. Also aided Media and Public Relations to set up and oversee events such as the draft-eligible player workouts and the Celtics draft day celebration.

Kirk Lacob also has general managing experience with the Dakota Wizards. The Wizards weren't a bad team as far as NBDL squads go -- they went 29-21 and made the playoffs, where they were eliminated by the Bakersfield Jam. One of the Wizards won NBDL Rookie of the Year (Edwin Ubiles), another won Defensive Player of the Year (Stefhon Hannah), and they even had Taylor Griffin on the roster. I'm sure having Blake's shorter, less athletic, less talented brother around sold quite a few tickets in ... Dakota.

Now the Wizards are looking forward to a move to Santa Cruz, and Kirk's promotion probably means his D-League days are over regardless. He's reportedly a huge NBA follower and by now he's probably pretty familiar with the league. If he stays out of trouble there's no reason why he couldn't follow in Jed's footsteps and make a name for himself, although he'll probably have to wait a lot longer than Jed to get the biggest office at team headquarters.

Bay Area Sports Week in Review is an SB Nation Bay Area feature written by Bay Area Sports Guy. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

2012 NFL Draft Grades: Calculating The 49ers' And Raiders' GPAs

2012-05-01T14:00:32Z

Grading NFL teams' drafts is a funny tradition, one that symbolizes the reaction of NFL observers when faced with the huge gap between the NFL Draft and any games of consequence. I agree with Scott Warfe, who said, "Call me crazy (especially if you want to hurt my feelings), but the grading process is arbitrary — almost as arbitrary as mock drafting." We don't know how these players are going to play, so it's really just a case of supposed value and which players the observers who grade these things liked the most before the NFL Draft occurred.

Still, I'll admit it's kind of fun to read these articles. It's interesting to see what the consensus is on how our favorite teams did, even if these suppositions have nothing to do with how the upcoming season will play out. So what I've done is taken a look at 10 different writers' grades. Since this is SB Nation Bay Area, I only paid attention to how the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders performed, and from there calculated each team's overall GPA as if each team had a 10-class schedule where each class was weighted equally.

Sorry Trent Baalke and Reggie McKenzie, but you didn't get the benefit of any "AP classes" and the extra grade point that goes along with them. As you'll see, both GMs could've used all the help they could get in the eyes of these "teachers."

ESPN (Mel Kiper)

49ers: C+

Raiders: C-

Fox (Czar)

49ers: C+

Raiders: D

NBC

49ers: C+

Raiders: D

Walter Football

49ers: C+

Raiders: C

CBS (Prisco)

49ers: C-

Raiders: D

Rotoworld

49ers: C+

Raiders: D

Sports Illustrated (Burke)

49ers: D

Raiders: C

Sporting News (Iyer)

49ers: B

Raiders: D

Yahoo (Cole)

49ers: B

Raiders: D

SB Nation (Fooch)

49ers: B

Raiders: B

OVERALL GPA

49ers: 2.33

Raiders: 1.47

Yikes. According to the masses, the 49ers are at a solid C+ average, while the Raiders are D+ drafters. If it weren't for the editor of Niners Nation, the Raiders wouldn't have received anything higher than a C for their efforts, which means most of these analysts weren't exactly grading on a curve. After all, McKenzie was hamstrung by the previous regime dealing away multiple high draft picks for quarterbacks Carson Palmer (first round), Terrelle Pryor (third round) and Jason Campbell (fourth round), along with OT Joe Barksdale (second round).

The Raiders only grabbed one name recognizable to the masses: Arizona wide receiver Juron Criner, who probably fell to the fifth round despite a productive collegiate career due to a 40-time of 4.68 seconds at the NFL Combine. One receiver who helped himself at the Combine, but maybe not enough to make a him a top-30 pick in the eyes of most, was A.J. Jenkins. The Niners' first round pick ran a 4.39 40-yard dash, but went almost unmentioned leading up to the Draft as many thought San Francisco would go after buzz-worthy names like Stephen Hill, Coby Fleener or Reuben Randle. Many also dinged the 49ers for taking LaMichael James, a back who on the surface looks a lot like Kendall Hunter, their fourth round pick from last year.

What does all this mean? Nothing now, but I'm going to file this away and revisit this post in January. While NFL Draft Grades seem frivolous, the GPAs of these respective teams will either look clairvoyant or ridiculous after the season plays out.

Bay Area Sports Week in Review is an SB Nation Bay Area feature written by Bay Area Sports Guy. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

The Future Of The NBA In Northern California Changes Daily

2012-04-17T14:00:38Z

It shouldn't be this hard. Northern California is a heavily populated area. A significant portion of the population is amenable to watching professional basketball. The population as a whole is fairly affluent, with a higher concentration of extremely rich people than seen in most areas.

There's really no excuse for the two NBA teams in the area to be as bad as they've been, but they both have excuses. The Sacramento Kings were great in the early 2000s, but playing in an antiquated facility in a smaller media market put a cap on their revenue stream, meaning they ~~can't~~ won't spend as much as the salary cap allows. Oh, but they're working together with the city of Sacramento build a new arena so the Kings can stay in Sacramento! Huzzah!

Except now the Maloofs are backing out, saying they'd prefer to renovate their current arena. So we're back to the beginning, with a couple of owners who used to own a mediocre Vegas hotel (I stayed at the Palms once -- never again) still trying to use a small market NBA team to boost their portfolio, only they can't decide how they're going to take advantage of their market.

Moving West...

Then you have the Golden State Warriors, who can't even retire a guy's number without it blowing up in their faces. Their excuse for pretty much everything: the team's former owner, Chris Cohan.

The Warriors were originally rumored to share China Basin with the San Francisco Giants, except the Giants want to build their own neighborhood in that area and the Warriors would've been an afterthought. "OH YEAH?" Joe Lacob and Peter Guber say (I'm paraphrasing). "Forget that, we're going to build an incredibly expensive facility on Piers 30 and 32!"

However this shakes out for Lacuber, we can be almost certain of this: the Warriors are deciding between San Francisco and San Francisco, not San Francisco and Oakland.

At this point, both teams are run by owners who are met with skepticism and/or derision from the public. Lacob was famously booed for several minutes at Oracle Arena during the Chris Mullin ceremony, but at least his hometown newspaper didn't write an editorial requesting that he and Guber sell the team, like the Sacramento Bee did with the Maloofs. Still, it's clear the basketball-loving portion of Northern California has grown tired of both teams' inability to either lock down permanent residence in the region (Maloofs) or back up their promises of cultural change and playoff appearances (Lacuber).

NorCal Hoops in 2022

In 10 years, any one of a number of combined scenarios could play out for both teams. The Kings could stay at their current arena, revisit the railyard proposal that the Maloofs are now balking at (doubtful), or the Maloofs could do what they've wanted to all along: move to Anaheim and rake in the TV money. The Warriors could stay in Oakland, either at a refurbished (again) Oracle Arena or at a brand new facility at "Coliseum City." More likely, they'll either build a waterfront arena down the road from AT&T or change their minds and move into the Giants' hood.

Larry Ellison won't be purchasing the New Orleans Hornets and moving them to the Bay Area, because New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson is buying that franchise from the NBA. Who knows, maybe the Maloofs' money troubles will force them to sell the team to Ellison, who'd move them to San Jose. Talk about an option that would upset Sacramento and Lacuber at the same time.

Regardless of what happens, Northern California fans deserve less in the way of hollow promises and real estate dealings, and more in the way of wins. Hopefully it won't take 10 years (or longer) for a dormant basketball-mad region to see the attention shifted from arenas to playoff games. In other words, less speculation and more "elevation sensation," as Warriors announcer Tim Roye might say.

Bay Area Sports Week in Review is an SB Nation Bay Area feature written by Bay Area Sports Guy. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

MLB Preview: Giants vs. Athletics Statistical Battles

2012-04-06T17:40:04Z

Last week we took a look at the fantasy juggernaut created when you combine the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. Hopefully you avoided drafting your entire team based on those rankings, because neither the A's nor Giants boast much in the way of fantasy gold.

Instead of writing some lengthy team previews that are sure to turn out wildly incorrect, I have a different idea this week.

A's fans and Giants fans aren't exactly simpatico. For example: just in the last two weeks on the Mothership's very own Athletics Nation, there were fanposts titled "Another reason to hate the Giants," "A's fans always smarter than Giants fans......." and "Why There Is Nothing Like Beating The Giants." I'm sure there's a similar list of fanposts at McCovey Chronicles, but they're harder to find with all the Game of Thrones chatter over there.

Since Oakland and San Francisco fans have a tough time agreeing, here are a few A's vs. Giants questions to spur a little friendly discussion. That means no "1989" or "tarps" mentions in the comments.

1. More home runs: Yoenis Cespedes or Buster Posey?

Incredible athlete vs. the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year. Cespedes already hit one in Japan, and could very well play linebacker for the Raiders next season. However, MLB pitchers will make adjustments, and Cespedes' season is bound to have ups and downs. On the other side, Posey's coming off major ankle surgery. Posey's hit 22 home runs in 160 career games, but won't play that many games in 2012.

2. More stolen bases: Jemile Weeks or Angel Pagan?

Weeks -- like Cespedes -- is already on the board with a steal in Japan. He was also caught once, which is a worry since he was only successful on 22 of his 33 SB attempts over 97 games in his rookie year. Still, Weeks will have the green light because ... why the hell not? Pagan's stolen 69 bases in 85 tries over the past two years, but the Giants have only had one player steal 30 bases since 1997 (Dave Roberts stole 31 bases in 2007). It'll be interesting to see if the Giants' focus on speed and aggressive baserunning actually means something during the regular season.

Coco Crisp, who stole 49 bases last year, could easily beat both of these guys. As long as he stays healthy, that is.

3. More saves: Grant Balfour or Brian Wilson?

This question, like the previous two, would've made zero sense a year ago. But Balfour already has a save (is there an echo in here?) and Wilson's coming off a long period of elbow rest. Most people would probably go with the bearded one here, but so far this spring his velocity hasn't reached the same 95-97 range he's been in his whole career. Balfour's battling Brian Fuentes and a lack of closing experience, but elbow soreness trumps all.

4. The butt of more lousy weight-related jokes: Bartolo Colon or Pablo Sandoval?

Colon's the leader in the clubhouse, but he's been pretty much the same shape for the better part of a decade. More observers are monitoring the fluctuations Sandoval's waist size, so if he balloons in the second half he could steal a "win" here.

5. Who gets San Jose: A's or Giants?

You never know, Bud Selig might actually make a decision one of these days.

Bay Area Sports Week in Review is an SB Nation Bay Area feature written by Bay Area Sports Guy. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

The All-Bay Area Fantasy Baseball Team - Which Giants And A's Made The Cut?

2012-03-27T13:05:28Z

I've taken part in three different fantasy baseball drafts in the past couple weeks, and in the process I've picked up a few members of the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics. In this case, "a few" doesn't mean "many." Neither team is stacked with mashers, the A's traded all their name starters and both teams have question marks at several positions including closer.

That didn't stop me from setting out to choose a fantasy squad consisting of Bay Area baseballers exclusively, much like I did before the 2011 NFL season with the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders -- a make-believe draft where I listed Braylon Edwards as the 4th-best player on the board. Yeah, that team would've performed poorly in a real fantasy league.

I can only imagine how this team will look at the end of the season in a standard fantasy baseball league. On that note, let's pick some players!

With the No. 1 overall pick in the Athliants fantasy draft, SB Nation Bay Area selects...

1. Tim Lincecum -- SP, SFG

His grip on the top spot isn't as strong as it was before the 2011 season ... in fact, it's pretty easy to argue that he was the third-best pitcher on his own staff last season. Still, two Cy Young awards and well over 200 strikeouts a year add up to a frontline starting pitcher who's worth a second or third round pick in any fantasy draft.

2. Pablo Sandoval -- 3B/1B, SFG

If he still had catcher eligibility he'd be No. 1, but Sandoval's bat still translates very well at third base.

3. Madison Bumgarner -- SP, SFG

If so many are calling Bumgarner a Cy Young sleeper, is he really a Cy Young sleeper anymore?

4. Matt Cain -- SP, SFG

Contract negotiations aren't going all that well, but Cain's pitching extremely well this Spring. Combine his consistency, improving peripherals, and the fact that 2012 looks like it'll be a contract year, and Cain could wind up becoming the best fantasy performer for either team.

5. Buster Posey -- C, SFG

After the injury, fantasy players have reason to be cautious. If Posey has a good year, he'll shoot up this list (provided he's still catching).

6. Coco Crisp -- OF, OAK

An Athletic finally comes off the board, and this team gets some much-needed steals.

7. Jemile Weeks -- 2B, OAK

The only second baseman worth drafting from either team, Weeks is one of the most intriguing fantasy sleepers in the game.

8. Melky Cabrera -- OF, SFG

He's striving for a big contract after this season, so a 20/20 season isn't out of the question.

9. Brian Wilson -- RP, SFG

The first closer comes off the board, due more to positional necessity than promise. Wilson's coming off an elbow injury that didn't require surgery, but kept him out of action for several weeks at the end of 2011.

10. Brandon McCarthy -- SP, OAK

Not a strikeout guy, and he pitched almost 70 innings more in 2011 than any other season. But he's the No. 1 guy for the A's, and he should help in categories like ERA and WHIP.

11. Yoenis Cespedes -- OF, OAK

What's fantasy baseball without a little gamble every now and then? Cespedes is totally unproven, but it's not like anyone else on either team has an airtight argument as to why he should go ahead of a guy this toolsy. Do you really want to be the person who misses out on the next 30/30 guy?

12. Brandon Belt -- 1B/OF, SFG

I'm still feeling like taking some risks ... when confined to picking Giants and A's, you go a little insane. Insane's what many people would call choosing a guy who might not break camp with the Giants, but Belt has too much power to stay bench-ridden for long.

13. Angel Pagan -- OF, SFG

Steals.

14. Cliff Pennington -- SS, OAK

This has less to do with Pennington's production than the lack of production at this position on both sides of the Bay.

15. Ryan Vogelsong -- SP, SFG

If the back issues don't linger, he's a sneaky-good pitcher who helped out many fantasy teams last season.

16. Grant Balfour -- RP, OAK

He's the closer, for now.

17. Brian Fuentes -- RP, OAK

He's been a closer before, and he's there in case Balfour can't hold the job.

The SBNBA Giathletics

C: Posey

1B: Belt

2B: Weeks

3B: Sandoval

SS: Pennington

OF: Crisp

OF: Cabrera

OF: Cespedes

Util: Pagan

SP: Lincecum

SP: Bumgarner

SP: Cain

SP: McCarthy

SP: Vogelsong

P: Wilson

P: Balfour

P: Fuentes

Bay Area Sports Week in Review is an SB Nation Bay Area feature written by Bay Area Sports Guy. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Warriors Fans Reach Much-Needed Breaking Point

2012-03-22T14:20:17Z

Monday night was supposed to be about Chris Mullin's jersey retirement, but instead it was the night Golden State Warriors fans hit rock-bottom. Don't worry, I'm not going to shove Rick Barry-brand hair plugs into my forehead and start lecturing the paying customers. This is SB Nation, a site that's full of content by fans, for fans.

In the grand scheme, Golden State fans have suffered much more than Golden State owners. Warriors backers can put their pain from the past 35 years of ineptitude against anyone's. It's not surprising they went crazy on Lacob the other night; it's surprising it took them this long to voice their displeasure.

Oracle Arena patrons came under fire from the judgment police after booing Joe Lacob loudly enough that his words were rendered incomprehensible. To watch a YouTube video or a clip on television doesn't do the booing justice. The lights were down, increasing the impact exponentially. It was a strange mixture. How will Lacob react? What does Mullin think about his night devolving into this? How will Rick Barry's scolding make things better?

Thankfully, no one hurled objects onto the court or screamed anything too inflammatory, although the decibel level went up more than a few notches when a fan shouted, "WE WANT MONTA." Still, as halftime came to a close and the lights came back on, the Warriors' dirty laundry was strewn everywhere. Embarrassing? Sure. Catastrophic? More like cathartic.

Identity Crisis

Before Monday night, Warriors fans were known for being loyal to a fault. Whenever the Warriors accomplished anything positive, from winning a playoff game to taking a lead in the second quarter, the fans went berserk. When nothing happened at all, the fans cheerfully climbed back up the aisles and out of the Arena with 90 seconds remaining in another comfortable loss.

I've wondered for years: why aren't Warriors fans angrier, or at least more apathetic? Now that they've shown everyone this level of disapproval, perhaps things can start to change. Some Warriors fans -- both people in attendance on Monday and those who watched the action from their homes -- feel like the boos were warranted because they represented a reaction to every bad Warriors transaction Bill Simmons recently listed. Others were simply mortified, calling the boos classless. Whatever side you're on, your anger with the Warriors' place in the NBA probably isn't as intense now as it was before Monday night.

Lacob's Reality Check

Current Warriors' ownership has been in a bubble since Lacob and Peter Guber bought the team from Chris Cohan. At a season ticketholder event before the season, the pair, along with Jerry West and Mark Jackson, talked about big plans and modern entertainment concepts to frequent bursts of applause -- and this was back in September before anyone knew if there would even be a season.

Fans never got a chance to directly respond to Cohan's dreadful reign, unless you count the 2000 All-Star Game. Because the fans have been so polite, Lacob probably had no idea they'd react the way they did on Monday -- especially when all he wanted to do was retire Mullin's number and give him a week-long trip to Maui (an interesting choice for the ultimate retirement gift, but not the reason why Lacob was booed).

Lacob may have figured that all Warriors fans needed was a release from the grip of Darth Cohan. Warriors fans, tired of yet another losing season full of broken promises followed by more shaky promises, finally showed Lacob that trust and winning percentage are inextricably linked.

The owner, now presumably a bit humbler, can't rest on mindless loyalty from the region. The fans, now presumably shocked by the power of their own voices (the Warriors finally got on SportsCenter!), can go to bed knowing that Lacob finally felt the kind of pain that stems watching this team flounder since the late 1970s.

The new ownership group still has time to prove they'll undo what prior owners did, and the fans finally proved they aren't satisfied with awful, ineffectual basketball produced by apathetic players, coaches and owners. The easy summary would be to proclaim there's nowhere to go but up, and that could be true. Then again, this is the Warriors we're talking about.

Check out BASG's writing on Bay Area Sports Guy. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

What Happened To Pac-12 Men's Basketball?

2012-03-07T16:48:00Z

The Pacific-12 Men's Basketball Tournament is starting on Wednesday, and while it should bring the bubble drama, it won't feature several well-respected teams. The shine is off the Pac-12, to the point where their Conference RPI ranking of 10th is surprising due to how high it is. The West Coast Conference comes in at 11th, but the better teams appear to play in the WCC.

Top Pac-12 and WCC teams, based on RPI (Strength of Schedule in parentheses)

23. Gonzaga (74)

25. St. Mary's (104)

37. California (94)

46. BYU (96)

51. Oregon (90)

54. Washington (82)

A couple things jump out if you peruse the RPI and strength of schedule.

First, none of these teams played anybody outside of conference. The teams that challenged themselves the most this year were Portland, with a SOS of 67 (and finished 7-24 and lost by 24 at Kentucky) and Utah at 68 (they head into the Pac-12 tourney at 6-24 and lost by 28 to Harvard). Teams in the WCC have a hard time scheduling tough non-conference opponents, because teams from the higher profile conferences have no incentive to schedule home-and-home series with teams like St. Mary's. The Pac-12 squads get a few more chances to prove themselves against better teams before the season starts, but the conference is so bad, it takes down every team's strength of schedule rating.

Second, 10 different conferences had two teams with higher RPIs than the California Golden Bears, including the Mountain West, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley, and the WCC. Teams ranked just ahead of Cal at No. 35 and 36? Noted powers Long Beach State and Harvard.

The Pac-12 used to be somewhat underrated heading into the NCAA Tournament, then they'd send three or four teams to the Sweet 16. Now they'll be lucky to send three or four teams -- even two's a stretch, according to some -- to "The Dance." What happened?

There are many reasons why the Pac-12 looks up to mid-majors now, such as a poor TV exposure (yay, Fox!), several players such as Drew Gordon and Elston Turner transferring to schools in other conferences, and NCAA violations effectively killing USC's program -- or at least putting competitiveness on hiatus.

But to simplify matters, here are the two biggest reasons why the Pac-12 is so bad in 2012 after sending six teams to the NCAA Tournament each year from 2007-09.

1. Lute Left

While the fixation on celebrity coaches by certain announcers can be annoying (cough ... Dickie V. ... cough), legendary coaches keep teams at the top with stability and great recruiting. Lute Olson was the anchor of the Pac-10 during his 26-year run, winning 11 conference titles, five NCAA Regionals and one National Championship. Once Olson retired in 2008, the Pac-whatever hasn't seemed the same.

2. Bad Bruins

Ben Howland took blue chip talent and kept their offensive talent under wraps (only Howland could hold Russell Westbrook to 12.7 ppg as a sophomore). That's no crime compared to the lack of discipline that's plagued UCLA in the past few years, as detailed by Sports Illustrated's George Dohrmann.

UCLA's fall has been something of a mystery. It has most often been blamed on players jumping early to the NBA (six Bruins have done so in the last four years, including Love and fellow first-round picks Russell Westbrook and Jrue Holiday), players transferring (five have departed) and even a supposed dearth of quality big men coming out of high schools on the West Coast. Inside the team, however, more fundamental problems have been at work, eroding the sense of unity, leading some players to leave the program and sending the blocks of Wooden's Pyramid tumbling down.

Over the last two months SI spoke with more than a dozen players and staff members from the past four Bruins teams. They portrayed the program as having drifted from the UCLA way as Howland allowed an influx of talented but immature recruits to undermine team discipline and morale. Fistfights broke out among teammates. Several players routinely used alcohol and drugs, sometimes before practice. One player intentionally injured teammates but received no punishment.

Whether one blames Reeves Nelson, a shallow west coast talent pool or any of the other reasons listed above, the Pac-12 better remedy the situation quickly, or the Pac-12 Network will have trouble getting ratings a year from now.

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