Inside the NBA - Warriors a Mess and Odom Marries the 3rd Best Kardashian

The Golden State Warriors (+8000 to win the NBA's Western Conference title at BetUS) suck, and we have been treated to yet another reason why. Stephen Curry, the team's first-round draft choice (and +500 to win Rookie of the Year at BetUS), was being officially introduced to the press, and the team made the mistake of allowing Monta Ellis, a problem child, to attend the festivities.

"Us together, no. I can't. I just can't. I just can't," was Ellis' response to reporters who inquired as to whether he could find himself playing alongside the slick shooting rookie. Close you eyes for a minute and just imagine, say, Bill Sharman saying that about Bob Cousy.

He went on to say, "I just want to win. And you're not going to win that way." Let's stop for a moment to say that Ellis, in a sense, is not lying, if his point is that he and Curry are rather slight for an NBA backcourt these days, though perhaps somewhat appropriate for the finesse-oriented style of Don Nelson. The problem with Ellis isn't that he is being untrue with his statement; it's that he is saying it to the wrong people at the wrong time, in the wrong context and in the wrong atmosphere.

Ellis, of course, is a player the Warriors cannot ultimately win with, in my opinion. He didn't work out in a point guard role after he came back from an injury that was sustained when he got in an accident with his moped, and he is not the kind of player who can function all that well without the ball, which is kind of ironic because Curry is precisely the kind of player who CAN function without it. The league is full of the kind of selfish playground mentality Ellis displays; it just so happens that Golden State has more of it than most teams. This club is obviously best served by jettisoning Ellis, that is, if anyone would take him.

Sure, some of this is the fault of Nelson and Warrior management, because with Curry arriving, they could have anticipated being overloaded at the "small guard" position.

All of this is on the heels of Stephen Jackson, who has been envisioned as a shooting guard as well by Nelson, expressing publicly that he wants to be traded. At least Jackson is a guy who will play some defense, which is why that kind of thing hurts so much. Jackson just doesn't think this team has made any progress at all in the last year.

He's right, although it was a selfish thing to express it to anyone in the media.

What owner Chris Cohan really needs to do is closely examine the situation and make a clean sweep. That goes for Nelson (who has never won a title and never will) all the way down the line. The name of the game is to put together a winning combination, not just one that will build up fantasy stats, which appears to be what the Warriors have been trying to do. I'm not saying they're going to get all solid citizens like Curry, but you can't go very far with a bunch of selfish gunners who don't know anything about winning. They should take a page from the San Antonio Spurs' book in terms of building a little team chemistry, because it doesn't exist, then get a coach who emphasizes defense and rebounding and forget about the fast break freak show that has gotten the franchise to just one playoff appearance in the last fifteen years.