A Letter To David Stern On The State Of the Golden State Warriors

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Dear David Stern,

I would like to say some positive things about you, but that would mean that I'm lying. Ok, fine there's one thing that you've done well and that is expand the NBA globally. Other then that, most of the ideas the NBA has put into place have been terrible.

Ideas such as putting the three point line back, no longer allowing any physical play, allowing zone defenses, the new defensive three second technical, the allowing of flopping, etc....

But, even worse is the state of my favorite team—the Golden State Warriors. Maybe it was the fact that when I was younger I lived in the Bay Area and at the time the Warriors actually had some good players.

I remember watching Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin play. I remember the disappointment when Hardaway was injured. Latrell Sprewell coming along and the acquisition of Chris Webber in a draft day trade helped the Warriors back to the playoffs, but after that the Warriors franchise began to crumble.  

But, before we go over that the most memorable play from that era was Chris Webber's dunk on Charles Barkley. Here's the dunk

That was back in 1993-1994 season. The Warriors record was 50-32 and there was a bright future especially with having the young duo of Webber and Sprewell together.

Again, that didn't last long.

Instead, Chris Webber and Don Nelson feuded and Webber in that offseason was traded to the Washington Bullets for Tom Gugliotta. Gugliotta was nowhere near the talent that Webber was and the Warriors didn't even keep him long enough to make an impact in the 1994-1995 season.

Gugliotta was traded after playing 40 games with the Warriors to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Donyell Marshall. So, basically what the Warriors ended up trading for was Webber for Marshall. It's not hard to say who got the better end on either trade and the Warriors got screwed.

Another player traded during the season was Billy Owens for Rony Seikaly. Seikaly was a solid player for the Miami Heat, but did not put out any sort of effort with the Warriors and stated he would never play for the Warriors a couple of seasons later.

Also, gone after 45 games was Don Nelson, so the creator of all the trouble was gone. Webber was gone. The Warriors named Bob Lanier interim head coach. The team went 26-56.

Warriors went from playoff team to lottery team in just one season. Oh, and it gets much better after that.

Rick Adelman was hired as coach for the 1995-1996 season. He did win 10 more games for the Warriors in this season. There were more unthinkable trades though. The Warriors traded star Tim Hardaway and up-and-coming power forward Chris Gatling to the Miami Heat for Bimbo Coles and Kevin Willis.

Draft wise the Warriors selected Joe Smith with the No. 1 pick in the draft. He showed potential as being a solid player for the team to go along with Sprewell, but Smith was traded after two plus years with the Warriors, which I'll get into that trade later.

The 1995-1996 was a pretty weak draft, but other notable players that the Warriors could have drafted were Antonio McDyess, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, and Kevin Garnett.

Even with that there was improvement for the Warriors under Adelman—a 10-game increase in wins.

In the 1996-1997, the Warriors regressed to 30 wins. Note that the player the Warriors essentially got for Webber, Donyell Marshall averaged 7.3 points per game and 4.5 rebounds in 61 games with 20 starts.

Webbe,r on the other hand, played in 72 games and averaged 20.1 points per game and 10.3 rebounds per game.

There were no significant trades during this season.

In that draf,t the Warriors had the 11th pick, the Warriors chose Todd Fuller. Instead, the Warriors could have drafted Kobe Bryant, Peja Stojakovic, or Jermaine O'Neal.

Maybe the most disastrous season in franchise history happened after Adelman was fired and in his place came P.J. Carleismo quite possibly the worst coach in NBA history for the 1997-1998 season.

The infamous attack from Latrell Sprewell who didn't appreciate how Carleismo treated him. Sprewell, of course was suspended for the whole season and his contract was terminated, but the NBA stepped in and the contract was unable to be terminated.

As a whole the club won 19 games. More horrendous trades happened during the offseason and in the season. Chris Mullin was traded for Erick Dampier. Joe Smith was traded for Jim Jackson and Clarence Weatherspoon.

Both Jackson and Weatherspoon did not resign with the team after becoming free agents the following year.

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