Golden State Warriors: Is Missing the Playoffs Keith Smart's Fault?
Even after the Warriors' 95-85 win in Cleveland on Tuesday, even the overly optimistic Warriors fans have a hard time believing that a playoff berth is still in the picture. At 28-35, the Warriors sit 12 spots back in the West, a whopping seven games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth and final playoff spot.
So let the introspection begin. It's hard to say the playoffs were even attainable this season, so no, missing the playoffs is not a failure for Smart.
After inheriting a group that finished 26-56 last season, even Golden State's most productive offseason in recent memory could not salvage a winning product out of this bunch.
With no discernible cornerstone player (is this Stephen Curry's or Monta Ellis' team?) and a roster that's basically a jumbled mash of offense-only players (Curry, Ellis, David Lee, Reggie Williams, Vladimir Radmanovic) and a few defensive stoppers with limited offense (Ekpe Udoh, Lou Amundson, Dorell Wright), it's hard to say that Smart should have done more with this group.
However, this is not to say that this season has been a success for Smart, either.
He's had his own failures during the course of the season.
First off, his movement to a defense-oriented team has been a disaster. Sure the team no longer gives up the most points in the league (last year's group allowed a league-worst 112.4 points per game); now they allow the second most points (106.2, ahead of only the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves).
Again, this is not entirely Smart's fault. Frankly, this roster was not built to consistently hold teams under 100 points. But the team fails to show the necessary effort to improve on the defensive end of the floor, and that falls on Smart.
The team is just 9-17 in games decided by 10 points or less (the third-fewest wins in the Western Conference in these types of games). That shows an inability to make the crucial stops necessary to win some of these close games.
In turn, this showcases another failure of Smart: the inability to develop a reliable, productive bench. While Warriors nation was busy crying foul over the team's inability to orchestrate any meaningful trades at the deadline, Smart should have been busy counting his blessings that he could continue on with his team.
He knows these players (his years as assistant blossomed tremendous relationships with Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins) and should know how to light their fires. Save for some special moments courtesy of Ellis and Curry (and occasionally Wright), this team does not seem to outwork its opponents often.
Perhaps, though, the problem is not motivation; perhaps it's simply fatigue. The Warriors have two players in the top six in minutes played (Ellis leads the league with 40.8 minutes, Wright is sixth at 38.7) and another in the top 30 (Lee, 29th with 35.9).
The team does not have the talent level to blow teams out and afford these starters any relief. Smart should have reliable options at each position at this point in the season and there is no reason to run Ellis ragged for a second consecutive season.
So while missing the playoffs may not be a failure for Smart, it's still going to be uncomfortable for him heading into this offseason with limited job security.
