Still, I thought the guys from Golden State of Mind gave me some good responses on the Warriors season so far, and I wanted to share them here in case you are interested. Here are some answers to a few questions I posed, courtesy of Atma Brother #1":

1. Golden State spent a lot of money in the offseason to keep Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins, and to sign Corey Maggette. I know Ellis got hurt, but overall how are those signings looking so far?

Monta Ellis: This $67 million over 6 years signing looked like a pretty fair deal this past summer, but now it looks like a complete joke. The Warriors entrusted the future of the franchise to Ellis. He rewards them and the best fans in the association by violating his contract, lying about it, publicly whining about his punishment, and issuing a weak statement of "apology". As of today there is no team in the league that would trade for Moped Ellis with that contract and uncertainty about his physical abilities when he returns. It looks like a foolish signing a quarter of the way through the 2k8-2k9 season at best. Time will only tell how this fiasco turns out. He could prove to be worth the remainder of his contract, but it's no foregone conclusion whether he can even recover from major surgery and rebound to the quick and athletic player he was in 2007-2008. It's not even a given that he has the professionalism, work ethic, and maturity to even get back to that level. Let's hope he does though.

Andris Biedrins: At the time of this 6 year $54 million (incentives up to $62 million) signing it looked like Warriors VP/GM Chris Mullin and President Robert Rowell got punked again. Biedrins had no reported interested around the league as a restricted free agent and his agent had to use some rumor that Euro leagues wanted him, to get the Warriors to put a deal on the table. Contract negotiation skills don't seem to be a prerequisite for working in the Warriors front offices. Biedrins' ceiling doesn't appear to be that high, but you have to hand it to him for working hard and stepping up his game this season. His defense is still pretty much nonexistent and he's not much more than a finisher on offense- an excellent one though, but this 15ppg - 12rpg (admittedly inflated) young center is the least of this team's worries. He's earning his dough.

Corey Maggette: The general consensus was that the Warriors overpaid and outbid themselves this past summer by inking Maggette to a 5 year 50 million deal. It looked especially curious that the Warriors were ready to open up the pocket books for a very injury prone and fairly one dimensional player, but they irrationally (meaning Rowell) couldn't wait to run Baron Davis, a near-superstar who helped revive this franchise from the laughingstock of the association, out of town. Maggette's performance with the Warriors this season isn't surprising if you've been paying attention to his previous 9 seasons in the NBA. He can slash, get to the rim, and draw fouls, but he's not that interested in passing or playing defense. At this point in Maggette's career his game is what it is. The blunder here is on the Warriors front office (starting to see a trend?).

2. The Warriors are currently 7-19 – what has been the biggest cause of the team's struggles so far?
The biggest cause lies not on the hardwood or even the coaching sidelines, but in the Golden State Warriors front offices and ownership. For the most part these players have given a solid effort, but unfortunately they just aren't that talented of a group relative to the NBA. A big chunk of this roster belongs in the NBDL or in college. Nellie's rotations and decisions haven't been perfect this year (e.g. Biedrins should NEVER be inbounding the ball and the failed Maggette at power forward experiment), but we're talking about one of the greatest coaches to ever walk the sidelines and a man who has rescued this team not once, but twice.

This roster lacks defenders, passers, low post scoring, hoops IQ, fundamentals, and experience in the worst way imaginable. That's a fault of the front office (Mullin and Rowell) who broke up We Believe, to save some dough and build around the mythically bright future this young core has in this league. The players and front office need fixing, but Nellie's the right man to help clean up this mess like he did with the Mavericks who he helped take from worst to first.

Here's a good parallel for Atlanta Hawks fans (not everything is possible here, but just play along): Let's say after last season's fun playoff run that ended an 8 year playoff drought your team traded Joe Johnson this past offseason for an extremely raw, non-NBA ready rookie in Anthony Randolph. Then they still have a very exciting 2k8-2k9 season, but barely miss the playoffs. In the summer following that 9th place finish they let Josh Smith go to the Charlotte Bobcats. Then in a panic move they splurge on Gerald Wallace.

Why would anyone be so dumb to make these moves and breakup a fun playoff team in a town that's just suffered such a long and painful playoff drought? Let me direct your question towards Robert Rowell and Chris Mullin.

Let's not forget the Warriors perpetually clueless owner Chris Cohan who is one of the worst owners in all of sports. How does a big market NBA team in a hoops starved climate that plays in a league where half the teams make the playoffs annually, bat 1 for 15 in post season appearances? It all starts at the top and the top ain't so hot. Too bad Cohan can't sue his way to the playoffs.

At least the Warriors didn't have the biggest season ticket price hike in the entire NBA. Oh wait.

3. Anthony Morrow, a former Georgia Tech standout, amazed people by scoring 37 points in his first NBA start – has he continued to play well since? Was that performance an aberration, or does he look like part of the future for Golden State now?
Morrow's 37 point explosion had us all looking forward to to(morrow)! But sadly he's come back down to earth since those 37 and 25 point back-to-back performances and averaged just 7.53 ppg in the last 13.

There's no doubt about it that this G-Tech alumni can shoot, but is he anything more than a fringe NBA player? We'll have plenty of time to find out this season with the continual struggles and injuries on this Warriors squad.

The man plays hard out there and tries to crash the glass, so folks in the ATL should feel proud of what Morrow's done in the NBA after being undrafted out of college.