I absolutely love your comments sometimes. I usually don’t respond, but you inspired me. And I write this because I like the back-and-forth, not because I am mad or whatever. Continue to disagree with me as much as you want. I actually respect you two because you will give me credit when it’s due, which shows me you aren’t just being haters.

You first, feltbot:

A playoff team in the making. Are you high? Are you talking about 2012? Let me ask you this? WHO IS THE POINT GUARD? Can you win without one? Since you don’t think this Nellie-Crawford situation is of significance, who do you think will run the offense should Nellie get his way?
Better yet, WHO IS YOUR BEST PLAYER? Jax? Even Nellie said you’re not very good when he’s your best player? Monta? He’s not good enough to make others better yet. Are you banking on him becoming that?
This team as comprised is a ways away. C’mon. You know that.
Furthermore, what do you expect from a team TWENTY GAMES BELOW .500?? You expect flowery stories about the future potential? You ONLY want article and blog posts about development and future planning? Name a team in the league, in history, that is garbage and people aren’t focusing on the reasons why they aren’t good. The only teams that don’t get such treatment ARE THE TEAMS THAT DON’T GET COVERAGE!
The Warriors don’t pay me a dime. Not a cent. I am not the champion for their cause. I am not their spin doctor. I don’t put lipstick on their pig. I bring you what I know, as much as I can. Drama. Development. Contracts. Upside. Human Interest stories. Features. Behind the velvet rope stuff. I bring it all. Even the most honest people in the Warriors organization will tell you that. What, am I not supposed to write it when people tell me stuff? Am I supposed to analyze the information I’m given and, though I know it to be true, only run it based on whether it helps the Warriors? There would be someone else covering the Warriors if I did.
If you only want the fluff pieces, etc., go to Warriors.com. They have a bouquet over there waiting for your viewing.

Mike W., your turn
Ultimatum (according to Merriam-Webster): a final proposition, condition, or demand.
Opt out or be traded – how is that not an ultimatum? What would make it an ultimatum? If he said “opt out” or die.
And again, it IS NOT MY JOB to find the most flowery, positive spin word I can to describe it. I call it LIKE I SEE it, not the way the Warriors would like it to be put out there. What would you want to call it?

For the record, if you think Nelson did Crawford a favor, you are crazy. He didn’t do the Warriors a favor, either. Guess what he did – LOWER CRAWFORD’S TRADE VALUE!!!!! Just like every other trade demand, or a situation where other teams know you want to get rid of someone, the value GOES DOWN. The offers decrease when teams know you are pressed to make a trade.
Why would Nellie say that to him? Not to mention the negative impact it might have on Crawford, who if he weren’t a good guy probably would’ve said screw it, not to mention the message it sends to the young players the Warriors want to keep, did he think it wasn’t getting out? Think Crawford wasn’t going to tell his teammates when they asked why he wasn’t playing? Think the assistant coaches didn’t know what was going on? Think it wasn’t going to work its way up the ladders through management and into the staff? He had to know it would. He’s been around the league too long. He knows people talk. (BTW, word about what Nellie told Crawford was buzzing around for days before I wrote it. About a week actually from the time I first heard it until the time I wrote it.) He knows stuff gets out. From the team’s end and from players’ end. People talk. The reality is that THERE WAS NO POSITIVE OUTCOME POSSIBLE from telling that to Crawford, in my opinion. None. Throw in the Warriors’ history of unceremoniously discarding players, it was borderline stupid.

And as far as me running back and forth with my tape recorder … I need the exercise! LOL

I guess you get credit for breaking the scoop that Nelson told Crawford he was going to be traded unless he opted out. Where I have trouble is with your repeated reference to this as an ultimatum. It appeared to me that Nelson did Crawford a favor by telling him where he did/didn’t fit in the team’s future plans. I admire Nelson for doing that. He did it in private.

However, the news leaked, which forced Nelson to address it publicly, and now we have Crawford’s agent bashing Nelson in public. Excuse me, but agents are even lower on the totem poll than used-car salesmen, so the agent’s opinion that “Nellie is not listening” would be LOL funny if it weren’t so ridiculous. Since when does an agent speak for Warriors management? Not in my lifetime.

Most of this has been fed by you and your colleagues blowing this way out of proportion (ultimatum, frustration, morale problem, and other BS descriptions). At least Jamal has been classy with his public statements. But that doesn’t stop you from running back and forth with your tape-recorder, like a high-school kid writing for the school paper. Yet another step toward the Kawakami school of brainless journalism, Marcus.

I think it’s time for Nellie to hang them up and retire. He should be enjoying his final years, not stressing over relationships with millionaire brat athletes.

We’ll see if Crawford cares more about becoming a star player somewhere else, or just taking the easy $20 million for the next two years of unsatisfying work. To be fair to Craw, that’s a tough decision to make in this economy.