Dishing Out Some Love

A couple of days ago, after a very frustrating loss to the Houston Rockets, I channeled my anger into a post about my top 5 former Warriors I hate. I was hoping to wait for a Warriors win so I could do a post on the Top 5 former Warriors that I still love. But, given the crushing loss last night to Oklahoma City, I figured I would focus on Stephen Curry’s career high of 22 points to be my inspiration to throw out some love. So here they are, my top 5 former Warriors I still heart:

5. (Tie) Eduardo Najera and Matt Barnes: It was too close to call. I LOVED Najera’s relentless enthusiasm, defense and energy. The guy definitely did not have the skill that many other players did, but he made up for it every time on the court with other “intangibles.

Matt Barnes to me embodied the “We Believe” Warriors. He was always the scrappiest and brought a ton of energy to the court. No way we made it to the playoffs or beat the Mavs if not for Barnes. And, to top it off, he was one of our pick-ups from the D-Leauge. Classic!

4. (tie) Antawn Jamison & Jason Richardson: He will always be one of my favorite former Warriors because he was our only true star but he was not a prima-donna and he brought his A Game every night. He was a tough guy not to like and the graceful way he left made me like him even more. Much love for Antawn.

I feel the exact same way about J-Rich as I do about Jamison. He was traded away, against his public wishes and he was a relentless scorer who improved every year. Of course, I root against him when he plays the Warriors but I always want him to succeed.

3. Baron Davis: Talk about the one guy who represents the brief window in the Warriors history where they were a team to be reckoned with. Baron was the face of the new Warriors. While he definitely brought some baggage with him, he was the last true leader of this team and led by example. I will always question management for letting him leave, no matter how far his stats have fallen in Los Angeles. Baron will always be the catalyst for the Warriors resurgence.

2. Brian Cardinal: I know this one may seem a bit odd but believe it or not, the ONLY Warriors jersey I own is a Brian Cardinal one. I was at his last game as a Warrior where he dropped 30 points. At halftime, I walked into the Warriors team store and said, “there’s no way they are going to let this guy go.” Well, of course I was wrong because Memphis severely overpaid for him. But, I loved Cardinal’s energy and workman-like attitude. As a basketball “weekend warrior” myself, I love wearing the jersey and getting the Brian Cardinal references each time I dive on the floor for a loose ball. I will always root for “The Janitor”.

1. Gilbert Arenas: First of all, he’s one of my all-time favorite Arizona Wildcats. Second, the guy was a second round pick and eventually became a superstar. I didn’t blame him for the reason why he left and I think if the Warriors could, they would have paid top dollar for him. But overall, he had the magic combination of being an Arizona Wildcat and a Golden State Warrior. The only other person having this distinguished differentiator was Ray Owes.

Here are two other players I considered putting on this list:
- Derek Fisher
- Earl Boykins

Next post – actual Warriors stuff!

Tags: Antawn Jamison, Baron Davis, Brian Cardinal, Derek Fisher, Earl Boykins, Eduardo Najera, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson, Matt Barnes