Sporting Green

1Warriors season in review: Is Golden State close to becoming a contender or merely the same old failure?

Huddled in the dark corridors under Oracle Arena, with a forgettable season approaching its coda, one could make out three figures discussing the team’s present predicament, and presumably its future promise.

Owner Joe Lacob had the floor in this discussion, with newly minted GM Bob Myers and first-year head coach Mark Jackson leaning in to hear, occasionally adding their observations and remarks.

You could see the dynamic was close-knit. And it better be. This is the brain trust of the Golden State Warriors, a star-crossed franchise that has languished at the bottom of the association for nearly 40 years. Forget about Jerry West. Or Larry Riley. Strike the awful memories of former owner Chris Cohan.

The Warriors are in the hands of three men who possess great intentions but little experience. And after one lockout-shortened, injurymarred, disastrous maiden voyage, the clock starts now for the Warriors’ future.

For Lacob, the trick will be

let his minions do their jobs. It’s clear the venture capitalist believes his management abilities are transferable from Silicon Valley to the NBA. He’s the one who wanted Jeremy Lin, isn’t he?

But as any VC knows, the key to success is settling on an idea, then putting a good management structure in place to implement the plan. Lacob needs to let Myers and Jackson captain his ship. Hopefully, he’s not thinking of his exit strategy yet, as every good VC does.

For Jackson, it’s a more difficult picture. The fiery preacher has the leadership ability to bring together a fractured locker room. That much is clear, and always was going back to his playing days. But the trainer’s room may be more important than the locker room for the coach’s sophomore season. Without a healthy Stephen Curry and a healthy Andrew Bogut, Jackson’s team will look much like it did in the woeful stretch to this season.

As a former point guard, the education of Curry will be his primary target this offseason.

“The main thing for Steph is his getting healthy,” said Jackson, in an interview before the team’s 43rd and final loss of the season Thursday. “We don’t know how long that will take. But even when he can’t play, we’ll be looking at point guard play.”

“It will be a video-heavy dialog. Watching himself on video. Watching all-time greats do it. It will be a constant dialog. And, obviously, it will be important.”

Many believe Jackson can help Curry and backcourt mate Klay Thompson immensely, passing along some of his own experiences feeding the great Reggie Miller during their heydays with the Indiana Pacers. We’ll see.

For Myers, the former agent, the trick will be to transition from seller to buyer.

The man is known for his prodigious negotiating talents, obtained over years of representing players at the contract table. Now he’ll be on the other side, containing costs for a cap-strapped company.

“As a GM, it’s a buying mentality. … Pick a number and try to hold to that number. It’s different.”

It sure is. It’s different all around Oracle Arena, and that’s a good thing. New ownership took its time in figuring out its future structure. Now the pieces are in place.

They may lack experience, but they don’t lack optimism. Jackson spoke of his own personal high point this season, which was a difficult task considering reality. Here’s what he told me.

“The high point was the first time talking to the team,” said Jackson, earnestly. “In that first gathering with the team, there was a 7-year-old little boy gathered up in the corner, there was a 17-year (NBA) veteran dreaming for that moment and there was a sevto en-year (NBA) announcer waiting for that moment. That was the highlight, because the dream occurred. It happened. It closed a chapter and began a new one."

It all sounds great. Now let’s see these three men get the job done. Ardent contrarians: With the selection of wide receiver A.J. Jenkins in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday, the 49ers once again thumbed their noses at conventional thinking.

That’s all well and good, but do they have to like doing it so much? In his interviews, GM Trent

went out of his way to congratulate himself and coach

for their moxie and vision, purposefully downplaying the opinions of NFL experts and media along the way.

Most draftniks had Jenkins ranked somewhere in the late second-round and beyond. But that didn’t faze Baalke and Harbaugh. In fact, they were proud of their nonconformity, saying they had decided the night before that they would pick Jenkins, allegedly putting his name in an envelope to symbolically seal the deal.

It’s them against the world, and right now, the world’s losing. My question is this: The contrarian view is a brilliant play when you’re right. See Aldon Smith, last year’s first pick. But the contrarian view is toxic when you’re wrong.

Baalke and Harbaugh have certainly earned some faith for a brilliant draft last season. But would it kill them to simply think outside the box without waving it in everyone’s face afterward?

Pride goeth before the fall, gentlemen. Stick by your convictions, but leave the smirk at home. NBA insanity: First there was Linsanity. But it had nothing on the NBA draft lottery.

Not since Constantine roamed Europe have we encountered a more byzantine system.

So, let me get this straight: The NBA instituted a lottery in the 1980s to prevent teams from tanking at the end of the season so they get better draft position. So, instead of the two worst teams tanking every year in a race to the bottom, you have about a dozen teams jockeying for the toilet every season. In this shortened season, it became a travesty, crowned by the Warriors starting five rookies in their final game, the first team to do so since league stats were recorded.

The best part was Friday’s coin-flip between the Warriors and the Toronto Raptors. Whoever the toss would be awarded the lower position in league standings. Think about that. the toss and we’ll drop you down to a lower ranking. Does that mean the NBA is endorsing the idea of winning by losing? Or is it losing by winning?

There is a fabulous William Safire column in there somewhere, but we’re not quite smart enough to pull it off. All we can say is this: The seasonending coin-flip process endorses the idea that greater good comes from finishing lower in the standings.

And that stinks.