13 Golden State Warriors

Thirty years ago seven-year-old Eric Musselman completed a pregame dribbling performance before 20,000 fans at the University of Minnesota, where his father, Bill, was the coach. Then he wet his pants. The task now facing Eric, who in July was named the Warriors' sixth coach in as many years, is no less of a challenge to his self-control. "We're a work in progress," says Musselman, a rookie whose roster includes nine players 26 and younger. Any progress would distinguish this team from recent ones at Golden State; the franchise hasn't qualified for the playoffs in eight seasons, currently the longest such streak in the NBA.

Much progress will be expected from forward Antawn Jamison, who signed a six-year, $87 million extension in August 2001. The 6'9" Jamison is inconsistent and defensively deficient, and his on-court role isn't even clearly defined: He will jitterbug between the forward positions as Musselman sorts through a grab bag of rookie small forward Mike Dunleavy Jr. and power forwards Danny Fortson and Troy Murphy. Concerned that he would be odd man out, Fortson accused Jamison of having orchestrated the choice of Dunleavy with the No. 3 draft pick, an absurd charge because Jamison doesn't have that much clout.

Fortson later apologized, and everyone around the Warriors—including Fortson, and especially Jamison—has been drawn in by Musselman's contagious enthusiasm, which has earned him comparisons to another boyish gung ho coach, Jon Gruden, who was popular in the Bay Area until he left the Oakland Raiders for Tampa Bay. Musselman's late father, who between college and the pros had 14 head coaching jobs in 35 years, was a legend for his competitiveness and Marine-like work ethic, and the son has a lot of both. "He coaches us like we're a championship team, not a team of losers," says Jamison. Over the summer Musselman, who was an assistant with the Hawks last season, mailed questionnaires to his players, asking what their favorite shot is and where they like to get the ball. He discovered, for example, that although most players prefer to post up on the left block, shooting guard Jason Richardson likes the right, so the coach tweaked some of his sets to accommodate him.

There's much more tweaking to be done. Golden State is young, deeply flawed defensively and prone to sloppiness on offense. Jamison, who scored back-to-back 51s in 2000-01, is on the spot. "The question mark about me is not whether I can produce offensively," says Jamison, 26. "The question is whether I can lead a team, make a winner out of a loser."

And the answer is? "I'm trying my damnedest," he says. "Having Coach Musselman is going to help, but it's still going to take time."

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