Editing Golden State Warriors (section)

===1997–2009: Wilderness years and "We believe" mindset===
Longtime Seton Hall college coach [[P. J. Carlesimo]], who had been recently fired by the [[Portland Trail Blazers]], replaced Adelman as head coach for the [[1997–98 NBA season|1997–98 season]]. Sprewell was suspended for the remainder of the season for losing his temper and choking Carlesimo during a team practice in December, generating the glaring newspaper headline "WARRIORS HIT ROCK BOTTOM" and the declaration by general manager [[Garry St. Jean]] that Sprewell would never play for the Warriors again. He would not play in the NBA again until he was dealt in January 1999 to the New York Knicks for [[John Starks (basketball)|John Starks]], [[Chris Mills (basketball)|Chris Mills]] and [[Terry Cummings]].

St. Jean had become the new Warriors' general manager in July 1997; he and his predecessor [[Dave Twardzik]] received much of the blame for the Warriors' struggles early in Cohan's turbulent tenure as owner in addition to Cohan himself.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Mark |last=Fainaru-Wada |title=The man who owns the Warriors / Cohan's rocky reign / An era marked by lost games, lost fans and endless litigation |url=https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/SPECIAL-REPORT-The-man-who-owns-the-Warriors-2874504.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=February 10, 2002|access-date=May 16, 2022}}</ref> St. Jean brought in players such as Terry Cummings, John Starks and [[Mookie Blaylock]] who were well past their primes. Twardzik drafted several flops, such as [[Todd Fuller]] (while [[Kobe Bryant]] was still available as well as [[Steve Nash]] and [[Jermaine O'Neal]]) and [[Steve Logan]] (who never played an NBA game). In the following draft, the team selected [[Adonal Foyle]] while [[Tracy McGrady]] was still available. St. Jean did, however, draft future two-time NBA [[slam dunk]] champion off-guard [[Jason Richardson]] (from [[Michigan State Spartans men's basketball|Michigan State]]), a Warriors' star scorer through the 2006–07 season.

For a few years, with rising stars Richardson, small forward [[Antawn Jamison]] and point guard [[Gilbert Arenas]] leading the team, the Warriors seemed like a team on the rise; but the young Warriors did not have enough in the competitive Western Conference to make the playoffs. After the [[2002–03 NBA season|2002–03 season]], St. Jean's earlier mistakes of committing money to players like [[Danny Fortson]], Adonal Foyle and [[Erick Dampier]] were painfully felt by Warriors' fans when the team was unable to re-sign Arenas despite his desire to stay in the Bay Area. A new rule was implemented in response to second-round draft picks who quickly become superstars.<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Golden State Warriors.svg|thumb|200px|Warriors logo 1997–2010{{ffdc|Golden State Warriors.svg|log=2016 August 15|date=September 2016}}]] -->

In June 2003, Cohan elevated marketing executive [[Robert Rowell (basketball)|Robert Rowell]] to team president, a role which involved hiring, firing and contract negotiation on the basketball side.<ref name="2003promotion">{{cite web |url=https://www.nba.com/warriors/news/rowell_president_060903.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221103201809/https://www.nba.com/warriors/news/rowell_president_060903.html |archive-date=November 3, 2022 |title=Warriors Promote Robert Rowell To Team President |last=Spencer |first=K |date=June 9, 2003 |website=NBA.com |access-date=January 3, 2023}}</ref> After a disappointing [[2003–04 Golden State Warriors season|2003–04 season]], head coach [[Eric Musselman]] and St. Jean were fired. [[Mike Montgomery (basketball)|Mike Montgomery]] was hired as head coach and Chris Mullin was chosen to succeed St. Jean with the title of executive vice president of basketball operations. Mullin hoped to build a winning team around Jason Richardson, [[Mike Dunleavy Jr]] and [[Troy Murphy]], and drafted 7-foot center [[Andris Biedriņš]] from Latvia (11th overall). At the 2005 trading deadline, he bolstered to the team with the acquisition of point guard [[Baron Davis]], bringing to the team its first superstar since Mullin himself.

The Warriors enjoyed a great start to the [[2005–06 Golden State Warriors season|2005–06 season]], entering the new year with a plus .500 winning percentage for the first time since 1994, but managed to win only 13 more games through the end of March due to injuries. Davis often found himself at odds with new head coach Mike Montgomery (used to dealing with college players in his long tenure at Stanford) and failed to remain healthy, playing in just 54 games. On April 5, 2006, the Warriors were officially eliminated from playoff contention in a 114–109 overtime loss to the [[New Orleans Hornets|Hornets]], extending their playoff drought to 12 seasons.

Entering the [[2006–07 Golden State Warriors season|2006–07 season]], the Warriors held the active record (12) for the most consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance (see [[Active NBA non-playoff appearance streaks]]). During the 2006 off-season, Golden State announced that it had bought out the remaining two years of coach Montgomery's contract and hired previous Golden State and former [[Dallas Mavericks]] coach [[Don Nelson]] to take over for him. During training camp, small forward [[Matt Barnes]] established himself in the rotation. On January 17, 2007, the Warriors traded the disappointing Murphy and Dunleavy with promising young power forward [[Ike Diogu]] and [[Keith McLeod]] to the Indiana Pacers for forward [[Al Harrington]], forward/guard [[Stephen Jackson]], guard [[Šarūnas Jasikevičius]] and forward [[Josh Powell]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Pacers make 8-player trade with Warriors|url=http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/trade_070117.html|publisher=Indiana Pacers|date=January 17, 2007|access-date=May 3, 2015}}</ref> This trade allowed the Warriors to "run and gun" their way to the playoffs with a more athletic and talented team. On March 4, 2007, the Warriors suffered a 106–107 loss in Washington, the Wizards handing them their 6th straight loss when former Warrior Arenas hit a technical free throw with less than one second remaining after Nelson had protested a controversial call with the Warriors ahead by a slim margin. The loss dropped them to 26–35.

March 4 marked the turning point for the Warriors. The Warriors closed out the regular season (42–40) at 16–5 in their last 21 games.<ref>[http://www.nba.com/games/20070418/GSWPOR/boxscore.html Warriors@ Trail Blazers Recap] On April 18, the Warriors clinched their first playoff berth since 1994 with a resounding 120–98 win in the regular-season finale at [[Portland Trail Blazers|Portland]].</ref> "We believe" became the Warriors' slogan for the last two months of the season and the playoffs.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Marcus II |last=Thompson |title=Warriors fan is behind 'We Believe' campaign |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/04/27/warriors-fan-is-behind-we-believe-campaign/ |work=[[East Bay Times]] |date=April 27, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717183123/http://www.contracostatimes.com/warriors/ci_5764491 |archive-date=July 17, 2007|access-date=May 16, 2022}}</ref>

Led by a healthy Baron Davis, an ever-improving Jason Richardson and young future star off-guard [[Monta Ellis]] as well as center Biedriņš, the Warriors immediately dashed the highly favored top-seed Dallas Mavericks' expectations of a short and easy series win with a Game 1 victory in Dallas thanks to Davis' frantic style of play. The Mavericks came back to win Game 2 easily to tie the series at a game apiece, but the Warriors won both Games 3 and 4 with a huge lift from the home crowd at Oracle Arena. A close Game 5 saw the Mavericks eke out a 118–112 victory with a last-minute surge led by superstar forward [[Dirk Nowitzki]] to send the series back to California at 3–2. In Game 6, the Warriors engineered a third-quarter 18–0 run to eliminate the Mavericks and become the NBA's first No.&nbsp;8 seed to beat a No.&nbsp;1 seed in a seven-game series (and the first NBA No.&nbsp;8 seed to beat the top seed since 1999 when the New York Knicks eliminated the Miami Heat). It was an upset in name only, given the fact that the Warriors had swept the Mavericks in the regular-season series.

The Warriors went on to play the [[Utah Jazz]] in the second round of the 2006–07 playoffs, where they dropped two close games at [[EnergySolutions Arena]] to open the series. The series then shifted to the Oracle Arena, where the Warriors won Game 3 in a convincing fashion. Davis scored 32 points and electrified the crowd with a monster dunk on Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko late in the fourth quarter, but they lost Game 4 at home, their first loss in Oakland in well over a month and the Jazz closed them out in Game 5 in [[Salt Lake City]].

In the 2007–08 season, the Warriors faced early difficulties in their attempt to return to the playoffs. Richardson was traded to the [[Charlotte Bobcats]] for rookie [[Brandan Wright]]. To make things even worse, Jackson was suspended for seven games over a firearm incident. They opened the season with six straight losses, but Ellis' rise, Davis' solid injury-free season (21.6 points, 8 assists, 4.6 rebounds per game),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/194/baron-davis |title=Baron Davis|work=ESPN|access-date=June 16, 2011}}</ref> and an overall improvement in team chemistry brought them back to playoff contention; but in the end the Warriors failed to make the playoffs despite a 48–34 record, which is the best record in NBA history for a non-playoff team since the NBA playoffs had expanded to eight teams per conference. The Western Conference was very strong that season; every playoff team won 50 games, leaving the Warriors two games out of the last playoff spot. The Warriors sold out nearly every home game during the season averaging 19,631 per game, the highest in team history.

In the 2008 off-season, Baron Davis opted to return to his hometown and sign with the [[Los Angeles Clippers]]. With the 14th pick of that year's [[2008 NBA draft|draft]], the Warriors selected and signed [[Anthony Randolph]] out of LSU. To compensate for the loss of Davis, the Warriors signed free agents [[Corey Maggette]] and [[Ronny Turiaf]] and re-signed Ellis and Andris Biedriņš to long-term contracts.

The Warriors had a disappointing [[2008–09 NBA season|2008–09 season]], finishing 29–53. Ellis was injured in a moped accident, and suspended for 30 games for riding the vehicle against the terms of his contract, depriving the Warriors of their top player. They traded disenchanted forward Al Harrington to the New York Knicks for guard [[Jamal Crawford]], and were undone by injuries and the minimal experience of their young players such as [[Anthony Morrow]] and Brandan Wright. Coach Nelson often had to make adjustments to the starting lineups since many of the original starters missed games due to injuries. Despite the team's losing record, the Warriors were hard to beat when they had a healthy lineup and a strong bench. With leadership and improvement in their young players, they were sometimes able to defeat powerhouse teams such as the Boston Celtics, 99–89.