"There is no magic wand available and no instant Warriors success in the offing, and you get the sense that Joe Lacob is beginning to realize this now.

This will go in stages, not in a flash. It will be difficult. It will be risky.

He and new coach Mark Jackson can't just wish the Warriors into the playoffs, and sometimes I think they thought they could.

If the Warriors co-owner started this season convinced he had a roster ready to make the playoffs, it's probably time to start getting unconvinced.

"It's hard to say 'convinced' when you're 5-11," Lacob said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon, hours before the Warriors played Portland."