The POB story

Last season the Warriors passed up on extending POB's contract therfore putting him in the Free Agency market. In his rookie season it was understood by everyone that Patrick O Bryant needed to be given time to develop. He was a legitmate 7 footer who posted up decent stats at Bradley and wasn't heavily recruited when he came out of high school. Yet for some reason Nellie's sound lack of judgement got in the way when evaluating POB hence the fact he rarely played. POB during his two seasons with the Warriors had a unique blend of size and skill. Yes his work ehtic could have been better and yes he might not have had the motivation to try and become a starting center but everytime he stepped on the court you knew he had a chance of being something special.

In the Summer League of 2007 the Warriors front office and fans ignored the "lets give him time to develop " mantra and started critiscing POB labelling him a bust ignoring the fact he was inexperienced and barely played a minute in his rookie season. To give him credit he bounced back and impressed Nelson before the start of the season but as we all know Nellie is the master of mindgames and a few months later POB was doing his usual role of being the bench warmer

It's not clear as to why POB was let go. Maybe the continous rift between him and Nelson never helped and the fact is maybe Nelson was never willing to try and see if POB the 9th pick of the 2006 draft would amount to anything and it would be better for the Franchise if they let him go all together. Or maybe Mullin decided he wasn't worth 3 million a year and that they would let him be a free agent in the hope that no Franchise would make a move towards him.

With Biedrins and Turiaf the only Centers it would have been nice to have given him a one year extension and play him 10-15 minutes a night to see how far his game has developed. After all it's a given the Warriors won't make the playoffs this year so it wouldn't have hurt to have given him one more chance. This summer the Celtics grabbed him for a two year deal and the reports have showed that his game has conseriably developed in Preseason with Ainge proving he has a good eye for talent.

Ultimately it was Mullin's call but he didn't get any value out of POB and now the Celtics will try and capitzlize. I hope it doesn't come back to haunt us too much.

Kosta Perovic off to Europe

And so ends the Perovic era. The 7 Foot Center from Serbia who many fans labelled the worst use of the midlevel exception since Jerome James with the Knicks has finally ended his forgettable career with the Warriors and is now a EuroLeague player. Las Provincas a Spanish newspaper has the detail


I really don't see any surprise in this it was as expected that the Warriors would be resigned to losing Perovic. Fortunately his 1.6 million salary will be taken off the books meaning more room is made for Jacksons suppossed Contract extension a possible trade or finally signing Shaun Livingston. Then again in order for this deal to take place, the Warriors would have to come to some kind of agreement with Perovic to let him out of his contract. The Warriors and Perovic would have to agree to some kind of amendment to his contract (i.e., a buyout), then he would be waived, allowing him to go to another team. Even though Perovic was rarely used because he really isn't a Don Nelson player they do lose another big man player although more then likely they want to make sure Hendrix doesn't turn into Stephene Lasme 2.0. Either way it's a win win situation for both parties

Monta lied about injury

Just to further compound the bad news you then have th story that Monta actually lied about his injury and that in fact he didn't sustain it in a pickup Basketball game it hapenned in a outside activity. Of course no one actually has any idea of what this "outdoor activity" is but the most liklihood of any of them would a motorcycle incident. According to the Mercury News

The Contra Costa Times has learned that Ellis has admitted to the Warriors that he wasn't truthful about how he hurt his ankle, and the two sides are in talks about how to put the situation behind them.

According to a team source, the Warriors now know that Ellis' ankle injury _ which was repaired during surgery on Aug. 27 _ was not sustained "in a gym," and "it happened out doors and not while playing basketball."

So what happens now. Monta will probably negotiate with the medical staff as to how severe this type of injury is. We all know that suddenly this 6 year for 66 million he signed is now on the ropes. An article from the SF gate actually makes a brillaint point Monta was never a leader before this episode and he certainly isn'tt one now. Even though he's one of the rare cases who would rather get his 20 points rather the talk to the media and who doesn't like being in the limelight this incident will now leave him more open to exposure. Then again hopefully he recovers fully and learns from this and becomes even a better player in the future.

The Warriors of course have the option of cancelling his contract but that of course more then likely won't happen, Even though Ellis is a step slower he more then likely still will be a key contributor whenever he returns. Having an injured player eat up your caproom wasn't something Mullin foresaw but cancelling his contract would mean increased distruste in the organisation and in the fanbase months after seeing Monta being crowned our potential Franchise star to then being voided his deal. Fortunately this looks like the less likely.

Theh you have the Warriors possibly suspending or fining Ellis. This one I much more agree with just suspend Ellis for every game he misses due to the injury. Therefore Ellis wouldn't be paid and the Warriors would then tack on another fine just for the Motorcycling damage this has done to team morale because he certainly wouldn't be in any shape before Training Camp. Those worried that Ellis might be getting off too light under this approach should find solace in the numbers. If Ellis misses 30 games, it could cost him over $4 million in salary next year.

Monta out three months

Won't be doing this for the next three months

ESPN have reported the worst news possible. Monta Ellis out for three months

In the latest blow during a difficult summer for Golden State, ESPN.com has learned that Ellis -- just awarded one of the biggest pay raises in league history -- will be sidelined at least three months, possibly four, after suffering a severe high ankle sprain in his hometown of Jackson, Miss

It really has been a doldrum offseason with nothing happening in August in terms of action. Then out of the blue comes one of the worst scenarios possible your main scoring out threat out until the first month of December. In other words the Warriors will go into this season with Marcus Williams as their starter and CJ Watson and Marco Bellinelli also getting plenty of starting time. Not only can you not forget about the playoffs you can start thinking about tanking as the best case scenario. It also means Maggette and Jackson will get increased minutes.

Of course like when big Warrior news strike the first reaction is to think wht is Mullin thinking now after he made that pay deal. Not saying he should have it obviously Monta is likely to become the face of the franchise and you had to make that contract extension but for a player who we know will become a great offensive player or rather has the potential still is very liable defensively. Perhaps the extent of this ankle injury could trace back to his injury 3 years ago in the Summer League season when he went down on a hard fall and looked like he would be out for a while but there was nothing serious. If it was an injury in his upper body I wouldn't be worried. But Monta Ellis is a guy who relies entirely on his superior athleticism and quickness to be a star basketball player. The two worst possible injuries for a player like Monta Ellis are a knee injury and an ankle injury.

A worst scenario is Steve Francis another player who relieid on his athletiscm but never fully recovered from his constant knee injuries. Lets hope to god that Monta never ever turns out this way

Monta Ellis article

Interesting article over at the Contra Costa times over Monta taking over as Point Guard and being the most relied upon player this season.

...

"Anytime he's faced with any type of adversity or someone questioning his ability, he uses that as a motivating factor and turns it into a positive," Mullin said. "From where he was drafted to not playing much his rookie year, he's been faced with things already and has taken them head on. He's one of those motivated, mentally tough kind of guys. I have a lot of confidence in him

With his hefty size deal the pressure even more so lies upon Monta but at the young age of 22 he should even be more solid at Point Guard next season. Hopefully he's worked on his defense and developed a long range 3 point shot otherwhise I can't think of two many other improvements to Monta's game. In my eyes his quuickness and athletic ability means he could be on his way to becoming a clone of Tony Parker. His 6 year deal ends in 2014 meaning it will defintely be a good time to judge him career wise.

Kelenna Azubuike Do the Warriors match?

Ever since the news came that Azubuike signed an offer sheet with the LA clippers meaning the Warriors have a week to match I've been wondering should they. Either way it's not clear cut because there are so many issues left to juggle.

Belieive it or not but Azubuike is a poster boy for what the D-League can do right. Luckily for him Baron and J-Rich were out injured so it meant he could get some solid minutes showing he had a nice stroke and could fill minutes when the starterse needed a rest. This past year in 81 games he played 21 minutes starting in 17 of them. For a guard we know his ability to score and rebound is whats giviing him the minutes but his Defense aside from when guarding kobe is suspect. Around November after the 0-6 start when the Warriors needed leadership he provided some (although he played 30 minutes).He then fell out of favor with Nellie in December and January, and then in the final 2 months found a permanent spot in the rotation.

A case for matching

:Nelson said he would give Marco more minutes but this is the same guy who said Troy Murphy would be an All Star and Dunleavy would be very good. Marco getting increased minutes doesn't look very good plus seeing Maggette, Jackson and Monta getting an increased workload without Azubuike providing depth would be painful to watch

:Anthony Randolph and his potential is still up in the air. He's no guarantee to pan out and become a decent player. There was a reason he dropped to the Warriors at 14. On the other hand Kelenna is a known quantity. Point being why take a chance on an unknown Lottery pick rather then ignore Azubuike. I'm not saying ignore Randolph completely but Kelenna is a solid role player for 15 minutes a night. And who knows, he just might develop a little himself. Hopefully he works on that poor perimeter defense.

:His Salary demand of 3years / $9 mil is very reasonable, especially if its the typical escalating deal that starts out at around $2.5 mil and peaks at $3.5 mil. He's probably extremely coachable with great work ethic.Also one can never have enough talent on the rost.er no matter how much of an apparent log jam there may be at certain positions. In other words by letting him walk you're taking a chance on Randolph and Bellinelli to pan out. I wouldn't

Why I wouldn't match

:Hard to see where he's going to get minutes especially now that according to Nelson Marco will get a lot more. Assuming Maggette, Monta and Jax play 38 minutes a game
that leaves 30 minutes for the other positions. Nellie has verbally committed to playing Marco more minutes to let him develop. Nellie's committment may be just Nellie talking, but if it's true, Marco gets at least 10 minutes per game. A backup PG is needed so thats 7 minutes. You get the drift.

:Isn't there a D-League guy capable of doing what Kelenna can do. What the Warriors could do is go find a guy who can give them better perimeter defense and sacrifice a little of the scoring and rebounding that Kelenna gives them. Bench guys at the small forward and shooting guard positions seem to be a dime a dozen so I can't imagine that it's too difficult to replace what Kelenna does.

: Is this going to block the development of Anthony Randolph? For year 1 of the contract it won't. But next year and the year after, Kelenna and Randolph are both going to want minutes. Is it worth it to keep Kelenna around for 2 extra years if Randolph is going to take his minutes anyways? Seems like a waste of cap space each year.

In the end I say the Warriors match even though at the moment nothing is clear when you have Chris Mullin as your GM. His productivity combined with his upside means at least there would be no overpaying. Even though I have concerns keeping him on board would stunt the growth of Randolph when you have an injury prone guy like Maggette who's never yet played a full season it would make sense to keep Kelenna on board. Jackson could play SF if he wanted to but then Monta would be a SG and then the PG spot is still open. As I've said before I can't imagine CJ Watson playing as a starter.

He's also mainly healthy and explosive. After a strong start, he injured his knee and had been playing hurt for much of the season with knee tendinitis. This hindered his performance and weighed down his impact. Hopefully Mullin realises pros out-weigh the cons when it comes to matching the Clippers offer sheet. Even though the Swingman position may be stacked it shouldn't stop the Warriors letting a valuable asset go

Kelenna Azubuike 2007-2008 Report Card

2007-2008 Game log

From BBJ Kelenna Azubuike '06-'07 Highlight Reel



Kelenna Azubuike '07-'08 Highlight Reel

Webber Press Conference

On Wednesday Chris webber formally announced his retirement after 14 seasons in the NBA. For those of you interested ESPN has a snipet of it up on their website.




Warriors.com has the full interview up on it's site

Webber didn't say too much revealing about what he plans to do next. Even though yesterday I wrote about his possibiliies of becoming an NBA Head or assistant coach the position of GM wouldn't be far off. He would defintely be better then the following Kevin McHale, Isiah Thomas, Billy King, Danny Ainge, John Paxon, Danny Ferry, and Chris Mullin.In 3-5 years when Webber's ready there is no doubt I would significantly take my chance rather then the above people listed.

Having said all that Webber looks set to follow the Chucksters shoes and become a TV pundit with TNT starting today. The irony of it all is the Warriors face the Blazers tonight on TNT so Webber gets some early practice. He may be subbing in for Kenny Smith but chances are should he get a TV job I could see him providing a ton of inside info since his career has been loaded with experiences.

The Fab 5


1993 NBA Draft


Rookie Season


Washington Bullets


Sacramento Kings


Philadelphia 76ers


Detroit Pistons


Welcome back


The Webber Linksphere
: Chris Webber announces retirement from NBA [Warriors.com]
:Webbers' career full of promise and pain[ESPN.com]
:Webber battling Knee Problems calls it a career[ESPN.com]
:C-Webb calls it quits[The Court Reporters-NBA.com]
:Webber's legacy is a sad one[Fox Sports]
:So long C-Webb[Sactown Royalty]
:My Childhood ends today[Simon on Sports]
:A career that was above average[The play in California]
:Webber's career ends like Penny's[In Historic]
:Sad day in Hoops C-Webb retires[The Big Lead]
:Chris Webber a promise unkept[Stet Sports Blog]
:Internet is alive reaction to Webber's retirement[Ball Don't Lie- Yahoo! Sports]
:Webber takes a pernament timeout[Intentional foul.com]
:Memories of Webber[Slam]
:Chris Webber[Bullets forever]

Irish Warriors archive
: Chris Webber reunited with Nellie
Webber will likely become a Warrior tommorow
Webber signs with Warriors
Webber retires

After 14 seasons in the NBA whatever career path he takes where it is TV work or Coaching I wish Webber the best of luck in his future endeavours.

Webber retires

The Webber experiment was an unfortunate failure. I think it's obvious to say that with conviction. However unlike the Mbenga signing Mullin and Don Nelson honestly believed Webber had the skills to finally give the Warriors an legitmate big man. Unfortunately although things didn't work out Webber deserves a thanks for his efforts to help out.



Yes the Chris Webber experiment is over-SF Gate

I honeslty much like Mullin thought Webber would help this team. And there were glimpses where he did show us what he was capable off his passing was still solid, could set screens for teammates,nice rebounding, crafty defense on Kevin Garnett, some picks and swats but in the end it was all a tease. All the problems that he have such as a low hoops IQ,complete lack of interior passing, a player who looks to pass before shoot and the long awaited big body in the paint. However Nelson deserves credit for at least. They needed and still need a big man in every possible way and webber becuase of his salary and experience was the atttractive option.

Historically I hope people rememeber him for a variable career. His run with the Michigan 5 and the infamous timeout, him and Sprewell hoping to become the next big Golden State duel but it ended with a dispute with Nellie, His time with the Bullets and Juwan Howard was both a mixture of triumph and tragedies. Whe he went to the Kings not only were they soon on the Basketball map him and Divac were the best big man passing combo of all time and that Knee Injury he suffered in the 2003 Conference Finals was unfortunate. The Kings traded him to the 76ers a senseless move where he still averaged 20 PPG but for some reason he went to the Pistons where his career almost fizzled out were it not for the Golden State move.

Is Webber a hall of famer. It's close. If Sacramento had beaten the Lakers in the 2002 Western Conference finals it would have been a definite resounding yes. Whilst the lasting memory much like a Malone or Barkely. However the one huge game he did appear in you can't honestly say he dissapeared in . There was no doubt though that with the level of experience and high hoops IQ that Webber has every bit the potential to become a future NBA assistant or even Head Coach.

Even though he ended up as a Warrior I still feel slightly cheated. Why didn't Nellie in all his expereince as a coach back then figure out a way to let webber develop more in his rookie year, Why did Chris Cohan avoid paying him Why weren't knee injuries and dodgy officating in the Laker series saved by the Hoops gods. Why did his career end like this.

He ended up a Warrior but it should have ended up much better.

:Webber reunited with Nellie?
:Webber will likely become a Warrior tommorow
:Webber signs with Warriors

Troy Hudson's Career done

According to Inside Bay Area it looks like Troy Hudson's career is done. Geoff Lepper reports.

Warriors reserve point guard Troy Hudson told BANG-East Bay on Friday that his injured left hip requires arthroscopic surgery, a move that threatens to bring his first season with Golden State to a premature end.

Hudson said he will undergo surgery shortly after Jan.1 to repair a small tear in the labrum of his left hip. The exact date and choice of surgeon have yet to be finalized because some offices have been closed for the holiday season.

The typical recovery time for such a procedure is three to four months, Hudson said, which would put him on the shelf at least until the first week of April, when only two weeks remain in the NBA's regular season.

Troy beats the Lakers

My thoughts as follows

: What a wasted move. In all honesty even when we signed T-Hud and Croshere I didn't feel both could make any impact whatsoever and right now sadly I've been proven right. Hudson has never looked comfortable being backup at the point and held us back offensively. Still he gave it his best and effortwise you can't fault him he just never was meant to be a backup PG. Best of luck in the future.

: Since his NBA career is more then likely over will he concentrate on his Rap game and the awful 79 sales his album generated?. Perhaps becuause there's no doubt he has skill.

He's got skill

: Right now the next few weeks will test Mullin and Robert Powells skill in the Front Office. The Warriors are comfortably over 500 but they are still one game in front of their arch nemisis the Utah Jazz. This really is a issue that has to be solved whether it's a Luke Ridnour signing or a Ron Artest pickup Golden State don't have depth. If they don't make a move which I'm sure won't happen Golden State won't make the playoffs. Even Utah made a big move yesterday

Update: Has the search for a backup at the point finally come to and end. According to the Miami Herald the Warriors along with the Cavs, Celtics and Rockets would be interested in Smush. Scroll down to potential moves. All I can say is he wouldn't be any sort of upgrade over T-Hud and most Laker fans will tell you just how erratic and much of a woeful Shooter he was. I don't think this story is true one bit because while Mullin has a history of giving out bad contracts even he wouldn't reach the Smush Parker desperation point. Aside from one or two contempt games against the Suns in the Playoffs he's not the ball distributor we would need at backup. I'll pass

Kosta Perovic now in the D-League

The Dubs continued their annual tradition of sending Centers over to the d-League for the second year in a row when Kosta Perovic became part of the Bakersfield Jam team. According to Inside Bay area it goes on to say

Rookie center Kosta Perovic was sent down to the Bakersfield Jam, the Warriors' affiliate in the NBA Development League. The move had been talked about for weeks as the 22-year-old, inactive for five of the Warriors' seven regular-season games, was clearly not ready. "He's going to go down there and play some minutes," Mullin said. "I thought he was making pretty good progress

Once again fustraingly the Warriors have done this again. The only positve thing going for kosta is it's height but other then that he's a slow footed Center who belongs nowhere near Nellieball. It also doesn't make any sense why the Warriors committed to a Kosta contract last summer yet decided not to exerise the 3rd year on POB's contract. Whats even worse when you look at the number of people picked after Kost they stand out like Paul millsap or Boobie Gibson both who would have made better contributions then this dud.

POB a unrestricted Free Agent

Apologies for deliberatly flipp flopping over the great Front Office and their contract policies but somethings been bothering me. It's the lack of any action over a backup Centers contract in this case POB's contract. For those of you who don't know Patrick O Bryant was the 9th pick of the 2006 draft and in a lot of ways was a panic pack when Rudy Gay was selected. Having spent 2006 in the NBDL with Bakersfield he started earninng the term Patrick O bust Bryant although some credible Preseason displays have shaken off the tag




Yet the bad pick isn't the point. I can understand the Franchise being reluctant to extend Biedrins or Monta's contracts but POB's is puzzling. Not many teams would decline the option of a 3rd year deal on a $2.4 million contract and mabe this shows that the Front Office can't make any serious deals to Ellis or Biedrins. If the Free Agency period started tommorow the Warriors would have 9 Free Agents.

Baron Davis
Andris Biedrins
Monta Ellis
Matt Barnes
Kelenna Azubuike
Patrick O'Bryant
Mickael Pietrus
Troy Hudson
Austin Croshere

Then agsin it's probably because of Chris Cohan who owes the IRS $160 million in overall Tax money. There's a strong possibility that any other team could offer bigger contracts then the Warriors and that would be it to Monta or Andris. I know there's the factor that POB looked good for preseason and he's young, athletic and long but at this moment in time how many can see him average a double double in a few years. No doubt being Andris backup stepping it up is a prime issue for POB and the question will the Warriors get more out of there investment from this.



The other issue is Brandon Wright. The manangement still haven't clarified whether he's going to be a D-League player, on the 12 man roster or 10-15 minutes a night. The D-League and Bakersfield shouldn't really be an option espeically with Don Neslon being short term this will definitely be his last season coahing before retiring to hawaill because of his massive resume of wins so at this stage of his career seeing Wright play 10-15 minutes rather then being a benchwarmer would be more benefical to his game then the D-League which unlike most NCAA schools doesn't develop talent well. The sooner we make Wright play for a few minutes the better.


More of this in Oakland would be nice

No extension to Biedrin or Ellis why worry?

A lot of the talk recently apart from the Utah Jazz game and the lowlights has been about the lack of any extension given to Andris Biedrins or Monta Ellis which has been a prime concern for many Warrior fans. Well guess what why worry. At the start of the Mullin era his prime and most glaring mistake was to give Dunleavy, Murphy and Foyle all ludricious contracts which made no sense business or Basketball wise. Nowdaays it appears he has completely revamped his Front Office style and decided to wait after a career year to see if both are able to repeat their past year successes. Such management would not have been done by Garry St Jean or no other GM before him. If anything as cleary evident by last night Biedrins has a lot of holes in his game. He is foul prone averaging 3.7 a game and it seems any time he comes up against a Western Conference elite Forward his game goes haywire which can't happen in the upcoming stretch. In last years Jazz series when the Dubs needed him the most he campe up with awfulness Game 1: 4 points, 5 boards; Game 2: 4 points, 6 boards; Game 5: 2 points, 5 boards. Not what you want in crunch time. I've already posted about Monta Ellis and his character.

Rather then just dish out new contracts after a one year wonder season Mullin has learnt his ways unlike the Knicks and their nonsensical contract to Larry Brown and then dumping him after one year making the mistake of thinking a Coach was worth a $100 million dollars without proving it. They also made the same mistake in Allan Houston and those figures have hurt their salary cap. Mullin realised after the early contracts it couldn't happen again and there would be no more guranteed contracts after just one season. Arguably this means Monta and Andris can use this as motivation to earn extra money rather then just receive a huge contract and lose some of the fire that has happenned to a lot of NBA players. Besides after the playoffs and Monta disappearing it might be the best time to take a second look and like any good GM evaluate

Contrast

In arguably the most amazing contrast in sports over the past few months the Warriors went from this

Boxscore

to this



In just over a few months the Warriors had becomea bunch of has been on pace to miss the Playoffs for a 13th straight year to becoming the talk of the Playoffs. Every Warrior fan who had supported them through the PJ Carelsimo and Dave Cowens year suddenly had something to talk about. That may Night where we shocked the Basketball wordl was the greatest night of ever being a Golden State fan. Not only was their a buzz through the Bay Area and through Golden State fans worldwide it also put us on the map as well known celebrity fans started jumping on the teams bandwagon particulary Snoop who in the past acknowledged the fact he was a Laker fan.






But like all feel good stories it came to an end. Despite the dunk Utah flat out outplayed us and eventually we came apart because of silly techincals. coslty missed throws that would have iced the game and stupid fouls. Our Playoff dream is over but the number of national TV appearances this season suggest the networks haven't forgotten about us. When june came around Mullin proved he's not really like any other NBA Gm in which he makes calculated risks. Trading Jason Richardson could be a master stroke or a dumb move. It's not an exaggeration to say his GM evaluation is based on this. Then our great servant Foyle left and it was fitting that not too many changes were made but a bigger expectation then the DunMuprhy years. The bottom line is we have a much deeper bench then last year and hopefull T-Hud and Monta Ellis prove that they are legitimate backup PG's to Baron Davis. A deeper bench doesn't neccasarily mean we can compete with Phoenix but the fact that we added phyisicality and depth means 5-2 4-3 would be expected during our first 8 games

Brandon Wright

Even though the exhibition season hasn't had much going wrong for the Warriors good news definitely the real breakout player so far is Brandon Wright when perhaps POB would have been my preferred choice. Never the less according to the San Francisco Chronicle against Seattle he flat out dominated.

We were just trying to stay in front," Wright said. "Make sure a guy helps out, don't give up the block, try to make it a little crowded in there, try to make him think twice about getting (the ball) over the top."

"It lets them use their quickness. It's not a strength move," Nelson explained. "That really helped them defend the low box."

Then Nelson added, as if in disbelief: "Brandan was where he was supposed to be defensively. And he's got something special because he's so long and quick. He got to balls that nobody else on my team could have got to."

This is undoubtedly the best news of the preseason so far. Not only does it mean that Brandon Wright is living up to the fact he was called a stud by most College Basketball Experts he has basically proven to be the Rookie to watch so far. His quickness and wingspan combined with an hopeful ability to crash the boards means he could so far live up to the hype Nellie delivered for him. Will he get playing time or not well thats the question but with s-Jax out there's always a chance. He also has a good midrange J. So overall with Pietrus being extremely prone to fouling (in the Seattle game he fouled out in 12 minutes there is every chance Wright will get a lot of playing time against the Jazz

Our opening game Starting Lineup

Not prone to any type of news during Training Camp Nelson basically announced his starting team for the Opening game against the Utah Jazz on October 30th. No S-Jax means the lineup will be like this.

PG: Baron Davis | SG: Monta Ellis | SF: Kelenna Azubuike.
PF: Mickael Pietrus | C: Andris Biedrins

Before I lay into some of the decisions I have to command Azubuike for winning the Starter spot at SG. Major congrats to our British SG

But some of the decisions here are puzzling. Allowing Monta Ellis to start at SG means there's no size in the Backcourt something Utah will easily take advantage, Putting Pietrus at PF ahead of Barnes or Harrington is weird. Harrington gives us something we need on the boards and essentially Nelson is playing with 4 guards in the lineup?. I would assume O Bryant comes in at some stage to show what he's capable. In other words expect a lot of rebounds from boozer and Okur as Pietrus won't be able to keep them off the glass.

I supposse one good thing we can take from this is between now and ooening night knowing Don Nelson lineups are never permanent . Which in this case is a good thing

Is Monta Ellis the future

After some decent regular season stats but horrible playoff ones I think it's fair to assume that for Monta Ellis to join the top tier of NBA Guards he must have a make or break year. We all know what happenned last season. In the regular seasoon he just flat excelled beyond anyones expectaions not only just raising his 3ppg to 16.5 but winnning the most improved player award edging out Kevin Martin of the Sacramento Kings who as much as it pains me to say it was robbed. A couple of game winning shots most notably against the New Jersey Nets and suddenly we started to believe he was the second coming of Gilbert Arenas.
None of this in the playoffs though?

But then the playoffs came. This was suppossed to be his coming out party where he showed he can produce in crunch time. I'm not sure whether it was a combination of a national audience or the fact that the p. The pressure got to him but Ellis played scared. His poor performances and 0 for 5 against Dallas in game 4 or on court mistakes weren't what caught the eye most it was his body reaction. Every time TNT cut to the Warriors bench he had a towel wiped accross his face with the I don't want to be there attidude. It was incredibly disaapointing and a long way away from the Monta Ellis we saw in the regular season. Of course the usual excuses were made by the fans, media, and the Coaches but against the Jazz a rough and physical team Ellis was really exposed. In game 3 for example Ellis was missing shots, turning the ball over and doing all the stuff no player wants to ever do. Had it not been for Baron Davis and his individualisitc play at Guard all Warrior fans would have sit up and taken notice at. Part of this is attributed to the freedom Ellis was allowed in Nellieball and regular season. Nelson from observation isn't a control freak so he allows his players to do whatever they want but when it comes to the playoffs in a close game no coach allows that. Monta couldn't live with that and played scared.

Another part of it is his maturity level. Part of the reason for his low draft standing was character issues and rumours which have been vehemntly denied were the Warriors were looking to trade him for a Draft pick because of his maturity level. Now after this season Monta will obviously want a new healthy contract. Question is how much. Barbossa of the Phoenix Suns got 5 years at 33 Million and Devin Harris of Dallas got 5 years 42 million. Monta will want a deal closer to Devin assuming because it's more money.

So really even though you can't judge a player of Monta Ellis' calibre after one or two playoff series the weaknessess were set out for everyone to see. The next Gilbert Arenas definetly not.

Monta Ellis mix right here .

SG Comparasion after last night

One of the things that hasn't been done this offseason is comparring the play of former Warrior J-Rich to Bellinelli and Azbuike. So without further adoo here is the boxscores from last night from each player.

JRICH vs Atlanta Hawks

29 minutes
8-18 from the field = 17 total points
1-5 from beyond the arc
0-2 freethrows
1 Rebound
2 assists
3 turnovers
1 steal

Kelenna vs Spurs

38 minutes
7-12 from the field = 17 total points
1-3 from beyond the arc
2-2 freethrows
5 Rebound
0 Assists
1 Turnovers
3 Steals

Belinelli vs Spurs

28 minutes
5-13 from the field = 17 total points
1-6 from behind the arc
6-8 freethrows
3 Rebound
3 Assists
2 Turnovers
2 Steals

I guess what it proves is that the drop off of Jason Richardson isn't proving as bad with Marco putting up okay numbers not far from being a elite NBA SG although not as good as some fans thought in other words at the moment he's in the middle in production values . Kelena will alomost certainly be the starter so this chart is indicating more or less how this position is doing and in this case not as bad as Warrior fans thought

Al harrington 6th man or not?

One of the classic things coaches like to do around training Camp time is involve debate around any certain topic. Last year Nellie tried to make us believe Dunleavy could play a serious role on this team which didn't happen. Now this year after Sundays dissapointment he's opened up talk of who will start for the golden State Warriors at PF.

Al Harrington has been talked about as a 6th man before which makes sense. He plays three different positions, be a big time scorer and fit in Nellie ball perfectly coming off the bench. However Nellie has been quoted as saying Matt Barnes, Mickael Pietrus and Austin Croshere were all candidates to start at power forward. Depite the fact we're stacked in this position there is seemingly no advantage to starting Barnes, Croshere or Pietrus over Harrington .Neither rebound well, neither are better Shooters and both lack a decent midrange game e.g. Barnes is just like stephen Jackson both commite silly Turnovers by Dribbles. However his stats are identical to harrington e.g. Rebounds etc.. New acquistion Austin Croshere probably won't get much PT even though he looks like he can crash the boards he's been cold right from the start of exhibtion.

The other debate this has caused is Azuibuke and Monta Ellis. Both primarily are SG yet despite lesser expereince Azuibuke has probably forced himself into a starters spot. Azuibuke has the Rebounding and physicality Ellis lacked last year and was obvious in the playoffs where he played scared lacking some of the confidence with the Jazz series showing that particulary. An obvious reason would be much of the freedom he was allowed during the regular season was gone because in close games any sort of mental lapse was inexcusable. Now that Keleena is on his back it will be interesting to watch. At this stage the three things Monts needs to work on are his ball handling, Vision and Character. Do this and the starting position here could be more interesting.

Azbuike's role as a starter

One of the uncertainty when J-Rich left was who would start at SG. With Bellineli drafted it seemed certain he would fill that role but after the preseason openers the role has gone to none other then Despite not having your typical British name Azbuike hails from there and against all odds appears to have nailed down the starting SG spot. Because of Monta Ellis's Neck injury still no indication of what it's like and Belinelli not being ready to start Keleena has earned the job. In the 1st preseason opener against the Lakers he had 27 points 9 boards and 0 turnovers in 33 minutes. A good Shooter and Finisher at the Basket he's apppeared to join the list of Summer League standouts Nellie created anyone rememember John Starks. 2nd game against the Lakers a 22 point game with 4 rebounds. He may not be as explosive as J-Rich but his Defense and Free Throw Shooting has already made him a favourite. Last season highlights are in the video below.