Monta Ellis | I Spit Hot Fire

The Case for Keeping Curry and Ellis Together [Warriors]

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

With Monta Ellis putting up the business in terms of statistics (26 pts on 45.7% shooting, 5.5 assists, 2.2 steals), there’s an argument over how good he really is, and if he helps the team win. See RealGM’s Context In Statistics (Monta Ellis Edition) and Kawakami’s Will the Warriors finally start splitting Ellis and Curry? for some thoughts.

Here’s what I said about both a month ago:

Stephen Curry is legit. You can see he can play. In the Celtics game, he got destroyed by Rondo early (that’s when they were down big), and he got replaced by CJ Watson and never came back in. I think Curry will be be more aggressive on offense as the year goes by, and that’s when he’ll come into his own. He can already pass and shoot, he just needs to make a more consistent impact on the game. This will also allow Monta to cut down on turnovers as Curry becomes more assertive and runs a true point. On defense, Curry will be ok in the long haul. He can get some steals already, and he’s not lazy, he just doesn’t have the experience or outstanding quickness. On the positive, he’s not short (I think he may be taller than Monta), and he rebounds (nearly 4 a game). He is the key to this team, in the sense that Monta is a star, but Curry is the key to get this team to reach that next step and be something real.
Monta Ellis is amazing. In a way, he might seem like a ball hog, but they need to him shoot that much. When he’s not on the floor (and that’s rare), you can see that the Warriors cannot score. It’s like the 76’ers and Allen Iverson. This is where Curry has to become more of a floor leader. If he can control the offense, the Warriors will be fine.

Since I wrote that, Curry won the NBA Rookie of the Month award for January. I can’t disagree with Tim Kawakami, though. I’ve noticed it myself.

What should the Warriors do?

As good as Monta is, Curry is definitely more valuable. Monta is an undersized shooting guard, while Curry is a reasonably tall point guard (6’2) with a short wingspan. I think Curry will put together 20 pts, 7 assists, 2 steals per game on 45% FG / 40% 3PT / 90% FT, maybe as soon as next year. As a rookie, even with the indecisiveness from playing with Monta, he’s averaging 15 pts, 5 assists, 2 steals on 46% FG / 43% 3PT / 86% FT. I dare you to tell me Curry isn’t going to be insane. (Note: Monta and Curry are different as passers. Monta is a drive and dish guy, he drives, and then if he’s in trouble he may find you. Curry is a true point in the sense he is looking for you from the beginning)
Monta is not Allen Iverson. Therefore, you can’t build a team specifically to his talents alone and hope that will create a contender.
As far as I’ve read and heard, the Warriors like each other a lot. And don’t underestimate how important that is. See Bill Simmons discussion about “The Secret” in The Book of Basketball. The moped incident is in the past, it’s like it never happened. If Monta and Curry have personal friction between each other, okay, that’s a problem. But if it’s just figuring out how to play with each other, then that’s time. They both want to win, they both play hard, they are both improving.
Why give up on Curry and Ellis? Like I just said, if it’s not personal, they can learn. Remember, Monta played with Baron and won the Most Improved Player award, it’s not like Monta has always been ball-dominant. Back then, Monta got a lot of mid-range jumpers from Baron’s passing. When Curry becomes the half court manager and Monta lets Curry help him, this will work. Seriously, it’s been half a year.
If you’re going to trade Monta, alright, for who? I don’t think you should trade or give up on people. Development and maturity are a huge part of NBA players, just like you and me in life. One idea I came up with is Monta for Andre Iguodala, an athletic, exciting swingman who can defend. I even asked (ESPN Basketball Columnist) Ric Bucher. Ric said no. (Ric is really cool btw, he actually answers people on Twitter. I’ve been reading him since he worked for the San Jose Mercury News when I was growing up)

As a Warriors fan, it’s not fun seeing your favorite player getting traded and let go- Latrell, then Antawn, then J-Rich, then Baron. Monta is not making obscene money, he’s not a problem in the locker room. He’s still young and extremely talented. To trade him is just like a big F-U to to fans. What the Warriors really need, however is a perimeter defender and improving interior defense (I don’t know what’s wrong with Andris this year). Hopefully, they’ll resign Raja Bell, but letting Maggette be the 6th man (Corey is doing great this year, but with Curry and Ellis in the backcourt, they need a strong defender at SF to have a chance), getting a great defender at SF and then helping Monta and Curry play with each other would create the turnaround we need.

I would even suggest, an Anthony Randolph + lottery protected 1st rounder + expiring contracts for Iguodala. Or Biedrins + Randolph for Iguodala.

Remember, the Warriors should have a top 3 draft pick next year if they keep sucking, so there’s some flexibility in what they can do. Even if they trade Biedrins and Randolph, they’ll be able to pick up a good big guy like Derrick Favors or Ed Davis. Brandan Wright will be back too- I still believe he will show something, but I guess that’s the Warriors optimist in me.

Tags: Basketball, monta ellis, stephen curry, warriors

03.02.2010 Basketball 2 Comments

The Top 8 Warriors of the Last 15 Terrible Years, 1994-2009 [Absolute FAIL]

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

As the Warriors have just completed another terrible season (Don Nelson, either blow up the team and redo it like you always like to, or just leave, please), I felt like reminiscing about the best Warriors of the last 15 years, ones of the worst runs in NBA history.

*1994 = 1994-1995 season, 2009 = 2008-2009 season

1) Latrell Sprewell (1995-1997) Latrell was a true franchise player when he was a Warrior. Could score, defend, pass, and thrill- trademark 2 hand tomahawk. It could be argued that he shot the ball too much, but he had to; he wasn’t selfish, he just knew it was all on him. Latrell was our only hope. It turned out he was also crazy. He hurt me personally when he choked PJ, not because he choked PJ, but because he got himself kicked off the Warriors. An aging, over the hill John Starks was the Warriors best player the next season.

2) Baron Davis (2005-2008) I think most fans would disagree with me not placing Baron #1 here, but Baron never made an All-Star team as a Warrior, while Latrell made the All Star game twice. Also, Baron had some players (see 3, 5, 8, on this list) around him, at least a much better talent set than Latrell did in the dog days. Latrell was everything. Nonetheless, Baron gave Warriors the greatest thrill of the last 15 years, the Boom on AK47.

3) Jason Richardson (2001-2006) J-Rich made Oakland legitimate for a while, winning 2 dunk contests, and giving up the third to Fred Jones because he didn’t feel like winning it on a non-spectacular dunk. For some reason, J-Rich was better in the half court than he was on the break. If I were to define Warrior, I’d start with J-Rich.

4) Antawn Jamison (1998-2003) Back to back 50 point games, including one versus Kobe and the Lakers. Averaged 25 pts per game in 2000-2001. Got injured and couldn’t participate in the 2000 NBA Dunk Contest in Oakland. Hard to say anything negative about him other than the fact he was supposed to have been Vince Carter.

5) Stephen Jackson (2007-2009) our current day Latrell Spreewell. Does everything on a terrible team. Possibly crazy.

6) Chris Mullin (1995-1997) Chris would normally be ranked higher, but when this era started, he was already 31 and no longer a superstar.

7) Tim Hardaway (1995-1996) Like Mullin, Tim’s in this more because of his work before this era. He was only around for 1.5 years before getting traded to the Heat, with whom he was a two time All Star and All NBA player. I’m sure glad we traded him. Fail.

Monta Ellis (2005-2009) I’m not sure sure ME8 really belongs here, but I’ll be optimistic for once. He could become the next Kevin Martin, a 25 PPG scorer on an awful team. That’s probably the best we can hope for.

Now that we’ve noted the best of the last 15 years, let’s do a Warriors and remember the worst:

[FAIL] I was originally going to do the best 15 Warriors of the last 15 years, but I simply couldn’t find enough people. Sorry, Sam Jacobsen.
[FAIL] Then I tried 10.
[FAIL] Then I settled on 8.
[FAIL] It probably should have been 5.
[FAIL] The Warriors have averaged 30.2 wins over the last 15 years
[FAIL] They have finished less than 10 games behind in the standings exactly once (last year’s 48 win season)
[FAIL] The Warriors have the record for most wins in a season without making the playoffs
[FAIL] The Warriors had 21 wins or less for 5 consecutive years
[FAIL] Managed to get the #1 overall pick only once in all this time
[FAIL] With that pick, they got Joe Smith.
[FAIL] If comparing to other failure teams, like the Timberwolves, remember the Timberwolves at least had Kevin Garnett for 10 years.
[FAIL] Hosed one of its best all time (and nice guy) players: Chris Mullin
[FAIL] Charge its fans $15 for parking at the Arena
[FAIL] Got Jason Richardson, Troy Murphy, and Gilbert Arenas all in one draft class. None are currently Warriors
[WIN] I guess the Clippers are just as depressing

Tags: antawn jamison, Basketball, chris mullin, don nelson, jason richardson, latrell sprewell, monta ellis, stephen jackson, tim hardaway, warriors

23.04.2009 Basketball 5 Comments

The ME8 Martin Luther King Tribute (Monta Ellis’ New AND1 Shoe)

Monday, April 13th, 2009

Monta Ellis’ new tribute shoe, the ME8- I’m a fan! Less than 2000 pairs of his shoe were made in tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. for the very affordable (well, ok, relative to other limited edition shoes) price of $129. The most I’ve ever paid for a basketball shoes is about half of that, $60ish dollars, and the most for any shoe was about $100 (Sean John Elite), which was a bit too much, though I did get a Diddy autographed picture (surprised me) included.

I like the idea behind the MLK tribute shoe a lot. It could be a great PR opportunity for And1, but while the proceeds from the shoe will be used to support “the community”, I wish I had a better understanding of how much and to whom, to which communities.

Plus, if there are less than 2000 of them, how much money can really be made available?

What would be nice is if sales for the shoe went directly to a Martin Luther King scholarship fund in inner cities or something similar. Or the development of basketball courts in traditionally poor areas.

Find retailers here: http://www.and1.com/tribute/retailers.html

I’d like to get this shoe, but it’s one of those things you can’t wear if you buy. So I think I’d go for it for $100 shipped, after a 20% off coupon that internet shoe retailers sometimes offer.

Go to And1 and learn more: http://www.and1.com/tribute/

Tags: and1, Basketball, Clothes, monta ellis, shoes, shopping

13.04.2009 Basketball, Clothes 1 Comment

Monta, Monta! (And1, Warriors)

Sunday, December 7th, 2008

That is a seriously a cool looking ad- it’s from the current And1.com home page. I suppose it helps that I’m a big Monta and Warriors fan though, maybe if I weren’t, this wouldn’t be a big deal.

The Warriors so far are seriously stinking it up. When Baron signed, I thought, “that’s cool” at first, but now I regret that with each passing day, not just because Baron is great and the Warriors suck, but knowing that Chris Mullin actually wanted to keep Baron, but Robert Rowell refused. Now Baron is with the Clippers, and not quite baron-esque as he once was, I think from both sides, Baron was meant to be a Warrior and now he’s not. Just like J-Rich was meant to be a Warrior, but he’s not.

This puts Monta in the ultimate pressure role. He has to develop into a superstar. That’s basically 25 pts/5 boards/5 assists/1.5 steals per game, on efficient shooting like a mini-Wade/Iverson. How much of his success was from playing with Baron, we’ll see soon enough. If he can’t make the jump, the Warriors are in the same spot they’ve always been- bad, but not bad enough to get a #1 overall pick, but not any good either.

While no one can doubt that the Warriors have a ton of young talent, when in the past 7 years (Larry Hughes, Gilbert Arenas, Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, Antawn Jamison, J-Rich, etc.) has this not been said about every Warrior team? Problem is basically that all of those years, they still sucked (when it mattered), except for one fantastic year (last) and 2 months of kick-ass (the playoff run).

Plus, the Warriors have got all these long contracts after extending Stephen Jackson and getting Jamaal Crawford, so they’re in essentially a get lucky and draft a superstar (not likely) or basically be a 35-42 win team for the next 5 years. Even that’s assuming Nelson sticks around and develops these guys, and that the next coach is decent. If Monta is just a 20 pt scorer who can pass a little and can’t really defend, that’s basically the same skill set whole team has. The irony in that Monta needs to work on his D is that in his rookie year, he was put in for D, and used to pick up the quickest guard on the floor. It was great, so it’s odd to suddenly hear he doesn’t man up anymore.

I’m going to see the Warriors Raptors game after Christmas, and if Monta isn’t back, I’m going to be seriously disappointed, not just from a fan standpoint, but almost in the sense of wanting to give up on this team. I went through nearly 15 years of poor play already, I don’t think I can go through that again.

I don’t know if I can trust the Warriors for that long again.

Tags: and1, baron davis, Basketball, chris mullin, don nelson, monta ellis, warriors

07.12.2008 Basketball No Comments

Could Jose Calderon Be a Warrior?

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

Jose Calderon is the next Steve Nash. Just watch below:

Actually, if you watched the mix above, it’s kind of boring. The mix is just Calderon shooting 3’s. But look at the stats:

8.3 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.04 steals, 11.3 points in 30.3 minutes a night. 52.3% shooting, 42.9% on 3’s, 90.8% on free throws.

Oh yeah, and 5.32 assist to turnover ratio.

Steve Nash: 11.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds, .66 steals, 17.1 points in 34.6 minutes. 50.4% shooting, 47% on 3’s, 90.6% on free throws. 3.04 assist to turnover ratio. I don’t know how well Calderon defends, but Nash is not supposed to be very good, and it doesn’t seem insane to think Calderon could become Nash. (Calderon is 26 right now, Nash was averaging 9 points and 5 assisters per game when he was 26.)

The Raptors have 2 really good point guards, Calderon and TJ Ford, but the way Ford’s been going (injury-prone), they’d probably rather trade Ford.

So why am I talking about Jose Calderon?

The Warriors this summer run a great risk of going back to 1995-1997 era. One name says it all: Vonteego Cummings. I thought he was going to be somebody.

I was wrong.

For 13 years, I thought the Warriors could be somebodies.

I was wrong.

Here’s the risk:

Baron Davis
Andris Biendrins
Monta Ellis
Mickael Pietrus
Matt Barnes
Kelenna Azuibuike

And coach Don Nelson.

All the above are the Warriors’ big potential free agents. The wrong moves in the next 4 months launch us into the Vonteego Cummings/Sam Jacobsen/Todd Fuller years again. It is seriously that easy from becoming a 48 win team to a 25 win team. Remember, this is the the same franchise that went from Chris Webber behind-his-back slam on Sir Charles to “the first pick in the 2005 NBA Draft is Joe Smith” in 1 year.

First, Don Nelson:

Don Nelson is just as likely to leave as he is stay. Actually, he is just as likely to trade Baron Davis to get back Speedy Claxton and 2 #1’s (if he convince Mullin) as he is of staying another 2 years.

Second, Baron Davis:

I hear a lot about how Baron is injury prone and becoming 30 next year. Actually, all that doesn’t bother me. Nash is 34, Kidd is 35, people are lasting longer nowadays. What bothers me is what happens when Don Nelson takes off and Baron’s in the middle of his max deal. Will Baron return to his lazy ways, or will he remain a leader, able to take the Warriors to 48/49 wins a year. That’s the risk.

Third, Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis:

It’s easy to be down on Andris. He didn’t have a bad year by any means, but I don’t think he improved so much. As for Monta, it’s probably easy to be in love with him right now. He shot 53% from the field this year, averaging 20+! Yet, isn’t it odd that during his first year with Mike Montgomery coaching (go Bears!), he’d get put in for defense, and now that’s his weak spot. Reminds me of Pietrus a little bit; starting off as a big time defender, and then losing a bit of that. Monta’s definitely quick enough to lock down on people, he’s just gotta elevate his game. As for Andris, 10 pts and 10 rebounds on 63% shooting and only 27 minutes per game from a just-turned 22 year old? Amazing.

The others: Pietrus, Barnes, Azuibuike:

These three guys are pretty similar: athletic swingmen who can shoot the 3 and defend when motivated. Barnes didn’t play too well this year, but I’d still love for him to be a Warrior. Pietrus can be a real good bench player worth 25 minutes per game if he has his head on straight. Kaz has a real spot in the NBA, and I think he will get better.

So what should the Warriors do?

I’m not someone who’s saying if they don’t resign everyone, they suck. I don’t think they should get everyone back even if they could. At the same time, I’ve learned that you can’t win big (not even Championship level here, just saying getting to the 2nd round of the playoffs) without a superstar.

That must mean I want to keep Baron right?

Wrong. I love Baron. Not as much as J-Rich, but Baron’s my favorite Warrior now- but I’m sure everyone says that now.

At the same time, look at the risk of Don Nelson and Baron Davis. Plus, I wonder why Nelson benched Baron for the second half of the game in which the Warriors got eliminated from the playoffs. They’ve had good relations, but trusting either of them reminds me of Nelson and Chris Webber, and like I said, this whole things scares me like 1995.

So I gotta say, Nelson is going to let us down. When? Don’t know. But he will. And Baron’s too much of a risk in that scenario, especially for the kind of money he’s going to demand.

Let Baron go.

Keep Andris and Monta. In this scenario, I realize Warriors lack that superstar again. But I think Monta will be it. Sure, he’s got to improve his ball handling and D, but I think he can put up 25 points a game, he can be the next almost-Gilbert Arenas. Monta’s also 6 years younger. Andris, if he just improves a little, gets a little stronger (10+ pounds), adds a little bit more in his post game, defends his man a little bit better, you’re talking about a guy in 2-3 years could average 15 pts, 12 boards, 1.5 blocks on 55%+ shooting every year, a guy who’s a presence on both ends of the court. Those aren’t superstar numbers, but that’s an excellent center.

You also have to remember that the Hornets trading Baron for Speedy Claxton ended up being a steal, for the Hornets. They got Chris Paul. There is life after BD.

As for the other three swing guys, keep at least 1, try to keep at least 2 for no more than $3-4 Million a year.

So lock Monta and Andris both up, both will get $10-12 Million/a year, hopefully no more. Keep hoping Andris improves, Brandan Wright gains 20 pounds of muscle, Captain Jack keeps it together, and while the Warriors won’t reach 48 wins again, they will be fun and primed for the future. They’ll need a good backup pass-first point, which they can find….somewhere. Brevin Knight?

Unless.

Again, Jose Calderon?

This is where Jose Calderon comes in. The next Steve Nash. Imagine him in the Warriors offense. As crazy as this will sound to Warriors fans, maybe with improved Wright, Ellis, and Biedrins, Calderon really does become Steve Nash. The Warriors don’t have trouble scoring you know, as long as they have a creator. I think they can pick up the slack in points with Calderon and be more efficient at it. With Calderon and Ellis in the backcourt, Baron was a lot stronger but height wise, there’s no change.

Or if not Calderon, what about a guy like Kirk Hinrich of the Bulls? The Bulls are going to unload somebody this year, guaranteed. They have a bunch of good players, but no superstars to elevate them. This year they found out, not good enough.

Hinrich, as far as I know, is just a good player. He had a bad year, but he’s a good athlete who can shoot, defend, pass, and he’s tough. Think he could benefit from being a Warrior under Don Nelson?

Calderon’s the perfect fit though.

But what would it take to get either of these guys? The Warriors do have a lottery pick now, around the 15th pick in a very good draft. A lot of interesting big men this year. Maybe the Raptors would like one to team with Chris Bosh, or like the pick + Marco Bellineli, the young Rambo look-alike who will probably end up being a decent player. Add in a Pietrus or another swingman if the money doesn’t work. I don’t think anyone will take TMNT Harrington- he’s got close to $20 Million for two years left. Or if you want to go really crazy, sign and trade Baron for Calderon and junk, but I don’t think that’s realistic.

I guess the Raptors might be happy to deal TJ Ford instead, but I think of him as a slightly better Speedy, and I liked Speedy. But he’s not an all-star PG, while I think Calderon on the Warriors could be.

I was 13 when the Warriors turned bad. I’m now 27. If they self-destruct again, I will 40 when they get out of it, and Don Nelson may not be alive to rescue them once more.

Jose Calderon! Come on Warriors!

Tags: andris biedrins, baron davis, Basketball, chris mullin, don nelson, jose calderon, kirk hinrich, monta ellis, stephen jackson, warriors

16.04.2008 Basketball 2 Comments

Warriors vs Kings

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

The beauty of the Internet, and why living in Vietnam isn’t too bad at all: Downloading Saturday’s Warriors game less than 5 minutes after it finished from DavkaBT, and having it less than 5 hrs later.

I download as many Warriors games as I can (as long as they turned out to be good games) and so I actually see enough to see what’s going on with the team- I think I’ve watched 8 or so games so far this way, not too bad honestly all considering I’m in Hanoi.

Lots of basketball news recently, with Shaq -> Suns and Gasol -> Lakers, and even Webber going to the Warriors.

See my homage to the Warriors: (Baron, J-Rich, Reggie Miller):

Impressions from the game and other basketball notes:

- Monta Ellis is insane. Sometimes, you’ll hear analysts say X needs to add a 3 point shot or mid-range game to be unstoppable, but Monta is basically unstoppable now. His mid-range is ridiculous, he’s so quick, and he finishes….well, I’m not sure if he’s a better finisher than Baron, but he’s up there. No one can stop that mid-range, simply because you’d rather he take that than drive it in, and he’ll drive it in on you anyway. The biggest thing is that he can shoot off the dribble extremely well, a not like a slow dribble, but full speed I’m-about-to-go-by-you-but-wait-I-will-stop-on-a-dime-here-and-shoot-right-NOW and can get massive separation any time on it. Bob Fitzgerald (Warriors TV announcer) mentioned his overall game (defense, rebounding, passing) has been improving as well (I think he had 9 boards last night and had tons of hustle plays), and he’s shooting 52% from the floor. He doesn’t even need to take any 3’s (it’s good he doesn’t take them anymore, doesn’t need to), he’ll be just fine the way he is. I’m a bit worried how much money he’ll get next year as a free agent, I seriously think he’ll get somewhere in the Gilbert Arenas area, $12-13M a year. Gilbert was really similar as a player (could shoot, super quick, could pass but maybe more of a good passer as a combo guard rather than a pure point) when he left the Warriors; I don’t think anyone expected him to breakout and become Agent Zero at that point, but he was already damn good. Just imagine how many 22 year olds out there can do what Monta can do, and how he projects over the next 4-5 years. Here I was thinking about Monta’s And1 commercials he being the fastest guy in the NBA as “hold on there Monta”, but now….he could be. I haven’t seen Gilbert play in a long time, but when he was with the Warriors, he was freakin’ fast.

[youtube qKbaRMFR80A&rel=1 nolink]

- Baron, of course, is MVP.

- Favorite former Warrior Jason Richardson really started the year poorly, but he’s doing ok now. I’d say stop shooting so many 3’s, but if you’re hitting at 42%, I guess why not? I think J-Rich has hit his peak as a player though, not sure if he’ll ever be a guy who can get to line 6-7 times a game. Hai said something last week that just might be true, “Jason Richardson is a great fantasy player (someone who fills out the stat sheets) but he’s a loser.” As in the teams he plays for lose, unlike maybe a Tim Duncan, who has good but not fantastic stats, but he always wins. I love J-Rich, but deep down I know this is true.

- Stephen Jackson takes a lot of 3’s. In fact, all the Warriors do. But, like Latrell Sprewell back in the day, he doesn’t just sit there and take only 3’s. He does drive, he does shoot the midrange, overall he plays a balanced game even though the stats make you think he just jacks stuff up. (Yeah, sometimes he and Baron get a little crazy, but I think Baron has been less guilty about that this year) J-Rich, I think, was slowly becoming that guy who just shoots 3’s, but I haven’t seen him play as a Bobcat yet.

- Ron Artest- that is probably the one guy you would have to avoid at all costs in a boxing match. I think his dad was a boxer, or something, and that background is what helped him become so quick as a defender. But Artest is just so built (with quick hands and some insanity built-in), you know that guy is going to mess you up. Shaq is huge, but he’d probably just eat you. Dwight Howard same kind of thing, he just looks like he’d pick you up and break your back rather than fight you.

- Speaking of Dwight Howard, I saw the Magic-Warriors game, and he just looks like a giant. Among basketball players even. He’s not even 7ft or 300 pounds, but he just looks physically like he is so much bigger than everyone. And he’s such a great athlete, seeing him around the basket is ridiculous. He looks like he’s playing on a 9 foot rim.

- I think Shaq will do fine with the Suns. I’m excited to see him. I’m rooting for him.

- Mike went to yesterday’s game and said Chris Webber was awful. Kyle said the same on the first game with him: slow. I actually didn’t think it was that bad. Webber definitely can’t jump, he looks sluggish, but you can see some solid things already. I just hope that he lethargy is from being out-of-shape and not laziness. If so, it’s a good pickup. Just get into shape, get into the Warriors style of play, and contribute about 25 minutes a game, 9 pts with 6 boards and 2 assists/game.

- Andris Biedrins is….not improving? At least not like Monta. I suppose that’s an unfair. But I wonder why Andris isn’t stronger. He’s not Brandan Wright or anything, but I wonder why if he hasn’t improved is related to lack of strength. Definitely from last year to this, he seems the same. From his stats, he hasn’t seemed to improved much, rebounds are good, blocks are lower (could be a lot of reasons), everything else the same. Still a great finisher around the basket and has great hands but doesn’t show what he can do without a good pass or offensive rebound much. He’s still only 21 though, so not sure where he projects 3-4 years down the line. At least he’s improved on free throws a lot. Like with Monta, I think he could easily get $10M a year, and I don’t know how the Warriors do that when Baron will probably have to be locked up for the max.

- When he first joined the Warriors, and I couldn’t download games at the time to watch and know otherwise, I thought Matt Barnes was more of an energy guy who just shoots 3’s. But that’s not true at all, he’s really skilled, plays good defense, and really hustles. He definitely belongs in the league and can do a lot of things. He’s a great fit for the team, a good athlete, and pretty quick.

- Mike Dunleavy is kicking ass. I’ll quote myself from October: “Holy cow. I can only say in response, it’s preseason. I think he’s always had confidence issues, but I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say that at his best, he could average 15pts/6 rebounds/3 assists on 45% shooting, 35% on 3pt’ers, 75% from the line.”

He’s actually averaging, through 51 games, 17.5 pts/5.8 rebounds/3.4 assists on 47.6% Shooting, 38.9% on 3’s, 85% from the line. Pretty impressive. I remember a Pacers blog saying that he can be super inconsistent still and he’s had a bad run last 5 games.
Pacers have kind of fallen as a team, and they’re much better without Jermaine O’Neal it looks like, at least this version of O’Neal. I think they’ll get better as the season continues.

- I’d like to see the new budding All-Star Andrew Bynum play. Actually, how about play Shaq and the Suns in the playoffs. Drama!

Tags: andris biedrins, baron davis, Basketball, chris webber, dwight howard, eva longoria, gilbert arenas, jason richardson, jermaine o'neal, kings, mike dunleavy, monta ellis, pacers, ron artest, shaq, tony parker, warriors

12.02.2008 Basketball 3 Comments

Warriors vs Nuggets, Dec. 28, 2007: I Will Be There!

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

I love the Warriors. I love watching live basketball. I also live in Vietnam.

That is often a game over. But not on December 28th! I will be back in the US and enjoying my favorite team of all times playing b-ball in Oakland! Merry Christmas to me!

Friday, 7:30 PM. Oakland Arena. (will be taking pics)

The Fans: