By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

The 2009 NBA draft is already destined to go down as the Year of the Point Guard. In much the same way the 1983 NFL draft was headlined by John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino (among six first-round QBs), this year’s crop of fresh basketball talent skewed heavily to the point; 10 of the first 21 selections, in fact.

The Warriors were obviously ecstatic on draft day to find Stephen Curry falling into their laps at No. 7.

But will they eventually regret passing on the chance to grab Brandon Jennings?

After a week, Jennings — selected 10th by the Milwaukee Bucks — has established himself as the (very) early leader in Rookie of the Year race, averaging 22.0 points (on 48.1 FG%, 50.0 3FG%), 5.3 assists and 1.7 steals through three games.

When Jennings worked out for the Warriors, the consensus jibed with that of most scouts: terrific passing skills, arguably the best pure PG in the draft, but hampered by a weak jump shot. That’s why Curry ranked so much higher in the estimation of most teams and certainly in that of the Warriors.

So far, though, Jennings is 15-31 on shots outside of 16 feet, according to NBA’s Hot Zones data. And his toughness — perhaps a byproduct of his year spent in Europe, where he went after his academic eligibility at Arizona was cast into limbo because of poor test scores — was on display in the final minute of the Bucks’ 83-81 loss to the Bulls on Tuesday.

Jennings had already scored six of Milwaukee’s 17 points in the first 11 minutes of the fourth quarter when he simply took over. The next three possessions involved nothing but Jennings dribbling and then shooting.

With the Bucks trailing 82-77 in the final minute, Jennings brushed past a high Andrew Bogut screen and stormed the lane before muscling a layup over Joakim Noah to cut the lead to three.

He used another high Bogut screen to set up a floating 10-foot flip shot to make it 82-81.

Given a chance to tie or take the lead after Brad Miller split free throws, Jennings dribbled to the foul line and put up a fadeaway jumper that Bulls guard Derrick Rose was able to just barely reach and partially block.

After a pair of FT misses by Noah, however, the Bucks had one final chance. Jennings headed for a high screen from Hakim Warrick, but Warrick slipped out early, allowing Kirk Hinrich to stay in front of Jennings, who passed off to Ersan Ilyasova. Ilyasova, who acted as though he’d never seen a basketball before, finally fired up a ridiculous air-ball 3 with a couple seconds left on the clock.

No wonder Jennings wanted to take every big shot himself.

That kind of attitude would have undoubtedly led to friction in the Golden State locker room, something Curry has tried very hard (and quite diplomatically) to avoid.

(What-if tangent: Can you imagine the reactions of Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson if they didn’t see the ball once in the final four possessions of a close game, just watching a rookie dribble himself into position for another FG attempt? Has a teammate ever tackled another one during an NBA game simply in order to take possession of the ball?)

But eventually the old guard will fade, and it will be the 2009 point guards who are left behind. I don’t believe the Warriors will be dissatisfied with Curry, but it could very well be Jennings who turns out to be the best of them all.

Whatever happens, Curry knows that he will, to some extent, be defined by how he stacks up against the likes of Jennings, Tyreke Evans, Ty Lawson and Jonny Flynn.

“You’re going to be measured,” Curry said. “A lot of people, at the end of the season, are going to put up all the numbers of all the point guards drafted this year next to each other and say, ‘Who had the better year?’ That’s gonna happen. . . . I’m not comparing myself and saying, ‘Oh, he had five more points than me, I’ve got to do better next game’ kind of thing. I just want to see what the guys who game in with me are doing with the minutes they’re getting and that’s the extent of it.”

On to the links:

PRINT MEDIA
Contra Costa Times (Marcus Thompson II): Monta Ellis is working towards being a better defender. (No jokes.) Loved this quote from assistant Scott Roth: “I think he’s just average at this point and working on being very good. But that’s our whole team across the board.”
Maybe on a good day it is, Scott. A very good day.

San Francisco Chronicle (Scott Ostler): Scott dubs tonight a “must-win” game, which is true, I suppose, if you’re laboring under the misapprehension that this team is a legitimate playoff contender.

San Francisco Chronicle (Rusty Simmons): Don Nelson on small ball: “Rebounding is an issue anyway, so I don’t know how much worse we’re going to be by going smaller.”
Well, that’s certainly one way to look at things. . .

BLOGOSPHERE
Golden State Warriors/San Francisco Chronicle (Rusty Simmons): Don Nelson on how to rebuild a franchise: “The best way is to what Boston did. If you can do that, it’s certainly the fastest way.”
Absolutely true. Unless, of course, your franchise is in such a state of dysfunction that every elite talent you target makes it clear he won’t willingly join your roster. In that case, you’re kind of screwed.

Inside The Warriors/Contra Costa Times (Marcus Thompson II): Honor and loyalty. Who says you can’t have fun while forcing a trade in the NBA?

Warriors Wire/Santa Rosa Press Democrat (Jared Cowley): Jared wonders if Allen Iverson’s unhappiness in Memphis — and, really, who could have seen that coming? — will help the Warriors record win No. 1 tonight.

WEB MEDIA
Examiner.com (Mike Massa): Duly noted: Only the Nets and the Pacers remain winless along with Golden State.

AUDIO-VISUAL
Warriors.com: Interviews from practice on Tuesday.