By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Your daily guided tour through the national and local media coverage of the always-entertaining Golden State Warriors.

BLOGOSPHERE

Talking Points/San Jose Mercury News (Tim Kawakami): Setting the stage for Thursday’s potential showdown between Jeff Fried, Monta Ellis’ agent, and Warriors brass.

(Perhaps the NBA can hold a special “non-expansion dispersal” draft next summer to help the Warriors out after they sell off everything of value.)

Inside The Warriors/Contra Costa Times (Marcus Thompson II): This was from Monday, before Tim’s post, but now serves to amplify the depths of Ellis’ frustration.

Plus: Wrapup from the Cavaliers game.

Fast Break/San Jose Mercury News (Adam Lauridsen): Taking Ellis to task for not being willing to fill the void left behind by Stephen Jackson’s departure.

I don’t share his optimism, but Adam likes what he saw from the Jackson-less Warriors against Cleveland on Tuesday.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

I know it’s way late, but I did want to collate the collective analysis of the end of the Stephen Jackson Era in Oakland and have it in one handy place.

I never did get a chance to write any lengthy analysis, but I think, from listening to all of Larry Riley’s comments on Monday, that Jackson finally broke the Warriors’ back with his quotes after the Brandon Jennings Explosion™ on Saturday.

It was a bad enough look when Jack praised himself for not getting T’d up during the Clippers’ road beatdown of the Warriors, which made it clear that he cared not one iota for what happened to the team on the floor.

But in the aftermath of the Bucks’ 129-125 win, Jackson let loose with both barrels.

First up was coach Don Nelson’s decision at the end of the game to call a play that involved Anthony Morrow, Corey Maggette and Monta Ellis all as options as the Warriors looked to tie the score. It wasn’t flat-out insubordinate, but it was sure coming close: “All I know is that I’m one of the best scorers on the team, and I was taking the ball out. That’s all I know. My job was to pass the ball inbounds. When you’re in the huddle at the end of the game, you pay attention to what you’re supposed to do. You don’t want to be the one who messes up. My job was to get the ball inbounds, and I did a great job.”

Then came what was, IMHO, the final straw — throwing his teammates under the bus for Jennings’ double-nickel performance: “Nobody has ever given me 55 points, and I didn’t get 55 points scored on me,” Jackson said. “Somebody has got to man up and take that 55, and I’m not going to take it. I wasn’t guarding him.”

That quote had to be especially galling because the Warriors have spent the better part of the last two years preaching about rotations and second and third efforts and all those team principles that Nelson and Keith Smart feel a team needs to become a good defensive unit. And Jackson, knowing all of that, just hung the young kids out to dry.

To me, that was the breaking point.

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FOURTH QUARTER

** In the end, too much LeBron. But, hey, the Warriors get credit for the moral victory. Huzzah.

** Until Corey Maggette makes an absurdly bad decision to set up a turnover and alley-oop dunk for J.J. Hickson at the other end, that is.

** In a story that is perhaps related to the Warriors’ climbing within one point, Cleveland has been held to 6-for-15 shooting this quarter.

** Anthony Morrow hits a 3-pointer while falling onto his back in the right corner, cutting the Warriors deficit to one point.

** With the lead down to four, LeBron pulled a Jack — except, of course, that he drills his 3-pointer from the top of the key with 18 on the shot clock, instead of missing badly.

** As bad as Anthony Randolph looked earlier, now he’s looking terrific. This is why you need to let him play through bad patches, instead of yanking him at the first sign of trouble and chaining him to the bench for the rest of the game.

** Or, then again, maybe he’s not needed.

** The Cleveland lead is down to five points in the absence of LeBron. How long can Mike Brown afford to go without him?

THIRD QUARTER

** Every time the Warriors cut the lead to eight, it’s LeBron’s signal to blast by a “defender” for an open jam.

** I’ll give this to Monta Ellis: When he puts in the effort, he is playing some above-average defense. The key is getting him to the point of putting in the effort at all times.

** Mikki Moore showed some dreadful S/R defense, and LeBron James took advantage for a huge dunk.

** Did someone give Corey Maggette a corneal transplant?

** Credit where it’s due to Monta for drawing a charge on the runaway J.J. Hickson.

** Daniel Gibson has the state of Texas shaved into his hair, a sign that he really has too much time on his hands.

HALFTIME

** @Burke: Yeah, I was hoping to see more from Randolph as well, but he’s getting tenderized by Hickson in this one.

** I love how “only down 11″ constitutes some kind of moral victory. You understand that down 11 at the half means you’re on pace to lose by 22, right?

SECOND QUARTER

** The Warriors have no answer for J.J. Hickson. None.

** The Warriors are doing plenty of things well, except for this one ciritcal stat: 64.9 FG% for the Cavaliers. 64.9!

** Early 3-point…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Larry Riley seemed to be going for laughs when he told various groups of media Monday that Don Nelson was so quirky, he might just play one of his new acquisitions, Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic, 35 minutes on Tuesday against Cleveland.

It’s becoming more clear he wasn’t joking.

The team announced late Monday afternoon that C.J. Watson has contracted the H1N1 virus — commonly called the “swine flu” — and will miss the final two games on the team’s current road trip.

Watson posted the news that he was a suspected H1N1 sufferer on his Twitter feed, and included a picture of himself with the face mask he has to wear in public settings. He stayed behind in Milwaukee as the team flew ahead.

It’s a good thing Bell and Radmanovic were expected to join the team in Cleveland on Monday night and should be available Tuesday. The Warriors will need those two just to make the league-mandated minimum of eight players in uniform, although the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Devean George — who’s been out all year with a knee injury — is being flown in as well.

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

After a wait of 2½ months, the Warriors have finally acceded to Stephen Jackson’s trade demand, dealing the unhappy swingman to Charlotte along with guard Acie Law in exchange for guard Raja Bell and forward Vladimir Radmanovic and saving nearly $20 million in the process.

The deal brings an end to the stalemate between Jackson and the team, which went public in late August when the then-captain told a New York crowd that “I don’t think I’ll be a Warrior next year. I’m looking to leave.”

The deal gives the Warriors long-term financial freedom, although they will owe roughly $1.5 million in extra salary for the remainder of the season, the increase from the salaries of Jackson ($7.65M) and Law ($2.22M) to Radmanovic ($6.47M) and Bell ($5.25M).

However, Golden State is no longer on the hook for Jackson’s three-year, $27.8M contract extension. Bell’s deal expires at the end of this season, and Radmanovic has only one more year — a player option worth $6.88M.

The total savings will be worth roughly $19.5M over the life of the deals.

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