By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Word comes from this morning’s shootaround (via Jaymee Sire’s Tweet) that the Warriors are keeping forward Anthony Tolliver and making room by cutting loose guard Speedy Claxton.

The move is both expected to some extent — someone prediced correctly almost a week ago that the W’s would keep Tolliver — and yet also surprising, in that Claxton represented one of the Warriors’ largest expiring contracts at $5.2 million.

Honestly, I thought it would be either Chris Hunter or Devean George who got the kiss off to allow the Warriors to retain Tolliver, who had already served out two 10-day contracts and had to be given a deal for the remainder of the year or let go.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Some quick thoughts from watching the replay of the Warriors’ 132-127 win over Phoenix on Saturday:

** All hail the Warriors for breaking their seven-game losing streak, but let’s not lose sight of how bad the defense was: Golden State allowed a team on the second half of a back-to-back to put up a ridiculous eFG% of 61.4. On the season, the Warriors are back to being dead last in eFG% allowed at 53.0.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

According to Chris Broussard over at ESPN.com, the Warriors’ one-game experiment with starting Ronny Turiaf at power forward is over, with Anthony Randolph set to move into the lineup tonight in Phoenix.

Somebody cue Jim Nabors, and be sure to employ the “sarcasm” HTML tag:

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Don Nelson used Turiaf on Wednesday because the Rockets were a small, depleted team that looked like a good matchup. It didn’t turn out to be so, but even if it had, Turiaf would still be heading back to the bench, for a multitude of different reasons. The biggest is this one: With Amare Stoudemire and Channing Frye, the Suns have two legitimate big men on the floor, negating any perceived matchup advantage Golden State might get with a Turiaf-Andris Biedrins combination at the start.

Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Nelson puts Corey Maggette into the lineup for Game 3 against Memphis next Wednesday, looking to create a mismatch with either Marc Gasol or Zach Randolph.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

I can’t decide which injury Monta Ellis’ stiff left ankle – which will keep him on the bench tonight in Los Angeles, as well as against Charlotte on Friday and Utah on Sunday – brings more readily to mind.

Is this like Baron Davis’ sprained ankle in 2005-06, when he ended up shutting it down for the remainder of the season?

Or is it like Jason Richardson’s arthroscopic knee surgery of the following season, when he ended up pushing too fast for a comeback and looked terrible — until a broken hand forced him to rest for several more weeks, and then he came on to play a huge role down the stretch?

Based on the Warriors’ record, the obvious answer is to treat Ellis’ setback as the former. He’s shown that he can at least take the floor, and occasionally reached for the level he was at last season – although it was only for a play or two a night, with two dozen instances of rust and regression for every highlight.

But everything hinges on the one thing Ellis has not shown much of: The ability to get lift off of that left leg.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND – With Kelenna Azubuike, C.J. Watson and Anthony Morrow all playing critical roles to this point, the Golden State Warriors are one of only two teams in the NBA this season to have three former D-League or undrafted free agents among their top eight players (in terms of minutes played).

Even though 2008 second-round pick Richard Hendrix was cut loose months ago, Warriors coach Don Nelson doesn’t think that qualifies as a sign of bad scouting. Rather, it’s an indication of the specificity that teams can shop with when cruising the D-League aisles.

“I’ve felt for a long time that the D-League is better than most second-rounders that you get,” Nelson said. “You can get a guy in the D-League (who is) a specialist because you can zero in on positions there more than the draft. The draft, you’re taking chances on talent and what you’re gonna get, not what you get (immediately). In the D-League, you pretty well can tell what you have.”

“The first round has been diluted here the last 10 years, but still, if there’s some greatness there, that’s probably where you find it.”

The only other team that has three or more D-League/undrafted free agents among its top eight players this season is the Miami Heat. Rookie coach Erik Spoelstra has ridden the likes of Udonis Haslem, Daequan Cook, Joel Anthony and Chris Quinn to a 27-24 record that’s put the Heat in a tie for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. (That figure also ranks 10 games better than the Warriors’ current 18-35 mark, if you’re scoring at home.)

The difference, of course, is Dwyane Wade, a four-time All-Star (in only his sixth season) who’s light-years ahead of any Warrior in terms of individual ability.

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