By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

When Monta Ellis came into the league, there was a school of thought (with his own coach being one of the adherents) that he wouldn’t succeed in the NBA because all he did in high school was just break down some poor, under-equipped defender from the Jackson Public Schools league and get to the rim.

He can’t do that in The League, the doubters said. Not regularly, anyways.

OK, so that myth just exploded on Tuesday.

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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

It’s hard to imagine things can come more unglued for a Warriors team that is universally derided as the NBA’s most dysfunctional, but there it is: star guard Monta Ellis and head coach Don Nelson got into it after practice Thursday in New York.

Blow-by-blow accounts by Rusty Simmons and Marcus Thompson II are already up and available for viewing. The distillation: Monta is aggrieved at being blamed for all the problems in Warriors-land, and Nelson, already dealing with an angry and benched (and allegedly “injured”) Stephen Jackson, doesn’t want to hear about it from another player.

Tim Kawakami, who has been the trailblazer on the Ellis-is-pissed-off-at-the-Warriors storyline, already weighed in with the assertion that “Ellis’ mood is at a boiling point” and that he’s just about to (if he hasn’t already) vented to management about his frustrations.

Tim mentions Anthony Randolph (who is proving once again that he can put up big numbers, if Nelson is forced by injury or foul trouble into letting him play through a mistake or two), Andris Biedrins (who didn’t do much at Media Day to hide how much would have enjoyed playing with Steve Nash this season) and Ronny Turiaf (one of a very select group of Warriors who consistently give 100 percent) as guys who are also getting close to the edge.

Let’s not forget some other names, players who are not going to speak out but still could benefit from change: Stephen Curry would undoubtedly welcome relocation to an organization where passing the ball to the open man is considered typical, rather than a once-a-week occurrence. C.J. Watson sees his future earnings vanishing into the distance with every game where he either doesn’t play or gets slotted as the fourth-string PG, behind Ellis, Curry and Acie Law.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Somebody cue Shirley Bassey and the Propellerheads. Because the Warriors sure seem to be stuck in a little bit of history repeating.

Fifty-three weeks ago, Warriors coach Don Nelson yanked Al Harrington from his rotation, playing him for less than 20 minutes in the fifth game of the season. In his post-game press conference, Nelson dropped the pretense that the two sides could peacefully co-exist while Golden State tried to accommodate the captain’s trade request.

Wednesday, Nelson yanked Stephen Jackson from his rotation, playing him for less than 20 minutes in the seventh game of the season. In his pre-game press conference, Nelson dropped the pretense that the pretense that the two sides could peacefully co-exist while Golden State tried to accommodate the former captain’s trade request.

“At some point, and I don’t know when, we have to (trade Jackson),” Nelson told reporters before Indiana’s 108-94 victory over the Warriors. “He asked to be traded, and we’d like to trade him. That’s if we can.”

Now the question is whether Jackson will continue to follow in the footsteps of Harrington, who never played again for the Warriors after his 16-minute stint against Denver on Nov. 5, 2008. Harrington left the team immediately thereafter, decamping to Los Angeles for a couple weeks until eventually getting dealt for Jamal Crawford of the New York Knicks.

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Since Don Nelson has generally eschewed the Bay Area print media in favor of his own radio show on the friendly confines of KNBR, his 15 minutes a week with Tom Tolbert and Ralph Barbieri have become a must-listen for Warriors fans.

– Geoff

RB: I see where you said Randolph is probably taller than anybody I’ve got on the team right now, and he’s still growing. Maybe eventually center will be his position. I don’t know. I thought we were struggling between a 3 and a 4, and now 5 comes into the picture, too?

DN: Well, 5’s the easiest position to play. That’s why I had Tolbert play there.

TT: Thanks, I appreciate that.

DN: The same shots you get against a 4 are more open against a 5. It’s more clear cut. If you’ve got shooters around the court, your screen-and-roll game, you’re going to be open in the paint. And if you have the ability that Randolph has — he’s got good hands, he’s got a really good hop and he’s long, so there’ll be some easy baskets there for him. I don’t know where his future’s going. I think it’s really bright, but I think this is an opportunity. If you could ever be a center in this league — I mean, you know, that’s the second-most-important position.

RB: Tom kept saying how he had to guard all these guys that were so much bigger and taller. He never talked about the (positive) attributes.

DN: Guarding’s the problem, because there are some big bulky guys that you have to guard, and that’s the problem, of course, when you’re thin. But offensively, I think he can be a factor, and I hope that he kind of grows into it. Certainly, if he can play two positions for sure, it’ll help. And eventually, he might even be able to play three. I don’t know.

TT: I’m sure Nellie’s thinking is, when he put me up against Ewing, I can hold him to at least 38.

DN: (Laughs.) Well, I think we beat them most of the time, didn’t we?

TT: I think we did, absolutely. I tell you what, though. A lot of those centers I guarded had a lot of fun on the offensive end. They didn’t enjoy it as much on the defensive end a whole hell of a lot.

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