By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — In the aftermath of the conflagration set ablaze by Stephen Jackson and, even more so, Monta Ellis, now is as good a time as any to note this fact: Just because a player has an obvious agenda when talking to the press doesn’t mean that he can’t still be correct while doing so.

Jackson wanted to use his 20 minutes to reiterate and emphasize his desire not to waste his final NBA years toiling for a team that seems destined for eternal 34-48 damnation. And Ellis took 15 minutes to press the fact that whether or not you want to call him the point guard, he expects to play 35-plus minutes a night and to have the ball in his hands for pretty much every single one of them.

But in making those points, the Warriors’ captains revealed some deeper truths that the organization doesn’t want to acknowledge: Namely, that they’re on the wrong track. In every sense.

I understand why the Warriors did what they did. Bobby Rowell wanted to avoid salary-cap strangulation such as the situation that led to Gilbert Arenas being able to walk out the door. Additionally, no president of any organization keeps their job without being in the black, and in nine seasons with Rowell at the helm, the team has cleared (according to Forbes, at least) an average of $4.7 million in profits each year.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Baron Davis going off for 25 points against his most recent former team is shockingly predictable.

Eric Gordon going off for 27 points against the same squad is just plain shocking.

The Warriors’ 118-105 loss to the Clippers on Monday was, to my recollection, one of the Warriors’ worst performances of the season in terms of simply losing vision and letting guys run free on the perimeter. Rock-bottom in that category for Golden State was the 119-114 loss in Utah on Dec. 5, when Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles just kept slipping away from the Warriors’ Club Fed-style defensive presence and scoring uncontested layups.

When Davis hits a step-back 26-footer, or banks in a triple, there isn’t much to be done about that. You shrug your shoulders and move on. But what Gordon did to the Warriors – 27 points, five assists, seven rebounds – can’t be so casually explained away.

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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 — The Warriors had just finished streaming into their locker room on Jan. 16, still celebrating a 119-114 victory over the Atlanta Hawks — only their second win in nearly two months against an opponent above .500 — when captain Stephen Jackson called for his teammates’ attention.

Jackson could have been the headline of the day, scoring 24 points with seven rebounds, six assists and four steals in his first game back after straining a hamstring, but he wanted to make sure the spotlight shone elsewhere: namely, on Corey Maggette, who came off the bench to match Jackson’s scoring and more than double his work on the boards with a season-high 16 rebounds.

“I was like, ‘All the young guys, even us (veterans), we can learn something from Corey,” Jackson said, recalling his impromptu speech. “This is his 10th year, he’s been starting every year, and for him to come off the bench, have 20-some points and 16 rebounds to help us win, that shows how you have to be a professional and how you put your team first. He did that without talking, without doing anything but going out there and showing with his play. I’ve got to commend him for that.”

Maggette is not wholly unfamiliar with coming off the bench. He’s done so in nearly 40 percent of his 615 career NBA games. But the majority of those instances came in his first two seasons out of Duke; since the fall of 2001, Maggette has started 369 of 469 contests.

In Maggette’s previous work as a reserve, he wound up with numbers similar to those he had put up as a starter. His scoring was up slightly, his shooting down a little. His rebounding had a spike, but his assists dipped by almost 25 percent.

This time around, the change is almost exclusively in one direction: Up.

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Just got a note from the Clippers, via the Warriors’ PR Department:

Baron Davis, who has missed the Clips’ last 10 games due to a bruised tailbone and strained hamstring, will stay in Los Angeles to receive treatment, thus depriving his former fans of the opportunity to boo him mercilessly for jumping ship in June.

– Geoff

P.S. Ramona Shelburne, my ex-Dean Mob colleague at the L.A. Daily News, had a nice piece recently on the lack of impact Baron’s made with the Clips this season.