By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

If LeBron James’ call for players to give up use of the No. 23 takes root, Warriors guard C.J. Watson — one of 13 men in the league this season wearing Michael Jordan’s old number — won’t mind all that much.

After all, he’s only wearing that uniform because Brandan Wright has the one he really covets: the No. 32 he wore at Tennessee.

“Unless me and BWright work something out, I don’t really mind,” Watson said of James’ plan, which is meant to recognize Jordan’s contributions to the game. “(I’m) not really mad about it, (I) agree he’s the best.”

Phoenix guard Jason Richardson, another one of the No. 23 wearers, said via Twitter that he’s up for the change.

“Im all 4 it he’s the greatest player to ever play,” Richardson said. “NBA should of retired 23 yrs ago.”

Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy gave voice today to the opposition, pointing out that Jordan did not make the same sacrifices as did Jackie Robinson, whose No. 42 has been retired by Major League Baseball.

“There actually were guys before Michael who could play the game,” Van Gundy said. “Then you should retire numbers that (Bill) Russell, Wilt (Chamberlain), and certainly Oscar (Robertson) wore. I understand LeBron didn’t grow up watching those guys, but still.”

Watson, however, thinks James’ star power will win out. “I’m sure it will go into effect since LBJ spoke up.”

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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We’ve just been allowed out onto the balcony at 1011 Broadway, and we were greeted by this sight in the half-court scrimmaging:

Blue team (typically the first string): Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Kelenna Azubuike and Anthony Randolph.

White team: C.J. Watson, Acie Law, Corey Maggette, Mikki Moore, Andris Biedrins

Since then, Maggette has flipped his jersey around and given Jackson a rest, and Anthony Morrow has come in for the White side. It will be very interesting to see if the Warriors will be using small-ball, with AR at the 5, on Wednesday against Memphis.

Also, on the injury front, Devean George is still working out on his own, Speedy Claxton is only an observer and Ronny Turiaf, day-to-day with the sprained knee, is not on the court, presumably receiving treatment in the locker room.

– Geoff

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

If you’ve already signed up with Twitter, you probably already know that it is fast becoming the NBA’s social network of choice. There are more than 100 active players on board (although some have not posted any information there in months) from a pool of roughly 425.

Some of the NBA Tweets are amusing, such as the back-and-forth bickering between former Warrior teammates C.J. Watson and Marcus Williams. Some cause concern, such as Michael Beasley’s famous “baggie” photo and ensuing messages (“Feelin like it’s not worth livin!!!!!!! I’m done”).

But none of them carry the heat of Nets swingman Chris Douglas-Roberts.

Douglas-Roberts was a second round pick in the 2008 draft who didn’t quite fall far enough for the Warriors to snatch him up (he went No. 40; Golden State got Richard Hendrix at No. 49, and we saw how that worked out). With Vince Carter offloaded to Orlando during the summer, Douglas-Roberts has become a starter in essentially a three-guard set with Courtney Lee and Devin Harris.

And when the Nets dropped games to Orlando and Washington on Friday and Saturday, respectively, falling to 0-3 to begin the season, Douglas-Roberts let loose on his Twitter account (@cdouglasroberts). None of this “Oh, we’ll get ‘em next time” stuff.

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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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