** The talk for more than a few days has been about Warriors guard Anthony Morrow making the 3-point contest, but Don Nelson doesn’t think he should limited to just that portion of All-Star weekend. The coach is pushing for Morrow to take part in the Rookie Challenge as well.

“Well, I think that he should make the rookie team. For me, that would be a bigger honor than shooting in the 3-point contest,” Nelson said. “It would be nice to be represented by somebody. What he’s done as a rookie, I don’t know there’s 12 better rookies in the league than Anthony Morrow. . . . He is leading the league in 3-point shooting, and he is having an awful good year for a rookie. Especially when you guys say I don’t play rookies. It must be unbelievable, huh?”

Despite Nelson’s glowing recommendation, Morrow’s chances would seem to be fairly slim. The nine-player roster is made up of four guards, four forward/centers and one wildcard entry, so there will be at most five guards.

Chicago’s Derrick Rose, Memphis’ O.J. Mayo and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook are three guards with guaranteed spots. That leaves Morrow fighting with Portland’s Rudy Fernandez and Miami’s Mario Chalmers for the last guard spot and the wildcard position. (Morrow may be helped there by Fernandez’s inclusion in the dunk contest; although the Rookie Challenge is set for Feb. 13 and the dunk competition isn’t until the next day, Fernandez may want to concentrate on not getting blown out by Dwight Howard.)

** Jamal Crawford (right hamstring contusion) took part in the Warriors’ light practice on Monday (mostly shooting drills), but how he does on Tuesday will determine whether he can play Wednesday in Dallas.

Read the rest of this entry…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — That the Warriors were repeatedly gashed by Orlando’s pick-and-roll play in the Magic’s 109-98 victory Monday should have come as no shock. Golden State hasn’t defended the play well for most, if not all, of this season — most famously in the David Lee/Chris Duhon massacre at Madison Square Garden — and even with Dwight Howard out, Jameer Nelson was just too savvy for the Warriors to handle.

What did raise eyebrows was the way coach Don Nelson called out center Andris Biedrins for his handling of those plays.

“Screen-and-roll’s been very difficult for us,” Nelson said. “(Ronny) Turiaf handles it better than Goose and he’s just really struggled this year to keep guards in front of him, on the blitzes. They split him. We try about everything we can try to help him out. And then when they have 3-point shooters, it takes your weakside help away, so then they hurt you with the roll man, and (if) you cover that, then they have the 3-point shot open.

So, I asked, has Andris regressed this year on the screen-and-roll?

“Um, you know, I’m not sure. I think we had more veterans around him a year ago and they helped cover some of his issues,” Nelson said. “We were bigger and quicker and had more years under our belt. Now he’s more exposed. There’s other mistakes that happen and guys aren’t where they’re supposed to be and they’re not used to different coverages. So it’s harder on everybody.”

I thought therefore that I’d take a look at the Magic’s screen-roll usage and see what we could glean from that data.

Orlando used S/Rs against the Warriors’ man-to-man defense on 66 occasions, scoring a total of 50 points on 22-for-39 shooting (6-for-11 3-pointers). The rest of the time either resulted in a turnover, a loose-ball foul on the Warriors or, most likely, a pass to another player who reset the offense or worked one-on-one.

Of those 66 times, Biedrins was guarding the big man in 38 instances, typically Marcin Gortat, who was subbing for Howard. Turiaf got called upon 14 times, mostly versus Tony Battie. And Stephen Jackson pulled big duty 14 times, usually when Rashard Lewis was the screener.

Turiaf fared the best, allowing just four points in his 14 possessions (2-for-4 FG) and nabbing a steal with some quick hands. Those figures may also have something to do with Battie’s pretty severe limitations…

(aka How To Lose Fake Money And Real Credibility, Part 10)

When the Warriors lost Baron Davis to free agency, one of the first names that crossed my mind as a recipient of all that leftover cash was Atlanta Hawks power forward Josh Smith.

Personally, I loved the idea of trying to pry away Smith from the Hawks, even though doing so would mean overpaying enough so as to make matching too unappetizing for Atlanta. Smith’s burgeoning offensive game was merely a bonus; more important to me was his Smith’s fluidity on the court and his shot-blocking ability from a forward position.

The Hawks retained Smith, of course, and have opened the season 3-0 with him in the fold, including a shocking win in New Orleans last night. Now, I’m not going to compare the two directly, but let me say this much: Last night, Brandan Wright sure looked an awful lot like a poor man’s Josh Smith. Maybe even a middle-class version. Wright doesn’t have the same kind of range on his jump shot – yet. But he does have those same Reed Richards-style arms, and that can make up for an awful lot out there.

If Wright can continue down that path, this season will have gotten tremendously more interesting for the Warriors.

In other news around the Association this evening:

76ers (2-3) at Magic (2-2), 5:05 p.m.
Pick: Magic -5
Dwight, seriously, it’s a 15-foot shot with no one in front of you. It can’t be this difficult.

Rockets (3-1) at Trail Blazers (1-3)
Pick: Rockets -5.5
It’s still early, but the Trail Blazers just aren’t grabbing me and making me involuntarily sit up in my chair because of their greatness. They still might get there, but it’s going to take longer than most PDX fans were hoping, I’m afraid.

Yesterday: 6-7
Season record: 29-34

– Geoff