48minutes.net

One of my favorite pieces from any NBA writer last season came from ESPN’s J.A. Adande, sizing up the Suns in the wake of their February acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal, and what it meant for Phoenix.

Under Mike D’Antoni’s theory of basketball, a team should need only 7 seconds to get a shot off. Under Shaq’s theory of basketball, 7 seconds is the bare minimum to creep his way past the half-court line. The two views were patently incompatible, a fact Adande — spinning off the revolution once promised by D’Antoni’s system — wryly noted by saying, “La revolucion esta muerta.”

There’s a little bit of that same “end of an era” vibe to the Warriors’ decision not to pick up the fourth-year option on point guard Marcus Williams.

It’s not that Williams is likely to blossom into an All-Star next season for another team. But ridding themselves of Williams in this fashion, with no regard to salvaging even the slightest hint of value, highlights the fact that the apparent tug-of-war between team president Robert Rowell and executive vice president Chris Mullin for control of the franchise’s direction is threatening to take the team on a road to nowhere.

It’s one thing to have a coach come in and decide that he doesn’t like a certain player. Happens all the time.

To decide that a player whom you’ve just acquired a few months earlier — at the probable cost of a future first-round pick — is not worth a single season at $2.1 million is unusual.

To decide that without seeing the player participate in a single regular-season game on your behalf is just ludicrous.

Even Patrick O’Bryant, whom Nelson had no use for from the jump — and vice-versa — had a full season to prove himself before the team decided to deep-six him by similarly declining their option.

It’s kind of astounding to look back at the volume of players who have failed, in two short years, to live up to Nelson’s standards. One item from Al Harrington’s various pronouncements on Tuesday that I really do believe is something he told Marcus Thompson II:

“We all know how Nellie is. We all know his history. If you’re not one of his dudes, you ain’t never going to be one of his dudes.”

O’Bryant can back that up.

So can Ike Diogu.

And Troy Murphy.

Or Adonal Foyle.

Even Sarunas Jasikevicius.

And Kosta Perovic.

Heck, even some guys who started out as Nelson favorites — hello, Matt Barnes — ended up buried. Williams is just the latest victim on Nelson’s discard list.

The coach has consistently derided Williams, even on the days when Williams played well in practice. A couple weeks ago, Williams was draining shots from all over the floor, busting up DeMarcus Nelson, and the coach responded with: “I don’t need him to score.”

OK, but — even though Williams has played poorly on defense — he’s the one healthy point guard on the roster who can fill some of the scoring void left by Baron Davis and Monta Ellis, so why not take advantage of his strengths? Isn’t that the point of Nellieball, to maximize and exploit mismatches?

When the Warriors made their best move of the past three years – the January 2007 trade of Murphy, Diogu, Mike Dunleavy and Keith McLeod to the Pacers for Jasikevicius, Harrington, Stephen Jackson and Josh Powell — it came about from the confluence of three competing drives:

** Rowell’s desire to shed the big-money extensions that were threatening to hamstring the team for years to come.

** Nelson’s instant dislike for most everything Murphy and Diogu did on the floor.

** Mullin’s ability to wamboozle Donnie Walsh into giving him two shorter, cheaper contracts — and two better players at the same time.

The whiplash nature of Marcus Williams’ tenure in Golden State is a sign that members of that triumvirate are now pulling in opposite directions. And that ever-so-brief dalliance with relevance?

Looks like it’s esta muerta.

– Geoff

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — Don Nelson has already gone on record as saying that he wants to keep three point guards on his 15-man roster this season, and that’s not including the injured Monta Ellis.

Now he’s even claiming he might keep all four point guards that the Warriors have in camp.

The coach put forth that possibility Thursday after being asked if there wasn’t a one-on-one battle brewing between undrafted rookie DeMarcus Nelson, the prep scoring machine from Vallejo who has turned into a defensive specialist, and veteran newcomer Dan Dickau, who played briefly for Nelson in Dallas during 2004.

“I wouldn’t say it is an either-or (situation),” Don Nelson said. “I think we can do whatever’s best for our team.”

So you can see a situation in which keeping both of them would be best for your team?

“Absolutely.”

While that notion seems a little extreme, there’s no denying that DeMarcus Nelson has made what seemed like an afterthought into a legitimately difficult decision. To underscore his rising stock, Don Nelson had DeMarcus scrimmage Thursday with the first-string “blue” team, alternating much of the time with C.J. Watson.

“He’s gone from a guy that I didn’t think would have a chance to make our team when I brought him in this summer – I thought he’d need a year in the D-League – and he’s the coach’s favorite player right now. That must mean something.”

Although the coach considers DeMarcus Nelson’s shooting form to be inherently flawed, the Duke product can do something none of Ellis’ other would-be replacements can easily replicate: Beat his man off the dribble.

“He can get into the lane better than anybody that I have,” Don Nelson said. “And he’s now learning how to find people. He was pretty single-minded to score. That’s the first impulse everybody has when you get in there. But he’s now trying to open his vision up, see people, and he’s making good plays. His shot isn’t great, but he’s doing other things. He’s not living on that.”

With swingman Dion Dowell and center Justin Williams being placed on waivers Thursday by the Warriors, the team has 17 players in camp and must shed two more before Opening Night.

That would seem to leave two big guys — second-round selection Richard Hendrix, who has a guaranteed contract worth $442,114 and undrafted rookie Rob Kurz — fighting over one roster berth, while DeMarcus Nelson and Dickau battle with summer league standout Anthony Morrow for two other spots.

Latvian hip hop?

Center Andris Biedrins shot 64.3 percent from the line for the Latvian national team this summer in qualifying play for the 2009 European championships, continuing on the improvement he made last season with the Warriors, when he set a career-high at 62.0 percent.

But there’s a noticeable difference in Biedrins’ form, courtesy of Latvian coach Nenad Trajkovic. Trajkovic reset Biedrins’ stance at the line, putting his right foot significantly behind his left — the toe of his right shoe now lines up with back of his left. As part of the shooting motion, Biedrins brings the right foot forward in a sort of bunny hop.

“He said, if you do this, and just make the free throw with a little hop, it’ll help the ball get up high enough,” Biedrins said. “So I was shooting that all summer and it kind of worked out. We’ll see how it goes, but now I feel pretty comfortable.”

Sidney Moncrief, the Warriors assistant coach in charge of all things shooting, admitted that he did a double-take upon first seeing Biedrins’ new style, but he took a pragmatic view: “If it’s working, keep doing it.”

Notes

Members of the Warriors have met with representatives for Ellis to discuss potential disciplinary action stemming from Ellis’ ankle injury, which was reportedly caused by a moped accident. If that’s true, it would be in contravention of the six-year, $66 million contract he signed this summer, putting the entire deal in jeopardy, if the team wants to go that far in exacting retribution. A team spokesman said the Warriors would release details of their decision before leaving after Saturday’s game for China. . . . Kelenna Azubuike sat out practice with a sore right hip, courtesy of former teammate Ike Diogu, now a Trail Blazer, falling on him late in Wednesday’s game. Azubuike’s status for the Warriors’ exhibition game against visiting Oklahoma City on Saturday is unknown.