By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Your daily guided tour through the national and local media coverage of the always-entertaining Golden State Warriors.

PRINT MEDIA

San Francisco Chronicle (Bruce Jenkins): Bruce’s numbers about Anthony Randolph’s lack of movement on offense in the Warriors’ last two games are compelling, although they come without context. How many times did every other player stand around? Frankly, you could easily argue that every member of the Warriors stands around too much. This is a team predicated on the one-on-one (or one-on-two or even one-on-three) attacks of Monta Ellis. Stephen Curry is acknowledged by the general manager to be a better scorer with the ball in his hands. Anthony Morrow’s value is trolling the 3-point arc; ditto for C.J. Watson. This is a stagnant team both by design and by coaching, and singling out Randolph to grouse about his following suit is kind of silly.

Plus, it unfortunately masks what I think is a good and powerful point Bruce is almost hitting on – that Randolph does require some sort of go-to move. Where Bruce’s argument fails is with the assumption that such a move has to come with his back to the basket; if Randolph developed enough confidence with the one-step-crossover-and-pullup move that he has shown of late, he could create space with it (by getting his defender going backwards) at any time. Then, if he could consistently drain the open 15-footer that results from such a move, the guy would be damn near unstoppable (until defenses adjusted, at least).

Read the rest of this entry…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Everyone keeps wanting to compare Warriors rookie forward Anthony Randolph to Lamar Odom or Josh Smith or some other current NBA player.

For a true statistical comparison to Randolph’s rookie season, however, you have to delve farther back into the NBA’s history books.

Since the league started tracking blocked shots as a stat in 1973, there have been only a handful of rookies who have played at least 890 minutes (the same amount Randolph clocked heading into Friday’s game with the New Orleans Hornets) and put up per-minute averages as high or better than Randolph’s in terms of scoring (21.3 points per 48 minutes), rebounding (15.5) and blocks (3.6).

And let’s just say the list puts Randolph in pretty good company.

In chronological order:

** Hakeem Olajuwon (HOU, 1984-85, 27.9 points, 16.0 rebounds, 3.6 blocks per 48 minutes)

** David Robinson (SAS, 1989-90, 31.9, 15.7, 5.1)

** Shaquille O’Neal (ORL, 1992-93, 29.6, 17.5, 4.5)

That’s it.

Read the rest of this entry…

So, there’s an aside at the end of Mitch Lawrence’s column in the New York Daily News today that says “Earl Watson wants out of Oklahoma City.”

First reaction: Who doesn’t?

But seriously: Earl, your team took Russell Westbrook with the fourth overall pick in this summer’s draft. Now, even though he’s more of a combo guard than a straight point, and even though Darren Collison ran UCLA’s offense instead of Westbrook . . . They took him fourth! Fourth! They’re a young team that is — unlike the Warriors — is choosing to give the kids’ experience, regardless of the outcome. What did you think was going to happen?

If you didn’t want to play behind him, you should have had your agent tell Sam Presti to deal you instead of Luke Ridnour.

End of rant. Beginning of picks:

Warriors (2-4) at Kings (2-4), 6:05 p.m.
Pick: Kings -3.5
The death match for 11th place in the Western Conference is SO on.

Raptors (3-2) at Bobcats (2-3), 10:05 a.m.
Pick: Raptors -3.5
Larry Brown’s not-so-merry band continues to befuddle me when it comes to this exercise.

Jazz (5-0) at Knicks (3-2), 12:05 p.m.
Pick: Knicks +4
This could be a nice milestone in the Knicks’ rebirth under Mike D’Antoni, even if Utah is missing Deron Williams.

Mavericks (2-3) at Clippers (0-6), 12:35 p.m.
Pick: Mavericks -4
I was going to say, “well, at least the Clips have their health going for them.” And then Tim Thomas had to go and screw up even that little slice of good news.

Celtics (5-1) at Pistons (4-1), 3:05 p.m.
Pick: Celtics +1.5
Part of me wants to stay home and watch this game, instead of driving to Sac.

Hawks (4-0) at Thunder (1-4), 4:05 p.m.
Pick: Hawks -4.5
Can Atlanta continue without Josh Smith in the lineup?

Grizzlies (3-3) at Nuggets (2-3), 5:05 p.m.
Pick: Denver -8.5
I’m hoping the Warriors’ power as a transitive property — GSW beats Denver, Memphis beats GSW, ergo Memphis beats Denver — has been drained.

Rockets (4-2) at Lakers (4-0), 6:35 p.m.
Pick: Rockets +7.5
Houston’s two losses this season have come by a total of six points. If the oddsmakers are going to cover that whole total, how I can I pass up such hospitality?

Yesterday: 3-2-1
Season record: 39-44-1

– Geoff

(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