By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Gilbert Arenas can’t talk enough for the NBA’s liking. I’m betting that Stephen Jackson is talking way too much.

Arenas was fined $25,000 Tuesday by the league in response to avoiding two weeks of interview requests. (And when he did finally speak Wednesday, it wasn’t to say much.)

After a second consecutive day of musings and ruminations without much heed to ramifications, can Jackson’s second league fine of the season be that far off?

Twenty-four hours after renouncing his captaincy, Jackson took the opportunity Wednesday to expand the circle of blame for his L.A. meltdown, lumping the teammates who didn’t ride to his rescue in with coach Don Nelson.

(We’re not even going to delve into the ridiculous notion floated by Jackson, that he’s as good as Kobe Bryant.)

“Nobody reacted but me so the team didn’t have a reaction,” Jackson said of his five-fouls-in-10-minutes Friday. “It was only me standing up for myself. I don’t think anybody else stood up for me. But if the shoe was on the other foot, I would have stood up for somebody on my team. And they didn’t do the same for me.”

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Contra Costa Times (Marcus Thompson II): Stephen Jackson breaks his silence. “I’ve got no choice but to go out there,” Jackson said. “I’m just going to do my job. I don’t want to be fake. I’m just going to go and play basketball and handle my business.”

We’ll see how that turns out.

San Francisco Chronicle (Ray Ratto): Chris Cohan will sell someday. But not just yet.

San Francisco Chronicle (Rusty Simmons): A brief summary.

WEB MEDIA

ESPN.com (Marc Stein): A distinct lack of good news on the trade front: “… no deal appears close in an economy where teams are overwhelmingly reluctant to take on players in their 30s possessing long-term contracts.”

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VIDEO

KCAL (via YouTube): Start here, with Shannon Brown crapping all over Mikki Moore in hi-def. (Or click on the jump for the embedded video.) Honestly, that dunk was so personal and intimate, it felt like we ought to give the two of them the arena, alone, for a few minutes, to work out the ramifications amongst themselves.

BLOGOSPHERE

Ball Don’t Lie/Yahoo! Sports (J.E. Skeets): The Dunk Heard ‘Round The Internets.

(BTW, all jokes aside, when you take the Brown dunk and combine it with Kobe Bryant skirting Moore like a pylon on the Lakers’ very next possession on his way to a banked layup and three-point play, it does make you wonder if all Moore can give you defensively is a poor imitation of Mike Dunleavy Jr.’s constant attempts to draw charges. Because if that’s the case, the Brandan Wright injury is going to hurt more than I even expected.)

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Light day in Warriorsland in advance of tomorrow night’s exhibition opener. I won’t be there, unfortunately, but I’ll be fascinated to see the descriptions of how the Curry/Ellis pairing performs together.

– Geoff

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San Francisco Chronicle (Bruce Jenkins): Imagine if Minnesota had taken Stephen Curry instead of Ricky Rubio in this year’s draft. Now, I ripped David Kahn as much as anybody in the aftermath of the Timberwolves’ draft — but more for taking Jonny Flynn after taking Rubio. I saw Flynn on his summer tour of lottery teams, and I’ll admit that he has some dazzling charisma, but I’m fairly certain that doesn’t really make him the sixth-best option in this draft (especially with Curry still on the board). On the other hand, with Rubio staying in Spain, the T’wolves can see how Flynn develops and, assuming it goes well, be in a position of strength to deal either Flynn or Rubio after this season. Of course, if it goes poorly with Flynn at the controls, Kahn won’t ever live it down.
San Francisco Chronicle (Rusty Simmons): More Brandan Wright for you.

VIDEO
Warriors.com: Practice video from Friday and a brief interview with Kelenna Azubuike.

BLOGOSPHERE

Talking Points (Tim Kawakami): First, Monta Ellis accurately assessed the defensive prospects for a potential pairing with Stephen Curry (poor). Now, Brandan Wright is spot on in his observation of what the Warriors need to do: “For us to be a successful team, we’ve got to rebound. I’ve never seen a successful team that didn’t rebound.” Can I get an “Amen”? More importantly, can I get any kind of agreement from the head coach?

Fast Break (Adam Lauridsen): Breaking down the Warriors big men, in minute detail. Lauridsen hopes that “(Mikki) Moore truly is a 12th man and injury insurance.” Based on Don Nelson’s usage of Wright in the past, I wouldn’t bet on it.

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Contra Costa Times (Marcus Thompson II): Now that the Media Day kerfuffle has been successfully snuffed out, the Warriors are waxing rhapsodic on the prospects for Ellis’ season. Nelson says that “Monta, after this season, he’ll be a made man.” Hopefully, the NBA will let him slide on that whole murder requirement the Mafia has for the original made men.

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