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.

Read the rest of this entry…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

By now, you’ve undoubtedly read Marcus Thompson’s blog item regarding the report from Stephen Jackson that Baron Davis wants to be traded back to the Bay less than six months after bolting to go back home.

Aside from the usual eye-rolling that comes with most Baron pronouncements, there’s a very specific and immoveable obstacle to this scenario: BD can’t seriously think that the Warriors (i.e., team president Robert Rowell) — who didn’t want to be on the hook for four fully guaranteed years because of concerns about Davis’ health and motivation — are suddenly going to be willing to pay for FIVE seasons.

Here, then, is a helpful guide to 30 things more likely to happen than Baron Davis coming back to the Bay:

1) Barack Obama arrives at the White House on the afternoon of Jan. 20, spots George Bush ducking out the back door, tosses him the keys and says, “You can keep it. I just got Hank Paulson’s last report, and I’m outta here.”

2) Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter each play 82 games — in the same season.

3) Clay Bennett goes bankrupt and the City of Seattle picks up the Thunder for $42,598 plus court costs in an Oklahoma City repo auction.

4) Warrior fans make it through a broadcast without being reminded that they’re missing (insert number here) points per game.

5) Larry Brown quits the Bobcats out of sheer frustration with Sean May.

(Wait, that one could actually happen.)

6) The L wakes up to the fact that Kevin Garnett has crossed the line from “hard-nosed” to “wantonly overaggressive” and finally takes some punitive action.

7) Allen Iverson takes two weeks off from the Pistons, undergoes 274 laser treatments and comes back without any tattoos.

8 ) Jose Calderon misses a free throw. But only one.

9) Gilbert Arenas announces that he’s quitting the NBA to switch to blogging full-time.

10) Jamal Crawford starts to play lockdown defense.

11) Barry Bonds is named the San Francisco Giants’ new strength and conditioning coach.

12) Kobe Bryant drops 71 on the Suns, then tells a live ABC audience: “Shaq, your ass taste like chicken. At least, that’s what Steve Nash said.”

13) Al Harrington tells Jackson that he’d like to come back to the Warriors, too.

14) Erick Dampier acknowledges that he hasn’t played up to the seven-year, $73 million deal he signed in 2004 and gives Mark Cuban an oversized posterboard check for $30 million in a halftime ceremony at a Mavericks home game.

15) Cuban’s attorneys immediately take half as a retainer.

16) The San Jose Sharks…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — Warrior fans were treated to a tantalizing glimpse of the future Friday — at least until a couple of deficiencies dredged up from the past blotted out the landscape.

The sight of second-year player Brandan Wright and rookie Anthony Randolph holding down the power forward slot in the absence of veteran Al Harrington (sore back) was a welcome one to fans who want to see the team build around those two potential stars.

But a 55-41 rebounding deficit and 13 missed free throws — hallmarks of Warriors losses from throughout the 2000s — cost Golden State in a 109-104 loss to Memphis.

“That’s a game we could have won,” guard Kelenna Azubuike said. “We’ve just got to take care of the little things down the stretch. We’ve got to knock down free throws, play defense. You can’t win like that. It’s that simple.”

Fourteen offensive rebounds and 11 second-chance points in the first half served as a lifeline for the Grizzlies, who shot 37.5 percent from the floor but still were down just 50-48.

That half nevertheless featured the first significant playing time for Randolph, who made his NBA debut Monday in Memphis with a meaningless 87 seconds. He came on with 4:24 left in the first quarter in place of Wright. He missed his first shot, a 19-foot jumper, and was called on the next possession for a foul trying to push Hakim Warrick off the block.

“I was over excited,” Randolph said. “I’m not even sure how to describe it. It was more than excited. . . . I was probably having a little panic attack.”

Randolph calmed down enough to collect eight points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes. After struggling with his outside shot for much of the exhibition season, it was gratifying for Randolph to gather all four of his buckets between 17 and 21 feet from the basket.

“I thought he looked pretty good tonight,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “He had some nice moments, and he definitely has a presence to his game. . . . He got some consistent minutes and made his presence felt a little bit.”

Wright, making the first of what’s expected to be many starts as the Warriors hand him the keys at power forward, finished with only six points, two rebounds and one chipped tooth in 21 minutes.

Nevertheless, the framework was laid in place for a Wright/Randolph partnership.

“I think once me…

The changes for the Warriors aren’t just limited to the front office.

Brandan Wright will start this evening at power forward, replacing veteran Al Harrington, who was set to see a doctor Friday afternoon for an MRI on his sore lower back, which he said has been hurting him since training camp.

And Kelenna Azubuike will open on the wing in place of Corey Maggette, who still holds out some hope that he might be able to go Sunday in Sacramento. Maggette’s right hamstring, which he originally hurt in China, is now healed. The left one, which he strained in Memphis last week, is still questionable.

(As a funny aside, Maggette can practically qualify as an M.D., at least in hamstrings, after injuring them twice last season and twice more this season. “I’ve learned how to read my own MRIs,” Maggette said. “The doctors come in, and I say, ‘Those white lines (micro-tears in the muscle fiber) don’t look good.’”)

Harrington said he tried to keep his own injury quiet early on so it wouldn’t jeopardize any potential trade opportunities, but “since the trip to Toronto (Oct. 31), it’s been killing me.”

It also wouldn’t shock me to see C.J. Watson, who played 42 minutes in the 111-101 win over Denver on Wednesday and provided 14 points, five rebounds and four assists, replace DeMarcus Nelson in the starting lineup, although coach Don Nelson has declined to discuss any potential changes there.

Don Nelson did allow that guard Marcus Williams has “made weight” and will suit up, so the inactive list looks like it will be Maggette, Harrington and mostly likely either Richard Hendrix or Anthony Morrow.

After the 7-1, 265-pound Marc Gasol just toyed with the Warriors in the paint on Monday, this seems like the right time to finally deploy Hendrix. After all, if you’re going to have a (team-high) 255-pound plodder on a high-tempo team and you don’t use him in this situation, then why on Earth is he here?

– Geoff