By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

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

WEB MEDIA

CBSSports.com (Ken Berger): The big winner of the day in the “Destined-To-Be-The-Most-Talked-About-Warriors-Story” sweepstakes. Now, a couple of points:

1) I don’t necessarily put a huge amount of stock into “a high-level coaching source” — the one that said Nelson could become a consultant, with Keith Smart taking over as head coach “by next week” — because there’s no indication of how connected this person is with what’s going on at 1011 Broadway. Kicking Nelson upstairs would mean kicking away roughly $10 million, and it’s hard to believe that Chris Cohan and Bobby Rowell are willing to eat that slice of humble pie. I will say that it’s been well known for a long time that Nelson wants to live out his days with such a consultancy in his pocket, to be the retired Don Corleone figure to some organization. It’s what he planned for in Dallas, before the fallout with Mark Cuban, and what he wants in Golden State.

2) I put a lot more stock into the anonymous source Berger quotes as saying “(Nelson) wants Monta out.” You can’t put guys on the block in this league without word getting around, and quickly. So I definitely can see heat to that fire.

3) “Rowell tries to be their friend, and they laugh at him.” No explanation necessary.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

The Warriors looked slow and befuddled Friday while the Suns zoomed past them for a 123-101 victory, but Golden State is getting faster in one area, at least:

Last season, it took several weeks before people started wondering what was going on between coach Don Nelson and prized rookie Anthony Randolph.

This year, it only took three days.

In the space of two games, Randolph has gone from a bench afterthought to a starting power forward to a “cleanup on aisle 9” fourth-quarter-blowout specialist.

Hell, I’m dizzy just from typing that.

After the game, according to Brett Pollakoff of NBA Fanhouse, Nelson declined to answer questions about his usage of Randolph, who replaced Ronny Turiaf in the starting lineup, was pulled after 7:15 and not seen again until the second half, when he was made to finish off the dispiriting defeat by playing the entire fourth quarter.

Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to mollify the folks who see Randolph as the savior of the franchise.

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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

Warriors center Ronny Turiaf has an easy fix for Golden State’s problems when it comes to securing defensive rebounds:

“Plain and simple, go get the ball,” Turiaf said. “That’s it.”

Except that hasn’t been it, of course. Not by a long shot.

Including last night’s horrific 20-offensive rebound performance for the Indiana Pacers in their 127-210 victory, Golden State has chalked up a defensive rebound rate (DRR) of just 67.0 percent through its first 26 games.

The DRR — a team’s defensive boards divided by the sum of a team’s defensive boards and the opponents’ offensive rebounds — is a rough ratio of how many defensive rebounds a team gets (it doesn’t include team boards, so it’s not as exact as you would want).

At 67.0, Golden State ranks last in the NBA by a wide, wide margin. There’s a chart to illustrate that point below, but here’s some specifics as well: The Kings are 29th in the league at 70.5 percent and the league average is 73.1. The top-ranked Spurs are at 77.8.

Consider: Even if the Warriors closed half the gap between their DRR and the league average . . . they’d still be the league’s worst, at 70.05. So the data begs the question:

How bad are the Warriors, historically speaking?

Well, how about this: They’re the second-worst defensive rebounding team this century.

OK, I realize the 21st century is only in its ninth year, but still, the last time a team posted a DRR lower than 67.0 was in 1999-2000, when the Dallas Mavericks — put together and coached by familiar, white-haired adherent of small ball by the name of Don Nelson — pulled down 66.1 percent of their opportunities.

In an attempt to solve that team’s failings — both on the floor and at the ticket office — Nelson and new Mavericks owner Mark Cuban brought in a 38-year-old Dennis Rodman. Though the Worm helped somewhat — Dallas’ DRR in 12 games with him was about 3.5 points better than in the 70 without — it wasn’t enough to make it worth dealing with his particular brand of crazy.

I’m sure that Rodman would be game to pull down more NBA coin, but let’s assume for the moment that a washed-up, 47-year-old ex-husband to Carmen Electra isn’t the answer for Nelson & Co. this time around.

What can the Warriors do to solve this problem, which keeps biting them at critical junctures (such as the…