Warriors captain Stephen Jackson has already taken over Baron Davis’ old locker in the prime corner spot.

Could he really take over Davis’ old position on the court as well?

Jackson finally appeared as an honest-to-God true point guard Tuesday night, something coach Don Nelson had been wanting to see for much of the exhibition season. And in a fairly routine 126-106 drubbing of an overmatched Lietuvos Rytas squad from Lithuania, Jackson’s debut was the high point: 28 points, three assists, three steals and just two turnovers in 33 minutes.

“I enjoyed it, but it’s not what I think, it’s what coach thinks,” Jackson said. “I think I did pretty decent for my first time.”

Nelson enjoyed it as well, especially since moving Jackson to the 1 meant he could get Kelenna Azubuike on the floor without having to yank either Jackson or Corey Maggette. It also meant the Warriors could switch defensive assignments with impunity, making them that much stronger.

“I liked (Jackson) at point, actually,” Nelson said. “I thought when he tried to do too much, he got himself into a little trouble, but when he moved the ball, the team did well and were able to pick it up defensively, able to switch the screen-and-rolls more easily.”

In half-court sets, there did not appear to be a huge difference between Jackson as point guard versus the Jackson who initiated the offense from the 2 and 3 spots last season. But Jackson was much more cautious in bringing the ball up than when he was at the 2 or 3.

“I wasn’t focused on beating my man,” Jackson said. “I was just focused on being solid, getting the ball up the court, getting into the offense, and once the ball comes back to me, then it’s time to be aggressive.”

In that vein, Jackson took up Davis’ tradition of shooting 3-pointers in a flurry, hoisting five in the third quarter and making four en route to 16 points in the third period alone.

Here are some other items to ruminate on from Oracle Arena:

** First off, it must be said: Those were some ugly uniforms the visitors were rocking. That’s a whole lot of red and black, right there.

** The Warriors also tried a fair amount of Maggette at power forward, with pretty average results. It was a strange night for Maggette, who didn’t look nearly as good on the court as he did on the stat…

Thanks to the efforts of Warriors assistant coach and video guru Travis Schlenk, I got a chance last night to watch a DVD of the team’s exhibition opener in New Orleans on Sunday.

My initial reaction? If this had been the regular season, it would not have been a three-point game. Instead, the Hornets would have won by 12-15. At least.

My second reaction? My God, where has the Warriors’ offense gone?

Without Baron Davis and Monta Ellis, Golden State no longer has a player who can be relied upon to take his man off the dribble with regularity. Remember the days of drive-and-kick fondly — you’re not going to see much of that until Ellis returns.

In the absence of those old standbys, the Warriors are going to be posting up far more than ever before in the previous two seasons. Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Andris Biedrins and Ronny Turiaf all got their chances Sunday to turn their back on a defender — mainly in the mid-post range, 10-12 feet from the hoop — and try to force the defense to double-team, opening up shots for other players.

For some guys, such as Turiaf, things worked out great. He notched a team-high seven assists, as Adam Lauridsen pointed out, although the degree of difficulty on a few of those passes was not that high: three were simple handoffs out of the high post for 20-footers from players who were using Turiaf’s bulk to screen out their man.

The others were more demanding. One came on a pick-roll with Jackson that turned into a give-and-go; immediately after receiving the ball, Turiaf fed it back to Jackson for an open 18-footer. The remaining three were passes that rewarded teammates — specifically, Maggette, Harrington and Marco Belinelli — for their nice cuts to the rim.

But the absence of dribble penetration was stark, and it highlighted exactly why Anthony Randolph has jumped from 19-year-old know-nothing to possible rotation player. Randolph gobbles up territory on the move, and has enough handles to beat most 4s. One memorable possession: Randolph went up to collect a long offensive rebound, turned to face the hoop from 17 feet out, got David West to bite on an up-fake, and then needed just one dribble to get to the cup.

Unfortunately, the Hornets responded by having West use his superior bulk to pin Randolph 6 feet from the hoop on two of their next…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — For once, there were no surprises when Don Nelson revealed his starting five for the Warriors’ exhibition opener Sunday in New Orleans.

C.J. Watson, who was named the starter in place of injured Monta Ellis almost from the opening of camp, will take the floor alongside Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Al Harrington and Andris Biedrins.

Two things you won’t see (or, more accurately, wouldn’t see, if the game were being televised) in the Big Easy:

** Rookie forward Richard Hendrix, who will sit out with a strained left thigh.

** Jackson at point guard. Although Nelson said Thursday that he will have Jackson run the offense in some preseason games, it probably won’t happen until the China trip. That’s probably for the best, given that Jackson has only had a handful of practices at the position.

Marcus Williams sprained an ankle in Saturday’s workout when he stepped on someone’s foot while trying to close out defensively on his man, but he said that he still hopes to play today. If he can’t go, that would open the door for either Watson or Dan Dickau to make a major statement, since they’ll be the only two healthy point guards.

Belinelli in no immediate danger

Speaking of point guard, last season, one impetus behind the Marco Belinelli hype was the idea that the Italian would perhaps someday be able to play the point. So with practically everyone on the team outside of Ronny Turiaf and Andris Biedrins being tried out at the 1 — and with Jackson, Maggette and Kelenna Azubuike all sucking up minutes at the 2 — will Belinelli see some time there this season?

The short answer: No.

“We looked at it this summer,” Nelson said, “and we didn’t see that there’s much of a chance there for that to happen.”

On the positive side, it looks like Belinelli won’t suffer the same fate as Patrick O’Bryant, who spent last year as a lame-duck benchwarmer after his third-year option was declined by the team. The team has until Oct. 31 to complete what are usual pro forma moves and pick up the options for Belinelli and Brandan Wright, plus the fourth-year option for Marcus Williams.

“I don’t think that’s much of a situation to look at,” Nelson said of Belinelli’s deal. “I hadn’t even thought about it until you mentioned it.”

Rob Kurz, rebounding machine

In a continuation of his apparent quest to individually praise each of the 19…