By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

After a wait of 2½ months, the Warriors have finally acceded to Stephen Jackson’s trade demand, dealing the unhappy swingman to Charlotte along with guard Acie Law in exchange for guard Raja Bell and forward Vladimir Radmanovic and saving nearly $20 million in the process.

The deal brings an end to the stalemate between Jackson and the team, which went public in late August when the then-captain told a New York crowd that “I don’t think I’ll be a Warrior next year. I’m looking to leave.”

The deal gives the Warriors long-term financial freedom, although they will owe roughly $1.5 million in extra salary for the remainder of the season, the increase from the salaries of Jackson ($7.65M) and Law ($2.22M) to Radmanovic ($6.47M) and Bell ($5.25M).

However, Golden State is no longer on the hook for Jackson’s three-year, $27.8M contract extension. Bell’s deal expires at the end of this season, and Radmanovic has only one more year — a player option worth $6.88M.

The total savings will be worth roughly $19.5M over the life of the deals.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Warriors coach Don Nelson has admitted on multiple occasions that his team’s small lineup couldn’t match up, talent-wise, with what the opposition put on the floor on a given night.

Against Charlotte on Saturday, that equation was flipped on its head: it was the Bobcats who couldn’t hang with the Warriors’ two-tower configuration of Andris Biedrins, Ronny Turiaf and three wing players.

For one 6 1/2-minute stretch in the third quarter, the Warriors outscored the Bobcats 23-6 using a lineup of Biedrins, Turiaf, Kelenna Azubuike, Jamal Crawford and Marco Belinelli (replaced near the end by C.J. Watson). That was the turning point in Golden State’s 110-103 win; the stretch ended with the Warriors up 81-69, and Charlotte never got closer than five points after that.

The Turiaf-Biedrins lineup played a total of 10:37 on Saturday, after getting some (less successful) run against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday:

Those two games represent the fifth- and sixth-highest total of playing for the Turiaf-Biedrins configuration this season, and you have to wonder how much of that is due to any added influence has gained Keith Smart as the team’s defensive coordinator.

Smart has no problem using the young bigs — recall the game in Houston when Brandan Wright didn’t sniff a second of playing time until Nelson was ejected, and then Smart brought in Wright almost immediately, helping spark one of the team’s only decent stints on the evening — and dumping small ball when necessary.

Of course, it might just be simpler than that. During most of the 23-6 stretch, Charlotte’s Larry Brown, who never met a 12-year veteran he didn’t like, was trying to get by with Juwan Howard at the 4 alongside Emeka Okafor, and the Warriors pinpointed that spot as something to exploit.

Howard was overmatched by Turiaf at both ends of the floor; in 12 offensive possessions, the Warriors ran their screen-roll with Turiaf as the big four times, scoring a total of eight points on those plays. Turiaf also handed off the ball twice in the high post to a curling Crawford, who knocked down an open 3-pointer off one of them with 5:17 left in the third.

There are distinct differences in the Warriors’ S/R with Turiaf as the screener versus Biedrins. Since Turiaf’s own offensive arsenal features much more mid-range jumpers (as opposed to Biedrins’ game, which is much more based on rolling through the lane), he’s able to sell out…