By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

The departure of assistant coach Sidney Moncrief — who took leave of the Warriors on Thursday so he could join the Beijing Ducks as a consultant — should prompt a second look at Golden State’s stats from the free-throw line, since Moncrief was in charge of raising them to seldom-reached heights this season.

Golden State is converting 76.0 percent of its foul shots through 37 games (823 of 1,083), a mark that, if it holds up, would be a 4.3 percent jump from last season and the team’s second-best free-throw figure in the last 11 years (the Warriors of 2002-03 knocked down 77.8 percent).

But a closer examination of the numbers shows the increase is due more to roster moves than anything else; adding Jamal Crawford (99-for-111, 89.2% this season, career 83.9%) and Corey Maggette (130-for-155, 83.9%, career 82.0%) while subtracting Baron Davis (318-for-424, 75.0% last season) and Mickael Pietrus (66-for-98, 67.3%) will provide a spike in any team’s success rate.

That’s not to say Moncrief did a poor job. Comparing the six players who have spent the last two seasons with the team, four of them have increased their FT% from 2007-08, although some of the sample sizes from last season are so small as to make the comparisons silly.

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By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

Corey Maggette had an early growth spurt, so as a three-time All-American at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Ill., he manned the low post.

More than a decade later, he’s going to be doing it all over again.

Small ball is back in vogue (if it ever could be said to have left) in Oakland, thanks to the Warriors putting together their first winning streak of the season via a 111-106 victory over Portland on Tuesday.

Coach Don Nelson cited the emergence of rookie guard Anthony Morrow, who led all scorers with 25 points, as the driving force behind the change. But none of it would work without Maggette at power forward, giving the Warriors a mismatch that they exploited fully, and surprisingly, against Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge.

“If (Maggette) is able to play the 4 position, that really can change our team for the better,” Nelson said. “That’s where we like to have him. He’s strong enough to guard. We’ll give him a lot of help when he has mismatches. But I don’t know how they guard him with a 4. I just don’t. They can’t.”

They certainly didn’t on Tuesday, when Maggette scored 20 points against an assortment of forwards: primarily Aldridge, Channing Frye and Travis Outlaw.

More importantly, Maggette drew three offensive fouls on Aldridge, helping to drive him from the game after 19 1/2 Teddy KGB-like minutes (“I feel so un-say-tis-fied”): 2-for-7 shooting, four points (13 off his average) and four rebounds.

When Aldridge was matched up with Maggette, the Blazers looked for him practically every time downcourt. But when he got the ball (usually 12 to 15 feet out on the left wing) the Warriors would often run a second player at him — not in a hard trap, but a soft double that allowed them time to get back and recover. It was meant to convince Aldridge to give up the ball early in the possession, rather than allowing him the opportunity to back Maggette down, and it often worked.

But even when Aldridge did try to attack Maggette, it failed. He couldn’t get any traction, and settled for an 0-for-4 performance in head-to-head matchups with Maggette. (Aldridge’s buckets came over Morrow and Stephen Jackson).

“I think I’m going to be in a position, as well as Jack, where we might play 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5,” Maggette said earlier this season. “Am I ready for that? Yeah. I’m going…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — Anthony Randolph may have stood alongside the Warriors’ four other rookies Sunday as they delivered an off-key, warbling rendition of Stevie Wonder’s arrangement of “Happy Birthday” to guard Monta Ellis, who just turned 23 years old. But that was about the only time Randolph resembled a rookie during Golden State’s annual open practice.

Randolph started early during the scrimmage session by dunking with relish over veteran Al Harrington. Later, he threatened to deliver a knee to Harrington’s sternum while swooping in for a layup. Finally, he shot a withering look to second-year guard Marco Belinelli when the Italian and he got tangled up filling the same lane on a fast break.

So much for rookies not making an impression.

Warriors captain Stephen Jackson helped keep Randolph in check by juking past him from the right wing and flushing a two-handed jam as the 19-year-old tried vainly to block it.

“They only remember the last dunk, so Jack got that,” Randolph said. “I got him. (Revenge) is coming. Y’all might not see it, but it’s coming.”

For his part, Harrington chalked up Randolph’s successes to a veteran’s prudence.

“I wasn’t trying to block the shot,” Harrington said of Randolph’s tomahawk. “That was fake hustle. You know that. Everybody knows that.”

And as for the retreat on Randolph’s knees-up drive?

“I got out of the way on that one,” said Harrington, who attempted to take a charge on Randolph earlier but was whistled for a block instead. “I could have got another (charge), but these refs probably would have called a blocking foul. He probably would have kneed off of me and dunked. It would have been all bad.”

** A team source confirmed the examiner.com report that rookie forward Rob Kurz will officially become the Warriors’ final cut Monday, an unsurprising move that secures a roster spot for fellow rookie guard Anthony Morrow.

It looked like Kurz might have been informed of the move prior to practice; his most memorable sequence involved getting blocked in quick succession by Kelenna Azubuike (while trying to exploit his size advantage in the low block) and Andris Biedrins.

** Ellis came dressed in an almost entirely monochromatic outfit (his sweatpants had white stripes on the outside), but unlike Johnny Cash, this Man in Black had nothing to say.

Ellis, moving briskly on crutches and wearing regular sneakers, walked past the assembled media outside the Warriors’ locker room (since it was still considered a…

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

OAKLAND — Don Nelson has already gone on record as saying that he wants to keep three point guards on his 15-man roster this season, and that’s not including the injured Monta Ellis.

Now he’s even claiming he might keep all four point guards that the Warriors have in camp.

The coach put forth that possibility Thursday after being asked if there wasn’t a one-on-one battle brewing between undrafted rookie DeMarcus Nelson, the prep scoring machine from Vallejo who has turned into a defensive specialist, and veteran newcomer Dan Dickau, who played briefly for Nelson in Dallas during 2004.

“I wouldn’t say it is an either-or (situation),” Don Nelson said. “I think we can do whatever’s best for our team.”

So you can see a situation in which keeping both of them would be best for your team?

“Absolutely.”

While that notion seems a little extreme, there’s no denying that DeMarcus Nelson has made what seemed like an afterthought into a legitimately difficult decision. To underscore his rising stock, Don Nelson had DeMarcus scrimmage Thursday with the first-string “blue” team, alternating much of the time with C.J. Watson.

“He’s gone from a guy that I didn’t think would have a chance to make our team when I brought him in this summer – I thought he’d need a year in the D-League – and he’s the coach’s favorite player right now. That must mean something.”

Although the coach considers DeMarcus Nelson’s shooting form to be inherently flawed, the Duke product can do something none of Ellis’ other would-be replacements can easily replicate: Beat his man off the dribble.

“He can get into the lane better than anybody that I have,” Don Nelson said. “And he’s now learning how to find people. He was pretty single-minded to score. That’s the first impulse everybody has when you get in there. But he’s now trying to open his vision up, see people, and he’s making good plays. His shot isn’t great, but he’s doing other things. He’s not living on that.”

With swingman Dion Dowell and center Justin Williams being placed on waivers Thursday by the Warriors, the team has 17 players in camp and must shed two more before Opening Night.

That would seem to leave two big guys — second-round selection Richard Hendrix, who has a guaranteed contract worth $442,114 and undrafted rookie Rob Kurz — fighting over one roster berth, while DeMarcus Nelson and Dickau battle with summer league…