2009-10 Golden State Warriors Preview

Sports Network | October 19, 2009

Nelson puppet Larry Riley is now the general manager and will continue to mold the team in his image. Problem is, Nelson keeps collecting the same kind of players, adding former Davidson star Stephen Curry to a team that already sports Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette, Kelenna Azubuike and Anthony Morrow.

Plenty of solid scoring options exist but the team has no true point guard and both Ellis and Jackson are unhappy. The Warriors might not be quite as bad as their city-mates, the Oakland Raiders, but dysfunction is still the story.

Ellis, who is just 6-foot-2, claimed he couldn't envision himself playing alongside the 6-foot-3 Curry, while Jackson has been vocal about wanting out and was recently stripped of his team captaincy.

"You can't put two small guys out there and try to play the '1' (point guard) and the '2' (shooting guard) when you've got big '2' guards in the league," Ellis said. "You just can't do it."

"(Ellis) didn't say anything that was untrue," Nelson said. "There will be plenty of times that they won't be able to play together."

The rookie Curry has showed the most maturity of the bunch and ignored the self-generated controversy.

"He knows how to win," Curry said of Ellis. "So if that's what he sees, then there's got to be some validity to it. It all comes down to what coach Nelson wants."

The Warriors remain loaded with perimeter offensive options but could use help in virtually every other aspect of the game.

"We're not expecting any miracles," Nelson told NBA.com. "We like our young team a lot. We're going to try to keep them together. I said last year we're going to have to build a team and we were in a rebuilding mode. We're still there."

2008-09 Results: 29-53, third in Pacific; Missed playoffs.

ADDITIONS: G Speedy Claxton, G Stephen Curry, F Devean George, G Acie Law, F Mikki Moore

SUBTRACTIONS: G Marco Belinelli, G Jamal Crawford

PROJECTED STARTING FIVE:

PG- Monta Ellis SG- Stephen Curry SF- Stephen Jackson PF- Anthony Randolph C- Andris Biedrins

KEY RESERVES: F Corey Maggette, G Kelenna Azubuike, G Anthony Morrow, F/C Ronny Turiaf, G C.J. Watson, F Brandan Wright, G Acie Law

FRONTCOURT: The Latvian born Andris Biedrins is one of the league's underrated pivot men and is a double-double threat on a nightly basis when healthy. He's never going to be a defensive intimidator but Biedrins is a perfect fit for Nellie's up-tempo offense that relies on a center's ability to move the ball.

At power forward Anthony Randolph has an exciting upside, especially in Nelson's high octane offensive system. The 20-year-old, 6-foot-11 Randolph really flashed his potential last year, averaging 7.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.17 blocks in 17.9 minutes during a rookie campaign in which he was the youngest player in the NBA. He's long and athletic but needs to add a more consistent jumper.

Jackson sees himself as a team leader and he is the rare breed that gets players to follow him thanks to his dogged determination on the floor. However, his constant complaining isn't doing anyone any favors and he was recently asked to relinquish his captain title during a meeting with Nelson and Riley, following his two-game suspension for an outburst directed at his coach.

"Don't try to dig into it, thats just how I feel," Jackson said. "I don't want to be a role model. Being captain was overrated to me, anyway. You don't do anything but go out before the game and talk to the refs. I don't want to do that, anyway."

Jackson, who averaged 20.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.5 assists in 59 games last season and signed a three-year, $28 million contract extension last November, made public his trade request in August.

"We're going to try to accommodate him but it's not that easy to do," Nelson said.

In the meantime Jackson insists he will continue to play hard as long as he's in Oakland.

"Even though I made the statements that I made, I'm going to come in here and play like I didn't make them," Jackson said.

BACKCOURT: The Warriors are all set to go without a conventional point guard again and let the explosive Ellis handle the bulk of the lead guard duties. Nelson is clearly envisioning a starting unit in which everyone can score at any time.

Curry walks into the NBA as one of the best pure shooters in the game. He's a combo guard that can also handle the ball at times so Ellis and he will be virtually interchangeable.

BENCH: If Jackson is around, Maggette will be relegated to the bench and should be one of the better sixth men in the league. A solid, athletic small forward, Maggette is the type of talent to be a top-10 scorer if healthy.

Backup big man Ronny Turiaf is an athletic, high energy, albeit undersized player giving Nelson some defensive toughness and rebounding off the bench.

Azubuike is a 6-foot-5 swingman that can defend on the ball and adds some scoring and ball-handling ability, while Morrow emerged as a legitimate three- point marksman last season, burying an impressive 46.7 percent from beyond the arc.

The backup point guard situation is muddled. C.J. Watson sprained a medial collateral ligament in his right knee but should get plenty of playing time, while Acie Law, who was acquired from Atlanta in the offseason trade for Jamal Crawford, has been a disappointment in the NBA thus far.

Forward Brandan Wright, a former first round pick, entered camp well behind Randolph but Nelson singled out the third-year forward as one of the most impressive players in the early stages. He then promptly injured his left shoulder and had to undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum on Oct. 9.

Wright is expected to have his shoulder immobilized for up to six weeks, at which point he will be re-evaluated prior to the next phase of rehabilitation. A 6-foot-10 forward, Wright appeared in 39 games last season, averaging 8.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per contest and the Warriors have exercised the fourth-year contract option on forward despite the injury.

"It was a setback with B Wright, to not have him part of this and to have him miss whatever it is he is going to miss," Nelson said.

COACHING: Nellie is a caricature at this point, obsessed with offense at the expense of any defensive philosophy at all. At the end of the day, this game is about putting the ball in the basket but Nelson is taking that mantra a little too literally.

Nelson, who turns 70 this season and is signed through 2010-11, claims he wants to give the Warriors an extra year at no cost.

"I told (team president Bob Rowell) that after this contract is up, I would like to give the Warriors one more year, cost the team nothing, just donate," Nelson said. "That offer is on the table."

Nelson might have to work for free if he wants to keep his job.

STEVE SCHWARZ'S FANTASY FOCUS: On a team which plays at such a quick tempo, there are four surefire fantasy players (Biedrins, Jackson, Ellis and Maggette) and two more borderline players in Azubuike and Curry. Be wary if you draft Jackson, he'll likely be traded before the season ended and his destination will greatly effect his value.

OUTLOOK: The Warriors should be able to score a ton but it's hard to take them seriously in the West. They have too many swingman and not enough bigs or ball-handlers but evidently that's what Nelson wants.