Interesting blog post by Janny Hu over at SFGate. When she interviewed Jackson after tonight's let down, he commented on the lack of bench contribution.

"We got to get somebody that you don't expect to show up to show up some nights...We need somebody on the bench to get us going, to help us these last couple of games."

We've seen this problem throughout the entire season. Harrington's been spotty. Azubuike faded from his strong performances at the beginning of the season. Barnes looks like a one-hit wonder (the Portland game notwithstanding). I don't remember any Warrior personnel, except Nellie, publicly critiquing the bench this season, so maybe Jackson's comments might help a bit.

Okay, here's the interesting bit about Pietrus and his injury:

"Hopefully he sucks it up and comes back and thinks about the team and fights the injury a little for us. But at the same time, we got to go with what we got, and I feel confident enough that we can get the job done."

Does anyone get a weird vibe from this? I think Janny detects something, since she adds that Pietrus' injury isn't helping "his standing with his teammates."

The Warriors seem too much of a chummy, one-for-all brotherhood for a locker room divide like this, so maybe they just want Pietrus to hurry up and start contributing again and Jackson just got his words garbled a bit. I hope there isn't any actual tension, since the Warriors already have a tall order of winning back the 8 seed.

From SFGate:

The San Jose Sharks bulked up for the stretch run Tuesday night, acquiring enforcer Jody Shelley from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a sixth-round draft pick in 2009. Shelley will join the Sharks on Wednesday before their game against the Calgary Flames.

I don’t know too much about him other than the fact that he’s racked up a load of penalty minutes, but he’ll definitely bring that "meanness" factor the Sharkies lack. He has yet to notch a point so far this season, but I think he’ll come around. Hopefully he pans out and helps the Sharks play with consistent physicality every period.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/06/SP2STPL46.DTL

LHP Jose Capellan (Red Sox)
Low A: 75.2 IP, 71 SO, 11 BB, 3.69 ERA, 1.04 WHIP

SS Juan Ciriaco (Padres)
AA: 346 AB, .228/.266/.376, 65 SO, 18 BB

Travis Blackley and Joe Bateman were picked by the Phillies and Brewers, respectively.

Excuse my lame attempt at creating a pun.

I'm not sure if this has been posted in a comment already, but the Reds picked up Dunn's $13 million option today.

Thoughts?

Here's a little interview to tide us over until the opener. Baron talks about the Run and his opinion about the 07-08 season. Interesting bits:

* Perspective on the Dallas series

That Dallas series, that was like our championship.
* What the new team implies
For us, we're a whole new basketball team. Coach Nellie has coached three different basketball teams in less than a year

Can't wait `til Tuesday!

What’s up fellow Sharks fans?

I’m mirage, part of this growing FTF community. I’m also a regular over at SB Nation brother site McCoveyChronicles.com, which focuses on our (their if you are an A’s fan) San Francisco Giants. Two SB Nation site founders, Grant Brisbee of McCovey Chronicles (Giants) and Randall Booth of Over the Monster (Red Sox) are finalists to win a $10,000 blogger's scholarship.  The winner will be chosen via an online vote.  Since only one vote per IP address is allowed and they're up against some stiff competition, we're asking for help from our SB Nation and Bay Area brethren help them out. I’m not a college student yet, but $10,000 is a serious chunk of money that would be a big help to either of them.

Please take a few seconds to click this link http://www.collegescholarships.org/b... and vote for either Grant Brisbee or Randall Booth.

Thanks for your help, and go Sharks!

PS: Hey Diecast Dude, you can delete this diary if it’s too spammy. It’s all cool if you do.

At least according to the void that True Blue LA:

According to the Inland Empire 66ers broadcast, high A second baseman Travis Denker was the P in the Mark Sweeney for a PBTNL deal. Denker had the reputation of being unable to handle high A coming into this season, but he's bounced back by hitting .298/.371/.457 in high A this year, albeit with a .339 BABIP with a 12.6% line drive rate.

He's a 22 year-old 2B with .279/.377/.460 career stats.

I'm still kind of numb from the lottery upset, but there is this article on Yahoo that caught my eye. Tom Canavan writes that:

The NBA may consider examining its draft lottery system after speculation some teams weren't trying their best to win late in the season, with the hope of improving their chances of getting the top pick... Stern said he likes the system but wasn't happy with the way some teams played down the stretch.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the "lose to win" mentality, even though it seems the most logical. This draft shows that "lose to win" won't necessarily even get you the top pick. If Stern wants to stop teams from tanking down the stretch, I wonder how he's going to do it. It's not possible to implement a rule, so do you think the lottery format will change? I'm thinking keep the general idea, more help for the greater need, but limit the disparity of lottery balls per team. Thoughts?

Yeah, I know it's the time for draft talk and trade rumors, but I had to write a little tribute for (the latter half of) the season. Written after the style of the poem "Casey At the Bat." With that said, bring us that power 4 Mully!

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Warrior five that day:
Riding a 6 game losing streak, with but one roadie more to play.
The Wizards' game was all wrapped up but by the refs taken away
A deathly sinking feeling was upon the fans up in the Bay.

"Well, that's it!" some people cried. "Give up the season now!" The rest
Just clung to hope, just another b-ball contest.
They thought, if only our team was healthy, especially Baron Davis -
If only they were healthy, because then they'll come to save us.

But that nagging doubt remained: a blowout or a meltdown?,
A closing-second heartbreaker, or a running out of town?
And so at 4:30 PM did Dubs fans around the TV sit,
And those heavy losses drove most fans to the near end of their wit.

But Dris got a reverse lay-in, to the wonderment of all,
JRich, the much beloved, shot lights-out with the 3-ball;
Monta, Al, and S-Jax got the shots they took to fly and then drop in.
And Baron, the returning Warrior, willed his team to grab the win.

And from the Bay there rose a culminating yell;
It rumbled through dear Oaktown, it rattled in San Rafael;
It knocked upon The City and recoiled in San Jose,
For finally, yes finally, things were goin' the Warriors' way.

The Movement was beginning; "We Believe" taking effect;
Bouncing back from a Portland loss, a Mav 17 game win streak did we wreck.
In 16 different games we left the other team distraught.
Coach Nellie was the one behind the wake the Warriors wrought.

And suddenly, we won the last game that we absolutely had to have.
A 13 year drought broken, a playoff date with the Dallas Mavs.
The critics said we couldn't do it, ahem, Charles Barkley.
Defiance spread throughout the Bay, the fans were going crazy.

And in Game 1, we shocked the world, Baron went for 33.
And in Game 2, it really got quite ugly.
But in Game 3, the Dubs came home, and for the fans, a blowout win-
And in Game 4, the Dubs held out, and came out with a grin.

Dirk showed up to win Game 5, `til then he was a mystery.
But in Game 6, the Warriors WON to go in playoff history.
"We shocked the world! We're UNSTOPPABLE BABY!"
And once again, the Bay went nuts, the fans were going crazy.

To the Jazz, the Warriors went, but 2 close losses made fans groan;
But in Game 3 at Oracle, the true Warriors came and shone.
The Dubs rained 3s from downtown, and to add on to the glam;
Baron posterized AK, with a nasty right-hand slam.

Sadly though, the Jazz stayed tough, and took Game 4 away.
In Game 5, they rode the storm, and in the WCF they will play.
But there is no shame back in the Bay. There is joy that's bona fide.
The Dubs revived the Bay, and in the Dubs the Bay takes pride.

"What a season!" yell the fans. "That we'll remember always."
"Thanks for the games, GS Warriors! Thanks for all the highlight plays!"
And now for the offseason. And now to get that 4.
And now to wait for next season, where we'll be back through playoff's door.

So let the rumors fly. Let's see where this team ends up.
The Revolution's just beginning. The NBA could use another shakeup.
And so begins the offseason. And so begins the wait.
And so, the Golden State Warriors: Returning in 07-08.

JRich is in the clear for his flagrant on Okur. The league's not fining or suspending him. They're still investigating Baron's incident though. Man, if they suspend him, we're screwed.

NBA officials have decided to take no further action against Jason Richardson for his hard foul on Mehmet Okur in the final seconds of Sunday night's loss to the Jazz. league officials say they are still investigating the incident where Baron Davis delivered a blow to the head of Derek Fisher

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/warriors/index

Here's this really interesting site I came across, thanks to a comment on the Fast Break blog. I don't know if anyone's seen it, but it charts the momentum each team has during a game. It also tracks the "impact" a player (especially a guy coming off the bench) has during his playing time, and adds/deducts points for each stint i.e.: shots made, turnovers, etc. Sort of like hockey.

When Barnes was in, the momentum graph shifted in our favor. He got 23 momentum points, the highest out of all players. Al got 21, Baron got 17, Jack got 12, JRich got 7, and Monta got -2.

Nowitzki got -20, Harris got -9, George got -12, Terry got -2, and Howard got 0.

When Diop and Dampier played for the little minutes they did, Diop got 8 and Damp got 0. Also, the graph shifts drastically in our favor when they were in.

Check it out: http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20070422&game=GSWDAL

The momentum runs were pretty balanced, right up until the end.

Golden State recalled rookie center Patrick O'Bryant from the NBA Development League on Thursday, but the first-round pick is unlikely to get playing time in the Warriors' final 10 games.

Well, looks like the Notorious is back. He can't get sent down again this season, so do you think he'll get any minutes for the last 10 games?

Great article on Jackson on sfgate. I think he's brought a lot of passion ever since we got him, and especially when Baron and JRich came back. Goes on about his attitude and reputation and stuff, but the best part of the article:

And in Utah, more than half the team went to see the movie "300" together.

300 should be our theme movie. GSoM night tonight, 300+ people, I'm gettin some good vibes. It's gonna rock!

Looks like Patrick is going back to the D-League again. Poor guy.

The Golden State Warriors have re-assigned center Patrick O'Bryant to the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA Development League, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Mullin announced today.

http://www.nba.com/warriors/news/Warriors_Reassign_OBryant.html

Golden State forward Josh Powell was hurt when he dove for a loose ball late in the Warriors' 122-101 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night. Powell was flat on his back on the trainer's table with a towel over his eyes when reporters entered the locker room. He was being attended to by the Bucks' medical team before being immobilized on a stretcher and transported by ambulance to St. Luke's Hospital for X-rays and observation. He will stay overnight in Milwaukee according to Golden State spokesman Raymond Ridder.

The basketball gods are conspiring against us. Get well real soon Josh. We need you on this roadie.