Curry's Terrible Work in Team Wins; Watson vs. Curry in December; Randolph, Morrow, and Watson's Mounting Case Against the Warriors Come Contract Time

I've written about this before and Tim Kawakami recently took my lead and ran his own (brief) version of the issue, but with the December games officially in the can, it's time to update the CJ Watson/Stephen Curry comparison I began at the beginning of December and survey some team trends as we close the books on 2009 in Warriors basketball. 

On the season, Watson is a +25, Curry a -127.  Over the last ten games, Curry is a team-worst -76 (Mikki Moore next at -68).  The preseason hype this year said Stephen Curry would challenge Monta Ellis for playing time, much as the Marco Belinelli hype after one summer league game not so long ago led to the great "Marco shoud start, trade Ellis!" debate of Summer 07 amongst the usual plants and jackasses in Warriors fan forums.  Needless to say, they've overstated their hype case yet again as they try desperately to pave the way for a Monta Ellis salary dump.  Oh well, still time for the Biedrins dump.  Incidentally, Matt Steinmetz assured folks in his latest CSN.com chat that Randolph is safe for now.  But no such mention of Biedrens and I think Randolph has hit Webber stage now any way, leaving the Warriors little say in the matter.

CJ Watson has been absolutely pivotal to the team's recent good play, as have Anthony Morrow and Anthony Randolph.  Keith Smart figured this out first and revoked Curry's free pass at several points during his interim work while Don Nelson tanned on Maui. It's been refreshing to see some accountability introduced to Nelson's handling of Curry lately, and Smart was largely unimpressive on most other fronts, but Nelson continues to yo-yo playing time for the bigs and will need to show he's aware of how much better the team is with Curry out of the mix if he expects to convince anyone he has the team's best interests in mind.  Against the Lakers, he flat out lost the team the game by playing Ronny Turiaf heavy minutes alone with four guards late in a close game despite Turiaf being an ineffective rebounder and an even less effective team defender.   And despite Turiaf being obviously gassed while Randolph was having an exceptional game before Nellie benched him for absolutely no reason. 

It's been nice to have Turiaf and Biedrins back, despite Nelson's refusal to stick to the most effective use of size even when healthy, but in reality the most valuable play of all has come from the incumbent veteran and undrafted guard rotation and the talented young big Nellie refuses to coddle like he does GQ Free Pass.  While Curry throws stupid passes into the stands, lets his defensive assignments score at will, and bricks early clock shots after calling his own number per equal parts natural inclination as a me-first gunner in consequence-free, uncompetitive collegiate games (with very few exceptions) and instructed role as the prototypical Nellieball shitwing... CJ Watson keeps it simple, keeps it clean, keeps it effective. 
And the team wins.

Of particular note, CJ Watson's 2.44 AST/TO ratio was 21st among all NBA point guards playing at least 20 MPG in December.  Curry's 1.38 AST/TO ranked 44th under the same criteria.  With some other teams' games yet to be played this month, both positions could shift.  But for now, CJ Watson handed in a phenomenally superior month at NBA point guard relative to the coddled young combo guard, by one of the industry's most oft-referenced point guard measures.  Watson's percentages and efficiency measures make him a more reliable, less wasteful offensive feature, too, and the team's play with him on the floor with the A squad and Curry off prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that the team plays much better without Curry's hot dogging selfishness in the way.  Watson is nothing spectacular, but he knows his role and how to play it and he makes those around him better.  Curry is so focused on getting his own numbers and looking cool, he never figures out how to influence winning basketball in the NBA (hint: he won't).

Curry has gone scoreless in two NBA games thus far in his brief, disappointing NBA career.  Not incidentally, they are the Warriors' two most impressive and convincing victories with an even remotely serviceable roster: 121-107 in New York 11/3 (he didn't see the floor) and the Boston victory 12/28.  One should bear in mind that Boston has now lost 4 games in a row on a West Coast swing without Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett has been hurting.  He did not play against Phoenix in the Celtics' latest loss.  Qualifications aside, the game was tremendous.  Much better than the sloppy Portland and Pheonix wins. 

In the 8 Warriors team wins Curry has hit the floor for, he has averaged nearly 10 minutes fewer played than he has in the team's 22 losses.  He takes 4 fewer shots, hitting them at 39%, and of course commits a full turnover fewer than his usual work in team losses thanks to the reduced playing time.  He averages about 9 points per game- 4 off his season mark- but the same assists in that limited time, a curious item indeed.  A shoddy analysis might simply stop here and suggest that Curry plays effective team basketball only one game out of three and that his scoring focus hurts the team considerably.  But clearly, his scoring is wholly irrelevant to the Warriors' best work and his assists do not make a measurable difference to team success.  In fact, he often gets his assists VERY early in the game, with little to absolutely no impact upon game outcome whatsoever. 

Stephen Curry is, put simply, a totally irrelevant player two full months into his NBA career.  Or, more accurately, he is irrelevant when the team plays its best basketball and a glaring weak point in the team's consistent losing and bad play.

He would perhaps make an impact as a bench scoring/lead guard option, despite his irrelevant scoring work as a starter, because he can hit shots at a high rate and he can pass up court on the break when weaker B squad defenders (or early game lazy A squads) are watching him.  He is atrocious as a half court play maker of any sort, set up or penetration, so in close game situations when play slows and opposing defenses press full court, he's still useless.  And will remain so- his athleticism, speed, and size are not negotiable.  We're talking all offense thus far, like good Nellie Heads, and should we care to examine his defense, we'd have an even longer list of limitations and faults to chronicle.  The Warriors drafted him to play point guard and look pretty and will only see return on half of the bargain.

CJ Watson, in contrast, averages over 15 PPG in the 6 team wins he's been a part of.  He plays 28 minutes, only about 2 more than his minutes in team losses, but scores more than twice as many points than in losses while shooting an incredible 68% from the field, 65% from three!  Clearly, those are ridiculously unlikely numbers over a full season.  But the Warriors are ridiculously unlikely to win games over much of the season, too.  There's an argument to be made, in a team structure founded solely and unabashedly upon high scoring, that CJ Watson's scoring performance has been the key peak variable in Warriors wins!  Again, this would be shoddy analysis.  Watson also racks up 3.7 APG in team wins, 3.33 steals, and commits 1.2 TO. 

Watson is only part of the picture.  Morrow?  Ten more MPG in team wins (he's played all 9), about 17 PPG, 5 RPG, 2 APG, 1.8 STL, and scintillating 58% shooting, SIXTY-THREE % ON THREES!  Anthony Morrow is ABSOLUTELY a key to winning for the Warriors.  Arguably, Morrow's success is THE key to wins for the Warriors as Maggette and Ellis produce fairly consistent numbers but to varying degrees of in-game relevance.  Morrow was expected to be an important role player for the team, so perhaps his strong work in team wins comes as no surprise.  And much was made of his personal travails recently in response to a poor shooting span.  Whatever the reason for his shooting issues, he was also held out of games as Curry played 40+ meaningless minutes to pad his Rookie Team stats and the team attempted to avoid the truth, that they failed miserably to improve the team through the draft when better options, short OR long term, were available.

Watson and Morrow have suffered the worst for playing time under the Stephen Curry Show on the Road to Nowhere.  Anthony Randolph, more than a year younger than Curry but far more impactful now and much more intriguing for longterm NBA performance, has suffered most under the double standard Don Nelson has always inflicted upon NBA bigmen vs. guards (Steinmetz discussed this in his recent CSN.com chat, as well). But CJ Watson is the direct player parallel to Curry and the incumbent reserve little guard with the most to lose in fishy PR-first rotations. 

Watson has already gone toe-to-toe with the Warriors' weird, creepy desire to "control" the fate of players who the league knows want to get away (Barnes and Pietrus, in most recent memory).  He had a deal from Orlando and the Warriors refused to let him go play for them.  So he took the one year qualifying offer, will risk the RFA game with the snarky Warriors front office snakes again, and hopes to get the playing time he's earned and produces in at some point.  It's a shame for CJ, one of the league's best guys by all accounts from the professional media, as he'd be competing for a title with former Warriors executive Otis Smith in Orlando. 

The Warriors apparently mess with players all the time in hopes of keeping their price tags and/or league demand low.  Andris Biedrins, for example, would have received incentive payments worth millions of dollars had he reached certain games played benchmarks last season.  After seeing his minutes decreased while Don Nelson ran small ball with Kelenna Azubuike, and prior to any Warriors injury report manipulations, he ended the season having "magically" played in 3 fewer games than his contract required to secure the incentives.  Marcus Thompson wrote that Biedrins had secured his incentives before the season ended last year, in direct response to questions the Warriors fan community had begun to ask about these playing time issues.  But that report seems to have been wholly inaccurate, perhaps because the team itself gave Marcus bad information.  Biedrins's incentives are currently listed as "unlikely" (which means he's not getting them) according to Sham Sports (see links section, right).

The Warriors' counter-productive roster screw over/hoarding practice also puts the clamps on pending Restricted Free Agents like Mickael Pietrus and CJ Watson.  Pietrus spent over a full season trying to get traded to Orlando while the Warriors held him hostage.  Marco Belinelli demanded out via trade last season, as well.  Players around the league, not surprisingy, refer to the prospect of negotiating with and playing for the Warriors in abject disgust.  Amar'e Stoudemire wouldn't even come play for the team because he knew they had no intent or ability to protect his interests.  Once he was on the market, he knew they wouldn't help him go to a better team.  So why bother?  He can get the same 5 years, max money without them anywhere.  Phoenix may not help him get the full 6 years this offseason, either, but he's winning and playing where and how he wants with no Nellie/Rowell weirdness to worry about. 

Let's not forget what the Amar'e trade would have meant to Andris Biedrins!  How many times can they screw HIM over as a Warrior?  Then again, playing with Steve Nash and getting tons of consistent playing time?  He'd be an All Star center for sure.  No complaints, no doubt.  Oh, but those pesky "injuries," right Warriors medical staff?  He'd be in the same spot he is now, right???  Sure- the player who pushed him in the back after taking Corey Maggette's crap all game or whatever the story is on Biedrins' injury (NBA game-related! Any insurance payments there, Warriors???) would have laid the same shot against a Phoenix team that refuses paint contact at all costs.  Who knows, Biedrins would probably show us the scars and assure us he was hurt- folks said he looked pretty bad- but in Warriorland, no team release is ever trustworthy.  Remember the "free run" Nellie publicly promised Anthony Randolph after his agent spoke to ESPN about his client's status under Don Nelson?  Chris Webber, Part II, is surely in the works after the Lakers game.  But Biedrins and Randolph will be well-advised on how to play this by Bill Duffy, one would assume.  Hate the player's side of the NBA money game all you want, Duffy's a master of it.

CJ Watson and Anthony Morrow, like Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Randolph, and Brandan Wright, are all staring the Warriors' Hardball! negotiating tactics in the face now.  "Salary Protection," as Robert Rowell famously declared his fiscal strategy after sending Baron Davis packing (where's little Bobby these days, anyway?), dismantled a not good but very famous and alluring small ball playoff darling in less than one calendar year, and signed Chris Webber for no apparent reason to cost the team a second shot at playoff work.  It's back to the dark ages of Chris Cohan's early ownership now and creating insurmountable rifts between players and management and coaching is the status quo. 

As ESPN and other sources noted after Tim Kawakami checked into the matter, Bill Duffy and Anthony Randolph know the Warriors' game well and are mindful of their best interests as extension periods arrive and playing time diminishes.  Randolph isn't up for an extension any time soon and he's playing more total minutes (like Brandan Wright before him- start, first half minutes, etc, but inexplicable yank jobs in bad small ball losses all the while) but the writing is on the wall as Nellie begins to jerk him around with Ronny Turiaf and Andris Biedrins available again.  Nelson looks certain to play them near a combined total under 70 MPG, and Randolph is at the end of that rotation.  Randolph was pulled in the second half of the Lakers game he was a dominant force in, and played less than only one other player..... Anthony Morrow.  Cue up the latest Warriors Stupid Nellie Small Ball, PR-First rotation loss.  And absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, brace yourselves for the Chris Webber-style blow up with Anthony Randolph in the very near future.  It can still be avoided, but the Don Nelson who drunkenly rambled through a terrible interview with the basketball ignoramus Ted Robinson on KNBR today has to make serious changes in his life if this is to be salvaged.  Based upon his comment that he sometimes meets with players to tell them that THEY must "change their loies," one shouldn't hold one's breath long on Nellie changing his tired, tired ways anytime before the Final Meltdown in Oakland.


At any rate, a look at how CJ Watson and Stephen Curry's December stat work stacks up:

Curry
33.8 MPG
15GS/15GP
13.5 PPG
4.4 RPG
3.7 APG
2.27 STL
.33 BLK
2.7 TO
1.38 A/TO
.445 FG%
.397 3PT%
1.9 FTA
3.5 PF

Watson
32.9 MPG
4 GS/15 GP
11.1 PPG
3.4 RPG
2.9 APG
2.07 STL
.27 BLK
1.2 TO
2.44 A/TO
.492 FG%
.378 3PT%
2.4 FTA
2.1 PF

Happy New Year, Warriors Fans

Update: December Rookie PGs and Go Green: Warriors Season PERs Up

December rolls on...

APG
1. Jennings - 6.7
2. Evans - 5.1
3. Flynn - 4.9
4. Holiday - 3.7
5. Curry - 3.7
6. Lawson - 3.3
7. Teague - 2.8
8. Collison - 2.8
9. Maynor - 2.6
10. Harden - 2.4

AST/48
1. Maynor - 11.0
2. Teague - 9.7
3. Jennings - 9.1
4. Collison - 8.9
5. Flynn - 7.9
6. Lawson - 7.2
7. Holiday - 6.8
8. Evans - 6.4
9. Beaubois - 5.5
10. Curry - 5.2

AST/TO
1. Beaubois - 4.00
2. Jennings - 2.90
3. Teague - 2.75
4. Maynor - 2.64
5. Lawson - 2.45
6. Flynn - 1.94
7. Holiday - 1.94
8. Evans - 1.74
9. Collison 1.72
10. Harden - 1.55


Warriors PER
PLAYER - CURRENT - PREV
Maggette - 19.50 - 19.05
Randolph - 18.38 - 17.62
George - 17.83 - 17.81
Ellis - 17.50 - 16.68
Watson - 14.50 - 14.47
Curry - 12.60 - 12.52
Morrow - 12.48 - 12.20
Biedrins - 11.56
Hunter - 9.69 - 10.62
Radmanovich - 8.08 - 7.80
Turiaf - 2.96

Warriors Beat the Celtics!

Awesome Win for the team. 
Much better than that Phoenix shitfest.
Boston just lost to the Clippers and Warriors with Paul Pierce out.  Ha.

Monta Ellis is absolutely an All Star.
Third-highest scoring guard in the league now, brilliant pick and roll playmaking with Ronny Turiaf tonight.

Morrow great, Randolph HUGE, CJ Watson exceptional.

Savor this one.

Warriors Win!!!!!

Warriors hit shots at a scalding 57% rate against Phoenix's non-defense but still barely won in one of those 1-in-10 hot shooting night track meets that is the ONLY way we EVER win under Don Nelson. It's not exciting, it's just bad basketball. But thanks to the Suns and Steve Nash for taking the bait and chucking away.

The team will pimp the Ronny Turiaf return heavily. So enjoy that, the stooges deserve a break from trying to polish the turd that is Stephen Curry's point guard game. Goran Dragic is SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better at NBA point than Curry will ever be. But still, Nellie played Corey Maggette and Vladimir Radmanovich at PF all damn game and never played Turiaf with Randolph. Not once. It's still tiny playground ball in Oakland. Expect no relevant change. And yet, a nice difference tonight: very even scoring. Curry wasn't forcefed touches and Ellis just go to do his thing tonight. Five players scored 14 or more points for the Warriors and then Curry chipped in 13 (6 on early game 3's Ellis set up for him- good shots, hit purely). Curry, ultimately, is superfluous. The team had guards everywhere. They play best when he's not involved or, apparently, when Keith Smart only has 6 players to play. ROLES SECURED. Nellie's roller coaster continues to *impress*.

Phoenix has now lost 7 in a row on the road and is starting to fall apart. Amar'e Stoudemire is a huge wuss. Why would a team want this guy, again? CJ Watson with great defense on Steve Nash to keep Nash off a good look for 3 at the end after Nash and Goran Dragic abused li'l GQ Jump Shooter all game. Nellie REFUSED to let the Minnesota Timberwolves pass the Warriors in the standings tonight, so he benched Hot Dog Curry for all meaningful second half play while the real Warriors did real work.

The home town scorekeepers knocked a minimum of 4 turnovers off of Curry's docket out of stoogey kindness. Happens all the time, check the article link to the right, and Morrow and Watson both badly outplayed Free Pass. But a win is a win is a win. Right???

GREAT job, Nellie, and great job from ANTHONY MORROW and CJ WATSON and welcome back Ronny Turiaf.
Missed your emotive flopping and ref-baiting.
And weak rebounding.

Anthony Randolph still great.
Monta Ellis an All Star but for the team he plays for.

You imbeciles who wanted the Ellis vs. Curry debate to take place:
Eff You.

Another Anti-Chris Cohan fan website

Look What I Started
I think I know why the PR goons and stoogey homers aren't posting much today. They're not on vacation, they're visiting the Chris Cohan Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly (Robert Rowell's alma mater!) website and hitting refresh like they've got money on hit counts:
http://www.pacslo.org/

My site was the second Google suggestion on a "Chris Cohan" search as recently as last night, for reasons I cannot explain. So we'll blame site hits. And because I know zero about computers, I have to keep searching as the quickest way to find my own damn blog because I screwed up something with my browser's cache or RAM or zip or spam or something. Whatever. The dweebs could tell me what's wrong and how to fix it.

Anyway, there's a new site hating on the real Chris Cohan.

This one is asking for money directly, PayPal and all, so be forewarned about assholes trying to turn a profit even off of mega-negative press (Warriors would). But:

http://cohanpleasesell.com/blog/

Eventually, ESPN and the nation will cover this incredible anti-Cohan fan website Warriors phenomenon. Bill Simmons is on the Bandwagon:

It wouldn't shock me if they dealt Randolph, Biedrins, Ellis and Curry in the same trade. It also wouldn't shock me if Don Nelson coached a game naked from the waist down, or if their devoted fans organized the first boycott of a professional sports team that actually worked. Can an entire franchise get Tyson Zone status?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/091223&sportCat=nba

Good times.


12/26 Game Preview
Jason Richardson STILL has not been properly honored by the team for leading them to the only success the Cohan era has ever known, long after Nellie quit back in February 2007. If you'll recall, his Oracle debut as a visiting player came the night the Warriors introduced Chris Effing Webber and the Death of We Believe! back on February 1st, 2008:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=280201009

He returns to the Oracle tonight with the very good Phoenix Suns, who don't miss Shaq or Shawn Marion and destroyed the Clippers in Phoenix last night. They've not been good on the road and might be tired, so Nellie has a chance. Turiaf returns tonight? Biedrins? No one knows for sure but probably, it's Turiaf. Marc Grabow and Tom Abdenour are playing douche bag possum with the fans again. It's like Bill Belichik screwing with his opponents' minds via the injury reports only, you know, to no relevant competitive advantage. It's a backup, jump-shooting, non-rebounding, cheerleading disco dancer, folks. Not Greg Oden or Joel Przybilla or Yao Ming.

Go Kings! (Lakers at Arco tonight- screw 'em)

New Orleans was bad. But we were badder.

Last night, Nellie plugged the small ballers in diligently to ensure the loss with help from li'l GQ Hot Dog and his chuckchuckchuck and SHIT defense (see Geoff Lepper's Morning Report for more on this: http://48minutes.net/2009/12/24/the-warriors-report/). But Curry racked up some cheap assists early in the game and Nellie's stupid rebounding "scheme" continues to appease the circus fan morons out there with more empty Curry stats instead of quality play, legitimate team rebounding and defense, or any real development of Curry's deplorably limited point guard game. He continues to stay low low low on all relevant point guard measures in December.

The league (Thorpe and the ESPNers searching for an escape from Tiny Ben Gordon) is already blaming Nelson's shitball "system" for Curry's failure to impress. At all. It will only get better, I'm sure. It's OK, they were duped, too. Witness, FreeDarko's Bethlehem Shoals with the shot across the bow of hype-dom in the Sporting News:

There was a glut of point guards, many of whom might not really be point guards, and a bizarre fixation on media darling Stephen Curry that most scouts should've been able to see past. The Rubio soap opera was the biggest story going. http://bit.ly/61qqbm

So it's no surprise that, as I dutifully chronicle GQ Stat Brat's shitty and consequence-free debut, the team makes obvious concessions like playing Randolph seriously as the Cartier Martin signing news goes public and telling Curry to get all the assists he can in the first half so he can chuck at will (and turn the ball over) in the second. The Warriors did all this shit with Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson before the All Star game "snub" in 2008. It's meaningless. It's typical Nellie Ball bullshit.

For a clue as to how superficial and internet-reactionary Curry is, and thus how beautifully he fits the Warriors' m.o., recall that after that UGLY loss to Memphis, Curry said "Our stats were good. Their stats were better."

Uh huh.

Now, on statistics: Curry is on pace to surpass Mario Chalmers' incredible 240 fouls as a rookie guard last year (current pace: 274). Not sure what the rookie record is but Chalmers got 32 MPG for 82 games. So congratulations, Warriors, you're saying Curry is as valuable to Warriors success as Mario Chalmers is to Pat Riley's tank. Difference: you've got NO PLAY on the HOF free agent class this Summer. Chalmers Update: benched for Carlos Arroyo of late.

Way to go on all that. Hope you're making buckets of cash.
Merry Christmas, you filthy animal(s):




Warriors PER
PLAYER - CURRENT - PREV

Maggette - 19.33 - 19.05

Jerryd Bayless
Ben Gordon
Troy Murphy
Rudy Gay
Luol Deng
Luis Scola
Sergio Rodriguez
Brandon Bass

Randolph - 17.72 - 17.62
Ellis - 16.95 - 16.68
Watson - 13.70 - 14.47 (Nellie and Rowell screwing him over huge after Smart exposed Curry and so now we'll see Watson's minutes decrease as they try to get Curry's empty Nellie Ball stats above Watson's. Who should be headed to the NBA Finals with Otis Smith and Mickael Pietrus but for the Warriors' vindictive player screw-over impulses. Battle of the shitwings. No, Ellis is not a shitwing. You imbeciles.)
Curry - 12.70 - 12.52
Morrow - 12.25 - 12.20 (Curry's free pass is killing Morrow's game after the team pushed its summer ticket sales with Morrow and Randolph)
Hunter - 10.62 (Uh, Mark Grabow? 22 years on the team payroll says you're part of the problem)
Radmanovich - 7.60 - 7.80 (If you pimped him, you're an idiot.)

Updates: December Rookie PG Stats & Warriors Season PER

Curry and the Warriors can't stop reading my blog.

GQ Curry's free pass from Don Nelson (whose 2006-10 "work" hurtles toward Eric Musselman's .457 Warriors winning record at ever-increasing speed) has apparently completely sabotaged a hot Warriors talk point, Anthony Morrow. The team tried to suggest letting Raja Bell's contract simply expire (they'll never re-sign him) is SMARTER than trying to get anything in trade because that Cap Room will go to Morrow's extension! (They can match anything and the cap is irrelevant, he'll be a restricted free agent). But suddenly Morrow's upside future seems like no sure bet, hardly a viable reason to shut down trade talk on the Claxton and Bell (and Azubuike) insurance-covered contracts. That's enough for a major basketball player, if a team is dumping one. Brand? Boozer? Whatever. Names are just names until they're here and performing.

Shall we blame Morrow's personal life for his decreased role and deteriorating game?
That always works so well in Warriors PR Land, USA.

Meanwhile, Chris Hunter was allowed to foul out of last night's debacle in Memphis (Grizzlies have raced past the Warriors, too) in 30+ minutes. Anthony Randolph just barely ticked 20 minutes played and was not allowed to foul out. Chris Hunter, an undrafted D-League player SIGNED FOR THE WHOLE YEAR (Hi Rob Kurz) has now been allowed to foul out of as many CAREER games as Anthony Randolph. Randoph has not been allowed a full 6 fouls in any game this season and is averaging 22.6 MPG. Randolph is now 23rd among all NBA sophomores for minutes per game. Not a tragic position besides the obvious Nelson/Warriors trend establishing itself yet again amidst lies about long leashes and expanded roles. The team is 7-20, folks. Randolph should be playing 35 a night and fouling out if that's what happens.

No more excuses. This team isn't improving at all and Randolph looks as good (and bad) now as he did as a rookie and in Summer League 2008. Nellie's not developing him at all and the team is about to sign Cartier Martin if their injury exception application (Mikki Moore) is approved.

Bye bye, Anthony Randolph.
Corey Maggette carrying cost.

December rolls on...

APG
1. Jennings - 7.0
2. Evans - 5.4
3. Flynn - 4.8
4. Holiday - 4.6
5. Curry - 3.7
6. Lawson - 3.0
7. Teague - 3.0
8. Collison - 2.9
9. Maynor - 2.8
10. Harden - 2.6

AST/48
1. Maynor - 12.1
2. Teague - 10.1
3. Jennings - 9.0
4. Collison - 9.0
5. Flynn - 7.8
6. Holiday - 7.7
7. Lawson - 7.3
8. Evans - 7.0
9. Beaubois - 5.5
10. Curry - 4.9

AST/TO
1. Beaubois - 4.00
2. Jennings - 3.68
3. Teague - 3.33
4. Maynor - 2.58
5. Holiday - 2.46
6. Lawson - 2.20
7. Evans - 1.84
8. Flynn - 1.78
9. Harden - 1.73
10. Collison - 1.63


Warriors PER
PLAYER - CURRENT - PREV

Maggette - 19.05 - 18.48
George - 17.81 - 17.80
Randolph - 17.62 - 18.12
Ellis - 16.68 - 16.54
Watson - 14.47 - 15.35
Curry - 12.52 - 12.03
Morrow - 12.20 - 12.68
Hunter - 10.62 - 8.13
Radmanovich - 7.80 - 7.85

Flunkster Dude Update

This Holiday Season, a stroll down memory lane might be just the ticket to cheer Warriors fans up after getting boat raced by one of the league's worst teams in our own building. From the Fitz Files:

APPRECIATED THE CALL.....
Posted by flunkster dude on 2009-05-21 14:54:19
I think we are all so mezmerized by what we read in the paper and take it as
gospel. I actually enjoyed the call and appreciate their honesty, even if
everything was not what we wanted to hear. I would like to hear from them more
often. I have already renewed and are part of the 70%, so I will hope for the
best from section 121......

Oh, Ray Ridder. And Ray also likes to bag on Matt Steinmetz, "anonymously" or otherwise.

http://deadspin.com/5266055/suspiciously-optimistic-guy-in-warriors-forum-turns-out-to-be-warriors-flack

Rookie "Point" Guards - December Assists Leaders

Ten games into the rookie Settle-In month, December, the trends are establishing themselves:

APG
1. Jennings - 6.9
2. Evans - 5.9
3. Flynn - 5.3
4. Holiday - 5.2
5. Teague - 3.8
6. Harden - 3.4 (I know, I know)
7. Curry - 3.3
8. Lawson - 3.1
9. Maynor - 3.0
10. Collison - 2.9

AST/48
1. Maynor - 12.1
2. Teague - 10.8
3. Jennings - 8.9
4. Collison - 8.6
5. Flynn - 8.6
6. Evans - 7.9
7. Holiday - 7.9
8. Lawson - 7.5
9. Harden - 6.4
10. Beaubois - 5.5

AST/TO
1. Beaubois - 4.00
2. Jennings - 3.44
3. Teague - 3.33
4. Maynor - 2.70
5. Holiday - 2.60
6. Evans - 2.30
7. Lawson - 2.21
8. Flynn - 2.21
9. Harden - 1.80
10. Collison - 1.44

Updated Team PER

Don Nelson was on the radio today. He said Curry was the worst rookie point guard in the league. Or at least, he said the other rookie PGs are all doing better than Curry. Then he muttered something to himself, swigged his scotch, farted, and continued on with some crap about Monta Ellis enjoying his celebrity status. No no no, he wasn't saying that Ellis was enjoying CURRY's celebrity status. He said Monta Ellis is enjoying Monta Ellis' celebrity status. Trust me, no one in that locker room is enjoying GQ Curry's celebrity status.

It was a lot of fun.

Coming soon: Rod Benson? Rob Kurz? Dwayne Jones? John Bryant didn't play tonight for the Bayhawks. Maybe he's Oakland-bound? Richard Hendrix to be shipped in from Europe?

Devean George will get major run next.

Anyway.

PLAYER - CURRENT - PREV

Maggette - 18.48 - 18.34
Randolph - 18.12 - 18.74
George - 17.80
Ellis - 16.54 - 17.24
Watson - 15.35 - 16.77
Morrow - 12.68 - 15.17
Curry - 12.03 - 11.23 (Improvement!)
Hunter - 8.13 - 12.12 - 18.40
Radmanovich - 7.85 - 9.36

AST/48 - December Rookie PGs

Li'l GQ Hot Dog was booed at Oracle tonight after picking up 3 quick fouls in the first quarter and sucking generally despite several plays run JUST to get him a shot so he'd quit crying. Whatever Keith Smart meant when he called Curry a fast learner because he took a few free throws in the Philadelphia ass-kicking by 19-year-old Jrue Holiday, is now even less relevant to life here on Earth. ZERO FT attempts tonight.

Curry's also doing some ridiculous arm-in-the-air thing after he bricks 3 pointers or gets scored on (easily). Stands there with his arm up looking awkward. Kid's head is all kinda messed up right now. He needs major bench time. Then again, he pouts when he's on the bench. Tonight, he dramatically hung a towel over his head and did everything you'd expect a 6 handicap to do when life wasn't easy and free and famous and handed to him. He's so incredibly self-centered, it's no wonder Corey Maggette is his best friend on the team. Meanwhile, Randolph was eviscerated by the "coach," as was Morrow, apparently for not going out of their way to pay attention to the sniveling spoiled brat from that non-Duke school. And Nellie pulls his Stephen Jackson defense out for Randolph: "He's my guy." So this should end well.

Oh yeah, the numbers:

1. Maynor - 13.4
2. Teague - 11.1
3. Flynn - 9.4
4. Collison - 8.9
5. Jennings - 8.3
6. Evans - 7.6
7. Lawson - 7.3
8. Harden - 5.8 (I know, not a point guard)
9. Holiday - 5.7 (SMOKED Hot Dog h2h!)
10. Beaubois - 5.5
11. Curry - 4.5
12. Douglas - 4.1 (Season 25.6 PTS/48 @ better % than Curry's 16.9 PTS/48)

Alright! Not dead last!

Warriors Media Update: Steinmetz Blog Up and Running

This is awesome.

With CSN's official unveiling of the Matt Steinmetz Warriors blog, the Bay Area gains another excellent fulltime Warriors analyst. Matt covered the Ws for the CC Times for a long time, does Ws games on CSN, and was doing leaguewide coverage with AOL Fanhouse until, I guess, today.

Check him, he's one of the best:
http://www.csnbayarea.com/pages/steinmetz_blog

Note his proud bio line: Award-winning coverage of the Sprewell-Carlessimo choking incident.


I'll put my Bay Area Fantasy Analysts Team (B.A. FAT) up against any other team in the country (alphabetic- no ranking this incredible rotation):

Lauridsen
Lepper
Kawakami
Steinmetz
Thompson

Welcome back, Mr. Steinmetz!

Update: Rookie Point Guard AST/TO in December

Jrue demolished li'l GQ Hot Dog last night. Shocking.

1. Beaubois - 4.00
2. Teague - 3.67
3. Maynor - 3.17
4. Jennings - 3.08
5. Matthews - 2.80 (sure not a PG, but Go Jazz!)
6. Evans - 2.77
7. Flynn - 2.35
8. Lawson - 2.09
9. Collison - 1.75
10. Holiday - 1.67
11. Harden - 1.64 (sure not a PG, but Go Thunder!)
12. Earl Clark - 1.50 (sure not a PG, but Go Suns!)
13. Douglas - 1.25
14. Curry - 1.04
15. Oh wait, that's it. Dead fucking last.

Curry vs. Watson vs. Randolph & The Upside Rookies vs. Curry in December

As the Warriors begin the official Curry-instead of-Monta campaign heading into Christmas (textbook) and Marcus Thompson pens the Warriors' desired slam on Monta Ellis-as-point guard (no link, tho I love me some MTII), it's a good time to take a gander at the team's intended replacement for Ellis. Smart hyped GQ Hotdog as a true point guard loudly and clearly to the Detroit broadcast team last night while Curry hyped himself as the team's second SCORING option. Uh huh.


December Per 48 min
C.J. Watson
34.3 MPG, 18.6 PPG, 5.8 REB, 3.8 AST, 2.60 STL,
1.4 TO, 2.71 A/TO, 3.6 PF, .521 FG%, .577 AFG%

Stephen Curry
35.7 MPG, 18.2 PPG, 4.8 REB, 4.2 AST, 3.26 STL,
4.0 TO, 1.05 A/TO, 4.2 PF, .463 FG%, .519 AFG%

Oh yeah, and Anthony Randolph is at 4.6 AST/48 min and has an incredible 3.67 A/TO ratio.

Assists per game among rookies in December
Jennings - 6.7 (38.5 MPG)
Flynn - 6.0 (30.0)
Evans - 6.0 (35.5)
Collison - 3.8 (18.6)
Teague - 3.8 (14.2)
Curry - 3.1 (35.7)
Maynor - 2.8 (10.2)
Harden - 2.8 (25.8)
Lawson - 2.7 (19.4)
Holiday - 2.0 (22.5)

Curry's A/TO ratio is the absolute worst on this list.
Curry's A/TO in December is dead last among rookie "point" guards.

By a lot.

GQ Curry in December

35.3 MPG

32-70 (.457)
6-22 3PT (.273)
6-7 FT (.857)

2.2 STL
0.5 BLK
2.8 TO
3.0 PF
3.8 REB
3.0 AST
12.7 PTS

Warriors Take Care of League's Worst Team While Matt Steinmetz Takes Care of the Warriors on KNBR. Plus, You'll Never Get Rid of Cohan & Rowell.

On the game:

CJ Watson, Corey Maggette, and Anthony Randolph get the game ball.
GQ Curry made a couple shots while the FREAKING NETS beat the crap out of the Warriors early in this game but then was shitty and had the worst second half performance I've seen from any player on any team this year. Ellis was total shit early but had a dynamite late second half to secure a win that was anything but guaranteed. Watson, who knows how to play in this league whether he's an All Star or a role player, took his rightful spot at the head of the class by outplaying Curry AGAIN and GQ hit the bench for the 4th Q.

Keith Smart doesn't deserve credit for a win. Don Nelson doesn't deserve credit for a win. No one does. And Kiki's Nets are the sloppiest passers in the league, hands-down.

Warriors win!

Game recap over.
Adequate to satisfy even the most passionate reader's demands.

Moving on to Matt Steinmetz and the last-second interview set up with Ralph tonight after the Nets boat raced the Warriors early in the shitfest:

Nellie has to go, young players may not be the answer, team in a rut many years long. Randolph and Ellis ABSOLUTELY at odds with Nelson. Maggette likely to be traded soon. No confidence in Curry's greatness, contrary to the fawning of others. No reason to hope next year will be any better. Nellie here for the record only and the record will be "hollow."

http://www.knbr.com/common/global_audio/201/15031.mp3

You HAVE to listen to Matt lay it on Nelson and the Warriors as Ralph stammers and mumbles, totally unprepared for any of such talk. Shame Damon Bruce, who REAMED Bob Fitzgerald, Rod Brooks, Jim Barnett, and Tim Roye earlier tonight for their rah rah bullshit over the last 10+ years, wasn't conducting the interview.

Incidentally, Nelson just got $7 million from Cuban in the arbitration settlement.

Also, Warriors have been among lead leaders for game gate draw at over $1 million per game before this year's league wide decline. Ws down 22.3% acc. to Ken Berger's latest:
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/18850386)

But still strong in relative league terms. Good luck getting rid of Chris Cohan and Robert Rowell. Ever.

What the Hell is EWA?

John Hollinger has some stat called "Estimated Wins Added" now. I don't know when he started doing this. I don't know what it is. I don't know what it means. I don't understand how it's calculated. And, ergo, I'm fairly confident it's total bullshit.

But when the results feel this right, I'm left powerless before the greatness that is geek sports math.
Vive le Analytique.

I'm pretty sure that's good French there. Maybe. Close enough for government work.

Anyway, here are the numbers:


Lebron : 7.1

Durant : 5.5

Roy : 3.7

Harrington : 2.7

Ellis : 2.5

Crawford : 1.9

Maggette : 1.9
Morrow : 1.4
Randolph : 1.3
Azubuike : 1.1

Jackson : 0.9

Watson : 0.7
Bell : 0.3
Curry : 0.2
Biedrins : 0.2
Hunter : 0.0
George : -0.0 [No idea what a negative zero is but it sounds like Devean George]
Moore : -0.1
Turiaf : -0.3
Radmanovich : -0.4

Terrence Williams : -0.9
Rafer Alston : -1.0


TOP ROOKIE EWA's:

Evans : 2.4
Jennings : 2.3
Harden : 1.5
Lawson : 1.5
Collison : 1.1
Blair : 1.0
Casspi : 0.9
Budinger : 0.8
Flynn : 0.7
Thornton : 0.6
Douglas : 0.5
Derozan : 0.5
Maynor : 0.4
Hill : 0.3
Beaubois : 0.3
Cunningham : 0.3
Brown : 0.3
Andersen : 0.3
Thabeet : 0.2
Gibson : 0.2
Curry : 0.2
Daye : 0.2
Hansbrough : 0.2
Young : 0.2

We Be-LEFT!

Never Forget.

Shocking: Devean George plays!

I ring the bell, they salivate.

This team is a fucking joke.
Curry is a tiny tiny 2, period.
Highest individual scoring total in team's lowest collective output all season.
Turnovers, more fouls, no assists like the rest of the team.

Atrocious defense on James Harden as Ellis did great work on Durant.

The end.

Updated Team PER Ratings

I won't track players lost for the season or involved in Warriors injury exception/trade Hardball! bullshit
(Azubuike, Wright, Bell, Claxton, George)

Warriors knowingly traded productive or recently drafted NBA players for three guys who won't play for them this season, apparently, all to save money. Amazing.

New indicator: Green if player's PER increased since last update (11/21), red if it declined.

PLAYER - CURRENT - PREV

Randolph - 18.74 - 18.21
Maggette - 18.34 - 21.89
Ellis - 17.24 - 16.64
Watson - 16.77 - 17.26
Morrow - 15.17 - 13.81
Biedrins - 14.15 - 14.51
Hunter - 12.12 - 18.40
Curry - 11.23 - 11.95
Moore - 9.75 - 10.46
Radmanovich - 9.36 - 8.14
Turiaf - 2.82 - 4.49

Joe Lacob is a Fucking Idiot and His Minority Investors Got Exactly What They Deserved.

I mean, like there's anything left to say about these fucking idiots.

PS, Stephen Curry isn't leading any NBA team anywhere that matters. Fuck off with that bullshit.
Enjoy the lockout, ass holes.

Emergency Genius-O-Meter Update

In the wake of the travesty we just witnessed against the Rockets:

Formula: [Production + Projection - Hype]

1. Brandon Jennings
2. Tyreke Evans
3. Darren Collison
4. Ty Lawson
5. Johnny Flynn
6. Eric Maynor
7. Rodrigue Beaubois
8. Jrue Holiday
9. Ricky Rubio
10. Toney Douglas
11. Jeff Teague
12. GQ Curry

David Thorpe says GQ Curry doesn't understand basketball

Thorpe released his monthly long-form rookie rankings, the ones where he sketches a few paragraphs about some kids and goes a little deeper into their development. He also did 10 "Needs Improvement" blurbs, for his current top 10 rookies.

The best he can offer on Stephen Curry this month is, the fast break is hard to understand. I guess.

Clearly, this is a major point guard PROJECT, and even that is being kind. If you've actually, you know, watched a Warriors game, it's obvious Stephen Curry is all flash and hype. He's no better than Stephen Jackson as a distributor, and in fact is even higher risk because he can't score on his own once he screws up other options. I'll still take him over Jackson on principle, but then I'd take CJ Watson over Curry on the same sort of principle these days.

So as the national press figures out they have no marketing darling in Curry since he sucks, they're opening up the Truth Vault a little. Curry can't see NBA plays developing and can't execute in time, anyway. Half court sets in which he buries Randolph under the hoop with terrible position once he's already missed the play is not quite in Thorpe's purview here, nor are the passes INTO double teams at the 3 point line. But what is strikingly evident in Thorpe's carefully-chosen rationalization is this:

Stephen Curry has no relevant creativity as a ball handler. In fact, he's downright INEFFECTUAL as a point guard! He's a great-handling tiny 2 who can't get a shot off under any sort of defensive pressure.

Curry may not lead a fast break or legitimate NBA play but the Warriors haven't ever cared about NBA legitimacy so this, per the Thorpe excuse-making, could simply be endemic to Oakland ball. But it's worse than that. He'll go behind the back on a 3-on-1 break down 2 points with two minutes to go in the 4th quarter. He'll throw it full court down 5 in mid-4th quarter. He'll do any old circus-shitball thing Baron Davis or Stephen Jackson would do, and it works even less than that SwaggerBall bullshit did.

Kid can shoot sometimes, but is now down to .426 overall while Ellis is about 50 points higher as he leads all PGs in scoring. Curry, basically, is irrelevant. A shooting guard who can pass AND defend, with actual size, would be better than this shit. Jackson averaged high assists numbers, too.

The Thorpe comments:

Because the Warriors play at such a fast pace, it's easy to see why Curry makes the mistakes he does, but it's important for him to start seeing the play before he actually acts it out. Too often he rushes into something and gets himself into trouble. Then he's left with nothing but bad options, which typically lead to a turnover.

Anticipating what will happen before he acts will help keep him out of trouble, and it's one of the great values of watching game film.

It's important for him to start seeing the play?!
Anticipation "will help" him?!

My god. My god.

Compare with Ty Lawson's write-up in the same feature:

I've studied the tapes, box scores and advanced stats, and the most glaring flaw Lawson has is ... well, I have no idea. In the role he's playing on the Nuggets, he's performing about as well as anyone could. That's not to say he can't get better -- of course he can -- but I wouldn't suggest he change a thing right now.

To be fair, as Mr Mully over on the Lauridsen Fast Break blog noted, Curry actually rose two spots in Thorpe's latest rankings. But if anything, this is as much to ensure more folks read the troubling review by plopping Curry in the rankings that show up on the first page, or sheer name drop quota-filling, as anything else. It was obviously important to discuss Curry's disappointing but consequence-free first month in the league as one of the oldest rookies taken in the first round, so he had to make this top 10. Understood, no one out of the top 10 for Thorpe this month has a compelling case for a special write-up. In fact, Budinger and Jerebko specifically have been perfect in their roles. No major criticism required, it's purely academic for Thorpe to keep them top 20 and not sweat the details too much. Chase has been off with his shot so he needed to fall a bit from Thorpe's last go-round. Jerebko probably did not but his stats have been pretty inconsistent despite the obvious big man steal Detroit got when they took him in the second round.

Full disclosure: I may be overstating Curry's age a bit. It's sort of an old class in general. But Curry's older than many and the only rookie point guard one could legitimately say he's outperformed, even statistically, at any point this season, is the league's youngest player, Jrue Holiday. Jrue was nails when he got run after Lou Williams injury. Now that AI's in town, he's back to wasting away on a poorly constructed Philadelphia roster. NO clue what they're doing there.

The top 14 in Thorpe's latest rankings are the only players he updated his write-ups for, which doesn't necessarily mean anything about the rankings themselves. However, Taj Gibson gets royally screwed in the process and no mention of DeRozan or Beaubois' improvements at all. So there you have it. Thorpe had an article quota to fill and it correctly influenced his current top 10 due to the list tie-in to the article. Curry's criminally low PER is indeed near last among Thorpe's top 20 and Thorpe's write-up is pretty depressing, diplomatic and charitable as it is. And BOY is Curry OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD to not get the game yet.

Lemon.

Genius-O-Meter: Ty Lawson brutalizes li'l Stephen "GQ" Curry (as predicted) & Don Nelson coaches his 800th* career Warriors game!

The most recent Cohan Genius-O-Meter rankings heading into Tuesday night's throttling of the Warriors by the most overrated "good" team in recent memory, the Denver Wasted Talents, had li'l Stephen well behind Ty Lawson. And once they were going head-to-head in the waning hours of a blow out, Ty Lawson had his way with the league's worst defender, much as any other Nugget had all night to that point. On the other end, Curry was totally helpless against the faster, stronger, better, smarter, and more NBA relevant Lawson, who sniffed out and snuffed any dumb ass idea Curry had. Behind the backs, crazy flings into traffic to a guy with terrible position out of bounds, lazy lobs INTO tight double teams at the three point line, it made no difference. Lawson wasn't fooled and wasn't having it. Curry tried his best, most trusted BS non-point-guard street ball gimmick moves. Nothin' doin'.

Meanwhile, Brandon Jennings is recovering from Michael Redd's ego and some tougher opponents but still ahead of the class. Remember, the Genius-O-Meter's advanced scientific formula has you covered on all fronts:

Formula: [Production + Projection - Hype]

1. Brandon Jennings
2. Tyreke Evans
3. Darren Collison
4. Ty Lawson
5. Johnny Flynn
6. Eric Maynor
7. Rodrigue Beaubois
8. Jrue Holiday
9. Ricky Rubio
10. GQ Curry
11. Toney Douglas
12. Jeff Teague

In other news, Don Nelson coached* his 800th* official game for the Warriors tonight. He's so brilliant, he can coach* from thousands of miles away! (he's on Maui) Only Al Attles has coached more in the history of the franchise. So congratulations*, Nellie! You're a true* Warriors hero!

*1,333 wins = 762 home runs