FanHouse AnthonyMorrow

Warriors haymaker Stephen Jackson is again talking to Yahoo!'s Marc Spears about the injustice of it all, in which "it all" is a $30-million extension from a bad team who has apparently broke its promise to stop sucking. Clearly, in the grand scheme of the Golden State's familiar foray into bleakness, Stephen Jackson is the victim, according to Stephen Jackson.

But he's also a cause, and not because of this latest impetuousness. The very fact that Jackson is considered the Most Valuable Warrior -- or even a valuable Warrior -- helped get Golden State into this mess.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- For the second straight year, the Phoenix Suns hosted an outdoor preseason game at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California. Only this time, the weather cooperated to make it a fantastic event in an atmosphere about as unique as they come by NBA standards.

FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Point forward. The final frontier.

These are the voyages of the... okay, that joke ran out of gas before it even started (much like the Warriors' playoff hopes. Hey-O!). The point is, the point forward position, the true point forward position is essentially the Holy Grail. Long rumored, we have specific evidence to support its existence (Magic Johnson), and often imitated (LeBron James), but no one has seemed to find it in years.

Enter Anthony Randolph and the Temple of Nellie.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Amid a fantastic slate top to bottom, Boston at Orlando stood out as the must-watch. And the teams delivered: the Magic ended up with a rollicking two-point victory on the back of Dwight Howard's deft post play and some lovely outside shooting from everyone else. (Which is to say they won this game how they win every other game.)

Jamal Crawford will be a spectator tonight, watching from the bench as the Warriors host the Bobcats. Is he injured? Not at all. Suspended? Hardly. Instead, he's the victim one of Don Nelson's whims.

Despite the fact that Golden State's backcourt is already short-handed -- Monta Ellis (ankle) has already missed one game and will likely miss several more -- Nelson decided that tonight is a good time to begin randomly benching veterans in order to give younger players more playing time. C.J. Watson is expected to start, and Anthony Morrow and Marco Bellinelli should see a few more minutes, as well.

From the perspective of Cleveland and New Jersey, the Knicks went from Jean Grey to Dark Phoenix today. But we won't know if the Great Contract Sell-off of 2008 actually worked for roughly 586 days, so let's focus on the present: the weirdest team in the league just got more gonzo. Don Nelson already starts four two-guards, and now he's acquired Jamal Crawford. Does the trade make you tingle, Nellie?

"I'm stoked, is what I am."

Once Monta Ellis returns and Crawford suits up (the Warriors expect him to be ready Tuesday), I expect you'll be able to describe six of the top seven Warriors in minutes per game as two-guards. Corey Maggette currently mans the power forward position. Stephen Jackson has been alternately running point and sitting at small forward. Anthony Morrow has gotten two starts at the two-guard (with another expected tonight), and Kelenna Azubuike has been alongside him for more than a week.

In the Matt Steinmetz Examiner piece linked above, Nelson notes that Crawford will likely start at the one for now and will share the associated duties with Ellis. Crawford, Ellis, Jackson and Maggette figure to be your starters, with Morrow and Azubuike ready to jump in before the first true power forward or center (Brandan Wright and Ronny Turiaf are each under 18 minutes per game).

Nellieball is getting even more bizarre before our eyes. Andris Biedrins, I hope to ready to keep on rebounding.

H/T: Golden State of Mind

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard may be tight off the court, but that didn't stop Bosh from trying to do very bad things to Howard once the ball tipped last night. Playing all but three minutes, Bosh tallied a preposterous 40 points and 18 boards on 12-19 shooting from the field, chipping in four assists, two steals and a block for good measure.

Of course, Howard got the last laugh -- the Magic won 103-90 -- but it's not everyday that an opposing big man makes Superman (18 points, nine boards) look like a mere mortal.

Take Three-Pointers and Call Me Tony Morrow: Just in case you figured Anthony Morrow was a flash in the pan, the undrafted rookie followed his 37-point explosion on Saturday with 25 more points last night against the Blazers. He's been on fire from beyond the three-point line, connecting on four more three-pointers and combining to hit 8-for-10 in the last two games.

Rook Check takes a look at the progress of NBA Rookies throughout the season.

The story going into yesterday's game between the Clippers and the Warriors was obviously the fact that it was Baron Davis' first game facing his former team. But that wasn't the case when the final buzzer sounded. Because while Davis played well (though not well enough to get his team the win), another guard on the court stole the show, and chances are, you've never heard of him.

Warriors' rookie Anthony Morrow got his first career NBA start, and made the absolute most of the opportunity. He scored 37 points on 15-for-20 shooting, and also grabbed 11 rebounds. Morrow was an undrafted free agent, and was signed by the Warriors after playing well for them during Summer League.

If you had never heard of Morrow before yesterday, don't worry: neither had Baron Davis, who praised Morrow's amazing performance afterward:

"Oh my God, who was that guy?" Davis said. "He just came out of nowhere. We had watched him and coach told us he can shoot. But he's just one of those guys. Nellie keeps guys like that on his team, and when he got the confidence to score, he got hot. He got hot. He got hot. He couldn't miss."

While Morrow was on fire against the Clippers, he'll likely face a tougher challenge when being defended by ... oh, just about anybody else. The Clips have a habit of allowing a guard on the opposing team to go off; Beno Udrih torched them for 30 the game before during the Clippers' loss to the Kings. Still, that was an exciting first start for Morrow, and he'll get his chance to prove it wasn't a fluke this Tuesday when the Warriors host the Blazers.

With the fall beginning and college basketball just around the corner, it's time to look back at what our favorite teams did during their summer vacations. Some did some good things; some had a bad time. So let's look back at who did what in our How I Spent My Summer Vacation series.

Today's look is the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Roy Williams Hits Jackpot When All His Guys Return

The Tar Heels were at quite the crossroads. After a great season ended with a disappointing loss to Kansas, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green all decided to take a look at the NBA Draft. Hansbrough decided to come back, but the other three entered the draft with the opportunity to come back to school if they didn't like their draft status.

If any or all left, the Heels were facing some uncertainty heading into the season. Yes, they'd still be a good team but they'd have a few holes.

In a somewhat surprising move, all three Heels decided to come back for one last hurrah. That means Ol' Roy gets everyone back from that Final Four team (sans a transferred Alex Stepheson and a graduating Quentin Thomas -- both role players). They also bring in three McDonald's All Americans.