FanHouse CoreyMaggette

SACRAMENTO -- It's not so much the Warriors' 1-4 start that's the problem. It's the teams they've lost to and the manner in which they've been defeated.

Nobody expected the Warriors to be among the Western Conference elite. But they shouldn't be a team that can't compete with the L.A. Clippers and Sacramento Kings. But they can't. Not now.

What a miserable weekend it was for the Warriors. And you could tell by taking one stroll through the locker room after their 120-107 loss to the Kings on Sunday that there's more to this tough start than just a tough start.

Title Chaste is the diary of Matt Snyder in his season a virgin fantasy basketball player.

Well, that didn't take long. Thanks to Mo Williams, Danny Granger, Amare Stoudemire, Brook Lopez, Jason Terry, Andrea Bargnani and Shawn Marion, I won my first career fantasy basketball game. I should also point out I owe the scheduling for the victory as well, because my team checked in as the sixth-highest scorer out of 12. Really, it could have gone either way. This victory was a sign that being lucky is just as worthwhile as being smart in fantasy basketball, just as I already knew in fantasy baseball and fantasy football. On the other hand, skill is still paramount -- as the top scorer for the week was, not surprisingly, Tom Lorenzo.

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FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The optimists around the Bay Area like to say that the Warriors' 29-win season in 2008-09 was primarily the result of too many injuries and a very young roster.

The pessimists say that last year's significant step-back-- from 48 wins the season before -- was mostly the result of poor management decisions that yielded a mismatched roster with too much overlap on the perimeter and not enough bulk on the interior.

The goal in 2009-10 is to figure out which side was right.

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One question for the San Antonio Spurs: Now what?

Sure, it's possible the Spurs can put together a nice effort on their homecourt in Game 5 on Tuesday night and push their series against the Mavericks to a sixth game in Dallas.

And maybe the Spurs could even follow that up with an unlikely Game 6 win on the road and make their first-round series a seven-gamer.

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As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

Stuff definitely went wrong for the Golden State Warriors this year. The only real question is whether the trouble started when Baron Davis left or immediately afterward.

There will be an eternal debate in the Bay Area about whether or not the Warriors should have kept Davis, or at least made a better effort to keep him. Instead, Davis signed with the L.A. Clippers in July, and the Warriors' 2008-09 was irreparably altered.

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.

Tim Duncan is known for many things -- his stellar defense, his killer bank shot, his mastery of the wizard class -- but he's never been the type of dude to rack up triple-doubles. Timmy has two triple-doubles in almost 900 career games ... but he almost added a third Tuesday night in New Jersey.

Duncan finished with a game-high 27 points, a game-high nine rebounds, and a game-high eight assists, as well as four blocks -- which happened to be more than every other Net and Spur combined. An encore performance from Matt Bonner (22 points, 8-10 shooting) helped, but this was Tim Duncan's world.

Call it "Crap on Corey Day," or whatever. (I'm going to call it "Mike Bibby and Chris Webber Share the NBA on TNT Set Day," actually.) Earlier, we told you Kevin Garnett's feelings on Corey Maggette. The gist of KG's verbal fist: Maggs is not a team player. Well, there's more where that came from.

Art Thompson III used to cover the Clippers for the Orange County Register, until this summer when the Register decided it would no longer cover the Clippers ... just the Lakers. Luckily, AT3 stayed on as an NBA columnist. Folks have a lot of respect for Thompson. He knows the Clips as well as anyone in the mainstream. And he reports this about Maggs:

My sources told me that fomer Clipper forward Elton Brand was so determined not to have a personal friendship ruined with Maggette (the two have been close since they attended Duke together), that Brand did not want to play another year with Maggette, having decided that seven years with the Clippers was enough.

Brand loved Maggs too much to be his teammate. That's just about perfect, right? I'm glad Thompson provided this perspective, because otherwise the critics are acting like Maggette's style is something new. It is not.

Among all the positive developments perpetuated by the 2008 Celtics title, the new liberty of Kevin Garnett's mouth has been perhaps the best. Of course, Ticket has always been a big talker. But instead of merely spitting hate at Anthony Peeler (NEVER FORGET!) or socking Rick Rickert, KG has taken up a role as the NBA's lead whistleblower.

Last week, Edwards keyed us to Garnett's outside opinion on the status of Chris Bosh's mind, in which KG suggested Bosh looks frustrated and may have to look elsewhere when free agency arrives. (Garnett proved himself a soothsayer, as the sacking of Sam Mitchell Wednesday indicates the franchise sees a pressing need to improve before 2010.)

Garnett took a different tact with Warrior forward Corey Maggette, according to SI.com's Chris Mannix.

Maggette's selfish play hasn't gone unnoticed by other players. According to sources, after the final buzzer against Boston, Celtics forward Kevin Garnett turned to Maggette and shouted, "Way to get your numbers."

Garnett, the consummate team player, is not afraid to tell the truth. Baron Davis: you're next.

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

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Boston Globe. Kevin Garnett has been invited to those nutty celeb soccer games with Steve Nash, but KG declines because he wants to be a striker, not a goalie.

2. Indy Cornrows. When Danny Granger went to Indonesia this summer, a lady who runs an orphanage Granged donated some money to prayed for his contract extension. That's some good karma.

3. S.F. Examiner, via GsoM. Corey Maggette thinks the fate of the Warriors rest of the shoulders of himself and Stephen Jackson: "We know who the 20-point scorers are on this team and we've got to make sure we do our part."

4. The Painted Area. LeBron James gets in the post against New Orleans, and a world cheers.

5. Memphis Commercial Appeal. Javaris Crittenton can't get off the bench at all. Mike Conley can't get off the bench in the fourth quarter.

6. PLAY Magazine. Reviewing two excellent basketball books by bloggers.