The Warriors surprisingly took Stephen Curry at No. 7, leaving supposed heartthrob Jordan Hill on the board. (Hill went one pick later to New York.) Curry had refused to work out for Golden State during the workout season, and the hubbub followed that the Warriors would avoid a point guard to avoid angering Monta Ellis, who fancies himself a modern day Cousy.
Conventional wisdom to this point has Golden State looking point guard at No. 7 in next week's NBA Draft. As I joked a few weeks ago, everyone but Monta Ellis realized this season that Monta Ellis is not an NBA point guard, even for a team as epileptic as the Warriors. With a stable of young big men (Andris Biedrins, Anthony Randolph, Brandan Wright) and wings (Stephen Jackson, Jamal Crawford, Ellis), an offensive ringleader for this crew is what's needed. I think.
But Ellis still thinks he can be that dude. Hence the problem. Both DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony and the San Jose Mercury News' Tim Kawakami reported within hours of each other that Warriors coach Don Nelson and GM Larry Riley recently flew back east this month to diffuse the (re-)budding clash with Ellis. According to Kawakami, the team may have promised Ellis it would not draft a point guard. Givony thinks Golden State might prefer Arizona power forward Jordan Hill to the likes of Brandon Jennings and Jrue Holiday anyways.
The writing was on the wall. It was sloppy, oddly colored, and held no defense from the elements, but it was still clear as day. And now the punctuation mark has been cemented.
Technically, Mullin wasn't ousted. His contract wasn't renewed. Which is a lot like when your high school girlfriend didn't actually dump you, just kind of let things end when you both went to different colleges. Only with millions and millions of dollars and the ability to tell Anthony Randolph what to do.
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.
The idea that the production of any star for a bad team needs to be discounted is a bad cliché. But NBA discounts do exist: when you play a bad defense, your production might be a bit inflated.
Three stud guards saw such nights on Wednesday, with Chris Paul at the frontier against the Clippers (the NBA's No. 27 defense). In a 94-possession game, Paul went for an astounding 30 points on 19 FGAs, 14 assists and six steals. Goodness gracious.
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.
Miami has two options this summer. The Heat can continue to be a legitimate one-man band, or it can get hooked up with some shady underground biotechnician and clone Dwyane Wade. Your choice, Heat.
Wade went ballistic (again) with 42 points on 34 FGAs and 13 FTAs. He added four rebounds, four assists, four steals and a block. And only one turnover. I mention turnovers quite frequently in Doing Lines, but just to be sure you grok my spit: one turnover in (effectively) 45 offensive possessions Wade is personally responsible for is ... unreal. Those 3.4 turnovers a game might look like a lot. But account for how much of the offense rests on his shoulders and ... yeah. B-E-A-S-T.
Stephen Jackson is shutting it down because of a nagging toe injury. If there's one guy you can't fault for calling it a season, it's Jackson. He's battled through injuries, through an embarrassing season, through the complete lack of a plan formulated by the franchise heads. And with the playoffs long ago a dream, there's just not much point in pushing what is probably a pretty painful injury any further.
But what are the long term goals of this club anyway? And how does this affect Jackson's future?
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.
If you follow the NBA, you've probably heard a lot of different things about Warriors guard Monta Ellis.
You probably know that Ellis was a budding star before injuring his left ankle in an offseason moped accident. And you likely remember that the Warriors fined Ellis $3 million for the transgression, and still claim they hold the right to void the remainder of the $66 million deal he signed only weeks before the accident.
You also might have heard that Ellis is angry about that, and that he isn't too fond of coach Don Nelson, either.
Here's something you might not have heard: Monta Ellis is back.
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.
Go ahead, keep offering up your qualifier-laden assertions that Kobe is the greatest. The most current line: "Kobe is the best closer." Yet anyone who watched LeBron James single-handedly beat the Blazers late Thursday would disagree.
Travis Outlaw had an extremely hot fourth quarter -- 5-of-5 FGs, 11 points -- until LeBron switched onto him late. From there, Outlaw missed four straight shots, including a three that LeBron blocked after making up roughly 15 feet during the wind-up.
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.
The Clippers -- at full health with the monster bigs line-up for only the third game this season -- visited Oakland so Baron Davis could get cheered and smash some Warriors management egos. Except that, sorry sir, the Warriors will be doing the ego-smashing around here.
The Warriors surprisingly took Stephen Curry at No. 7, leaving supposed heartthrob Jordan Hill on the board. (Hill went one pick later to New York.) Curry had refused to work out for Golden State during the workout season, and the hubbub followed that the Warriors would avoid a point guard to avoid angering Monta Ellis, who fancies himself a modern day Cousy.
Conventional wisdom to this point has Golden State looking point guard at No. 7 in next week's NBA Draft. 
The writing was on the wall. It was sloppy, oddly colored, and held no defense from the elements, but it was still clear as day. And now the punctuation mark has been cemented.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
Ah, it's that magical time of the season. 
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, 
If you follow the NBA, you've probably heard a lot of different things about Warriors guard 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
