FanHouse Donnelson

Angry agents ripping team execs and coaches isn't a new phenomenon, but Mark Stevens -- the rep for disgruntled Warrior Stephen Jackson -- might have painted a masterpiece in ripping Golden State coach Don Nelson in a discussion with ESPN.com's Chris Broussard. Stevens dredged up just about every demon in Nelson's basketball past, reaching back to Nellie's Bucks tenure in 1970s.

The whole tirade -- which is definitely worth a full read -- comes from what Stevens called "disgust with the quality" of Nelson's coaching. FanHouse's Matt Steinmetz watched the impetus for Stevens's tirade, a 120-107 blow-out loss at Sacramento. It was ugly, and Stevens is telling the truth: Nelson indeed looked like he didn't want to be there.

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.

PHOENIX -- The Warriors played basketball like five individuals wearing the same uniform on Friday, instead of like an NBA team that was anywhere near capable of playing as a cohesive unit. As a result, they were run off the floor by a Suns team that shared the ball to get easy baskets, led by a 20-assist performance from Steve Nash.

Besides the fact that Nash had more assists than the entire Warriors team did, there was something else that was interesting about this one, and that was the way that Don Nelson chose to use - or not use -- one of his most athletic players in Anthony Randolph.

A to Z.

It sounds like the 1952 NBA All-Star Game, which featured Paul Arizin and Max Zaslofsky.

It sounds like the 1971 champion Milwaukee Bucks, who had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Zopf.

It sounds like the history of Lithuanian centers, from Arvydas Sabonis to Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

It also sounds like a good way to take a look at the 2009-10 NBA season:

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.

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- About an hour before the Warriors were scheduled to tip-off their nationally televised, outdoor contest against the Phoenix Suns, the team released a statement saying that they have suspended Stephen Jackson for "conduct detrimental to the team," for an incident which took place during Friday night's game against the Lakers.

The suspension is for the next two games, beginning with tonight's against Phoenix. Head coach Don Nelson isn't commenting on the particulars, but he did say that it's the first time in his career that he's ever suspended a player.

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.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry weren't on the floor together at any point during the Warriors' 108-101 preseason opener against the L.A. Clippers on Sunday night.

That's going to change. Warriors' coach Don Nelson said so.

And you know what? Ellis, who at first wasn't crazy about the notion, seems to be coming around to the idea.

"You can't take anything away from him," Ellis said of Curry. "He can shoot, pass, defend, all of that. He's got the whole package. ... He's better than I thought he was."

The NBA career of forward Brandan Wright has not gone according to plan. The UNC product, acquired by Golden Sate as a lottery pick during the 2007 draft in exchange for Jason Richardson, has played rarely for the Warriors, stuck outside Don Nelson's infamous tunnel vision.

His 2009-10 season has another more immediate challenge now: Yahoo!'s Marc Spears reports that a shoulder injury suffered during Friday's practice could put Wright under the knife, and off the court for up to six months.

Yes, it's a problem that Monta Ellis said on Monday he can't play alongside rookie Stephen Curry. But there's likely a bigger problem looming: coach Don Nelson might start to think Ellis is right.

Not only were Ellis' comments a shot at Curry, whom the Warriors selected with the No. 7 pick in the June draft, but he also seemed to be sending a clear message to Nelson. What Ellis essentially said was that the strategy Nelson was planning on employing this season was destined to fail.