I think Martell makes five this offseason.

Blake with the hamstring, Marty with the foot, Roy with the knee, Raef with the shoulder, Frye with the ankle…

Ugh.

We need a third unit that could defeat the first units of the Western conference.

in this game was not the point guards. It was Travis freaking Outlaw. Bayless was aggressively careless, but still needs time. Sergio, quite frankly, was good in this game. Rudy made a lot of risky plays, he also had 6 turnovers, but also, made a lot of plays for us. Its looking like we already miss Webster. The way Outlaw plays the game, when on his own, makes you miss Webster all that much more. Its quite amazing how TO simply cannot just spot up and shoot the ball. First of all, his shooting was just plain off in this game, thats not what my problem is. My problem is the fact, that he on countless occasions passed up on wide open 3 point shots, took a couple dribbles into the defense and put up contested 2 point jump shots. If you want to go from great efficiency to horrible efficiency, thats the quickest way to do it. Martell actually knows the difference. The only good offense TO has is when he’s isolated. That isn’t conducive to team basketball. Hopefully Martell gets back quickly.

The point guard situation is getting weird. Bayless and Sergio are so different it’s hard to compare them. Sergio throws up beautiful lobs, which makes Rudy, Webster, Oden, Outlaw, Aldridge, and Batum happy. On the other hand, Bayless plays defense which makes Nate happy.

I think Steve Blake is like the Joel Prizbilla of point guards. He could be one of the steadiest and most effective backups in the league, but you don’t really want him as your starter. Supposedly he has really improved his game over the offseason, transformed into a butterfly and such, but I will believe it when I see it. People ALWAYS say that sort of thing during training camp.

What’s the solution? Bayless might be a respectable replacement in a couple years. Sergio still has a shot at becoming great. Should we make a trade? Wait a few seasons and see how it pan out? All I know for sure is that Steve Blake’s job will be a lot easier the moment he becomes the second best point guard on this team.

— According to the Warriors Media Guide, Richard Hendrix’s 3 favorite items are his Bible, his laptop and his phone. Funny thing about that: Marcus Williams also listed Richard Hendrix’s laptop as one of his 3 favorite things.

I lulzed hard that one. Serious!

I thought they distributed the ball fairly well. Both should have had higher assist counts considering the team was in a major funk to start the game shooting in the low %30s at one point. A lot of people were missing open shots that should have been made. Oden was fed down low by the PGs and ended up getting fouled, otherwise that’d be more assists.

With blake, roy, and martell gone…that was basically 3 of our best 3 pt shooters that would have spread the court out a bit. It was noticibly tougher attacking the rim tonight bc of this. Court was shortened making the passing lanes more congested.

but at least both teams played hard!

side note: man oh man is Luke Jackson the poor man’s Rudy, or what?
(not a knock on Luke; I like the guy)
But they have very similar builds (minus the 3 inch height difference), and somewhat similar game. Luke was kind of the Rudy of Pac-10 for a season, back in the day.
The real Rudy, of course, is way better and more athletic.
That Luke is so darn pale makes the resemblance all the more galling

Good thing this clunker was in the preseason.

Does anyone know how many fouls Greg Oden drew last night?

Bayless has not shown me anything these last two games. I know it is preseason, and he needs time to play in the league, so I am not knocking him. I have been more impressed with Sergio. I would rather see our point guards create plays with their team, rather than driving to the basket themselves (unless necessary) or settling for a jumper. If it creates a couple turnovers, it sucks, but at least most of Sergio’s turnovers last night were in attempt to create plays. Bayless had at least two turnovers last night dribbling the ball between his legs. I have never dissed Sergio’s play because I really think with more time he will build that confidence he needs and will be better for us than Bayless, at least for this season while Bayless develops into a point. And seriously, that Sergio/Rudy combo makes me excited to see what they have in store for us. I don’t think I will ever get sick of their lob passes, just like I will never get sick of seeing Oden’s monster dunks.

Nice 11 points, 8 rebound effort for the Pacers last night. Oh and 8 turnovers. Wonder how many came from stepping out of bounds…..

Travis better not play like he did last night during the regular season because I will kick myself for always defending him as the better SF.

On a better note. Did you see Rudy’s stats? 15 pts, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 6 steals. Incredible.

last night was not simply that he took bad shots, it was that he so predictably tried to shoot almost every time the ball touched his hands in the second half. When he got the ball, Golden State players could key on him knowing he wasn’t going to pass it. He looked more rookie out there than Oden, Bayless or partricularly Rudy. Outlaw made a great case for himself last night: coming off the bench for limited minutes. Expect to see Rudy start in place of injured Webster.

Rudy: 15 points to go along with 7 assists, 6 steals, 5 rebounds, and 6 turnovers in 36 minutes. Reduce the turnovers and keep the other categories the same, and statistically you would be looking at an amazing all-around player in the mold of a Clyde Drexler and Larry Steele: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadruple-double

By the way, he stepped on Sergio’s foot. Keep that in mind for the next trade rumors :)

We played without three starters and one starter was only playing 20 minutes.
We played with guys who aren’t making the team and guys who will be playing about five mintues a game seeing major time.

Greg Oden did very well. I particularly liked the fact he had 9 rebounds in 20 minutes. He’s still very rusty, but that means what he’s doing is with rust covering that body!!! He’s better than I thought. When that rust is gone, and he figures out the system and where to be and gains some speed… I think you could see some Shaq like rookie numbers. The question is “how long to get there” and then once there “how long before he hits the rookie wall”. GO is rookie of the year. Book it.

Batum… wow… the batman can play! I did NOT see that in summer league and I’ll be interested to see if he can keep that up. Frankly, i think he should be the starting SF because Travis doesn’t do too hot in that position.

Sergio and Rudy kept up the passing even if they had a lot of turnovers. Has anyone actually seen steve nash play? Notice those turnovers he racks up? It’s the style of play folks. Sergio made good things happen. I look forward to blake, but I honestly like sergio better than bayless right now as back-up. My only complaint with sergio is that he didn’t seem as smooth on shooting tonight when he was in traffic.

Aldridge needs to take it into the post more (remember when you said you’d be doing that aldridge?) but his shooting was good for the most part.

This is the preseason. When Brandon asked to play the coach didn’t say no, he said “WHY?!!” This is when you figure out who to keep, where to play, and how to do it. Good teams know that pre-season doesn’t matter. Guess what guys, we’re a good team. pre-season doesn’t matter. We’ll be figuring out combos, not focusing on winning. That was last where when we needed to figure out how to win. We know how to win, and now it’s about doing it in the REGULAR season when it counts.

i was happy with the game last night. You should be too. Those kinks will be ironed out when the season begins.

Prime examples of a couple of Bayless’ mistakes….twice in a row, he passed to Przybilla on a fast break. Two instant turnovers. Look, I love Joel (as a player guys, as a player), but he is not an effective offensive option on the fast break. Pull the ball back out and run a play. Sergio also made a couple of ill-advised passes to Joel. I guess I expect Sergio to know better. That said, there was much more ball movement with Sergio was handling the ball than when Bayless was running point.

Batum’s play was such a nice surprise. I can see him getting some regular minutes. He seemed much more polished than I expected. He made several nice passes when it would have been easy to take a somewhat difficult shot.

I thought that overall, the team looked pretty fatigued. When your very first two games of the preseason are back-to-back, you’re gonna have some of that. I’m guessing it will be about 5 games into the preseason before the whole team in really in game shape….with the exception of…

Travis. Man, he was gassed last night and it showed in his shot. Why can’t he seem to get into shape as well as the other guys? It will probably be into the regular season before he’s fully ready.

I’m not losing any sleep over that game……look at it this way. Nate found some combinations that just don’t work together well. And as if we needed it, we once again saw how Brandon Roy is the glue on this team.

- The difference between Oden and Pryz is far greater than I expected it to be

- Outlaw is more one dimensional than I had myself believing

- I was wrong about the starting 3. Martell is the better choice

- Batum is way ahead of where I thought he would be

- Rudy is every bit as good as I had thought (after watching the Olympics)

- Sergio will be the first PG off the bench as I’ve been saying

- Bayless is the ultra green rookie I was expecting

- Brandon Roy is our best player and always will be (no surprise there)

No Brandon Roy, no Martell Webster, and starting Outlaw and Bayless, the Blazers shot what…33% for the first half? and still had a lead at half time, put up 53 points, and controlled the Warriors running game. Through 3 quarters they had a 10-7 advantage in fast breaks. It was not until Nate ran up the white flag WITH A LEAD that the Blazers melted down. In the ultimate, “it is the preseason and we don’t care” he rolled out a line-up with no Aldridge, Oden, Fernandez, Rodriguez, or Bayless in crunch time; nothing against Batum or Diogu or Jackson, etc, but when only Outlaw is on the floor in crunch time, clearly it is not a game you care about.

We saw what we needed to see; Aldridge ripped it up in the 1st quarter, then took the night off more or less, Oden got some conditioning in, we saw how effective Rodriguez and Fernandez are together in the Spanish Fly, we saw Bayless show some of his offensive ability, and we learned that Oden and Diogu on the court at the same time is a bad idea since they do the same thing….except Oden does it better. Diogu just gets in his way.

Once we accomplished those things it was fine to roll out guys who, if they are on the court in meaningful time in the regular season, it is bad but in preseason? Let them play.

It was a good game from the standpoint of giving the players a chance to work through some adversity and check out where they are at. And get some pleasant surprises such as Batum being better than advertised.

Overall, would it have been nice to win the game? Yes…but even without the win, last night was still a definite positive.

In order of Cuteness:

Nic Batum: A He plays very solid defense. He seeems to ALWAYS be in position. He knows exactly how to use is long arms to get into a player’s face , on the ball or in their passing lane. His plays on offense did not strike me as those of a fresh faced rookie. There were several times when he could have and most rookies would have done, on a fast break that he passed to the trailing player for a sure two points. (Bayless needs to learn how to do this) . He husseled for rebounds and even though he is by far the skinniest player out there he was always with or fighting Diagu for a rebound O or D . Again he’s a great passer and he was always in position.

He needs to work on his shot. I say during practice, he should set up about 15 feet out and practice shooting Lamarcuse style with his hands far above his head. With his wingspan, this could be extremely hard for a defender to guard.

Oh Nic you make me sooo proud!!!

Rudy: B- Turnovers rushed shots and not as much movement. Im sure he was just tired. Plus, he has the AUDACITY to roll his ankle. How dare he? Seriously, the most disconcerting part of his play last night was how rushed his shots were. He did splash some sweet 3’s and had a flashy dunk or two so that makes him fun to watch. His passing was also very good still.

His defense didnt seem so ON POINT as it did against Sactown. Maybe he was just tired again. Or trying to DO TOO MUCH (serious possiblity) . Only time will tell.

LaMarcus: B- What the F is up with his shot? Defense is gettnig better. I noticed he moved around a WHOLE LOT and I can tell that he has been working on his D game a lot. I think he showed some signs of fatigue but I think he ran the floor really well (he and Nic were by far the BEST at GETTING BACK!) His shot just looked a bit flat for me.

Joel : C- Seriously, he and Rudy need to practice passing to eachother, elementary style. It’s as if he anticipates the ball coming into the close vicinity of his hands but he cant get his brain to make the fingers react quick enough! It was damn frustrating I would say though that he again was a G rebounder and Im so happy we have him. Joel is going to be a big part of our championship puzzle. ( and yes I do think Joel is the 4th cutest dood on the team, in the back woodsie chop down trees type of way)

Bayless: F- Point guards need to have assists and although you played decent defense your turnovers, selfish drives that turned into nothing, mediocre free throws and general stubborn stupidness ruined your game tonight. Im sure he was trying soo hard and he just couldnt do anything right. Also, must he look at the floor when dribbling?

Sergio: C Confidence bumps the grade . Hes certaintly playing with more of it. Shot continues to look good. Passing good. Although he had lots of TO’s I think the assists and energy brought made more of a difference.

Jackson: F He wont make the team. Namely b/c he seems to enjoy watching the guy he’s supposed to defend curl effortlessly off his right shoulder for an easy layup. H e also was slow getting back on D… no hustle no pay …His shooting sucks too and this ISNT a time to have a shooting slump. Sorry.

Roy : F you should have tried harder to convince them to let you play . I like W’s :)Ok kidding.

Ike: C Aggressive play. Seemed to not be able to make simple shots but mostly b/c he and Nic were the only ones underneath the basket and he got pummeled, A LOT! I liked the agression though, aggression w/ results is good ( take note BayBay) I am suprised, with how hard he goes on every possession that he doesnt fowl out in 2 minutes-that means he’s a smart defender .. new opinion pending :)

Everyone else fades in my mind. I have a couple questions.

1. Why didnt Steven Hill play more in the 3 and 4 Q’s ?
2. Is Nate giving each of the players competing for the last spot extended PT each game as the final test?
3. Kp wasn’t wearing Pink. and Mike Barrett has lost at least 15 lbs. Mike Rice looks pale Rebecca Harlow looked tired and she needs to tell her makeup artist to color in her eyebrows b/c she looks weird without them.

— According to the Warriors Media Guide, Richard Hendrix’s 3 favorite items are his Bible, his laptop and his phone. Funny thing about that: Marcus Williams also listed Richard Hendrix’s laptop as one of his 3 favorite things.

Haha….and according to his website, his favorite song is from 2pac….hmmmmmmmmmmm

then I can live with it. of course that’s a big if. i thought he did play better on defense last night, but at some point he just got too careless with the ball trying to make stuff happen, in all honesty I think Rudy’s dangerous passes—that on Tuesday were great and last night were turnover’s—rubbed off a little on Sergio last night, which is a potential problem. if he wants to play big PG minutes, Sergio needs to reign it in just a tad and let Rudy be the wildcard. There is room for creative playmaking and a few turnovers per game at PG, but not more than that.

overall i am still very happy with his performance in the preseason, and i think he is on his way to showing he definitely has a place not only in this league, but on this team.

will go waaaay up this year. In the past two preseason games Oden has had more offensive boards than defensive! He’s a game-changer.

…or does LMA need Roy for confidence on the court?

He is “my” pet project this year.

DO NOT PASS TO JOEL! Unless he is stationary with his hands ready and eye on the ball.