http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami/20...n-wright-maybe/</p> <hr width="100%" size="2" /> </p> Quick shot from Warriors practice, quickly, before I write my column for tomorrow’s paper:</p> Had to notice that Brandan Wright was running with the Blue (first) teamat the end ofpractice today (subbing in and out for Al Harrington, it looked like).</p> Wrightlooked pretty spritely–tossing up runners, racing ahead of Blue teammate Baron Davis on the fastbreak, going up to block shots at the rim.</p> Wright hasn’t seen a second of NBA action yet, thanks to Don Nelson’s non-love of rookiebig menand Wright’s recent back soreness, so it was interesting to seethe No. 8 overall pickrunning with Baron, Kelenna Azubuike, Stephen Jacksonand Andris Biedrins.</p> And afterward, I asked Wright about it.</p> Question 1: Is this the first time you’ve played onthe Bluesquad in full-court scrimmaging?</p> Wright: First time in a long time.</p> Question 2: Could it mean something about your role?</p> Wright: Could mean something. I don’t know.</p> And there you go, just as you demand, hard-hitting journalism straight from the court!Incredible revelations! Breaking news!</p> OK, who knows, but everything seems to point towards Wright making his NBA debut tomorrow against Cleveland, which is a good enough match-up for him.</p> Of course, I alsoaskedNelson about Wright (and Stephane Lasme), and Nelson said he would’ve played Wright at some point in the first three games, all losses, if Wright had been healthy enough to practice.</p> <hr width="100%" size="2" /> </p>
Interesting piece of news CR2. I'm itching to see a HUGE front line of AL-AB-BW, but am never sure with Nellie. What front line do you think he'll play when BW is in?</p>
Well, Harrington has been playing so well I have to imagine he'll be a starter.</p> Baron / Azibuike / Harrington / Wright / Beans would be pretty cool to see. Harrington has slimmed down enough where he could guard some SFs, and Wright is quick enough where we wouldn't really lose the up-paced tempo. This would definately improve rebounding, I'd have to imagine. But, whether Wright is ready to play, or ready to start, those are two different things.</p>
The best thing I got out of the article is that Nellie sees that Wright is a smart basketball player (Belinelli too). He's got the subtle skills that don't show up on the score sheet but help the W's win, passing, running the correct play along with the physical skills (this is something that Monta is lacking.) I hope to see Wright explode tonight.</p>
Considering that today's game is against the Cavs with some bigs like Gooden and Z, I can see Wright jumping in the game soon if the team fails to secure rebounds and if the defense continues to give up massive points and high FG%s.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jason voorhees)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Interesting piece of news CR2. I'm itching to see a HUGE front line of AL-AB-BW, but am never sure with Nellie. What front line do you think he'll play when BW is in?</p> </div></p> When Brandan Wright is in the game he'll play Harrington, Pietrus, Ellis, Baron. (implying that he'll play Brandan Wright at 210 lbs at center).</p> </p>
I can't wait to see Wright. This is gonna be good (I think).</p> I was getting a little panicked when I saw so many warriors fail to finish at the rim inside.</p>
Ellis' 3 pointer looks better, but Baron is just doing too much and1 crap rather than trying to get the ball moving... Too much pounding and bad shot selection this guy...</p>
If you watched him play he was a positive in the game. He played D, he passed, he moved very well. He was basically where he was supposed to be in the zone, but he didn't know the offense.</p> POB wasn't that bad as well. I thought both he and wright make inside attempts a lot tougher for the other team.</p> The problem I had with this game is that guys like Baron are just taking too many bad shot attempts, guys stand around probably because of this extra pounding of the ball... Then the whole team is just not getting things done at the foul line. Nelson sat Pietrus after the first half and I think the Warriors were able to play better defensively and on offense a lot more fluidly when they had Al (a more proven scorer) at PF and Biedrins at C. Al against Lebron was a favorable matchup for the Warriors because Al is slightly bigger than Lebron, but Lebron is so good he was able to respond by hitting threes and being great with or without the ball. He basically neutralized Al Harrington's consecutive great game, making Al sort of look like a guy who only comes up great in losses. Monta Ellis also did well, but he got a little carried away with one of his shot selections (I sure hope he ain't learning how its "not done" by Baron Davis' horrible accuracy and decision making). Ellis definitely plays better as a shooting guard. Baron's play as of late has me thinking that Nelson probably wants Baron to score a lot more which I think is bad because he's our main distributor. He's missing 3 pointers, he's missing inside scores, he's missing foul shots... He's a terrible scorer right now...</p> Al and Ellis did very well tonight though. I didn't want to see too much of both Pietrus and Barnes though... They do a few good things and then they do a few stupid things to totally undo it all.</p>
Sounds good CR2. I don't have cable anymore so can't watch the games. I either listen to them or watch them on the internet when available.</p>
I thought Wright looked pretty good, but jeez, it was only a couple of minutes, even if he looked super good or bad, I don't think it would tell you much. I'd like to see him get 10-15 minutes to get a better idea of it but I don't have much hope of that under Nelson. He'll surely end up in Nelson's famed "doghouse" at some point and be relegated back to the bench anyway. It's Ike Diogu all over again. Meanwhile game-killing stiffs like Pietrus and Barnes are logging major minutes. *sigh* And when SJax comes back, minutes will be even harder to come by, I'd like to see some of these rooks play now while we have the chance. They can hardly do any worse than the starters have.</p>
*sigh* yeah... unfortunately we can't tell if these guys are at least "monta ellis ready". Nelson ain't going to give Wright any minutes because he's a power forward and not a small forward or a guard. It's like the same fate as Diogu... He'll nitpick on defense with him but won't on Dun, Murph, or any of his supposed defensive small forwards like Barnes or Pietrus? Weak.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (custodianrules2)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Ellis' 3 pointer looks better, but Baron is just doing too much and1 crap rather than trying to get the ball moving... Too much pounding and bad shot selection this guy...</p> </div></p> Agree with both points...Is it just me or does Baron's energy seem a bit low so far??</p> </p>
What's up with Baron's play (I have not seen a game yet so I am going by these comments)? Maybe he is too busy reading his books from his book club. Time for Baron to focus his mind on putting the ball in the hoop and leading this team to the playoffs. </p>
I dunno, but Baron's playing like he's unhappy about not getting that contract extension or something or maybe not comfortable with his new rookie teammates. But then again he's got this history of playing out of shape, playing injured, playing way too many minutes, and being a big ego type guy. Maybe that explains the shot selection after missing so much, the unwillingness to drive or pass as much.</p>
I have noticed baron is still driving but it seems with one thing in mind, for him to score and he has been leaving a lot of lay ups short. He just doesnt seem to be driving and dishing or kicking it out. Until the Cavs game i had not even seen Baron go to AB at all. He just never seems to look to feed anything into the post. I don't get where he lost that desire to get the whole team involved. Is it a result of not having Jax there, who may be the only guy that can get into Baron's face other than Nellie and get respect. Is it a trust issue? Perhaps it is that players are just standing around spotting up instead of moving without the ball. EVery possession you can watch Barnes when he is in the game just camp out and spot up ala fisher. Is this what we want from him. I think the only value he brings is hustle and crashing the boards, which he can't do form beyond the arc as well. In fact Pietrus and Barnes are interchangeable spot up guys that are for the most part useless. At least Belinelli and AZu actually cut and move without the ball. Even Ellis seems to becoming more of a spot up guy.</p> It just seems when we find success with something we never go back to it. If someone gets on fire you would think they would feed that person til it burns out. But they never seem to do it. If there is a match up that is favorable instead of exposing it over and over we might go there once. If AB gets something in the paint, it will a long time before we see something going to him again.</p> </p> The entire concept of being in beeter condition and running teams out of the building has yet to be revealed. RAre is the fast break point. We seem content getting killed in the half court game.</p> </p> This is looking to be more and more Monty ball with Nelly's smaller line ups.</p> </p>
