by Its_asdf on Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:01 am
December Recap
Overall Record: 6-6
Record This Month: 2-1
Games Played: Nuggets (L), Cavaliers (W), Rockets (w)
Overall Grade: B-
After a hectic 9 game month in November, the Warriors had a two week lay-off prior to playing their first game against Denver. Despite the long break, the Golden State management was busy at work, orchestrating the Warriors' first trade of the regular season and their second blockbuster trade in the past few months. The magnitude of this trade was drastically bigger than the first one, sending Baron Davis and Troy Murphy; two important building blocks of the Warriors franchise, to New York in exchange for up-and-coming power foward Channing Frye, three point threat Quentin Richardson, and explosive combo guard Jamal Crawford. The Warriors freed up even more cap space, but would the Warriors be able to hold their own after losing their all-star caliber point guard and team-leading rebounder?
It didn't look like they could have, especially in the first game of the month against the Nuggets. Each of the Warriors' new players seemed to struggle with turn-overs and poor offensive execution, which led to only scoring 74 points and losing to the Nuggets by 13 points. Another glaring problem lied in the Warriors rebounding. WIthout Troy Murhy, Golden State was being overpowered completely in the paint and this allowed the Nuggets to out-rebound Golden State 51 to 39. Jason Richardson also looked like he could not handle being the focal point of the opposing team's defence either, being shut-down to only 10 points and 5 for 15 shooting.
Golden State had no time to let the loss sink in though, as they would immediately play against Cleveland the following night in a back-to-back at home. The Warriors followed up their unimpressive December debut with a well-fought win against LeBron James and the Cavaliers, except James was no where to be seen for the first three quarters. Insetad, it was Larry Hughes that led the team with 23 points. This time around the newest Warriors played quite well together; Channing Frye had a double-double, Quentin Richardson played good defence on LeBron James while also scoring 20 points himself and despite shooting poorly, Jamal Crawford made up for it by going to the free-throw line 12 times and put away the Cavaliers for good with the final four free throws and ten points in the fourth quarter.
The following week, the Warriors once again were playing in Oakland against the Rockets and continued to impress the home crowd. The game was awfully close throughout the first three and a half quarters as Rafer Alston and Luther Head ran circles around the Warriors defence, but the Warriors blew the game wide open in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter with a fantastic 14-0 run to finish the game. Quentin Richardson played fantastic defence for the second straight game, limiting Rockets' star foward Tracy McGrady to only 17 points on 5 of 14 shooting while the Warriors backcourt of Jamal Crawford and Jason Richardson managed to out-duel the Rockets' lightning-quick backcourt of Rafer Alston and Luther Head. The story of the night was Crawford though, as he hit 12 of his 19 shots for 27 points and dropped 7 dimes.
Player Report Cards
Centres
Jamaal Magloire: B-
Stats: 7.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 51% FG
Best Game: 10 pts, 14 rebs, 5 of 5 FG vs Houston
Worst Game: 6 pts, 5 rebs, 2 TOs vs Cleveland
Magloire has stepped up his play a tad this month, bumping up basically all of his major stats (points, rebounds, field goal percentage). Magloire started off the month pretty well, scoring 12 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in a loss to Denver, but he seemed tired and faded away against the Cavaliers the following game. He managed to end the month on one of his best games of the season against the Rockets, and even in his worst game against the Cavaliers wasn't too bad, since he did hit 3 of his 5 attempted shots, which only means that he's getting better at choosing his spots in the Warriors' offence. It still wouldn't hurt to raise his free throw percentages though, (he shoots 46%).
Andris Biedrins: C-
Stats: 5.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 45% FG
Best Game: 8 pts, 5 rebs, 1 blk vs Houston
Worst Game: 0 pts, 0-3 FG, 0-2 FT vs Cleveland
After playing somewhat well in November, Biedrins has regressed a fair bit. He looked really comfortable against Houston, scoring 8 points and grabbing 5 rebounds, but the previous 2 games he was almost non-existant on both ends of the court. Perhaps the arrival of Channing Frye and the improved play of Magloire has really hurt Biedrins' already dwindling minutes.
Terrell Hanson: C
Stats: 4.6ppg, 3.6 rpg, 63%FG
Best Game: 6 pts, 9 rebs, 2 asts vs Cleveland
Worst Game: 0 pts, 2 TOs, 3 rebs vs Denver
Much like Biedrins, Hanson has had one good game this month and two games where he was practically invisible. Hanson always brings a lot of hustle and energy to the court, as seen in the Cleveland game where he grabbed 7 offensive rebounds, but sometimes Hanson needs to really contribute something else other than a few garbage points and if he is facing a centre who's just as or more athletic as he is, he tends to be more of a liability than an asset.
Power Fowards
Channing Frye: B-
Stats: 14.6 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 46% FG
Best Game: 11 pts, 11 rebs, 1 ast vs Cleveland
Worst Game: 8 pts, 9 rebs, 5 TOs, 4-11 FG vs Denver
Frye has been a welcome addition to the team, and although he is somewhat of a downgrade from Murphy, he's still a serviceable player regardless. Frye tends to be easily frustrated by strong, athletic players like Stromile Swift or Kenyon Martin. He constantly gets bullied around in the paint and although he is a decent rebounder, he can be a non-factor on the boards for lengthy periods of times and this can lead to numerous offensive rebounds to help the opposing team get back into games. Frye's free throw percentage has also regressed tremendously as a Warrior, going from a mid-70s percentage to just 64%.
Ike Diogu: D
Stats: 2 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 26% FG
Best Game: 6 points, 2 rebs, 3-6 FG vs Houston
Worst Game: DNP
Ike had played only one game and scored 6 points, but it was nothing spectacular.
Zarko Cabarkapa: N/A
Stats: N/A
Best Game: N/A
Worst Game: N/A
Zarko isn't getting any playing time, period.
Joe Smith: N/A
Stats: N/A
Best Game: N/A
Worst Game: N/A
I honestly have nothing to say. Unless any of the four Warrior big men go down, I do not expect to see anything from this guy.
Chris Taft: N/A
Stats: N/A
Best Game: N/A
Worst Game: N/A
Taft has been tearing up the D-League as of late, and it is rumoured that the Warriors are planning to recall Chris and put Diogu on the inactive list to test Taft out.
Small Fowards
Quentin Richardson: B-
Stats: 13.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 59% 3pt FG
Best Game: 20 pts, 4 rebs, 4-5 3pt FG vs Cleveland
Worst Game: 16 pts, 7-17 FG, 4 TOs vs Denver
Quentin Richardson has stepped up his play after moving from shooting guard to his more natural position of small foward. Statsically, everything seems pretty up to par, but that doesn't tell the whole story since only 3 of his 9 games have been as a Warrior. Probably what also is the most eye-popping about Q's stats is his blazing 59% three point percentage, although he hasn't been attempting as many threes as he has been in the past. While he certainly is not shy about stepping back and hitting it from beyond the arc, Q definitely attempts a lot more high percentage shots in the painted area like in his old Clipper days.
Mickael Pietrus: D-
Stats: 7.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 50% FG
Best Game: 6 pts, 4 rebs, 3-4 FG vs Denver
Worst Game: 0 pts, 0-5 FG, 1 reb vs Cleveland
After watching Pietrus this month, it is finally safe to say that he has now been officially surpassed by Ronnie Brewer. Even Pietrus' best game this month has been sub-par, and the other two games he hasn't even made a field goal. So much for being the sixth man.
Shooting Guards
Jason Richardson: C+
Stats: 21.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.5 apg
Best Game: 23 pts, 3 rebs, 4 asts vs Houston
Worst Game: 10 pts, 5-15 FG, 0-4 3pt FG vs Denver
After acquiring Crawford, Frye and Q from the Knicks, J-Rich's offence seems to have slown down and his hot shooting has now went back down to normal levels. Almost all of Richardson's statistics have gone down, but it is probably mainly due to the fact that Richardson has more offensive weapons to help him out on offence, which isn't too bad if you factor in team success, but these report cards are based on how well the players individually have fared through the month, so Richardson falls a bit short this time since he hasn't had any major scoring performances.
Ronnie Brewer: B-
Stats: 8.3 ppg, 2.5 apg, 57% FG
Best Game: 16 pts, 7-7 FG, 1 stl vs Cleveland
Worst Game: 4 pts, 1 reb, 1 TO vs Denver
Brewer has proven that he is clearly one of the more efficient players in the 06 draft and probably even on the entire Warriors team, and the Cavs game is a perfect example of that as he nailed all 7 of his shots that game. Brewer hits 57% of his shots, meaning that he definitely plays smart, picks his spots and really understands how to take care of the ball and pass it when needed. As Brewer's percentages climbed, his rebounding numbers have fell down. Brewer has had only 3 rebounds the past three games, so if there is anything that Brewer needs to do better, its rebound the ball.
James White: N/A
Stats: 4.4 ppg, 1 rpg, 80% FT
Best Game: N/A
Worst Game: N/A
It is definitely getting a bit crowded in the SF/SG spots, and James White is the odd man out.
Point Guards
Jamal Crawford: C+
Stats: 8.3 ppg, 3.8 apg, 40% 3pt FG
Best Game: 27 pts, 7 asts, 12-19 FG vs Houston
Worst Game: 6 pts, 3-14 FG, 3 asts vs Denver
After playing terribly for the Warriors the first game, Crawford has really excelled at attacking the basket and either finding his teamates or finishing it by himself or drawing the foul. His shooting percentages have been poor, but in the final game against Houston he really lit them up. Hopefully that game is just a sign of things to come because Crawford is at his best when he's confident in himself and making shots.
Monta Ellis: B-
Stats: 5 ppg, 2.6 apg, 44% FG
Best Game: 8 pts, 5 asts, 3-6 FG vs Denver
Worst Game: 2 pts, 2 TOs, 3 asts vs Cleveland
Ellis' stats have practically remained the same, except he has risen his field goal percentages to the mid 40s now. Ellis doesn't blow anyone away statiscally, but he has shown that he has matured as a player and has stopped taking stupid shots and understands that he has to use his explosiveness to his advantage. Let's not forget that his minutes are also diminishing because Mike Montgomery tends to use Brewer a lot more at the 1 and the 2 guard spots to take advantage of his strengths and also Jamal Crawford has suprisingly been getting more minutes that Baron Davis when he was still with Golden State, so for him to be able to keep up with his previous month's stats is pretty impressive.
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