Pietrus named Warriors' starting small forward
By Geoff Lepper, MEDIANEWS
Article Last Updated:10/09/2006 07:05:22 AM PDT

OAKLAND - Each day at Warriors camp, coach Don Nelson has met with
the media and piled more and more praise onto the shoulders of swingman
Mickael Pietrus.

Sunday, the coach gave out his ultimate compliment: an invitation to
Golden State's starting lineup.

Nelson - who came into camp not even certain if Pietrus was good
enough to get off the bench - anointed the 24-year-old Frenchman as
his starting small forward, which means Jason Richardson will stay at
shooting guard and thus quashes the starting hopes of Monta Ellis and
Dajuan Wagner.

"That's a no-brainer, so far," Nelson said.

It's a world of change for Pietrus, who suffered through his worst NBA
season in 2005-06, setting career lows in every shooting category.

Handed a golden opportunity to take over as small forward in February
after Mike Dunleavy had slumped badly, Pietrus bobbled it away. He shot
less than 40 percent for the month and fouled out four times before
then-coach Mike Montgomery banished him to the bench.

"That's great news," Pietrus said of the starting assignment. "Last
year was last year. This year is a whole new world for me."

Ellis, who showed flashes of brilliance last season as a rookie, was
hampered by missing the first three days of training camp with a
strained thigh.

Pietrus, meanwhile, has simply played too well to be ignored. And at
6-foot-6, he has size that neither Ellis (listed at a hopeful 6-3) nor
Wagner (6-2) can match.

"(Pietrus) has claimed the (small forward) spot," Nelson said. "I don't
know if that's really fair or not (because of Ellis' absence), but I've
got to make those decisions. I don't see, no matter what happens now,
that anyone's going to move MP out of the (small forward) spot. He's
been terrific. He's guarded every day. He's done everything."

Along with Pietrus and Richardson, Nelson will start Baron Davis at
point guard, Dunleavy at power forward and Troy Murphy at center.

In article <1160413101.710047.134830@c28g2000cwb.googlegroups. com>,
"Allen" <lonewolfbear@gmail.com> wrote:


I dunno. That Dunleavy-Murphy lineup at the power positions is going to
have a lot of people salivating at the prospect of easy buckets.

I want to believe, man, but I'm going to have to be convinced.

-Ron

Ron <ronaldinho_m@hotmail.com> wrote:


Yeah, it all seems to depend on whether the Warriors can outscore the
other team; it seems like it'll be awfully hard to stop anyone. Maybe
Nellie thinks that if the Warriors can keep running, they'll wear out
the other team's big guys.

The other thing is, I wouldn't attach too much importance to the
starting lineup. There's still a question of how many minutes each guy
gets, and who's on the floor at the end of the game. If Diogu, Ellis and
Wagner end up playing lots of minutes and finishing the game, does it
really matter who's on the floor at the start?

nono@way.com (Preacher) wrote in news:1hmxzwc.m24fsvahfihyN%nono@way.com:


Might end up having to re-insert Foyle to clog (literally) things up in the
middle. hehe

For defense, the team thing and rotations that they've been talking about
is gonna have to work. Otherwise the only individual defensive kudos seem
to go to Pietrus.

--

Pat

email: remove UN

On Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:17:48 GMT, Ron <ronaldinho_m@hotmail.com> wrote:


In order to make it work, both guys are going to have to be good at
scoring on their defenders to justify the fact that neither guy will be
good at defending his man. Given that neither guy shoots a good
percentage, I just don't see it working. I realize it's kinda stupid to
disagree with Nelson, but that's what I believe.
--
Greg Lentz

On Oct 9, 1:17 pm, Ron <ronaldinh...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Nothing else has worked for 12 years, so play the young guys and see
what happens. Should be fun to watch. Nelson did have some success
taking a too-slow shooting guard and moving him to small forward. If
the Warriors start slow, maybe he'll send Pietrus to rehab.

Ron wrote:

Well, remember, Murphy was an awful defender at PF. Can Dunleavy
possibly be *significantly* worse? Foyle is a better shot-blocker than
Murphy at C, but did that really translate into stops in the paint last
season? Conversely, if Pietrus has his head on straight, he should be a
significantly better defender than MDJ at the 3. And as erratic as
Pietrus is offensively, he should still be worlds ahead of Foyle in
that respect.

Still, this is obviously a funky lineup, and I strongly feel that
either MDJ or Pietrus will be dealt by the deadline, with the remaining
player starting at SF, and Diogu stepping in at PF.

Buggzy

On 10 Oct 2006 23:02:08 -0700, "buggzy650" <buggzy650@comcast.net> wrote:


Dunleavy is a better PF defender than Murphy, but that doesn't make him
adequate.
--
Greg Lentz

Greg Lentz wrote:




I vaguely remember being somewhat impressed with Dunleavy at PF. I think
he can actually defend that position better than he can the three,
because he's not at such a disadvantage in terms of athleticism and
quickness.

--Robin