Warriors’ open practice: Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy

By Tim Kawakami
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006 at 10:44 am

Got held up by teeny little non-blog issues such as the ALCS, Barry
Zito, Jim Leyland and my real job last night, so I took the 200-yard
walk from the Coliseum to the arena a bit later than hoped.

I missed the drills with Don Nelson’s narration. I missed a lot of
stuff that my friends at the GoldenStateofMind website chronicle here
very thoroughly and pointedly, as expected.

But I got there in time to watch about 30 minutes of scrimmaging to
close the night, and it was very choppy basketball–bad passes, wild
shots, stationary defense, and that was just by the projected starters
(the blue team).

Some flash thoughts, after sitting 10 rows behind Chris Mullin,
Nelson, Mitch Richmond and Bob Rowell and watching Mullin and Nelson do
a lot of talking with each other during the slop-fest:

–There were at least 2,500 people in the stands. I know it was free.
But that’s a great turn-out for a team that has lost for 12 consecutive
seasons. The Warriors have tremendous fans, which I will note for the
thousandth time. The Warriors need to give them something real to cheer for.

–Is there anybody on the Warriors who can stop dribble penetration?
Looked like Keith McLeod, Anthony Roberson and Dijon Thompson on the
white (back-up) team could go anywhere they wanted with the ball, vs.
any blue-team defense. And that’s not exactly Tony Parker, Steve Nash or
Kobe Bryant.

Nelson and Larry Riley are working hard on defensive rotations and
switches. Maybe it was all being done last night, only in extra-slow motion.

I wish Nelson was narrating during that stuff. He wasn’t.

–If Monta Ellis keeps getting nicked up (last night it was his thigh
again), he’s going to lose major ground to Dajuan Wagner in Nellie’s
eyes. I can feel it.

–Maybe it’s just me, but Patrick O’Bryant does stuff no other big
Warrior can do. Shoot over people on the low post. Catch bad passes.
Swing across the lane to challenge shots at the rim. And he’s smart.
Raw, but fascinating player.

Nelson’s already said O’Bryant will have a tough time playing this
year. I wonder if there’s a scenario–Troy Murphy struggles at center?–in
which O’Bryant plays decent minutes as a rookie.

–Ike Diogu looks lost.

–Baron Davis looks hungry.

–Mickael Pietrus looks like he’s being taught NBA-style basketball
and loves it.

–Andris Biedrins, too.

–Mike Dunleavy looks extra motivated, but that jump shot is the same
clanger.

–Seriously: Murphy, Foyle and Biedrins dribbling the ball to half
court to start fastbreaks after a defensive rebound? That might not work
out too well. Nellie wants it. I’m not so sure about it.

This isn’t early. This is early-early. But it’s a snapshot. And it
looked a lot more like last year than many people wanted, I think.

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