The Warriors were the surprise team of the year last season, well not to me, but most everyone else. I had them as the 8th team in the west in my preseason rankings and I had them upsetting Dallas in the first round. During the offseason they traded Jason Richardson and got Brandan Wright, who is a nice prospect, but he won’t contribute this year. The trade opens up opportunities for other players. The tough thing about predicting what Nellie is going to do with his lineup is just that… predicting it. Nellie is as unpredictable as they come. To illustrate my point, he just named Mickael Pietrus as his starting power forward. I like Pietrus, but really?? Power Forward??? REALLY???? So I’ll give my best guess on what will happen with this team this year:
Projected starting lineup with last year’s stats:
Stats follow this format – Points, Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, FG percentage & Minutes
PG – Baron Davis
20.1 – 8.1 – 4.4 – 2.14 – 0.46 – 43% – 35 min
SG – Stephen Jackson
15.5 – 3 – 3.8 – 1.12 – 0.45 – 43% – 33 min
SF – Kelenna Azubuike
7.1 – 2.3 – 0.7 – 0.54 – 0.24 – 45% – 16 min
PF – Mickael Pietrus
11.1 – 4.5 – 0.9 – 0.67 – 0.76 – 49% – 27 min
C – Andris Biedrins
9.5 – 9.3 – 1.1 – 0.82 – 1.66 – 60% – 29 min
Key Bench Players
Monta Ellis
Marco Belinelli
Matt Barnes
Al Harrington
Patrick O’Bryant
Baron Davis is one of the best point guards in the league, when healthy, which is the main question with him. Even with his health issues, he’s still an excellent PG to have on your team, so I always recommend to draft him; just pick up Mona Ellis as well, because he’ll pick up the slack when Baron goes down.
Stephen Jackson is suspended to start the season, but he’ll be consistent once he returns to the court. Expect the same numbers this year, as last year.
Kelenna Azubuike is he surprise here. He is a D-League talent that really knows how to score. I imagine Nellie has fallen in love with his hustle and toughness. I’m not sure if he’ll pan out as a starter, but again, it’s Nellie, so Kelenna could very well get starters minutes all season and be in the running for most improved player. It just depends on Nelson’s mood.
I prefer to have Mickael Pietrus start at SF and Harrington at PF, but Harrington is coming off the bench and Pietrus is the man at PF. Pietrus can score and he is a great defender who will grab rebounds and do what is needed, so I peg him as a huge sleeper this year, assuming he keeps the starting gig here.
Biedrins was having a huge season until he hit a wall. I expect him to be ready and more prepared for the long season and I see him averaging 10, 10 & 1.8 blocks this season, but have you seen him shoot free throws?????? Enough said on that one. I’ll be curious to see how much run Patrick O’Bryant gets this year.
By the way, I can’t talk about the Warriors and Baron Davis without having a picture of Jessica Alba. She’s one of the most beautiful women in the world.
Just Give Me The Stats!! 