Lets Do Stephen Curry A Favor by A. Antz

Stephen Curry is having a decent rookie season when you look at his numbers. But if you have actually been watching the games you might see a player who can't stay in front of his man and makes mistakes that are not being corrected. Stephen is at a point where he would benefit from coming off of the bench as opposed to playing through his mistakes. The Warriors envision Curry as their point guard of the future but right now the job has proven too much for him to handle. Over the past few gams his confidence has clearly taken some hits and his play has been noticeably less aggressive since the start of the season. Especially at the defensive end.


Typically I am not in favor of benching rookies but Curry is in danger of entering the same place that Mike Dunleavy Jr. was in when he was with the Warriors. A place where night in and night out he is overmatched with the best athletes in the world and his lack of physical ability starts to play on his mind. Stephen is a shooter, no one is denying that. The dubs need to use him as such.

If he came off the bench as a scorer he would greatly benefit. Right now the task of running a team and guarding the other teams 1st or second best player is proving to be too much for him. One encouraging thing about Curry's performances is that his shooting hasn't really declined. His performance against Milwaukee was forgotten because of Jennings' 55 points, but he came off the bench and scored 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting in the same game. His numbers are actually down when the W's win. In 9 victories Curry is averaging 25 minutes per. In 23 losses he's averaging 34 minutes.

Tonight the W's play the Denver Nuggets who are without Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony. Curry will most likely be matched up with fellow rookie Ty Lawson, Curry should at least come out even in this matchup. Lawson is far more athletic, but they both played in college for the same amount of time and tonight is an opportunity for Steph to prove that he belongs in the starting lineup, especially against a fellow rookie. Afterall, Lawson was the one picked 18th overall not 7th.


Everyone hopes Curry becomes the next Steve Nash but lets not forget that Nash learned from the bench as well as the starting lineup for the early part of his career. He also had the luxury of Jason Kidd and Kevin Johnson's brains to pick from, whereas Curry has no such luxury. The dubs have not put him in a position to succeed very often this season, as evidenced by his constantly shooting off the dribble and never coming around or off of screens. In college he proved that he was very adept at performing the latter. Perhaps he would benefit from watching the flow of the game at the start and then he would be better prepared to pick his spots while out on the floor. He would also be able to see what is working for the opposing team's PG and what is not. We new Curry would not be able to defend NBA athletes early on, and that he would have trouble adjusting to playing the point full time. So lets allow him to focus on one thing at a time for right now, shooting. He's good at it.

Please Sign Shaun Livingston by Andrew Antz

Shaun Livingston is currently unemployed after being cut by the Thunder. The Warriors are in need of a point guard that stands taller than 6'3'' and can play defense. He would come cheap and would at the very least challenge Stephen Curry to play better. Again, Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis will not be able to play together for the long term future. The experiment hasn't been very successful at the present time either.

Shaun Livingston has regained his mobility and proven that his knee is stable enough to play 20-30 minutes a game. The Warriors are 7-21 and their starting point guards' numbers look like this:

009-10 Statistics			FG		3PT		FT		Rebounds			Misc
	G	MIN	FGM-A	FG%	3PM-A	3P%	FTM-A	FT%	OFF	DEF	TOT	STL	BLK	TO	PF	AST	PTS
Season	28	33.2	129-290	.445	37-95	.389	43-51	.843	0.4	3.4	3.8	1.89	.36	2.64	3.36	4.8	12.1

Not bad but not great. We need Steph to be more aggressive and to take care of the ball a lot better. His defense leaves much to be desired. It would be improved if he would simply give his man some space and surrender the jumper from time to time. He guards everyone as if they're just as good a shooter as he is. His decision making is good but he would benefit from seeing Livingston run a team. Shaun has been a point guard his entire life, as opposed to just two years.

In one of the two games that Curry hasn't started this season, he played very well as a scorer off the bench. He was aggressive and didn't play like he wasn't trying to make mistakes. As a starter, he begins the game in a quasi passing/shooting mode. He seems to be unsure of what he wants to do from one play to the next, and of what his exact role is. These are common problems for a rookie but hasn't Anthony Randolph been banished to the bench for these very same reasons?

I know that Livingston isn't a superstar that would turn the season around, but we need to do something. Monta needs more help on defense, and now that Randolph has proven he can protect the rim, Livingston would be a great addition. Defense is what he does best next to his passing. He also doesn't need to shoot so he would be a welcome addition to an offense that has far too many possessions where the ball is passed one time before someone launches a 17 footer.

The W's like to run but often their fast breaks are unbalanced yet scattered at the same time. Imagine Shaun pulling down the rebound and leading the break with his vision and passing ability. Certainly Maggette would benefit from a true point guard that could get him easy baskets off of back door cuts and fast-breaks. Wouldn't that be more pleasing than watching Maggette hold the ball for 8 seconds before launching an ill-advised jumper from the wing?

Signing Livingston would not hurt the Warriors, it could only help them. Especially since we started three guards last night with none being taller than 6'3''. He would provide passing and stability to the most important position on the court. We aren't going to the playoffs but we still need to build around Monta for the present and future, having Livingston would help with both.

Livingston might steal some minutes from Curry, but wouldn't that be more reasonable than Radmanovic stealing minutes from Randolph? Wouldn't Shaun starting at small forward be more reasonable than C.J. Watson doing so?

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Warriors Lose but Randolph Starts! by Andrew Antz

The Warriors played one of their best games in weeks on Wednesday night when they lost to the New Orleans Hornets by just six points.

More importantly though, Anthony Randolph started and played like he should have been starting since opening night. He posted a career-high 8 blocks including 6 in the first quarter. He altered numerous shots and had a huge impact on the game. He played like he had something to prove and he proved it to Don Nelson.

Monta Ellis was stellar once again, putting up 35 points and 4 steals to go with his 5 assists. He was the dubs lone post presence and he was extremely effective from both sides of the paint. Unfortunately the W's didn't take advantage of this by surrounding him with shooters by the time the Hornets realized they should double team him.

Chris Paul played a good game but he was no match for Monta when he was assigned to guard him. He taught Stephen Curry a few lessons on the court but Curry held his own pretty well with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. His first career double-double.

Ultimately the W's were done in by their lack of rebounding on the defensive glass. Maggette did an excellent job on David West but he couldn't grab every rebound when he made him miss. The Hornets had 18 total offensive rebounds. Emeka Okafor pulled down half of those by himself. Why was Chris Hunter not in this game after his best game of the season just one night before? I guess he's the new Randolph.

With 1 minute left in the game and the W's down by three, Morrow secured the defensive rebound and frantically drove the ball up court. He stopped at the three point line and decided to drive in on Stojakovic before passing it back out to Curry for a hurried three pointer that went half-way down before it came out. Monta Ellis didn't touch the ball on the most important possession of the game.

Chris Paul was then isolated at the top of the key with Curry guarding him (why, I don't know) and he finished the game off with a 15-foot jumper. One team executed and the other was executed. The W's played hard enough to win this game but didn't play smart enough. Not with their lack of box outs and mistakes at critical moments in the game.

When the W's have a chance to make a momentum changing play, they rarely make it. This is one of the many steps that needs to be taken in order for them to grow into a winning team. Perhaps a slightly more experienced point guard could help them find the right man at the right time.

Shaun Livingston needs a job,and Stephen Curry needs to be challenged. Just putting it out there.

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