Re****t Card: Guards
By Marcus
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
It's hard to not look at the stats of the Warriors guards and come away
impressed. But there were some areas where the guards fell short - and it
hurt because of their im****tance to this team. I'm a little harder on them
(especially Baron Davis) because their value to the team and their overall
talent is greater than anyone else's on the team.
Baron Davis - He averaged 21.8 points in 39 minutes, his highest marks in
those categories since 2003-04, whe averaged 22.9 points in 40.1 minutes.
He
also set a career high in rebounds. But where Baron falls short - and this
is only a shortcoming because he is expected to be elite - was being a
point
guard. Baron proved two things this season: 1) he is still a top-notched
scorer and 2) he can stay healthy (though that is relative). Unfortunately
for the Warriors, they only need No. 2. Golden State doesn't need Baron to
be a dominant scorer, but a playmaker. They are better when he's not the
leading scorer. His assists (7.6) dropped under 8.3 for the first time
since
he joined the Warriors. His field goal percentage also dropped (42.6)
fairly
significantly off last season's career-best 43.9 percent. They needed him
to
make stuff happen for everyone else, not get his. Last year, he played
like
Chris Paul. This year, he was Gilbert Arenas. They are much tougher to
defend when he's racking up 15 assists than when he's scoring 40. Plus, he
was bad down the stretch.
Grade: C+
Monta Ellis - He really took his game to another level this year. His
became
a reliable offensive weapon, partially filling the void left by Jason
Richardson. There's no question this dude has the potential to be the
next.
But looking at just this season, he was atrocious on defense, and that
hurt
the Warriors in the long run. If Baron is going to play 40 minutes, Monta
has to guard the Allen Iversons, the Chris Pauls, the Tony Parkers, etc.
He
couldn't this season. His best defense was getting 30 himself. Plus, Monta
has the tendency to force offense and take quick shots at the wrong time.
He
was excellent on the boards, though, and he's already a much better
ball-handler than he used to be.
Grade: B
Marco Belinelli - I give him a lot of credit for keeping a great attitude
while not playing and while sitting in the disgruntled section of the
locker
room (with MP2, Matt Barns and Al Harrington). He thought he should've
played more, but he always kept a smile on his face and kept working hard.
And when he got in, he stroked it some. Grade: B
C.J. Watson - He was much better than I expected, and he fit because he
can
score. Could've been more aggressive, but I understand why not. He
produced
when he got the minutes, and that's all you can ask from a guy who started
on a 10-day contract.
Grade: A-
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