11. GOLDEN STATE

Preseason Prediction: 34 wins (13th)
Revised Prediction: 37 wins

Great basketball city, fun team, new owners, Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, David Lee, cool uniforms, solid chemistry, Don Nelson’s corpse no longer rotting on the bench like a dead seal, garbage-time chants for Jeremy Lin … what’s not to like? The big surprises: Dorell Wright (suddenly a deadly 3-point shooter, much to the chagrin of beleaguered Miami GM Dwyane Wade, who paid Mike Miller three times as much as the Warriors paid Wright) and Andris Biedrins (who’s played three straight weeks without getting hurt, a career high). The big concerns: defense, defense and defense if and when Biedrins goes down. Thanks to the Warriors and Knicks, the over/under for “Crazy Statistical Feats We’ll See During the 2010-11 Seasons” was 9.5 heading into the season, then Rondo’s 10-10-24 and Love’s 31-31 happened (both against the Knicks). I’m revising that to 11.5 to be safe.

Reason No. 14,729 I love the NBA: In the summer of 2007, Philly barely trumped Golden State’s lucrative Elton Brand offer, and then the Warriors got blindsided when Baron Davis fled for the Clips. In the summer of 2009, the Warriors backed out of a handshake deal with Phoenix that would have sent Biedrins, Brandan Wright and Curry’s rights to Phoenix for Amare Stoudemire. Last summer, the Warriors turned down Memphis’ offer of O.J. Mayo and Hasheem Thabeet for Ellis. (Note: Everyone thought they were crazy. Me included. Now they look like geniuses thanks to Ellis’ scoring binge.) You know what’s great about this? The Warriors spent the past 35 years giving up the wrong guys too early and acquiring the wrong guys too late, always to the chagrin of their absurdly loyal fans. Somehow, they went four for their past four with big decisions/breaks. See? There’s hope for everybody. Even this next team.

STEIN: Monta Ellis is a player whose name always comes up in trade speculation, but that was before he had such a great start to the season. Can you clarify his status?

Lacob: I love Monta Ellis. I really love his attitude right now. He’s always been one of my favorite players. He’s a terrific, unique talent in the NBA. Who else is there that fast? He can get his shot off at any time against anyone. He’s only 6-3, not a big guy, but he has tremendous heart. And I think that’s the thing that maybe not just me but a lot of people really didn’t quite see as much in previous years. And maybe that was because of other influences on the team. Or maybe that was because of his relationship with the coach, which maybe could have been better. We can all speculate, but what we have to do is look at the here and now.

I took Monta to a 49er game before the season. I met his wife and spent time with him and I got a very good sense that this guy was really on board. With David Lee and the changes in the locker room, [Lee] being here was really helping. [Ellis] and [Stephen] Curry have a good relationship now. I just think that he has turned it around a lot. He is a guy that is very, very, very motivated to be here, motivated to win. He’s been nothing but a team player.

The answer to your question is, no one is ever totally untouchable. My job — and I will be held accountable — is to bring a winning team here to Oakland. A championship team. So I don’t think I can sit here and say that anyone is untouchable, but Monta Ellis isn’t going anywhere right now. He’s just too good. He’s too much a part of what I really view as what I want the Golden State Warriors to be. So I think you can presume that Monta’s going to be a Warrior.