Posts Tagged ‘ brandan wright ’

3
23
Feb

The Great Trade of 2011

So the Warriors finally got in on the trading action trading Dan Gadzuric and Brandan Wright for Troy Murphy and a 2012 2nd round pick.  Murphy makes $12M this year and will likely never put on a Warrior’s uniform.  If he cannot be flipped for another 2nd round pick he will be cut and land somewhere else as a free agent.  Brandan Wright was not going to receive a qualifying offer this Summer because he would have most likely accepted not being able to find more money on the open market. Wright makes $3.4 million this year.  Gadzuric was not getting much playing time and earns $7.25M this year.  Basically the Warriors bought a 2nd round pick in 2012 for $1.3M and opened up two roster spots if in fact Murphy gets cut. If there is a positive to take away from this, the new owners are willing to buy draft picks rather than sell them.

I would have liked to see the Warrior’s get more for Brandan Wright, but his stock was about as low as it could be.  Hindsight is 20/20 but they really should have moved him this past Summer.  I am happy to move on from the Brandan Wright era and ANOTHER failed 1st round draft pick, but this is bittersweet as the West has opened up a bit with the Williams and Carmelo trades and getting someone who can contribute to the team rather than a contract would have been nice.  However, if the Warriors bring back Jeff Adrien as Rusty Simmons is reporting then it lessens the blow a bit.  Adrien will be more useful than Murphy would be. Who gets the 2nd open roster spot if Murphy is cut? The Jewish Jordan?

I guess I can give up the project I started last night to change all of our “Brandon Wright” tags to “Brandan Wright” tags so that is good news.  Looks like Alex Smith lasted longer.

So anyone looking for more Warrior’s trades besides the slim possibility of moving Murphy for a pick?  I don’t anticipate anything and after seeing the Knicks and the Nets probably overpay in the blockbuster trades I am not confident the Warrior’s can pick up a difference maker without giving up too much.

6
13
Feb

Preview: Thunder at Warriors

Oklahoma City
Thunder

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
5:00pm | CSNBA/ESPN

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
December 5, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 109
Thunder 114
 
February 13, 2011 • Recap
Thunder 94
Warriors 100
 
March 29, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 114
Thunder 115
 

The Warriors welcome Oklahoma City to Oracle tonight, who are coming off a tight win at Sacramento. We can only hope that they’ll be tired/satisfied after winning the first half of the back-to-back and won’t be bringing it at 100% for tonight’s game. What to watch for tonight:

  • Competition. Monta will match his 6th ranked scoring average up against Kevin Durant’s top-ranked average, and Monta has played well against marque competition in the past. Ellis’ down streak is getting worryingly long at this point, so hopefully playing on national television can snap him out of it.
  • Getting called out. Lots of complaints about David Lee in recent weeks, and they’re well justified. He’s getting regularly pulled in crunch time, which is not exactly what you pay $13M/per for. At the very least, it would be nice to see him start rebounding again; his 3-boards performance down in Phoenix on Friday was, quite frankly, pathetic.
  • The Long Boys. Both Udoh and B. Wright got a sweat going on Friday, and Ekpe in particular is making a strong case for more minutes. Combined with the need to showcase Brandan before the trade deadline, I wonder if we’ll see more from these guys tonight — especially if Andris struggles (again).
0
12
Feb

Game #52: Suns 112, Warriors 88

Warriors 88

@

Suns 112
February 10, 2011 1 2 3 4 T
Warriors 22 20 19 27 88
Suns 32 33 22 25 112
  Net -10 -13 -3 2 -24
  Season Avg -2.9 0.8 -0.4 -0.1 -2.2
  Compare to Season Avg -7.1 -13.8 -2.6 2.1 -21.8
 Warriors Stats
  FG% 3P% FT% FTA Fouls OReb TReb Assists Steals Blocks Turns POTurns PIPaint FBPoints
Game 40% 30% 58.8% 17 15 9 32 19 11 6 12 15 44 15
Season Avg 46.2% 39.2% 76.1% 20.7 22 11.6 40.5 22.5 9 5 14.1 17.5 42.6 18.6
Difference -6.2% -9.2% -17.3% -3.7 -7 -2.6 -8.5 -3.5 2 1 -2.1 -0.5 1.4 -3.6
 Net Comparison
  FG% 3P% FT% FTA Fouls OReb TReb Assists Steals Blocks Turns POTurns PIPaint FBPoints
Net Game -12.4% -24.5% -26.9% 3 1 -3 -15 -6 6 0 5 4 4 -8
Net Season Avg -0.6% 3.5% -1.2% -7 -3.6 -1.2 -4.3 -2.2 0.8 0.7 1.2 2 -2.9 -0.8
Net Difference -11.8% -28% -25.7% 10 4.6 -1.8 -10.7 -3.8 5.2 -0.7 3.8 2 6.9 -7.2

Another ugly loss to the Suns, as the Warriors decided to repeat their Monday performance and make sure this game was out of reach by the end of the first quarter.

Only silver lining was extended run for Ekpe Udoh (and, to a lesser extent, Brandan Wright), who took advantage of the extended garbage time to post career highs of 16 points and 7 rebounds in 30 minutes — and was the only positive Warrior at +1.

But that was about it, and as this season continues to slip out of reach the need to do something drastic to shake up the roster is becoming more and more apparent.

Golden State Warriors (23-29)
field goalsrebounds
pos min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a +/- off def tot ast pf st to bs ba pts
D. Wright F 22:40 1-9 1-5 0-0 -25 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 2 3
D. Lee F-C 25:08 5-12 0-0 1-1 -25 2 1 3 4 4 0 1 0 2 11
A. Biedrins C 10:48 1-5 0-0 0-0 -8 1 1 2 0 2 2 0 2 0 2
M. Ellis G 28:02 4-13 0-2 0-0 -22 0 2 2 1 4 0 2 0 0 8
S. Curry G 24:48 5-9 2-3 0-0 -26 0 2 2 2 0 1 4 0 0 12
E. Udoh 30:20 8-12 0-0 0-2 +1 3 4 7 0 2 3 2 0 0 16
B. Wright 24:28 5-7 0-0 0-3 -2 1 1 2 2 0 2 0 2 0 10
R. Williams 28:07 3-9 1-5 9-10 -11 1 3 4 6 2 0 1 0 0 16
V. Radmanovic 11:50 1-3 0-1 0-0 -1 1 3 4 1 0 1 0 1 0 2
J. Lin 17:45 1-5 0-0 0-1 0 0 3 3 2 0 1 0 0 1 2
C. Bell 16:04 2-6 2-4 0-0 -1 0 2 2 0 1 0 1 1 1 6
D. Gadzuric DNP – Coach’s Decision
Total 240 36-90 6-20 10-17 9 23 32 19 15 11 12 6 6 88
40.0% 30.0% 58.8% team rebs: 15 total to: 13
Phoenix Suns (25-25)
field goalsrebounds
pos min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a +/- off def tot ast pf st to bs ba pts
G. Hill F 26:24 3-6 0-1 0-0 +22 0 1 1 3 0 0 2 0 1 6
C. Frye C-F 28:30 6-12 4-6 1-2 +27 0 9 9 0 3 1 1 0 0 17
R. Lopez C 15:25 3-8 0-0 6-7 +18 4 2 6 0 1 0 0 1 1 12
V. Carter G 16:10 3-6 0-2 0-0 +8 0 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 6
S. Nash G 26:32 6-10 3-4 3-3 +19 2 0 2 11 2 0 7 0 1 18
M. Gortat 27:58 3-7 0-0 0-0 +3 2 7 9 0 5 1 2 0 2 6
J. Dudley 20:20 5-8 3-5 0-0 +6 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 13
H. Warrick 19:30 4-9 0-0 0-0 -3 2 4 6 2 0 1 3 0 1 8
Z. Dowdell 21:28 5-10 0-0 0-0 +5 2 3 5 6 1 1 1 1 0 10
M. Pietrus 24:23 3-5 2-4 0-0 +14 0 3 3 1 2 0 1 3 0 8
J. Childress 08:43 2-2 0-0 0-0 -2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 4
G. Siler 04:37 1-1 0-0 2-2 +3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Total 240 44-84 12-22 12-14 12 35 47 25 16 5 17 6 6 112
52.4% 54.5% 85.7% team rebs: 9 total to: 18

inactive

  • Warriors: Amundson, Law
  • Suns: Dragic, Lawal

technical fouls

  • Warriors: Ellis, Wright
  • Suns: –

scoring

  • Lead Changes: 1
  • Times Tied: 0

arena stats

  • Arena: US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ
  • Officials: #55 Bill Kennedy, #53 Mark Lindsay, #71 Rodney Mott
  • Attendance: 16731
  • Duration: 2:7
0
22
Jan

Game #42: Warriors 119, Kings 112

Kings 112

@

Warriors 119
January 21, 2011 1 2 3 4 T
Kings 28 23 23 30 112
Warriors 27 24 31 22 119
  Net -1 1 8 -8 7
  Season Avg -2.9 0.8 -0.4 -0.1 -2.2
  Compare to Season Avg 1.9 0.2 8.4 -7.9 9.2
 Warriors Stats
  FG% 3P% FT% FTA Fouls OReb TReb Assists Steals Blocks Turns POTurns PIPaint FBPoints
Game 51.6% 22.2% 85% 20 26 10 44 21 13 5 19 24 60 30
Season Avg 46.2% 39.2% 76.1% 20.7 22 11.6 40.5 22.5 9 5 14.1 17.5 42.6 18.6
Difference 5.4% -17% 8.9% -0.7 4 -1.6 3.5 -1.5 4 0 4.9 5.5 17.4 11.4
 Net Comparison
  FG% 3P% FT% FTA Fouls OReb TReb Assists Steals Blocks Turns POTurns PIPaint FBPoints
Net Game 6.9% -2.8% 17.4% -17 -3 -3 -1 -1 2 3 1 1 0 15
Net Season Avg -0.6% 3.5% -1.2% -7 -3.6 -1.2 -4.3 -2.2 0.8 0.7 1.2 2 -2.9 -0.8
Net Difference 7.5% -6.3% 18.6% -10 0.6 -1.8 3.3 1.2 1.2 2.3 -0.2 -1 2.9 15.8

Look Familiar? (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)

For the second time this season, the Kings bail the Warriors out of a demoralizing loss by completely forgetting how to close a game. From 9 points down with about 3 minutes remaining, the Warriors got 3′s from Curry and then Monta, then, after trading a few scores, Monta made his second last minute shot in as many nights, this one to send the game to overtime (where the Warriors quickly pulled away from the deflated visitors).

The Kings opened the door by doing a nice impression of a college team, making only 3 of 6 foul shots in the closing minutes. Still, that distracts from the fact that the Kings were dominating the Warriors from the line until the closing minutes of regulation (it was something like 30-10 in FTA’s at one point, and even with the Kings fouling at the end of overtime they still made it to the line 17 times more than the Warriors).

Monta got the glory — but also an ankle injury, which according to the beat writers isn’t too serious but could still keep him out of tonight’s game against the Clippers — but it was Curry who had perhaps the most important game for the Warriors’ future success. He broke the 30 mark for the first time since December 5 at Oklahoma City, and did so with 8 fewer shot attempts than Monta (providing evidence for Feltbot’s theory that Curry would outscore Monta if he got the same number of shots — will be interesting to see how he plays tonight if Monta sits out with the ankle).

David Lee had a solid double-double, and Dorell Wright came up big on the glass with 12 rebounds to go with his 13 points. Biedrins, on the other hand, did little to respond to Lacob’s implied criticism in some of his recent interviews, with 4 points and 5 rebounds and a team low -14 before he fouled out in only 24 minutes. Yikes.

The bench was fairly quiet in this game, with Gadzuric making the most memorable appearance after Biedrins fouled out near the end of regulation. Gadzuric missed a point blank layup in the closing minute, though he did post a +16 so he wasn’t all bad. Especially if you compare it to Brandon Wright’s -10 in just 3 minutes. If there’s one thing Wright is consistent at, it’s being inconsistent.

So the Warriors avert disaster, and now get a bit of a freebie game tonight in LA against the Clippers (though it would still be nice to win another before San Antonio comes to town on Monday). Their propensity for playing down to their competition is getting a bit concerning, as they are coming off three straight wins that were way closer than they should have been. Still, a win is a win, and the Dubs now have their first 4-game winning streak in three years. They’re back within 4 games of .500, and trail Portland by 4 games in the standings for the 8th and final playoff spot. Can’t complain too much about that, given the recent history of this franchise.

Sacramento Kings (9-32)
field goalsrebounds
pos min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a +/- off def tot ast pf st to bs ba pts
O. Casspi F 43:58 6-15 2-6 0-0 -3 1 8 9 2 3 0 1 0 0 14
J. Thompson F 35:17 5-10 0-0 2-4 -1 5 7 12 2 6 1 1 1 1 12
D. Cousins C 38:41 8-17 0-0 5-8 +1 3 5 8 5 3 1 4 1 3 21
T. Evans G 48:26 14-29 1-3 6-10 +2 1 2 3 5 5 3 6 0 1 35
B. Udrih G 46:37 2-7 0-1 7-7 +1 0 4 4 7 2 3 5 0 0 11
S. Dalembert 06:28 0-2 0-0 0-0 -11 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
C. Landry 21:55 3-6 0-0 4-6 -5 1 4 5 0 3 0 2 0 0 10
P. Jeter 09:09 2-3 0-1 1-2 -8 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5
L. Head 02:12 0-1 0-0 0-0 -8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
D. Greene 12:17 2-3 0-0 0-0 -3 1 1 2 0 1 2 1 0 0 4
D. Jackson DNP – Coach’s Decision
J. Taylor DNP – Coach’s Decision
Total 265 42-93 3-11 25-37 13 32 45 22 23 11 20 2 5 112
45.2% 27.3% 67.6% team rebs: 14 total to: 20
Golden State Warriors (19-23)
field goalsrebounds
pos min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a +/- off def tot ast pf st to bs ba pts
D. Wright F 46:09 5-11 0-3 3-4 +18 0 12 12 3 2 3 3 1 0 13
D. Lee F-C 42:45 9-16 0-0 4-5 +8 1 9 10 3 3 1 3 0 0 22
A. Biedrins C 23:42 2-3 0-0 0-0 -14 1 4 5 0 6 0 1 1 0 4
M. Ellis G 48:59 12-29 1-6 3-4 +10 0 4 4 9 4 3 7 1 1 28
S. Curry G 44:10 12-21 3-7 7-7 +7 1 2 3 3 2 4 4 0 1 34
V. Radmanovic 11:53 1-1 0-0 0-0 -1 0 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 2
E. Udoh 10:07 2-3 0-0 0-0 +3 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
A. Law 14:21 3-3 0-0 0-0 -6 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 6
R. Williams 04:46 1-3 0-2 0-0 +4 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
D. Gadzuric 15:09 2-5 0-0 0-0 +16 5 0 5 0 4 1 0 2 0 4
B. Wright 02:59 0-0 0-0 0-0 -10 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
C. Bell DNP – Coach’s Decision
Total 265 49-95 4-18 17-20 10 34 44 21 26 13 19 5 2 119
51.6% 22.2% 85.0% team rebs: 10 total to: 20

inactive

  • Kings: Garcia, Whiteside
  • Warriors: Amundson, Lin

technical fouls

  • Kings: –
  • Warriors: Lee

scoring

  • Lead Changes: 9
  • Times Tied: 12

arena stats

  • Arena: ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA
  • Officials: #27 Dick Bavetta, #30 John Goble, #12 Violet Palmer
  • Attendance: 18428
  • Duration: 2:51
5
21
Jan

Preview: Kings at Warriors

Sacramento
Kings

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
7:30pm | CSNBA

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
December 21, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 117
Kings 109
 
January 21, 2011 • Recap
Kings 112
Warriors 119
 
March 14, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 119
Kings 129
 
April 10, 2011 • Recap
Kings 104
Warriors 103
 

The Warriors kick off the second half of the season tonight against the visiting Kings, losers of 6 of their last 7 and the hosts to perhaps the Warriors biggest win so far this season (at least, biggest given what it would have meant to lose that game). Once again, the Warriors face a must-win if they hope to return to respectability before they head back out on the road for an extended stretch (related, good to see that Lacob is also targeting an 11-4 record in their next 15 to break into positive territory.) What to watch for tonight:

  • Play like the better team — this time, for reals. Perhaps it was a bit much to expect a blowout on Wednesday against a well-coached Pacers squad, but tonight there really are no excuses. Sacramento is on a slide, and with a game tomorrow night in LA against the Clippers it would be great to give the starters a bit of rest.
  • More of the Wright stuff. Brandon Wright was the surprise contributor against Indiana, with 6 points and 12 big minutes. Let’s see if he’s the first big off the bench, or at the very least gets some run in the second quarter. I’d still be shocked if he ever becomes a consistent contributor for the dubs, but at the very least I’d love to see him build his trade value up from its current negative value.
  • 5 vs. 6. I don’t expect Udoh to get much in terms of minutes, but when he’s in there I hope to see him guard Cousins. Could be a good matchup for Udoh, as Cousins’ relative rawness means he won’t be pulling any crafty veteran moves on Udoh. A solid block or two could go a long way toward easing the pain of last season’s late “run” that gave the Warriors the 6th pick instead of the 5th.
7
9
Jan

Is Brandan Wright the Alex Smith of the Warriors?

I couldn't resist using this photo

Interesting article by Marcus Thompson II in the Mercury News today on Brandan Wright and his future with the team. It goes through the usual litany of injury excuses, and kinda skates over the fact that Wright has always been a defensive and rebounding disaster when he’s made it onto the court.

While Wright has certainly been a disappointment, what’s maddening is that he’s always remained on the verge of being a serviceable player (unlike, say, Patrick O’Brien). And at times — in particular last year’s preseason before his second shoulder separation — it seemed like we were finally going to see the potential (utilizing his length and explosiveness) that made him such a high pick coming out of UNC after his freshman year.

But the fact remains that we haven’t, and this year has been perhaps the most disappointing of all as he was felled with a mysterious back injury for over a month and now can’t even crack the rotation. Maybe he’ll one day put it all together and become a positive contributor on the court, but at this point it seems incredibly unlikely that Oakland will be where that happens.

And in that way, he sort of reminds me of Alex Smith. A player with all the potential in the world who, despite numerous chances, could never put it all together when it mattered for the team that drafted him. Sure, you can legitimately blame coaching, and injuries were definitely a factor, but when it comes to the bottom line performance neither player lived up to his draft position.

So, like with Alex Smith, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Wright one day put it all together and become a solid contributor (both are young and play a position of huge importance in their respective sports, and they may finally have the experience to put it all together). But at this point this turning of the corner won’t be happening with their original teams, so in Wright’s case I just hope the Warriors can get something for him before he inevitably leaves at the end of the year. Because otherwise, based on the team’s history of former players blowing up elsewhere, it’s going to be annoying as hell when Wright inevitably comes into Oracle next year and throws up a career high against the dubs…

Postscript: Another comparison for Wright could be Greg Oden — a player who, if he ultimately flourishes, will do so in another uniform than the team that drafted him. Though in Oden’s case it’s easy to put the blame squarely on the injuries, as more “fixable” problems like coaching and attitude didn’t interfere as much. So I’ll stick with the Smith comparison.

1
25
Dec

Preview: Trail Blazers at Warriors

Portland
Trailblazers

@

Golden State
Warriors

Oracle Arena
7:30pm | CSNBA/ESPN

Official Game Preview

2010-11 Meetings
December 18, 2010 • Recap
Warriors 95
Trailblazers 96
 
December 25, 2010 • Recap
Trailblazers 102
Warriors 109
 
April 5, 2011 • Recap
Warriors 108
Trailblazers 87
 
April 13, 2011 • Recap
Trailblazers 86
Warriors 110
 

Out most of the day so no time for a proper preview, but will be looking forward to this game later tonight. The Warriors face a Blazers team that they *almost* beat a few games ago, so we’ll see if home court makes the difference tonight. Curry and Brandan Wright are expected back, and with the Blazers still missing Roy the injury excuse is definitely out the window.

And for the Fitz haters, a Christmas miracle: a chance to listen to a national broadcast team that won’t just marvel at marvelous outside shooting by the Blazers, but will point out the defensive culpability as well…

1
12
Nov

Second chance for B-Wright

David Lee’s elbow is infected (why is Tyson Chandler so dirty?) and will miss two weeks. Can B-Wright make anything of a few more starts? Color me doubtful.