Monday Morning Fresh - Warriors World

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Warriors end their road-trip tonight in New Orleans as they take on the Hornets. A win tonight would save them from going winless on the 5 game trip in which they’ve been competitive and in all the games with the exception of the debacle in Orlando.

Corey Maggette rejoined the team in Atlanta after flying in from Los Angeles where he was undergoing rehabilitation for his injured hamstring. Maggette tired of watching his team lose underhanded made the decision to join the team and gut it out even though he’s not completely healthy.

Warriors have a favorable schedule coming up as they play at home 7 out of the next 9 games. The home-stand gets started Thursday vs Portland which will be the back-end of a doubleheader on TNT. Always interesting as to what Charles Barkley will have to say when the Warriors are on TNT, usually the comments aren’t exactly sweet.

Quick Hits with Zach Harper of Talkhoops.net

How has the Kevin Martin trade worked out thus far? How was Carl Landry looked in a Kings Uniform?

The Kevin Martin trade seems to be working out well for both sides of the deal. While Kevin Martin will surely play well in Houston (especially when Yao Ming returns), Carl Landry is exactly what the Kings needed offensively. The Kings offense has been predicated entirely on things being created on the perimeter this season. They have desperately needed an inside scoring presence and Carl Landry has been great in giving them that. Also, for a team like the Kings who has struggled from the free throw line this year, Carl Landry has been a steady charity stripe option at the end of games. He’s made 88% of his free throws since joining the team. Ironically, if they had a low post guy like Landry when Kevin Martin and Tyreke Evans were trying to figure things out together, the duo would have absolutely worked. The inside offense had been missing all year.

Lots of talk about Stephen Curry closing the gap on Tyreke Evans for the ROY award, any chance Evans doesn’t win it?

Stephen Curry has been fantastic the last two months. He’s becoming a player that few people knew he could be. His offense is deadly and reminds me a lot of when Jason Terry first came into the league and everybody thought he couldn’t be a point guard or get his shot off with his small stature. However, Tyreke Evans has been doing this all season long. He has twice the amount of productive, awe-inspiring months that Curry has enjoyed. That has to count for not just something but everything. Curry has been great. Evans has been historic. Curry has taken a team (that is now riddled with injuries) and they’ll probably win the same amount of games they won last year. Evans has taken a 17-win team and will probably carry them to at least a 10-game improvement this year. Factor in Evans’ superb defense and I just don’t see how he can lose the award.

Can Evans be an elite pg in the League? Does he do a good enough job of distributing the ball or does he dominate the ball too much?

Evans can be an elite point guard because his passing skills are highly underrated. He finds ways to get guys the ball that only really good point guards can do. He’s also been a victim of his teammates blowing a lot of easy assists for him this season. He should be up around seven assists per game for the season but his team can’t convert. However, with all of that in mind I don’t know that his future will be at the point guard position. Westphal seems to be of the mindset that you put your best five on the court, regardless of position. If the Kings can find a good point guard to match with Evans in the backcourt (which is much easier than finding a shooting guard these days) then he’ll slide over to the 2. He’s at his best when he IS dominating the ball. He can get to the basket against anyone not named Shane Battier.

Biggest surprise of the season for the Kings? Biggest disappointment?

Biggest surprise has definitely been Omri Casspi. When he was drafted, he seemed to be more of a novelty than anyone that could contribute within the next three or four years. Instead, he came in and earned a starting spot on a team chalked full of wing players. He’s hit the rookie wall recently but has a bright future as a contributor of this team. The biggest disappointment has definitely been the progression of the big men. Not until recently has Spencer Hawes started playing like an actual center. His rebounding has soared the last five games when it was highly disappointing before that. Jason Thompson has also been a disappointment for this team. After the first six weeks, you could see him making an All-Star team someday. Now, we’re not even sure he’s a starter in this league. He needs to find more concise and efficient ways to score the ball and be a post presence again.

How has Paul Westphal done in his 1st season with the Kings?

Westphal has had a couple of run-ins with young players but overall, his philosophy and coaching has been a welcome addition to the team. He makes young players earn their minutes and time rather than just giving it to them. Some people are frustrated with guys like Ime Udoka playing crunch-time minutes over Omri or Donté Greene. But Ime has earned over those guys and it’s a good message to the players that they must prove they belong on the court. Considering Eric Musselman, Reggie Theus and Kenny Natt were the previous three coaches, this city finally feels like we’ve got another Rick Adelman running the team. It’s a breath of fresh air.

Warriors-Kings..Who is the King of NorCal?

They’re both so bad right now that I don’t know either of them qualify for royalty in the area. I will say that with the front office problems the Warriors seem to have and the questions about your roster, the Kings easily have the brighter future. They already have a sure-fire franchise guy in Evans to build a team around. The Warriors still need to figure out the coaching, front office and ownership situations until you can start taking them seriously again. But with that said, they both have two dynamic young players who are looking to become stars in this game. I think the battle to see who the King of NorCal is over the next decade-plus is going to be quite the show.

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