Oakland's Newest Reggie

The Dubs' D-Leaguer deluge continues! Scott Schroeder of Ridiculous Upside reports that the Warriors will be signing Reggie Williams to a ten-day contract on Tuesday. Williams, a 23-year-old VMI alum, is a offensive-minded three (he led the nation in scoring in both his junior and senior years), and will more than likely be playing the role of Corey Maggette for the next five games.

Schroeder likes the signing -- in fact, he thinks the team whiffed by choosing Cartier Martin over Williams back in January. In a January rundown of D-League prospects, BP's Kevin Pelton rated Williams as the league's most promising small forward and the league's most promising overall scorer. In 31 games with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Williams has scored efficiently (.576 FG%, .410 3P%, .824 FT%) and often (26.4 points per game). Reports on his D are mixed, and (per Pelton) his rebound rate doesn't translate well to the NBA. Still, as scrap-heap guys go, this seems like a good one.

The Warriors will surely get their money's worth out of him... Nellie gave Cartier 27.6 minutes a night, and Williams can actually get the ball in the basket, unlike Cartier. This DraftExpress description certainly makes the kid sound like he's up the fat man's alley. Williams isn't likely to outlast his contract, but if he posts some big nights, who knows? Maybe he'll finally convince the Dubs to abandon their sad delusions of Raja Bell being either able or willing to help them next year.

#58: DET @ GSW 2/27/10

Detroit Pistons

Record: 21-37 (23rd) • Point Differential: -4.3 (25th) • Pace: 88.4 (29th)

Off. Efficiency: 104.0 (25th) • eFG: 46.4 (29th) • TO: 15.4 (14th) • OReb: 31.0 (2nd) • FT/FG: 21.8 (22nd)

Def. Efficiency: 108.9 (21st) • eFG: 51.0 (23rd) • TO: 16.2 (7th) • OReb: 26.4 (17th) • FT/FG: 27.1 (29th)

PreThoughts

The Warriors' second-longest homestand of the season ends here. In fact, while nobody was looking, the schedule tipped decidedly in the other direction; after this game, the Dubs will have played 31 times in Oakland and just 27 times elsewhere. (Cross "tough schedule" off the franchise's long list of attempted excuses.) The Warriors have gone 2-3 on this Oracle tilt so far -- the wins were both thrilling in their respective ways, and a victory over the Pistons would be enough to call this homestand a relative success.

The Pistons are not exactly what you'd call tough customers, either. In the teams' last meeting, Detroit prevailed, rising to a record of 11-12... they lost their next thirteen games, however, and now rate worse than the Dubs by point differential. The Pistons feature most of the same defensive flaws as the Warriors, letting opponents score efficiently from the field and often from the line. And while the Warriors shoot fairly well from the field, the Pistons shoot worse than any team that's not based in New Jersey.

However, the Pistons have somewhat stabilized of late, winning six of twelve. Richard Hamilton, overrated and overpaid though he may be, has re-found his form... he's been Detroit's top scorer in each of their last six games, averaging 27.2 points per contest in that span. And the one area in which the Pistons rate well -- offensive rebounding -- is the one area that has most kneecapped the Warriors this season. The Dubs will need a healthy dose of Andris Biedrins in this game to have a chance. Let's hope that he and Nellie allow that to happen.

Warrior To Watch: Stephen Curry, who's earned this label for the foreseeable future. Can he finally post two excellent games in a row?

Piston To Watch: Tayshaun Prince, who's been logging heavy minutes for over a month now, quieting fears about his back problems. The Pistons will look to shake up their roster this summer, and a Maggette package for Prince is a (longshot) possibility the Warriors should pursue.

#57: DEN @ GSW 2/25/10

PostThoughts -- Nuggets 127, Warriors 112

Best game of Stephen Curry's career, bar none. He exhibited high-level playmaking against a good team for the first time, scored 30 points on 19 shots, and recorded his seventh straight 6+ rebound night, to boot... he's averaging 7.7 boards over that span. I am not yet drinking the "superstar" Kool-Aid, but it's starting to catch my eye when I browse the metaphorical basketball food product aisle.

Also, watching Anthony Morrow shoot threes is the purest joy in Warriors fandom. Also, good job, Nellie! You turned Biedrins into an airballin' pile of Jell-O. Also, nice to see the Dubs launching 24 times from three-point land. It only took them 57 games to realize they should play like underdogs. Other than that, nothing to see here... this was the moderately big home loss one would've expected.

The Warriors lag four games behind their pace from last year, and have now slipped a game behind the pace of the '04-'05 team, whose Baron-fueled season-ending hot streak started in game #57. Eric Musselman's teams never dipped nearly this low. In fact, the last time the Dubs fell to 16-41, Brian Winters was on the bench. So while it may be fun to dream on Curry and his fellow young 'uns, let's be clear about what we're seeing here. This is the most incompetent Warriors team in eight seasons.

#56: PHI @ GSW 2/23/10

PreThoughts

Tonight's game features the rare opponent that can match the Warriors in chaos. The Sixers have been switching schemes, trying to dump Iguodalas, and alternating brilliant games with wretched ones. They've recorded a twelve-game losing streak and a five-game winning streak, something few teams can say. And in their last three games, they've lost to the Heat by 27, beaten the Spurs by 12, and lost to the Bulls by 32. If you can figure them out, more power to you.

This matchup resulted in a memorably ugly game last time around, as the Dubs lost big and got out-rebounded by an NBA season-high 33. But tonight features a different cast of characters on both sides. The Warriors have replaced Mikki, Vlad, Randolph and Maggette with Biedrins, Tolliver and (probably) Ronny... it's hard to imagine they'll struggle that badly on the boards again. The Sixers have Lou Williams in place of Iverson, a swap that'll make the Golden State guards' jobs tougher, as both his style and his numbers are reminiscent of Monta's better, Baron-era play. Curry & Monta vs. Lou & Jrue is a midget tag-team match that could headline Arena Mexico.

The Sixers don't do anything all that well on either end, so it's a thoroughly winnable game. But with these two enigmatic teams, who knows -- a 30-point blowout win by either wouldn't be all that surprising.

Warrior To Watch: Stephen Curry. Would be nice to see him string a couple great games in a row.

Sixer To Watch: Andre Iguodala. You've thought about trading Monta for him... let's see how they fare against each other tonight.

Warriors SCORE Board, 2.23.10

Previous Editions: 12.21.09 • 1.10.10 • 2.08.10 • 2.17.10

Our formula remains the same, but this time out, we're going to excise 'Buike, Randolph and Vlad and zero in on the ten Warriors we've seen lately.

Stephen Curry has scrapped his way into second place on our SCORE Board, undoubtedly one of the proudest achievements of his young career. CJ's hot week also has him on the rise. Turiaf, meanwhile, has stumbled a bit, and now ranks below Anthony Tolliver both by three of our five metrics and in total. And there's even less consensus about Monta's season than ever; PER and Doolittle's WP3K rate him as one of the two most effective players of these ten, while Simple Rating and Win Shares deem him one of the two least effective guys listed here. By the latter system, Monta's 2,073 minutes of court time have resulted in exactly 0.0 Offensive Win Shares... Raja Bell's 23 minutes resulted in 0.1. Ouch.

The overall picture remains the same: Maggette's been really good, George and Hunter have been really bad, everyone else is milling around somewhere in the middle. Curry should only continue to rise, though, as 82games has yet to incorporate the last week's worth of data. By this time next week, he may have distinguished himself as the second most-effective player on the team. Curry probably won't catch Tyreke for Rookie of the Year, as there may not be enough time to close the scoring gap, but second place is now his to lose. And considering how quiet Curry's numbers were through the end of '09, that's saying a helluva lot. It's too early to call the kid a savior, but he's looking pretty damn good.