WW.NET:  The Warriors just completed a very successful 3-1 road trip, 4 games in 5 nights, What differences do you notice in their play at home vs. games on the road?  Is there another team that plays as hard as the Warriors in terms of playing vs. bigger guys, insane tempo, etc...?

TK:  That was an excellent trip for the Warriors--that was a 1-3 or 0-4 trip in any other year and maybe 2-2 if somebody got extra hot. 3-1 is superb, obviously, but it's getting normal for this team. I haven't checked the home/road splits lately, but my sense is that Warriors just play tougher defense on the road these days.

Are they out-of-sync at home? Maybe. Teams know what to gear up for at Oracle and maybe the Warriors are a little loose, especially early, before the home folks. On the road, it's back to the emotions of late last season--GSWs vs. the world, and they love that.

Baron, in particular, gets juiced up by the hostile crowd and the opponent and that's when he gets to playing defense. When he plays defense, the Warriors get steals and that fuels everything else they do. And that's all triggered by Baron. Stephen Jackson's defense has fallen off from the early stages, but he's in there, too, feeding off the hostility. Nobody outside of the Kobe/LeBron/Manu Universe hits bigger 3s than SJax.

WW.NET:  Brandan Wright finally got playing time the last few weeks  but we now get word that Nellie won't play him with Biedrins back, is there any reason why Wright shouldn't be playing 10-15 minutes a game? Who does Brandan Wright’s game compare to?

TK:  Nobody has argued or raised Nelson's blood temperature more about Brandan Wright... than me. I watch him and I can't see why any coach would want him to sit for most of a year, just can't see it. He's raw and skinny, no question, but he also competes--that's what I saw from his first weeks just working out. Wright competes more than Diogu and O'Bryant ever have.

But even when Wright was starting and playing well, I figured he'd go right back to the bench when Biedrins was back... and that's what has happened so far. I personally think Wright could get minutes in there--nip and tuck from Harrington, Pietrus and Barnes--but we know that Nellie does not like putting ANY non-shooters on the floor, so if he plays Biedrins he's sure not going to want to pair him with Wright and have two non-outside shooters.

Wright with Biedrins is an experiment for next year. I don't see it happening for a while--until Nellie gets desperate, thinks Wright can hit the mid-range J or Nellie retires.

I've compared Wright to Chris Bosh for a long time--but that was when Wright was at North Carolina. Now that I've seen him up close, I don't think Wright will ever have that Bosh high/low post game. I think Wright is closer to Kirilenko, but a better finisher around the basket for sure. Maybe Kirilenko's defensive aggressiveness and versatility (I'd like to see Wright get a run at Kobe for a couple possessions) with Rasheed Wallace's finishing ability (but not Sheed's strength or shooting ability). I like that combo.

WW.NET:  Patrick O'bryant has been glued to the bench or inactive all season and with the recent comments he made, is there something personal between him and Nellie? Otherwise, he brings shot blocking, rebounding two qualities that the team sorely lacks.

TK: Again, you're preaching to the choir on O'Bryant. I don't think it's a personal thing between him and Nelson, other than the normal stuff between a young, sometimes unfocused player who just doesn't fit the basketball sensibility of the old stubborn coach who likes to pick on young unfocused big players.

O'Bryant is a stationary, not-always-energetic big man and Nellie hates those guys. It just so happened that POB was drafted a few months before Nelson was hired--neither one is to blame for that, but they don't fit and won't ever fit. I think O'Bryant will be decent down the line for some other team--he can block shots, he's not dumb, he has a decent passing and shooting touch. I'd better think all that since I campaigned for the Warriors to take him... When they had Montgomery coaching, it actually fit. I swear.

WW.NET:  Harrington, Pietrus and Barnes all have been inconsistent and as a result seen a reduction in minutes, which of the 3 has been the most disappointing this season? 

TK:  Interesting group you've got there. I think Nelson would always say that he's most disappointed in Harrington, since he's the designated rip guy for Don. I think most fans would say Pietrus, since his errors and weaknesses are so obvious every time he plays weak or makes errors.

But for the strength and depth of this team, I might say Barnes has been the stealth disappointment. Nelson just cannot depend on Matt like he did at the end of last year--I mean, Barnes might've been the team's third most important player in the playoffs, right? Not so much now. Obviously, there have been reasons for it, but now the Warriors are heading into late March not knowing what to expect out of No. 22.

Even Baron has been getting a little tweaked up by Barnes' play of late, and he and Barnes are tight. I think Baron sometimes can't understand why Barnes is doing some of these things. He's such a vital part of the energy and chemistry, but when Barnes does silly stuff, it's like a plug being pulled on the Warriors' mojo.

Amazingly, lately Nelson has been using Pietrus in the Barnes role. And equally as amazingly, Pietrus has been delivering.

WW.NET:   Captain Jack has taken off since he came to Golden State, did you ever expect him to play as well as he has?  He has to be considered the gem of the trade, right?

TK:  Yeah, I thought Harrington was the best player in that trade and I think Mullin thought that, too. I also thought Jackson could help, but only sporadically, when his mind was right, and I never knew if his mind would be right. Thought he was high-maintenance, high-turnover, blow-up-the-locker-room. Oops. Jackson has been the best player and best team guy in that trade from the moment he arrived in the East Bay and now, even with his foot messing up his defense, Jackson has to be one of the six or seven best small forwards in the NBA while Al has sort of settled into an up-down thing with very lackluster finishing skills around the hoop.

If I had to rank 'em now, off the top of my head at SF, it'd be: LeBron, Manu, Carmelo, Pierce, Tayshaun, SJax, Shawn Marion, Josh Howard, Kirilenko, Artest, Igoudala. I know I've forgotten somebody and I might move a few of those around if I give it more thought, but that's the way I've got it now.

Plus, I really think it's enormous that Baron has one guy in that locker room he can't dominate just by will--SJax. BD is accountable to nobody, but he does listen to SJax when Stephen is talking.

WW.NET:  Monta and Biedrins are both going to be looking for contract extensions, are the Warriors committed to re-signing them and how much would it take to re-sign both? Does Monta end up getting more than Barbosa 5/36 and Biedrins similar to Kaman like figures 5/55?

TK: I think the Warriors are heading into this summer determined to extend both Ellis and Biedrins for the long-term, but they also know that the market has changed for restricted F/As. It's not free money for hope and prayer young players any more, as it was for Dunleavy, Murphy and Richardson.

Will somebody come up and throw money at Ellis and/or Biedrins to give the Warriors something massive or two things massive to match or let go? Maybe. They obviously have great value and all it takes is one... But I just don't see the crazy market like we've seen in the past. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it " target\u003d\"_blank\" onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\"\u003e This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it u003c/a\u003e]\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/span\u003e",1] ); //-->

Ellis is such a huge part of the Warriors' post-BD future so yeah, I could see the Warriors paying him more than Barbosa's 36M. Biedrins... I don't think 5 for 55M is in the cards. I like Biedrins' game. I like Biedrins. He's young, he's fast, he hustles... But if you're going to play fast, and the Warriors are going to play fast as long as Mullin is GM, then I don't know if you sink $11M per to anybody who doesn't shoot 3s and run the break, unless he's Boozer, Garnett or Duncan. Which Andris isn't. I'd say more like 5 for $45M, which is probably why he didn't get the extension last summer in the first place--he has a right to expect/want more than that.

 Part 2 Coming Tomorrow