So with the guards motivated it’s now time for Coach to turn his attention to the frontcourt.  I asked him if any of the young players have impressed him by stepping up to challenge Murphy or Dunleavy in the frontcourt.  “Not yet” he said.  He went on to talk about how Diogu was having a tough time and that he was going to have to relegate him to a backup forward at this point after originally thinking he could play some Center.  He voiced his concern with Biedrins picking up “The most fouls per minute on the team” trying to block every shot.  Rookie Patrick O’bryant received a small praise for at least being out there with an injury (a well disguised dig at Chris Taft?).  Chris Taft is going to be out for a long time and doesn’t figure into Nelson’s plans at all at this point and Zarko Cabarkapa Adonal Foyle, simply not even mentioned.  Cue the media…like a band of Scoobie Doo zombies brought to life by some magical fortune teller… ”Must Tell Andris”, “Must Tell Andris”….Hey Andris, guess what coach said about you? “What did he say”?  “I will buy the paper tomorrow anyway”.  We told him that you were second on the team in blocks last year and he said “yeah, and he lead the team in fouls per minute trying to do it”.  Andris seemed to get a kick out of it, but at the same time he explained how he can alter his game and that he will do whatever coach tells him to do.  Andris was also informed that coach would rather his name be Chuck so it would be less confusing…between Pietrus and Biedrins it’s all just too much for a simple Midwest guy like Nelly (yeah ok).  The writers and Biedrins were pretty much in agreement that he could call him Chuck or whatever else as long as he called his name often during the games.

Another level to this tactic that Nelson so deftly employs is the way he can manipulate a player’s value around the league.  Is Mickael Pietrus more valuable as a trade commodity if he is the “No brainer” starting small forward, “Second best player in camp behind Baron Davis”?  I think so.  Is it possible that Mullin has one more roster move up his sleeve before opening day?  I think it’s a good possibility.  I kind of think the direction the roster needs to go is to some more athletic front court backups like the ones that Memphis seems to have an overabundance of.  Why not bring in Hakim Warrick and Stromile Swift along with fan favorite Brian Cardinal for Pietrus, Diogu and Adonal Foyle.  We would be swapping a bloated contract in Foyle for another in Cardinal, but at least cardinal can make an outside shot and he is “The Custodian”.  Every Don Nelson team needs a guy like Cardinal.  Warrick and Swift would greatly improve our ability to run the floor and although neither player would push Dunleavy or Murphy to the bench at least we would have better match-ups against the more athletic front lines in the league.  Losing Diogu would hurt, but he simply doesn’t fit in with the style of play we are looking for and he is never going to be successful until he can find a way to figure out where to be on defense.  With Pietrus out of the way it opens up the three guard lineup for Nellie with J-Rich sliding to the three and Ellis and Wagner splitting time at the two.  I am sure there are plenty of other opportunities out there to upgrade the roster and hopefully Mullin can find them.  One thing is for sure, having Nelly around will certainly add to our player’s value around the league.