We're at about the midpoint of the Warriors 2007-2008 season. The good news is that if the regular season ended today the Warriors would be playoff bound for the second year in a row and are only 5.5 games out of the prestigious #1 seed in the mighty Western Conference. The bad news is that they are clinging to only a 0.5 game lead over the Utah Jazz for the right to not count ping pong balls in May.

At last season's midpoint Fantasy Junkie hit you with a fun auto-centric midterm report card. Since it's beyond frigid right now in this brutal Bay Area winter I thought I'd bring the heat for you all in this year's Warriors 2k7-2k8 Midterm Report Cards using the NBA Hotspots feature on NBA.com. Hotspots is presented by NBA Live 08 from the same people who brought you those nice outdoor hoops courts in Redwood City, EA Sports. I'm a big fan of information visualization and thought it'd be cool to go Edward Tufte on you in this piece.

Make the jump to see what's IN THE GAME!

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Even during that dark, dark 12 year stretch (see The Dirty Dozen: 1 | 2 | 3) no matter how bad the Warriors were I always felt proud of the in arena entertainment offerings and personnel. From the supafly Warrior Girls, to the Balco friendly Thunder, to the always hype Franco Finn, to the show-stopping Jr. Jam Squad, to the wheeling and pizza dealing Hoop Troop, to the GTOe bands, to the dope drummers in the playoffs, to the super duper hyphy GS Lightning- these guys were simply UNSTOPPABLE BABY!

Ain't

no

party

like

a

Roaracle

party!
(Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)

After the jump... IT'S A GREAT TIME OUT!

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What a difference a year makes. After last year's dismal campaign with Coach Mike Montgomery at the helm, Baron Davis fairly or unfairly took a lot of the blame. When it rains it pours.

This past season however when the Warriors became the darling of the sports world Boom Dizzle won the hearts of many not just those of the good people in the Bay. When it's sunny it's eye-blindingly bright.

Another ReDirkulous highlight!

You can always celebrate his Boomness over at the excellent Fear the Beard (some real good folks!) and even at his own new blog.

3 of the NBA's Most Wanted: Boom Dizzle, Snoop Dizzle, and J Rizzle.

Make the jump for another BOOMing GSoM Report Card!

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If you thought we had fun putting together Mike Dunleavy's very last GSoM report card, then strap on your seat belts for this one. Up next is the one, the only...

People in Indiana can't stand the man. The Charmin soft fans in Dallas can't stand the man. The refs can't stand the man. The NBA's vanilla fanbase can't stand the man. David Stern and the NBA's PR department can't stand the man.

But us?

This is our man.

He's like that crazy cousin everyone has who's always on the verge of doing something absolutely nuts, but always, always, always has your back. He'll go down swinging with you even if you're outnumbered 2 to 12- he's just down for the cause. Thankfully with Jackson and the Roaracle We Believers it was exactly the opposite as it was 20,000 on 5 (just ask Cuban's crew). Like Tim Duncan, I'll take this man on my team any day of the week.

It's funny how things come back to full circle. The last time the Warriors made the playoffs Nellie was at the helm. As you know Nellie's return last season meant a return to the playoffs. The last time the Dubs were in the West's elite 8 CWebb and Spree were clowning Charles Barkley. This time around Jax filled the void that had been absent since those two were chillin' at the barbershop by clowning none other than the Chuckster on national TV. I'll never forget Jax joking around about Barkley on TNT not having a ring and saying that Dwyane Wade could never make it into his TMobile Fav 5 because it was already filled up by the likes of Mickey D's, Dominos, Burger King, Cinnabon, and Krispy Kreme. (Check out Barkley Does the Bay -- Readers' Photoshop Creations from the C.W. Nevius SFGate blog for a good laugh.)

After a decade plus of a culture of losing fostered by Chris Cohan's countless blunders, the only thing that could overcome it was heart and the "I just don't give a..." attitude. Enter stage right Stephen Jackson...

Steve Kerr: "And when I said Stephen Jackson doesn't care,
I meant it in the best possible way."
[LeTZGoHeaT]

Thank you Indy!

• Trade: Dun, Murphy, Diogu, McLeod for Harrington, S. Jackson, Jasikevicius
• The Warriors & Pacers Blockbuster Trade: Throwing Up W's and L's
• Basketball Obituaries -- Mike Dunleavy Jr. 2002-2007
• Dad's got my back!
• Warriors Head Coach Don Nelson Talks about the Blockbuster Trade
• Warriors-Pacers Blockbuster Trade Linkfest
• A Little Pacer Perspective on the Blockbuster Trade
• New Warrior Al Harrington Talks about the Trade
• Everyone's Talking About the Trade!
• GSoM Q&A with Matt Steinmetz - 01/18/07 (Part 1 of 2)
• A Reality Check on the Blockbuster Trade between the Warriors and Pacers
• GSoM Q&A with Marcus Thompson II - 01/30/07 (Part 1 of 2)
• Jon Barry on the Warriors and Pacers Trade
• Simulation Analysis of the Warriors-Pacers Blockbuster Trade

Make jump for a report card with some guaranteed Action!

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Since it appears that the Warriors and Andris' reps are in the midst of hashing out a contract extension and given the "excitement" I seem to have stirred up with my take on the contract extension decision, I thought it would be a great time to drop the man's 2k6-2k7 GSoM Report Card.

Here's 5 things that made Biedrins' 2k6-2k7 campaign absolutely golden and 5 things that hopefully he can work hard on and improve upon for We Believe 2.0.

Absolutely Golden

1. Healthy- The man just shows up nightly. He played in all 82 regular season games plus all 11 playoff games.
2. Near Doublicious: Andris pulled down 9.3rpg and scored 9.6ppg. Guys with those numbers don't grow on trees.
3. Low Volume, High % Scorer- It sounds kind of funny, but that's exactly what he is. He's far from a big time scorer or threat, but he's effective when he does take shots.
4. Hand it to Him- This guy has amazing hands for a big man. He's the polar opposite of Erick "hands of stone" Dampier in that regard.
5. Run 'Dris, Run!- Very few big men can run with the likes of Boom Dizzle, JRich, Monta, Jax, Barnes, MP2, and Harrington. Luckily one of them rocks #15 for the Dubs.

Andris kindly puts those great hands to work by supplying his John Hancock for some We Believers.
(Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)

To Take the Next Big Step...

1. Stop the Fouling- With 304 fouls (3.7 per game) Biedrins was tops in the league in whistles. (Interestingly enough Al Harrington led the league in fouls the previous season- check out Basketball-Reference.com)
2. Change that Shooting form- I don't know if he'll ever be able to completely correct that hideous shooting stroke, but he'll never be a prime time player without some type of jumpshot or hookshot a la Shaq. No one's asking for Ray Allen here, but if Biedrins is going to be a high impact player on both sides of the ball he needs to add a lot to his offensive repertoire.
3. Improve Dribbling- For as much as he's billed as an athletic basketball player, Biedrins has virtually no handle. That highlight dunk against the Suns where Biedrins drives to the hole for a thunderous dunk pretty much came out of nowhere (the dribbling part). If he can add some type of handles to his game he'll be a much more dangerous offensive weapon as that highlight emphatically illustrates.
4. Avoid Fatigue- Their were stretches last season where Biedrins looked worn out. He was pretty much the Warriors' only big man and it had to be tough to have to face the bigs of the Western Conference, but let's see if he can improve on this. Much of the Warriors success' is tied to Biedrins becoming a more consistent rebounding force this season.
5. Coming up Big Against Big Players- If the Warriors are going to make the jump from 8th seed darlings and him from exciting young player to legit star or All Star, Biedrins is going to need to come up against the likes of Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, Pau Gasol, Elton Brand (probably 2 seasons from now though- very sad to see), the big and brutal Nuggets' frontline, Tyson Chandler (he can't be getting 14, 11, 9, and 15rebounds when he faces the Warriors like he did last year) and even Al Jefferson who will be putting up big numbers in the West for at least the next 5 years or so. When the Warriors needed him most to give Boozer some trouble in the 2nd round he came up with some pretty dismal performances (Game 1: 4 points, 5 boards; Game 2: 4 points, 6 boards; Game 5: 2 points, 5 boards). I'll spare you Boozer's lines since those are utterly painful for us We Believers to look back at.

Andris asks future teammate THud if he believes.
(AP Photo/George Nikitin)

A report card you don't want to miss after the jump!

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Al Harrington started out last offseason as one of the free agents the Warriors tried hard to get. There were rumors flying all over the place about him joining the Warriors, but in the end, the Pacers swooped in and picked him up. At the time, it was a disappointing to miss out on a player who could have helped the Warriors with his scoring ability. Well what do you know. Halfway through the season, Mullin gets his man while unloading He Who Shall Not Be Named (I’ve been reading too much Harry Potter). As a throw in, we get Stephen Jackson and some loose changed, Sarunas "this team doesn’t pass the ball" Jasikevicius and Josh POWell. Excited about the trade? I was ecstatic. Al Harrington a Warrior.

Some folks in the GSOM community said he looked like a Ninja Turtle with the headband, the tongue hanging out, and the way his eyes and cheeks were shaped. Just like TMNT, he certainly was tough as he played center down the stretch run, holding his own against big bad Yao and other of the ugly big men in the league. He toughened up in the paint and allowed the Warriors to create mismatches on offense, something that Nellie lives for.

You won’t be seeing him in any dunk constets

Al still has lots of areas to improve, but with a full training camp from the newly signed Nellie, I think we can look forward to some very positive contributions from Big Al. Jump higher, run faster, and get stronger.

An interview of Al on FSN looking into his past (coming straight out of high school) and where he fit into the current Warriors team. Good stuff.

Jump on over to the grades

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Ellis to the RIM!
-- Bob Fitzgerald

Oh my gawd! That still gets me pumped up. I love how when he flushes it. You can hear how hard he throws it down as the rim rattles and Fitz simultaneously yelling "Ellis to the Rim!" as his voice strains to get as loud as he wants it to. Wait let me go watch it one more time…Okay, I’ve calmed down now. Whew. What a great outlet pass by Dunleavy.

Monta report card is all about multimedia and the wonder that is youtube. There’s not a whole lot I can say in words that can describe the kid. He’s got to work on a few things this offseason and not rely so much on his athleticism, but he’s so damn good already.

Hello rim

Okay one more video to get me and you amped. This is his national coming out party, the Rookie-Sophomore game.

Make the jump for the grades.

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Our first round pick last year, Patrick O'Bryant, aka Project O'Bryant, aka Notorious POB, aka The Chef, aka BUST, never won any Warrior fans over. There's not a whole lot to write about POB except that he had a year to forget. From first round pick to bench player to D-League player, his season continued to spiral downwards.

He sure did a lot of this last year, sitting

As a rookie, he was the butt of many jokes because he was so remarkably bad. But this was just a prank pulled as part of some rookie hazing. Popcorn anyone?

Report card after the jump.

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Swish

The mid-season D-League pickup is back for another year. Good thing too because I think most Warrior fans loved his hustle and heart. He didn’t get much playing time, but he showed enough to the Warriors to earn himself a 2 year contract.

He showed a lot of heart out there even in blowouts and when the game didn’t matter. That’s gotta count for something right? In that time, he showed that he’s aggressive and active on defense, can rebound well for a guard, and shoot at a decent percentage. He averaged 16 minutes per game over the season but most of that came when Baron was injured. In March he averaged 10 minutes and in April just 5:30 per night. That’s quite a drop off from February where he averaged 24 minutes per game when Baron and JRich both were injured. So here’s the question, even if you think he’s got potential to be a good player, how many minutes do you play him per game? Every minute you play him is a minute taken away from Baron, Monta, Belinelli, and even Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes. So I’m conflicted. I want to see him play and blossom as a Warrior, but I also don’t want him to take precious minutes away from the development of Monta and Marco (the future M&M backcourt?). Barring injuries, I see him playing only about 10 minutes per night, probably less. He’s nice insurance just in case one of the guards gets injured but not quite good enough to knock one of them out of a spot. I’d love for him to prove me wrong though.

I usually save these for after the jump, but I was looking around for Kelenna highlights and found some of his Kentucky dunks. I know it's from a few years ago but I hadn't seen it before. I apologize if this has been posted before. I gotta tell you, he's got some SICK dunks. Things that I didn't know he could do. Lots of power and nice hangtime.

Time to grade his performance last year after the jump...

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So much wasted talent.

Sam? Mark? Sorry, Keith, I keep forgetting your name. Can you go put one of those name tags on?

Let's rip off this next report card as a double dip. It's half of the guys traded midseason, Ike Diogu and Keith Mcleod. I thought Ike would do well in Nellie's system. He's athletic with long arms and has some nice, quick post moves. In college he was an excellent rebounder and I was looking for that to translate into the pros. But when training camp and the preseason hit, Nellie wasn't feeling Ike who apparently had trouble learning and running the plays. I wonder how hard it is to learn all of Nellie's 1 play. Run, run, run, drive, kick, and shoot the 3. Okay okay, that's an oversimplification, but really, how many plays do you think Nellie has? I'd say he's got around 5-10 base sets and a bunch of things running off of those. So long as you know the base sets, you'll do fine. Maybe not for Ike.

What about Keith Mcleod? Nothin, nevermind. I thought he might be a good backup to Baron given the opportunity but well, that's enough about him.

On to the grades!

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