Who says you can't have too much of a good thing? Don Nelson, that's who.
With the outstanding play of Stephen Jackson, the signing of Corey Maggette, the continued development of Kelenna Azubuike and the emergence of Anthony Morrow, you'd think the last thing the Warriors need right now is another shooting guard. But that's exactly what they got when they jettisoned disgruntled Al Harrington to the Knicks on Friday for Jamal Crawford. In exchange for a guy who had slithered into the deepest, darkest corner of Nelson's dog house, the Warriors receive a proven scorer and accurate three-point shooter, as well as a versatile guard who can swing over to the point on occasion.
The latter is as important as anything, with the Warriors having to go without star point guard Monta Ellis perhaps until Jan. 1 following off-season ankle surgery. Nelson has been using NBA Developmental League graduate C.J. Watson a majority of the time in Ellis' place.
"The fact that he can play multiple positions as a combo guard is a big plus," noted Warriors vice president Chris Mullin. "He is a player who can help us immediately and, looking down the road, would have the ability to play with any combination of players."
One of the most head-scratching developments of the early season has been the Warriors' inability to outscore opponents from behind the three-point line. After ranking among the league leaders with 9.3 made three-pointers per game last season, the Warriors had fallen to 18th this year at 5.4 per night entering Friday's game, during which they were outscored 30-12 by the Bulls from beyond the arc.
As a Knick, Crawford led the league in three-pointers made with 35 in 11 games, shooting an impressive 45.5 percent from deep.
You know Nelson is anxious to give his new guy the green light, and Crawford can't wait to get it.
"It will be a tremendous honor to play for one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game," the 28-year-old gushed, "and to be a part of a young team with a lot of emerging talent."
A seemingly overabundance of that talent is emerging at little-man positions, but Nelson has never complained about that.
BULLS 115, WARRIORS 110: The Warriors thought a zone defense was the perfect ploy against a poor-shooting Bulls club, one that was coming off a game 48 hours earlier in Portland in which it scored just 74 points. But Larry Hughes, a 19-percent three-point shooter earlier in his career as a Warrior, foiled the strategy by nailing five of seven from beyond the arc, spearheading a 10-for-23 night that propelled the Bulls to the road win. The Warriors countered with 4-for-14 shooting on three-pointers, badly losing a long-distance contest they had counted upon winning.
