MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: You could argue Monta Ellis posted better overall numbers and it would be fair to say the Warriors would have made the playoffs if Stephen Jackson hadn't missed the first seven games of the season, but Baron Davis was the no-doubt-about-it team MVP. He ranked among the league leaders in scoring (21.8) and assists (7.6), but nobody league-wide was better in one surprising category -- games played. After having been dubbed fragile following consecutive seasons in which he missed 34, 28 and 19 games, Davis was the only Warrior to play in all 82 this season.
MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER: When the Warriors dealt Jason Richardson for a draft pick last June, they knew they'd need Mickael Pietrus to fill some big shoes and have a big season. He appeared ready for it, having improved from 9.3 points and 3.1 assists a game in 2005-06 to 11.1 points and 4.5 rebounds last year. Playing for a new contract in 2008-09 only added to his potential. But the Frenchman, who saw his agent get rejected time and again in sign-and-trade offers to get out of Golden State, didn't have his head on straight for four months, then suffered a groin injury just when he was playing his best basketball in March. In the end, the Warriors wish he'd played elsewhere. FREE AGENT FOCUS: The Warriors re-signed 2006-07 surprise Matt Barnes to a one-year deal and got veterans Troy Hudson and Austin Croshere to come to Oakland with veterans-minimum deals. All three were considered bargains. But in the final analysis, the Warriors got what they paid for -- very little. Even a low-risk, high-reward move to give Chris Webber a homecoming at midseason didn't pan out.
PLAYER NOTES:
--G Baron Davis was the only Warrior to play all 82 games and also led the team in scoring (21.8) and assists (7.6). His shooting percentages -- 33.0 on 3's and 42.6 overall -- were disappointing.
--G Monta Ellis is a candidate to win back-to-back Most Improved Player awards after raising his scoring average from 16.5 last season to 20.2 this year. The third-year player also improved his rebound numbers from 3.2 to 4.9. Ellis, who made just $771,000 in 2007-08, will be a restricted free agent this off-season.
--F Stephen Jackson sat out the first seven games of the season on suspension, then saw the team go 47-28 after that. The .627 winning percentage after he returned would have ranked seventh in the Western Conference. Jackson was great both on and off the court, improving his scoring average from 15.5 last year to 20.1 this year, while at the same time earning the franchise's Angela and Christopher Cohan Community Service Award for his above-and-beyond commitment to community service in the San Francisco Bay Area.
--C Andris Biedrins made eight of his 13 shots against Seattle on the final night of the season to finish with a 62.6 shooting percentage and edge Tyson Chandler (62.3) for the league title. He became the first Warrior to lead the NBA in field-goal percentage since Chris Gatling (63.3) did it in 1994-95. Biedrins finished strong with seven consecutive double-doubles, giving him 27 for the season. He led the team in rebounding with a 9.8 average.
