Coming along

A. Sherrod Blakeley via Yahoo! Sports: The Warriors see rookie Stephen Curry as the face of the franchise moving forward. One league source said the Warriors believe that Curry won't develop at the rate they would like as long as Ellis is around. Golden State saw flashes of just how talented Curry can be against New Jersey earlier this week when playing without Ellis. With Ellis out with a sprained right ankle, Curry went off for a career-high 32 points. Also watched by sign-holding math professors.

On written words and spider graphs

Got for Christmas from my good friend Ben the preposterously cool San Francisco Panorma. Read about it here and here and here. If you have 16 bucks and any interest, any interest at all, in written words on printed paper that tell true stories, you should get it.

Of particular interest in this forum, though, there’s not only a keeper of a Stephen poster inside, but there’s also an interesting little “spider graph” and analysis by Roger Pimentel. The title is ... Stephen Curry vs. Monta Ellis: Can You Spot The Natural Point Guard?

Pimentel writes:

Let’s try to determine who fits which role. The top half of a spider graph is composed of offensive statistics; the bottom is defense. A well-rounded player will have a circular spider graph, while the graph of a player with specific strengths will have sharp points.

Can you guess whose spider graph is more circular?

Pimentel continues:

Right off the bat, it’s Curry who seems to be gravitating toward the role of a traditional point guard. Curry comes across as a creator -- his balance of scoring and assisting on the graph suggests that he creates shots for himself and others equally well. Despite his early misgivings about his teammate, Ellis is thriving in his quasi-two-guard role by doing what he does best -- taking the ball to the hole.

So I’m in Davidson right now. Last night Bill Cobb and I did a very festive and Christmasy thing. We drank beer and watched the Wisconsin game. There’s a play pretty early in the second half where Davidson starts to pull away. Thomas runs the floor and scores a layup while getting fouled. What’s Stephen do on that play? He gets the rebound. He throws a laser to Thomas. TV likes he shoots he scores, so it makes sense that that’s what most fans think of when they think of Stephen, but it’s neat to see that some seem to be starting to understand what I’d like to think we here have known for a good long while.

Stephen’s answers ‘come with sighs’

In Denver:

He’s struggled with defense. His consistency ebbs and flows on offense. Golden State has had a dysfunctional start with finger-pointing between players, feuding between ex-forward Stephen Jackson and coach Don Nelson before the player was traded; and a budding star in guard Monta Ellis who before the season even began said he could not co-exist with Curry in the same backcourt.

And through all of that, the baby-faced kid from Davidson is supposed to learn and grow and become a true professional.

“I’m not happy with how things are going so far, right now anyway, the consistency of my game,” Curry said.

On Twitter: Watching all this college basketball today made me miss them days...wanna see my wildcats get a win tmw down in charleston. In Oakland: Rockets.

Check out No. 30

... and out in Oakland

In a win against the Blazers, Stephen had 12 points, eight assists and six rebounds in 46 minutes. Rusty Simmons: This was the best Ellis and Curry have ever looked together. They defended well as a tandem, consistently pushed the pace of the game, looked for each other on breaks and even exchanged a couple of low fives.

The Warriors mess

Cam Inman:

Curry is concerned about making his teammates better. Ellis is concerned about making Ellis’ scoring average better.

Ugh.

Stephen on Monta

To Dime: “I don’t really know what was going on in his mind when he said it, but at least give me a fair chance to come in and prove myself. And we did that in training camp and now we’re fine, so it was just a veteran marking his territory kind of thing.”

In SI’s NBA preview

A rival scout on the Warriors: “I know Ellis said he didn’t think he and Stephen Curry can play together, but I think they should. Curry’s a much more willing passer and smarter player than Ellis, and he’d enable Monta to play off the ball.” Chron: “ ... consistently called the team’s best passer by coaches ... ”

Placid preseason? Nope

Shaun Powell on NBA.com:

Stephen Curry is getting a point-blank education in October, and it’s just getting started. The Warriors have the potential to be entertaining both on the court and on the bench. Jackson, for example, might be a season-long migraine, given his moods and trade demands. Teams are offering only a stale bag of popcorn and a flat soda for him, meaning if Jackson refuses to shut up, the low-ball offers will keep coming and he’ll keep sticking around. If that’s the case, then the Warriors can only hope Jackson doesn’t destroy the locker room along with his trade value.

Dell: “We talked about that. There’s going to be situations and circumstances. He just has to be accountable for his own actions, not anyone else’s. That stuff going on with other players is not a concern. That’s between them and the organization. He’s not going to get caught up in that or anything else.”

On second thought ...

Monta Ellis: “He’s better than I thought he was.” Dime. Golden State of Mind: ... a jersey that says “Curry” on the back will bring you endless joy. Bryant: “monta ellis has started sippin the kool-aid ...”

Stephen’s exhibition debut

5 points, 5 steals and 9 assists in 24 minutes in a win over the Clippers. Game wrap with highlights. Marcus Thompson on Twitter at one point: Curry has six assists in 12 minutes. Monta has one in 21 minutes.

Bruce Jenkins on No. 30

In the Chron: It says here that Curry will be a stellar NBA player for years, and that he and Ellis might be more compatible than conventional wisdom suggests.

This made me smile

The Chron:

When Curry was asked whether he or Ellis would defend bigger shooting guards, such as 6-foot-6, 220-pound Kobe Bryant, he said, “The whole team will guard him.”

The whole team will guard him. You can take the kid out of Davidson but you can’t take the Davidson out of the kid.

The real world

Ann Killion at SI.com:

Stephen Curry is about as fresh-faced as a NBA rookie can be.

The 21-year old is soft-spoken and thoughtful. His lone tattoo, discreetly inked on the inside of his left wrist, is the motto of Davidson, the small college he guided to the Elite Eight in 2008. “T.C.C.”: Trust, Commitment, Care.

Curry might want to look into laser tattoo removal because he’s a Warrior now. And “Trust, Commitment, Care” is most certainly not in the Warriors’ vocabulary.

Kawakami at the Merc. Chron update.

Should be ... interesting

Stephen and Monta Ellis playing in the same backcourt? Ellis Monday at Warriors media day: “I can’t envision that. Us together, no. I can’t. I just can’t. I just can’t.” Also: “I just want to win, and we’re not going to win that way.” More from the Merc.

Out in San Francisco

Scott Ostler:

Pray, Warriors fans, that Curry isn’t as sensitive as he looks, that he has the skin of a rhino and the Jedi ability to translate Nelson's tact-free ranting into positive instruction.

If so, Curry has to be in the rotation from the beginning, and has to stay there even when he sucks lemons, which he will do at times, because he represents real hope.

If Curry is able to bring about 80 percent of his college game to the NBA, he and Randolph will soon move Monta Ellis to the No. 3 spot on the ladder of Most Important Warriors.

I’d watch that backcourt

Larry Riley: “He’s going to play a lot for us next year. He could play some two as well. We see him and Monta complementing each other quite well. ... I expect they’ll both be on the floor quite a bit together.”

More from DraftExpress

Here:

Stephen Curry has similar size to Jerryd Bayless. His height isn’t the biggest issue here, as he came out quite solid at over 6-3 in shoes, but his extremely low standing reach and wingspan are. Since we started compiling wingspans, the only successful two guards in the league with a wingspan so small have been Allen Iverson and Monta Ellis. See how he ranks amongst point guards for yourself. It’s understandable now why so many scouts consider him to be a potential defensive liability in the NBA.

Warriors?