EVENTS
 Sportsman of the Year
 Heisman Trophy
 Swimsuit 2001

CENTERS
 Fantasy Central
 Inside Game
 Video Plus
 Statitudes
 Your Turn
 Message Boards
 Email Newsletters
 Golf Guide
 Cities
 

CNNSI.com GROUP
 Sports Illustrated
 Life of Reilly
 SI Women
 SI for Kids
 Press Room
 TBS/TNT Sports
 CNN Languages

COMMERCE
 SI Customer Service
 SI Media Kits
 Get into College
 Sports Memorabilia
 TeamStore

When is it wise to use a gunner with no playmaking experience at the point? When you've tried everything else

By Phil Taylor

Hughes was surprised by the Warriors' plan to make him a point guard, but the season may ride on its success.  Jed Jacobsohn/Allsport Enemy Lines An opposing team's scout sizes up the Warriors "The primary concern is who's going to run the show. Mookie Blaylock is established and solid, but at 34 he's getting old. Larry Hughes is younger and more athletic, but he's got a two-guard mentality. Teams are going to get in his face, make him uncomfortable, make him demonstrate he can handle. They're also going to make him prove he can beat them from outside. He may not be able to.... A major factor is locating Danny Fortson when a shot goes up. He's not a high-powered offensive player, but he'll kill you if he starts eating up rebounds. ... Troy Murphy was a great pick for them. He's a lot tougher and a lot more athletic than people give him credit for. He also gives them a big man who, because of his shooting touch, can take defenders away from the basket, which Fortson and Erick Dampier don't do. ... If you stop Antawn Jamison , you have a good chance of beating them. Although he's gotten better from the perimeter, you want him to stay outside. ... The guy who will really make a difference for them is Jason Richardson , who's already a good finisher. You've got to keep him out of the middle, do what you can to make him a half-court player. ... One overlooked thing about them: They have rebounders at every position. You have to get your perimeter guys thinking about going to the boards, and that's not always easy. ... They have to execute better to get more opportunities to score. They're going to be battling the Clippers to see which good young team is going to make the quantum leap."

On the face of it, the Warriors' plan to shift shooting guard Larry Hughes to the point seems like the kind of illogical move that would illustrate why this team has a record of 76-220 over the last four years. Hughes is undeniably talented, but he's been something of a gunner during his three NBA seasons, and his lack of restraint has been matched only by his lack of accuracy -- his career field goal percentage is 39.6. Even though he averaged 4.5 assists last year on a poor-shooting team, Hughes hardly fits the playmaker profile.

But the Warriors have usually made logical decisions, and where has it gotten them? It seemed logical to acquire top-pick Chris Webber in 1993 and to make Joe Smith the No. 1 choice in '95 and to replace laid-back coach Rick Adelman with the harder-edged P.J. Carlesimo in '97, all of which turned out to be worse misfires than anything Hughes has launched. With that kind of history it's hard to blame the team for abandoning the sensible approach in favor of the something-so-crazy-it-just-might-work route.

Still, when Golden State selected shooting guard Jason Richardson of Michigan State with the fifth pick in June and coach Dave Cowens announced that Hughes would be moving to the point to make room for him, it was a surprise to nearly everyone, including Hughes. Cowens and general manager Garry St. Jean had talked to him at the end of last season about the possibility of playing the point, but Hughes didn't come away from that conversation thinking a move was imminent. "It was kind of a shock," he says. "They never told me they were planning this. I found out about it the same way everybody else did."

The 6'5" Hughes spent the off-season working on his ball handling and is now looking forward to his new role, though Mookie Blaylock will at least start the season at the point. "I think it's really my natural position," Hughes says. "I can get into the lane and create, and on defense I can use my length against smaller guys. I think this is going to work out O.K. for everybody."

Even if the point guard experiment is successful, several other things have to work out for the Warriors to improve significantly over last season's disaster. They went 2-32 after the All-Star break, lost their final 13 games and left their fans with little to cheer about other than forward Antawn Jamison. The league's ninth-leading scorer, Jamison did what no other Warrior was able to do: appear in all 82 games. Golden State players missed 414 games due to injury last season, the most in the NBA and the third most in the 15 years that statistic has been kept. Seven players had season-ending injuries, including Hughes, who missed the last 22 games with a sprained thumb and a strained shoulder, and power forward Danny Fortson, who averaged 16.3 rebounds and 16.7 points in the first six games before suffering a stress fracture in his right foot.

Fortson is healthy and will play alongside center Marc Jackson, who's back -- if not happy about it -- after the Warriors matched the Rockets' six-year, $24.4 million offer sheet. Cowens has dreams of that pair and center Erick Dampier (an enduring disappointment who missed 38 games with a left knee injury) staying upright and supplying the interior scoring and defense that the team desperately needs. "If we can keep our big men out of the doctor's office, we'll be O.K. inside," Cowens says. "This team is due for a run of good health."

The Warriors could even be a factor in the playoff race if everything breaks right -- if Hughes adapts to the point, if Jackson doesn't mope, if Richardson makes a Rookie of the Year run. It's more likely they'll have to settle for modest improvement and win 25 to 30 games. Golden State is due for some positive developments, but in the rugged West, a team needs something more to depend on than the law of averages.

Issue date: October 29, 2001

Click here to look back at CNNSI.com's preseason Warriors preview.