O'Bryant Snippets 3

"The guy can be really good," Nelson said. "I just hope I see it before I die."

The Warriors just recalled Patrick O'Bryant from the D-League today. It sounds like there's a reason for that. O'Bryant played 25 games for Bakersfield during three stints with the club, averaging 12.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, and recording 13 shot blocks in his last three games. "I certainly wasn't discouraged with his play," Nelson said of those performances. "He didn't (defecate on) the bed like some other guys."

D-League rookie Patrick O'Bryant helped the Warriors break in the nets at the Staples Center on Sunday by posting 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Bakersfield Jam to a 103-92 win over the Los Angeles D-Fenders in an NBA Development League game. O'Bryant has had four double-doubles -- and three in a row -- since he asked to be reassigned to the Jam on March 8. The center also had three blocks against the D-Fenders to give him 21 blocks during the seven-game stretch.

He's a long-term project. I really liked him the first week of training camp, but I assumed there would be great progress. He hasn't gotten better one bit.

Mickael Pietrus was the most voluble Warrior seeking a change of venue last week before the league's trade deadline. But he wasn't alone.Though he eschewed Pietrus' speechifying, second-year center Patrick O'Bryant would have equally welcomed a move. And, just like Pietrus, O'Bryant is all but certain to pack up and go elsewhere once the season is over. "I'll play anywhere I'll (get a chance to) play," O'Bryant said. "I'm a basketball player, not a basketball watcher." This much is clear: He doesn't plan to sign up voluntarily to serve under Warriors coach Don Nelson again.

"He needs to get more consistent, to where you know what he's going to do," Nelson said. "Less turnovers. A dominance in something that he does, whether it's shot-blocking or rebounding. And a few other things. It's kind of all over the map. He passes a little bit, rebounds sometimes, sometimes he'll block a shot. But there's no consistency there. So I never know what he's going to do in a game or in a practice. What you're looking for in a player, especially a player coming off the bench, is a consistency in his game. Something that he brings to the table. Is he a shot blocker? Is he a rebounder? Is he a good defender? Is he a good scorer? What is it that he brings to the party? What is his strength?"

Perhaps no moment has better encapsulated O'Bryant's time on the team than Monday's practice, when he and Perovic stood shirtless at either end of the floor as extra defenders during the Warriors' four-on-five drills. There was a perfectly rational explanation for the situation; The Warriors have only three colors of practice gear (white, blue and orange), and they were already running three teams of four players each, so there was no color left for O'Bryant and Perovic. But the subtext, intended or not, was clear: You're not even good enough to merit a uniform.