Santa Cruz Warriors (1-0) vs. Austin Toros (0-1)
6 p.m.
Kaiser Permanente Arena - Santa Cruz, CA
TV: KAXT-1 (Bay Area), KOTR My11 (Santa Cruz) | Radio: KION 1460AM/101.1FM | YouTube: Link
After practicing with the Santa Cruz Warriors last week, it was sort of expected that Golden State Warriors rookies Ognjen Kuzmic and Nemanja Nedovic would be seeing their first D-League action soon.
Although Kuzmic became one of many Warriors to suffer an injury this past week, the Warriors have indeed assigned Nedovic for tonight's game against the Austin Toros.
For us as fans, this might be an exciting time for Nedovic to get some run in the D-League: Nedovic played the most meaningful minutes he's played this season in Golden State's loss to the Portland Trail Blazers last night and looked good doing it. Statistics aside, he looked poised when handling the ball and his presence on the floor allows coach Mark Jackson to move former D-League star Kent Bazemore over to his more natural shooting guard spot. Tonight will be an opportunity to watch Nedovic a bit more closely in extended minutes against competition that we should expect him to perform well against.
While the Warriors' guard rotation has been made more potent with the assignment of Nedovic - it will be interesting to see how they even manage minutes with Nedovic, Mo Baker, Seth Curry, and Cam Jones - the post has been strengthened as well.
Joining Nedovic in Santa Cruz will be fellow Warriors rookie Dewayne Dedmon, who will make his regular season D-League debut after playing a pair of preseason games. And further bolstering an already talented D-League roster, 6-foot-11 post Hilton Armstrong has returned to Santa Cruz for a second season after starting 24 games for the team last season. Already familiar with the system and many of his teammates from last season, Armstrong should be ready to step right in and contribute.
The Warriors already beat a Toros team that features former NBA player Josh Howard and Flip Murray 121-102 in Friday night's season-opener. There's no reason to think tonight's game won't bring more of the same.
For more on the Warriors' D-League affiliate - including Seth Curry's record-setting performance on Friday night - check out GSoM's Santa Cruz Warriors section.