Jackson, Warriors need Wright to recommit on defense

OAKLAND -- Last offseason, the Warriors signed Dorell Wrightwith the idea being hed be a very good perimeter defender. Maybe not an elitedefender or a lock-down one, but a pretty darn good one. After all, that washis strength in Miami, where hed spent the first six years of hiscareer.But Wright was a worse defender for the Warriors in his oneseason than he ever was playing in Miami. And if coach Mark Jackson and theWarriors hope to make good on their promise to actually defend, then Wright isgoing to have to be at the forefront on that.And he sure wasnt last season.You know, I definitely slacked a little bit as far as mytechniques, Wright said of his defensive slippage. I was allowed to gamble alittle more. Thats why my steals were up. I was able to get into the passinglane.Were going to be a lot more disciplined. That was the teamwe had with me and Monta (Ellis) on the wings. We were able to read plays. Butsometimes that gets you hurt.Jacksons intention is to make the Warriors morefundamentally sound on defense, but that will require players to improve significantlyon their individual defense. Certainly in the effort department.Predictably, the Warriors have spent the majority of theirsix or so hours of practice working on that end of the floor.Defense has been the bulk of our teaching so far, Jacksonsaid. Today we put in a couple of our sets. The guys understood it, we wentthrough it. Mostly defensively because I believe defensively is where weregoing to make the biggest improvement, the biggest jump. And were going to bedisciplined on both sides of the ball. But I would say 90 percent (of our time)has been defense.The real issue, of course, isnt the amount of time Jacksonand the Warriors spend on defense, its whether he can get the entire team tobuy in.This team certainly has a history, Jackson said. You win36 games I think youre well aware its time to change things.