I'm not in love with anyone expected to be around at #7. Last year though, I didn't like anyone we could have chosen either, so I'm not gonna declare it a total loss til I hear of a few workouts at least.
I know Run BJM is going to say the odds are we'll get the # 7 pick, but I figure someone has to get the top two slots, so it may as well be the Warriors. If they get #2, then I'd take a chance and pick Ricky RUBIO (assuming #1 is Blake GRIFFIN). If they get #1, then I'd take GRIFFIN, but only because Rubio has a difficult buy-out and Griffin looks like the real deal. Regardless, the Warriors have to do their homework on Rubio because of his very high buyout. It may be that he won't be available until 2010 or 2011.
You know what would be ironic, would be the Warriors getting the 3rd pick in this draft. The dropoff after the first two concensus picks (assuming Rubio stays in, which is dependent on how much he's willing to give up) is pretty steep, at least in terms of sure-fire help. I know a little hope is what all of us want, but we should always prepare for the worst of picking where we're at now. I mean, we're Warriors fans, so surely preparing for the worst is a survival mechanism at this point. Heck, we could get bumped down to #8 or #9 instead of being #7. The difficult part of this draft is that there's no standouts. It reminds me of the 2000 NBA draft (Kenyon Martin was the first pick, our only pick was Chris Porter at 55), or, vaguely the 2002 draft (where #3 meant no Yao or Williams, but instead Dunleavy). Although our greatest need is to upgrade the PG position, I can't think of a point guard in the draft that's better than CJ Watson. I like Watson, but he's not a long term solution, and neither are these guys. Evans seems like the "best fit" kind of guy, a big guy that can help in the backcourt with the size issues, though I'm not a big fan of his game. I would say this is the most likely scenario given the information we have at this point. My problem with him is that he's just got poor shot selection coupled with extremely high turnovers, it's clear he's far from an ideal point guard. We already have Jamal Crawford, we don't need a player that reminds me of him. The mock draft has us taking Patty Mills, who's a good player, but I feel he lacks the right mentality to be a good fit for the W's needs at the PG spot. Jennings is a guy that alot of people predict may fall to us, and if so, I would take him just to hang onto his value. But if he is taken off the board like predicted, then out of the remaining PG, I'd prefer to take Ty Lawson, which looking at other people's mock drafts, seems like an unpopular choice for some reason. I don't know why alot of people are downgrading him, it's clear what his flaws and strengths are, but in a draft like this, you want to take what you know and not gamble with the unknown just because you feel you have less to lose in a weak draft. Like I said earlier, I don't think Lawson is an instant upgrade to Watson, and and his size is obviously a big issue, but his skill-set is great for a PG and for what the W's need. If the W's aren't in love with any of the PG's, and Donatas Motiejunas declares, he would be my pick for best player available. Euro prospects of late have not been impressive, but I've cautioned against drafting alot of them the past few years, even though I like watching Euro basketball at times. He wouldn't have an instant impact, but this guy is at least on an Bargnani level, which is all you can hope for in this draft.
Nah, I think you misread. An NBA team can contribute 500,000. This leaves between 6 million and 6.3 million for him to pay. His team is insisting he pay it in full if he leaves now. This means he would have to finance himself somehow, basically trying to get loans for millions of dollars, just to pay it off.
Unless we can somehow luck into Griffin, trade the pick. We have enough youth and none of those guys strike me as future NBA stars. We have pieces we can move to shed a bad contract (at least one, anyway) and upgrade through trades. Wright, Belinelli, a #7 pick, and possibly (though probably not) Azubuike or Morrow should be enough to get something done. For a really big superstar calibre upgrade I still would not be against trading Monta either, for the right deal. We need to upgrade our talent, but more importantly we need to upgrade our mix of talent, and sometimes that requires removing the biggest block to make room to shake the others around.
Right, I understand, but as far as the Warriors' commitment or whatever team drafts him, it would "only" be 500k.
Agree with you. Also agree with others that say they're not very high on this draft. Even Griffin/Rubio are question marks (though undoubtedly I'd take one of them with a top 2 pick). Knowing our luck we'd move up this year to the 3rd pick and draft a huge bust (Jordan Hill? James Harden? Jennings?) and then next year we play well enough to get back to the 9-14 slots in a fuckin loaded draft. As for who I want us to draft? I still like Tyreke but I've heard/read that he was an accessory to murder- he allegedly drove the car in a drive-by shooting in which his cousin (the passenger) killed a 16 year old. Dunno how much validity that story has, I believe he got off with no charges and there was questions as to whether he drove the car or not. His cousin got charged with murder though I think. It would be hard to root for a guy knowing that about him. I still like Harden too even though people have soured on him. Was never a fan of Brandon Jennings but I would support him if the organization likes him enough to draft him. I'd be ok with Earl Clark too. Demar DeRozan is a big question mark and I haven't seen him play much. I love Flynn but pick 7 might be too high for him. I'm also intrigued by James Johnson.
I want a point guard or a center, but since Monta is a warrior and Turiaf/Biedrins could be used as centers and we have both Wright and Randolph as PFs, maybe a shooting guard? I was thinking it'd be good to get James Harden. He might not be the most athletic guy in the world, but he's got skills. He might even be a Brandon Roy or Joe Johnson of sorts. He could replace Sjax in some areas if Sjax's game becomes really bad over the next few years or he's too injured to play. If we want to maximize our game play, we need another Sjax or better. If we want to be a championship team we need an all-star level point guard that passes/shoots/defends and a top center or power forward that can go down on the block or be hard to guard like Kevin Garnett or Dirk Nowitzki. But it doesn't appear there are any of those types of players. And we did score high in this draft, so it probably means we're in the shallow draft. If we're at 11 or below, we'll probably be in the deep draft.
Evans scares me, I can't get behind him as the Warriors pick. Kind of a mixed bag defensively. Like Monta, he knows how to get into passing lanes and will pick up steals, but also like Monta, not by any stretch a lockdown defender. Then, he's a supreme ballhog. While he has good passing skills, if he's not inclined to use them and shoot first, that won't do us any good. Many people are comparing him to Jamaal Crawford and that should definitely be a cause for concern since we're having a devil of a time trying to ship Crawford version 1 out of here right now! We have scorers all over the place, if we're not drafting a pass first PG then it's just more muddying of the waters at the guard positions. So for that reason I'd prefer Jennings (assuming we don't get a shot at Rubio, obviously). But if we don't end up with one of the first two picks, I'd still support trading it.
I want Ricky Rubio, a true PG. Without a true passer, the W's will never get anywhere. If only they could get Sergio Rodriguez and/or Rudy Fernandez from the Blazers.
Rudy Fernandez? He's not a PG. I think he has the ability to make plays like Marco, but not as good as Marco.
Rubio's got some serious upside. I like him a lot and he's super young. A guy like that can only get better with his current level of play. Defense + ballhandling + playmaking skills + pretty good athleticism. If he develops more scoring capability he'll be awesome.
If Donatas Motiejunas declares and Nellie still has influence in their draft choice he could be the favorite to be selected. Source: NBADraft I think the sleeper in this draft is Terrence Williams though. He has all the tools, athleticism, and size to be a breakout player in the NBA.
I just saw a youtube vid of him and he doesn't look too bad. I've never been a fan of these Nowitzki ripoff prospects as they pretty much never pan out (Bargs seems to be doing well though). He doesn't really look that much like Nowitzki though; yeah he seems to have a decent shot and perimeter skills for a big man but he doesn't look like a 7'0 G like Nowitzki does. Seems to have some mid-post game and a pretty nice fadeaway out of the post. Solid quickness for his size but not much explosiveness when finishing around the rim.
