Who masterminded that draft? Because that right there was awesome. Too bad we had no more money left. St. Jean right? If so, they should of kept him on just for draft consultation. Don't know if he would of stayed just for that though, unless he was getting paid GM money.
It was St. Jean. St. Jean was a genuis. He always picked up guys with athleticsim that could get skills and passed on the mad skillz and no athleticsm. The only he had was not trading Antwan, but that was Mullin's plan
Twerdzik drafted Smith and Fuller, PJ drafted Foyle, Jackson, Jamison, Young, and traded 11th pick (Terry) for Mookie. Saint drafted Porter, Richardson, Murphy, Arenas, Dunleavy, Welsch, Pietrus, and traded 7th pick (Mihm) for Hughes. 2001 draft was arguably one of the best draft we had in a long time. With 5th pick, we all expected us to either draft Griffin, who was projected as no. 1 pick, or Battier, solid player, who can do all. But, we surprised everybody by drafting Richardson, since he was no. 1 in our draft wishlist. Murphy pick was a no brainer. He didn't even work out with us, because he was sure that he would be drafted by Sonics. But, they drafted Radmanovic, and Murphy kinda fall onto our lap. Also, since we drafted risky project with 5th pick, we selected arguably most polished player in that draft, Murphy. Arenas pick was interesting. Starting from 27th pick, there were 4 solid players waiting for their names to be called; Tinsley, Parker, Hassell and Arenas. We had 29th pick, and drafted Arenas when previous 3 players were gone. Well, you can say we got lucky on Arenas, and we certainly did because those 3 teams skipped on Arenas. But, since Saint wanted either Parker or Arenas (he actually expected Parker to slip), I don't think either players would have been bad for us . Of course, the bad part is that we lost Arenas at the end. We knew we got a good player, but at that time, giving 3 years contract to 2nd rounder was unheard of, and we gave him 2 years contract. Then, you know the rest. Because of that, teams started to give 2nd rounders 3 years contract, such as Redd and Boozer. But then, with Arenas, Richardson was being lazy, started to get bad influence, and even skipped the practice. So, at the end, seperating those two were the best for them...
Couple of things about each pick: 1) I'll never forget during the '01 draft broadcast when, after the Bulls took Curry at #4, they went to Peter Vescey who smuggly predicted the Warriors to take Griffen at #5, then Memphis would take Richardson #6 and Battier would go #7 to New Jersey. I was thinking to myself, "Geez, I wish they'd just take Richardson," and they did. Then TNT cut back to a shot of Vescey looking completely shocked that the Warriors just made him look like an absolute fool. As an aside, the '01 draft marked the first of three consecutive years where the Warriors picked immediately before the Griz, and all three times took the player Vancouver/Memphis wanted the most: Richardson in '01, Dunleavy in '02, and Pietrus in '03. 2) I'd actually assumed Boston was going to take Murphy withe either their 10th or 11th pick. But you're right Kwan, Radmonovic had an awesome private workout in Chicago that created a huge buzz about him, a la Jamal Crawford the year before. I also remember one of the analysts on TNT saying Murphy was a nice player and all, but the Warriors should have gone with Michael Bradley, who had a similar skill set, but they thought would be the better player...yeah right... 3) Kwan, I'll go with what you remember as far as the 27-31 picks are concerned, but I'll tell you the three guys who I kept praying would fall to the Warriors from the 22nd pick on (since Orlando was supposed to take a pg, which they sort of did with Sasser) were Tinsley, Parker, and Omar Cook. Cook was another one of those guys who had a terrific Chicago pre-draft camp and his stock was supposed to be sky high. I remember getting on the espn boards that night and immediately questioning the pick, since they already had Hughes and I saw Arenas as the eventual next failed experiment at trying to convert a sg to pg.
Yeah, I am sure West would love Saint by now, since we stole his pick for three straight years . Man, West really had a rough time with the draft. Not only that, he also lost 2nd pick in James draft, because of Thorph trade like couple centuries ago. And, if that pick had been 3rd or lower, they could have kept the pick and get one of Anthony, Bosh or Wade... Yeah, many people thought Boston would have drafted one forward with their 10 and 11th pick. I remember how many people loved Boston's draft that year, Johnson, Brown and Forte. I remember that people were chanting for Griffin, Woods and Cook. After all, we had Hughes and Center, PG and PF wasn't exactly strong position at that time. Some people chanted for Cook or Woods in 13th pick, and when they were not picked in 29th pick, some people were about to burn the Arena down. Well, guess that tells how much we really know .
St. Jean was a very good drafter, his trades were always worthwhile and he was an allaround good GM. He was very good at getting free agent pickups, Speedy, Calbert, and, well those are all I think of. His drafts were always great though, J-Rich, Mihm, Porter, Murphy, Dunleavy, sort of, Pietrus, Arenas. He always had an eye for players. RIP watching your son play for De La Salle GAry, RIP. We will always need you.....
Yes Arenas is an All-Star this year and deservedly so. However, even the last year we had him, he did not play like a PG which would make everyone else around him better. He did not set people up, had no feel for how to get the ball to the players in their comfort zone. He was a scoring PG. Yes he made some great plays for us in 2003 and helped us forget the 20 win season of 2002 but he still played selfishly, tried to be the hero by getting technical fouls to draw attention to himself (unfortunately at the wrong times), and did not play D. I still am glad that he went to Washington rather than have the Warriors stuck with him at what $8M per for the next 8 years (?)
Well... St. Jean was good at drafting but none of the pieces he assembled ever fit. We didn't really have great mentors either for the rookies and you need those. He was probably the best GM when it came to making good decisions about who to draft rather than fudge it like Twardzick and PJ Carlisimo combined. But wasn't the Fortson/Mills trade ideas his? Frankly, I'd rather Foyle/Fisher if we're going to mess up financially. Aside from St. Jean's mistakes, he made the team better than it had been in a long time and it was exciting ball (although not the ideal way to play). In 2002, I know St. Jean was in love with Pietrus' potential (after all he's constantly compared to Michael Jordan in terms of his physical abilities in speed and wingspan). Who did Musselman recommend to grab in 2003? I heard it was Luke Ridnour. That wouldn't have been a bad pick for us either. I remember I was pulling for Hinrich, Dwayne Wade, or TJ Ford to replace Gilbert Arenas. Thank goodness we didn't get TJ Ford. Hinrich and Wade were already picked over but those would be my ideal point guards for the future because of their skillset and the fact they're 6'3-6'4.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Well... St. Jean was good at drafting but none of the pieces he assembled ever fit. We didn't really have great mentors either for the rookies and you need those. He was probably the best GM when it came to making good decisions about who to draft rather than fudge it like Twardzick and PJ Carlisimo combined. But wasn't the Fortson/Mills trade ideas his? Frankly, I'd rather Foyle/Fisher if we're going to mess up financially. Aside from St. Jean's mistakes, he made the team better than it had been in a long time and it was exciting ball (although not the ideal way to play). In 2002, I know St. Jean was in love with Pietrus' potential (after all he's constantly compared to Michael Jordan in terms of his physical abilities in speed and wingspan). Who did Musselman recommend to grab in 2003? I heard it was Luke Ridnour. That wouldn't have been a bad pick for us either. I remember I was pulling for Hinrich, Dwayne Wade, or TJ Ford to replace Gilbert Arenas. Thank goodness we didn't get TJ Ford. Hinrich and Wade were already picked over but those would be my ideal point guards for the future because of their skillset and the fact they're 6'3-6'4.</div> I know this is hindsight but boy do I love Hinrich and Ridnour now. Its weird but Hinrich looks so much better now than he did at Kansas. He's a great distributor and shoots with confidence. Ridnour is almost a perfect PG in my mind, he passes the ball without dominating the ball and can both go to the hole and make the jumper. The only knock I have on Claxton is he seems to pound the dribble a bit too much at times.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting philsmith75:</div><div class="quote_post">Yes Arenas is an All-Star this year and deservedly so. However, even the last year we had him, he did not play like a PG which would make everyone else around him better. He did not set people up, had no feel for how to get the ball to the players in their comfort zone. He was a scoring PG. Yes he made some great plays for us in 2003 and helped us forget the 20 win season of 2002 but he still played selfishly, tried to be the hero by getting technical fouls to draw attention to himself (unfortunately at the wrong times), and did not play D. I still am glad that he went to Washington rather than have the Warriors stuck with him at wha t $8M per for the next 8 years (?)</div> Philsmith75, I think you are thinking about Arenas' previous three seasons. He has really matured this year. Plus he is clutch. I am glad J-rich is getting to that point. But Arenas right now is hands down the guy I would want with the ball down 1 pt with 10 seconds left. He flat out dominates with his speed and size. He can get to the basket at will like Claxton but he can finish the shot. While Hughes has been out Arenas has carried the team with help from his sidekick Jamison. To me thats worth 8m per 8 years. He's defintily worth the max.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Gohn:</div><div class="quote_post">Philsmith75, I think you are thinking about Arenas' previous three seasons. He has really matured this year. Plus he is clutch. I am glad J-rich is getting to that point. But Arenas right now is hands down the guy I would want with the ball down 1 pt with 10 seconds left. He flat out dominates with his speed and size. He can get to the basket at will like Claxton but he can finish the shot. While Hughes has been out Arenas has carried the team with help from his sidekick Jamison. To me thats worth 8m per 8 years. He's defintily worth the max.</div> Yeah, Arenas really seems to mature this season. I had my doubt on Arenas, but he really improved his games, including cutting down ridiculous TOs, and he certainly deserved to be an All-Star. Would I want Arenas over Richardson? Mmm... That's debatable. At this point, I like Richardson better, because he has legit size to play SG, while Arenas still is a SG in PG's body, and in order to play his full potential, he needs to play SG. But then, there is no question that I will choose Arenas over Richardson right now, if I need to win one game to save my life. I hope Richardson can be as good of penetrator as Arenas, then he will be a superstar .
Arenas is awesome, but believe it or not I think Hinrich has more upside than him in terms of a team oriented point guard. If the bulls had a 2 guard, Hinrich would be playing the 1 and Chris Duhon would be out of job and maybe Hinrich wouldn't bite so much on fg%. Arenas is still the best scoring combo guard in the nba, but you have to wonder based on his me-first mentality how many open players he leaves hangin' while he goes in for the drive only to turn the ball over. I mean don't get me wrong I love shoot first, pass second point guards as long as they have good decision making skills when the team defense starts to collapse on him. I think based on our team we need more of an unselfish Jason Kidd or Steve Nash type player versus a Stephon Marbury/Baron Davis/Steve Francis type point guard. I would kill for that level of talent though...even if it's the kind that can backfire if your one starts to dominate the ball too much.
Take today's game for example against the Spurs: 9 of 28 shot attempts 28 shot attempts! Part of good playmaking is the ability to make scoring easier for even non-scorers, yet he only had 4 assists. But then at the end of the day the Wizards beat the Spurs. I just don't think it counts because the Spurs lost their centerpiece Tim Duncan and without his presence on both ends of the floor it's really easy to come out with a win. One thing about Arenas is that he deserves to be an allstar more than Jamison because in clutch situations, Arenas is your go to guy.
Kwan and CustodianRules both of you point out the flaw that Arenas is not a true PG. And I agree with that point which never came to my mind. Because if he were on the suns instead of Nash, I don't think the Suns would be as good as they are because Nash makes everyone better on that team. But if you put Nash on the wizards without Hughes I feel that the Wizards would not have won as many games as they have without Hughes. Mainly becuase Arenas has shouldered that responsiblity by scoring over 30 in ten games. I don't think he will shoot as much once hughes comes back. He knows that he needs to take more shots or they will lose. And I like that drive that he has. Would he fit on the team? TheCustodianRules2 maybe right that Arenas deosnt fit, definitly J-rich would not have improved with Arenas by his side. The warriors lack both defense and offense. Arenas can help improve the Offense. I don't feel like a distributing pg would help much. Who are they going to pass it to? If they pass it to Dunleavy, he'll pass it like a hot potato. Foyle will drop the pass out of bounds. Pietrus will take a three or step out of bounds with the ball. J-rich will benifit and Chenay if he can get a baseline shot. A post presence is what they need more than anything. It will open up so much oppurtunites. I think Arenas would be perfect for this team that can't score consistently. ie( Fisher and Dunleavy mainly) Off topic, but I hate Murphy. I think he is a blackhole. Puts up everyshot he gets. The worst part is he shoots jumpshots. Its great he can shoot the 3 at 45 percent or whatever, but defintly need a Post up PF or a good D and rebounder PF. Would ahve worked fine with Jamison though.
I'm not so sure Gohn, if we were to incorperate Murphy into the C, my lineup would be PG: Speedy Claxton/ Luis Flores/ Mike Dunleavy SG: Jason Richardson/ Derek Fisher/ Calbert Cheany SF: Mickael Pietrus/ Eduardo Najera/ Calbert Cheany PF: Mike Dunleavy/ Cliff Robinson/ Zarko Cabarkapa C: Troy Murphy/ Adonal Foyle/ Dale Davis/ Andris Biedrins That would mean our best post players are JR and Dunleavy, However it could work pretty well, we are Speedy and we have some good D and passers
Well, I think Dunleavy at PF experiment will end when we meet half way decent PF. Right now, we were able to get away with Dunleavy at PF, because neither Haslim or Howard is polished offensive PF to say the least, while Dunleavy can benefit from being mismatched. But, even then, other teams were basically dominating in rebounding, and we looked like little kids trying to get the ball from adults. If we had Dampier like center, we may be able to get away bit more, but since we don't... In one hand, I don't have a problem with Murphy, because he knows his limitation and plays well under the role. Like Jamison, I don't mind him being a blackhole, because he offense does not disturb the flow of the overall offense. If Murphy messages the ball for 15 sec then shoot, yeah I would have a problem with him, because meantime, other teammates will just stand and watch. But, whenever teammates pass to him, they expect Murphy to finish the play, not to create something for other teammates. Also, he can grab 10+ rebound, which we desperately need, so I don't mind Murphy at all. In other hand, we need a post up player, inside defense presence, rebounding and shot blocker from forward, and Murphy can only provide one out of four. It would be ideal, if we can get those from our center position, but considering how ridiculously hard to get a quality center in this league, we will have much better chance of finding those aspects from our PF position. So, in a long term, Murphy needs to be replaced for our needs. Also, Murphy can play 6th man role just as good. Only problem will be his 10 mils per year tag though...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting philsmith75:</div><div class="quote_post">I know this is hindsight but boy do I love Hinrich and Ridnour now. Its weird but Hinrich looks so much better now than he did at Kansas. He's a great distributor and shoots with confidence. Ridnour is almost a perfect PG in my mind, he passes the ball without dominating the ball and can both go to the hole and make the jumper. The only knock I have on Claxton is he seems to pound the dribble a bit too much at times.</div> With me it's Claxton's durability. I like Claxton's game. Anytime you can beat your defender off the dribble at will, that's just a weapon we can use on offense to beat the zone. His size hurts him on the defensive end, but the guy hustles and pressures players. I am also pretty fond of Luke Ridnour and Hinrich. One has the game of something like a mix of Pete Maravich with some John Stockton and the other has something of a game like... I dunno, Steve Nash, only more aggressive on defense and not as talented of a trick shot? It's obvious Hinrich tops Ridnour, although Ridnour is one of the reasons the Sonics have improved their game play this season. Hinrich has done the same for the bulls and can be a run and gun point guard like Ridnour, but Curry needs to be fed in the post so he's been playing the halfcourt set. Plus his shooting kind of sucks because he's been playing out of position because of the Bull's lack of a 2 guard, Skile's obsession with Chris Duhon, and the fact that Hinrich played a 2 back in college. He is going to be successful as a point guard because of his knowledge of the game, leadership, defense and his quickness and size (he needs to bulk up though). They could put Ben Gordon at the 2, but then they would lack a sixth man to bring some scoring punch off the bench.
