Big news, Taft's committing draft suicide & GS already made a promise

I like a bold,imaginative approach to the draft. I don't like to do a cliff dive with a pick that my instincts say is probably a gross mistake and at best,wastes a pretty nice slot on a role player. IF,and it is a big if,the mocks at NBA draft.net are close,teams are way overvaluing-overrating players who,as-is are not ready at all,and have yet to justify most of the hype. However,that DOES make the underrated player even more of a bargain. You get somewhere when you get the bargain,the underrated guys,and the twist is the guys who tore it up in college ball are now the underrated bargains. I'd say,as an example,Louis Williams is high risk. I think Blatche is less risky but is a case requiring some vision-plus the up-close scouting to be assured he's a PROBABLE good pick. Bold would be a moveup to get Green,or Bogut. I think Diogu is a safe pick with great upside and some figure he's high risk as "too short"

The Foyle-Fuller picks were mainly being too focused on drafting for need. Add in Cliff Rozier,Russell Cross,Chris Washburn,and others best forgot and it has hurt the W's over the years. I get real tense when I again hear the idea you can draft an overrated,flawed or unmotivated big and transform him.
Fuller was a safe pick,a steady performer in the ACC. Foyle played at such a small school level he was a risk despite big stats. The word at the time was he figured to help on D,rebounds and had far to go on offense,which was a pretty good estimate. The W's had no clue about what Fuller was supposed to do or how to develop him,so they parked him. Likewise with Cliff Rozier. I remember a game when he,Rozier, got 18 boards vs the Spurs and outscored David Robinson until the lat minute of the game,great performance..and his ticket to a permanent seat on the bench. Fuller had a few double-double games,then sat for a week. The W's liked Felton Spencer's "experiance,even if he was AT HIS BEST,less than Foyle's worst.

I feel that IF you pick a guy in the top 15,you make playing time. You allow the guy a certain minimum every game,more if he's doing well. IF the guy sucks too much to be on the floor,dump him-and the fool who wasted a pick on the guy. A top 15 MUST be valued as a vital asset that has to be a building block. Otherwise,someone else gains as you backslide.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting wtwalker77:</div><div class="quote_post">
How many of you who want the Warriors to take a conservative, sensible approach to the draft also repeatedly criticized St. Jean for drafting Fuller and Foyle instead of Kobe and T-Mac (even though Kwan has pointed out repeatedly that St. Jean wasn't the one making the picks)?</div>
Uh, I think that might have been me way back in the day, but it wasn't my fault! I was brainwashed by the rantings of the misinformed casual Warrior fan, who over the course of a decade, pretty much congealed all the failings of a franchise as the result of one guy, the current guy in charge!

Without proper Warrior gurus to spread their wealth of knowledge on public bulletin boards and chat rooms, the series of bad picks (before '98: Joe Smith, Adonal Foyle, Todd Fuller, Cliff Rozier) became the vision of one man, Gary Saint Jean, who subsequently took the blame for those picks his predecessors drafted before he joined in '98. The misconceptions that we could've gotten Vince Carter instead of Jamison, that we had a chance of matching Gilbert Arenas' offer from Washington, and that we could've drafted Amare Stoudamire after he refused to work out for us, all went rampant and unchecked...

Thank goodness for knowledgeable Warrior fans.

Anyway, the guy we draft, I hope we get a player that we don't already have. There's nobody on our team like Gerald Green, Marvin Williams, or any of the later picks like Ike Diogu, Andray Blatche, Roko Leni-Ukic, Wayne Simien or Andrew Bynum. Of those picks and others worth mentioning that were not mentioned, it would be nice to get a player that is unique to our squad as well as unique to the entire league. Just like there was a "Dirk" craze, there began an "Amare" craze. I hope we find the guy that starts new draft trends and can kick ass for us both offensively and hopefully defensively. I just hope we don't draft another one of these half a court wonders that put up points, don't share the ball, and are lousy on D or these guys that are great on D, but don't really play that smart and couldn't make a layup against their grandmothers. I hope there is a balanced upside like a Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O'neil, Chris Bosh, etc. Intelligence, desire, strength, size, length, skill, athleticism, leadership, and good on both ends.

Tiago Splitter is the only big that seems to be capable of playing like that, but I think he maybe overrated now given his recent performances in the Euroleague semi-finals. If he was at #9, I'd still think he's worth picking if Blatche or Andrew Bynum turns out to be a dud. Martynas Andriuskivicus doesn't play very big, could end up being another Shawn Bradley, but more skilled. Martell Webster could be nothing spectacular or anything that can replace our current wings. I don't think Gerald Green could ever fall to us at #9. Danny Granger is a safe pick, but he has a lot of good qualities, few flaws that is almost worth taking at #9. Andrew Bynum and Andray Blatche are all bigs that could offer us that skilled big man with a huge impact inside the paint or on the glass. I hope we can check out those guys as players who can make a difference for us in the ways most playoff contenders look for in their bigs.