By: Abe Chong
Those draft balls never seem to bounce the Warriors way. Golden State ended up with the 11th pick, with the only saving grace being that this is one of the worst draft classes in recent memory. Unfortunately, that’s about as comforting as waking up next to a fugly girl and telling yourself that it was the best you could do at the bar you were at last night.
Initial reaction from many is that our best bet is to try and trade this pick, but no teams get excited about an 11th pick, weak draft or not. So it looks like our beloved Dubs are stuck with this pick, and owner/self-installed GM Joe Lacob has got to make the best out of bad situation.
Derrick Williams — with his savvy and b-ball smarts — would be a good fit on the Warriors. But he’ll be gone, so instead of wishful thinking, it’s much more productive to speculate. Then hope. Then have your hopes crushed as the Warriors take yet another long, athletic forward prospect.
So then who’s a reasonable prospect to hope for? I’ve excluded all point guards and wing players because we have Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis and Dorrell Wright — plus we seem to always find capable swingmen like Reggie Williams and Kelenna Azubuike in the NBDL. So the most pressing need is a bigman, and I’ve picked out a few that would be good fits. Note that they’re all international big men. And yes, a few are long, athletic forward prospects:
The “If we get lucky” pick — Enes Kanter C, Turkey
Why? Because he’s big, tough and physical. Pretty much everything the Warriors are not. It doesn’t matter that he’s not an explosive athlete, the Turkish big man loves to bang, and that’s what Golden State needs — we don’t deserve another year of watching Andris Biedrins’.
Chances we’ll get him: 0.0000001%
The default “Long, athletic forward” pick — Bismack Biyombo PF, Congo
Brandan Wright he is not: Biyombo is drawing comparisons to a young Ben Wallace. I’ll get Vegas-style drunk on that sort of Kool-Aid. I know he’s only 6-9 and we have David Lee entrenched at power forward, but Biyombo’s got a 7-7 wingspan and a ripped body for a player that is supposedly only 18 years old. He’s got Serge Ibaka-athleticism, Ben Wallace-toughness and a Joakim Noah-motor. I’ll take that over Ekpe Udoh’s single ability to block shots.
Chances we’ll get him: 10%
The “Well, he was the best player available” pick — Jan Vesely, PF, Czech Republic
He’s 21 years old, 6-11 and a good athlete with an NBA body. Not NBA strength, but that will come in time. He’s a good fit in the Warriors offense in the sense that he can run, jump and stretch the floor with three-point range — which would give David Lee more room to operate. What’s more, he’s a pretty good ball handler, but with no post up game. He’s at least a year or two away from contributing. Sounds kind of like…Anthony Randolph. The difference here is that he doesn’t shy away from contact, and he doesn’t have a 24-7 crybaby face like Randolph. That got kind of annoying.
Chances we’ll get him: 25%
What I’m telling myself if we do: Keep drafting big men, and one will finally pan out…right?
Of course, none of these guys might be there. Or Enis Kanter might actually slip because he hasn’t played competitive ball for a while. That’s the beauty of the draft, and the ugliness of it as well. Hopefully, the 49ers skipping on Blaine Gabbert sucked all the draft stupidity out of the Bay Area.
Udoh has the height for center. He’s the same height as Perkins – 6’10”. He just needs to hit the weights and put on 20 lbs of muscle this summer. It wouldn’t be a miracle, similar feats have been accomplished.
With a bulkier Udoh, and maybe an improved Lee, we would look a lot better next year.
I say trade up for Biyombo if you have to. In this draft it may not cost so much to snatch him. Biyombo would develop well behind Lee. Biyombo actually has a decent jumper. He just lacks confidence in it because all his coaches have focused on utilizing his length and strength in the paint. If he had a coach like Dirk had, who preached that shooting would be his mark, he would be a much better shooter. He does what ever the coach says, so his development on offense or defense depends on his coaches.
After that, in the second round pick up either big man Jordan Williams (ACC rebounds leader – avg double-double), big man Jeremy Tyler, or Greg Smith from Fresno.
We can make some big progress this summer.