Unfortunately for Golden State, the draft isn't the only newsworthy
piece of information to come out of Golden State Thursday. I'm not going
to really talk about it much here, cause I don't know much about it,
but apparently Coach Mark Jackson was a victim of a scandalous extortion
scheme involving a stripper. You could probably put two and two
together to figure out what the basis of the extortion charge is, but I
just hope this doesn't take Jackson's focus off of the draft. He's
obvioussy the victim in this, so I do feel for him, even if he never met
this woman, his name still gets dragged through the mud, but that's the
price you pay these days to be a high-end public figure. Anyhow, that's
off-field, non-basketball related news so I'll leave that to the legal
analysts and pundits to talk about, cause there is much more important
things happening at Warriors headquarters tonight.
All I've been hearing over the last few days is exactly what I posted in
our previous post a few days ago. The Warriors look like they will
indeed hold onto all their picks and will have to make a choice on
somebody at pick 7. The thing is, I don't even think they know who
they're going to pick yet, and probably won't until they see how the
first 4-5 picks shake out. They could still be holding out hope that a
Barnes or Drummond fall to them, but at the same time, they need to be
prepared and have a plan B ready. Everyone in the Bay Area sports media
seems to believe that Plan B is Dion Waiters, which I mentioned last
post, but it's really anyones guess at this point. There was also a
rumor floating around Wednesday that the Warriors could trade down in
the draft and acquire two mid-round picks. I think they're playing it by
ear though, and we won't see them do anything until the draft starts,
if they do make a move at all... Be sure to check back with us after the
picks role in for player analysis and thoughts. Until then, in Bob
Myers and Coach Jackson we trust, kind of.
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| SF Harrison Barnes |
Warriors Draft Harrison Barnes: The pick is in, and the guy I was
really hoping would fall to Golden State, ended up doing just that. The
Warriors biggest need heading into this offseason was at small forward,
and in my mind, they just got themselves the 2nd best one in the draft,
with the possibility to be the best. Barnes was picked on most mock
drafts to go anywhere from pick 3 through 5, but most pundits had him
coming off the board before the Warriors picked at 7. Barnes averaged
over 17 points per game last season for UNC, and most people think he
lost his chance at being the number 2 pick by not finishing the season
off strong with a good tournament showing. He's a better offensive
player than #2 pick Michael Kidd-Gillchrist, but he's not quite the
defender. His best attribute heading into his rookie season is by far
his jump shot. He's a tremendous athlete and shoots the ball at the peak
of his jump, making it next to impossible to block. The one area he'll
have to improve on is his inside play and being more aggressive in
attacking the rim. All in all, love this pick as Barnes is not only a
special, consensus top-5 talent, but also helps fill the biggest need on
the floor for the Warriors. Here is a
video
of Barnes vs. Virginia Tech from January to get an idea of his style of
play. As you can see, a great shooter that should fit right in with
Klay Thompson and Steph Curry.
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