Delete.

[japanair21]

The longer this off-season goes, the more I'm like Tyreke, him and Harden are high on my list.

 

[andrew630]

what's so good about jordan hill? we already have turiaf, he's taller, but slower and probably plays with less passion

 

[sf savage]

I would like Evans or TWill but I think it will be Curry or Hill

 

[daprescription]

Originally Posted by JapanAir21

Jennings and Monta would clash a month into the season, without a doubt.

do you know them both personally?

 

[japanair21]

Originally Posted by daprescription

Originally Posted by JapanAir21

Jennings and Monta would clash a month into the season, without a doubt.

do you know them both personally?

Do you know how big both of their egos are?

Monta said straight up that he wouldn't be pleased if the W's drafted a PG.

 

[chr1scross]

Originally Posted by Andrew630

what's so good about jordan hill? we already have turiaf, he's taller, but slower and probably plays with less passion

well almost the whole league plays with less passion than turiaf

but Jordan Hill does play hard, is versatile, can run the floor, has a decent post game, can shoot a mid-range jumpshot (can improve though), rebound, blockshots, blah blah.. has potential to be really good if he can flourish his overall game..


then again, we said that about Brandan Wright

 

[eagle 0n]

Originally Posted by dland24

I dont understand why there seems to be hate for Jordan Hill. I for one, will be PISSED if he is available at 7 and we pass over him.

I don't hate Hill but I wouldn't be too ecstatic if we drafted him. Would he even be the best available at 7?

He does fill a need tho. We do need another PF/C. Not sure that B.Wright is in the teams future plans and if Biedrins/Turiaf get injured, we're left withan extremely small lineup.

 

[dvdjamm5150]

The last time I heard Speedy Claxton's name,Big Black was naming a turtle after him...If GS doesn't trade their pick, they're getting eitherCurry,Jennings or Hill...

 

[kl9]

Deal has been finalized...

 

[theprofessorofpugilism]

I do not like Hill at all. He just screams "career backup" at best to me. I may be wrong, but i never thought he'd be a very good NBA player thehalf a dozen or more times i saw him play this last year. I admired his toughness in the Washington game, but i didn't think at all he'd be a highdraft pick. When i saw Chad Ford's mock lottery during the season and saw Hill at like 4 i was confused as hell.

 

[andrew630]

don't give up on brandan wright just yet. jermaine o'neil averaged less than 4 ppg in his first 4 seasons.

 

[franchise 55]

^Not to mention they Warriors having a glaring need at point and they're pretty solid at the 4 and 5.

 

[japanair21]

Jeffrey Lisandro won his third bracelet of the 2009 WSOP today in a Razz tournament, dude is running away with the POY award.

 

[boys noize]

May the basketball gods have mercy upon the Warriors tomorrow

Tyreke Evans please.

 

[daprescription]

Originally Posted by Andrew630

don't give up on brandan wright just yet. jermaine o'neil averaged less than 4 ppg in his first 4 seasons.

I wouldn't compare him to O'Neal, but I think he could be a solid player in the league. And I also wouldn't use Brandan's statsbecause he played very little in the beginning, and was just coming along when he dislocated his shoulder.

 

[daprescription]

[h2]Warriors draft: The case for Stephen Curry[/h2]
Posted by Tim Kawakami on June 23rd, 2009 at 9:39 pm | Categorized as College basketball, NBA, Warriors

* Lots of NBA trade movement today, with the Timberwolves' acquisition of the 5th pick from Washington having the most effect on the Warriors' No. 7 selection, of course.

Now the T-Wolves have 5 and 6 (and 18 and 2 combo-ed right in front of the Warriors' pick, and they've got front-liners Kevin Love and Al Jefferson, so the Wolves almost assuredly will be looking to add to their backcourt, either by using 5 and 6 on guards or by packaging a combination of their picks to move up for Ricky Rubio.

Net result: If teams are moving up ahead of the Warriors, it's probably for guards-Rubio, Stephen Curry, Jonny Flynn, maybe even Tyreke Evans or Jrue Holiday-and not for PF Jordan Hill, who is more likely than ever to last to No. 7.

And if Minnesota keeps 5, and 6, the T-Wolves likely will be taking guards or wings, which also means that Hill is more likely to slide to 7 for the Warriors.

- Third in a series of Warriors logical options for the No. 7 overall pick in Thursday's NBA draft…

Of all the cases I'm making for the Warriors' selection with the No. 7 pick, Stephen Curry is the easiest one.

It's simple: Curry, a silky-shooting 6-3 guard out of Davidison, is, by far, the best pure fit for Don Nelson's run-and-shoot offensive system. (And Nellie's stand-and-let-him-go-by-you defensive system.)

If he's still there at 7 (probably 40% chance that he is after today's events, maybe less), I can imagine Nelson leaping to grab the phone and screaming "TAKE CURRY!"

Why? Curry's a very good passer, possibly a great one. He is the best shooter in the draft, without much doubt. He plays under control, and as Larry Riley said earlier this week, Curry seems to be a player who can make plays in the NBA without making a ton of turnovers.

And Curry doesn't play much defense-all PERFECT for Nellie-Ball. Just another big weapon for the Master of Offensive Free-Flow, and Nelson has made it clear he wants and needs another offensive play-maker.

If the Warriors are picking strictly to please Nelson's sensibilities, and there is a strong chance that they are, in large part, then no player in this draft class, with the possible exception of Rubio, could please Nelson more than Curry.

Curry might be a taller, slower, better-shooting version of Tim Hardaway; or maybe even a smaller, quicker Chris Mullin (before Hardaway arrived, Mullin served as the offense-initiator, and then got the ball back to hit shots)… lead scorers who also got the offense started.

Heck, Baron Davis, too-he brought it up, and if he passed the ball, he usually got it back 10 seconds later as the shot clock wound down.

Curry's percentages declined his final season at Davidson, but that was almost certainly a product of lesser talent around him than it was dwindling shooting skill. The guy can shoot it, no doubt.

Curry's a natural scorer.

On a Nelson team, he'd play early, he'd play a lot, and he'd score 20 a game, if he could wrestle the ball away from Stephen Jackson and Anthony Morrow and Anthony Randolph and… oh yeah, that Ellis guy.

Which is the problem.

Curry is the best Nellie player in this draft, but he isn't necessarily the best fit with the Warriors' current roster, since he's probably too similar to Monta Ellis (also a very skinny 6-3 and also a shoot-first wanna-be lead guard).

And putting these two guys together in a backcourt is a recipe for giving up 120 points a game.

Curry isn't necessarily the best fit with the Warriors needs, since they already have a bunch of guys-probably too many-who love to hoist it from deep and a few who are really good at it.

Curry isn't necessarily the best fit for the Warriors future, since they've already got young players who are marginal defensive players, and he'd be yet another questionable defender.

Curry isn't necessarily the best way for the Warriors to add needed bulk on the frontline, since, well, he's skinny and he's a backcourt player.

Those aren't big deals for a Nelson-coached no-defense, no-rebounding team, I concede.

But at some point the Warriors are going to have another coach, probably with more of a defensive and rebounding focus, and you do want to have some players who play defense and can rebound for the next guy and don't just play Nellie-D-Free.

Curry isn't necessarily the best fit for the team politics, which tilt towards making sure Ellis is pushed forward as the guy who sells the tickets, and that's exactly the way Ellis and the franchise like it.

So… The case for Curry: He will flourish in Nelson's system, possibly right away, and Nelson won't deride and devalue him, which is a major factor for the Warriors short-term present.

The case against: Curry probably doesn't affect the Warriors Win/Loss record much, and drafting him might cause another Ellis explosion. (Shh, the Warriors never admit when they happen. But they happen.)

-The series so far:

Option 1: The case for Jordan Hill.

Option 2: The case for DeMar DeRozan.

Option 3: The case for Stephen Curry.

Next: The case for Brandon Jennings.

 

[livemyreality]

That's one contract the W's smartly got rid of. As for the other two, we'll wait and see.

Are the W's still projected to get Jennings or is Stephen Curry really a possibility? I heard all the hype about him, but is he really that good to betaken at 7?

 

[daprescription]

He's basically identical in size to Monta without the athleticism. While he is a great shooter, he plays the same amount of D and with his lack ofquickness, it doesn't seem like he could become much better on the defensive end.

 

[daprescription]

[h2]Warriors draft: The case for Brandon Jennings[/h2]
Posted by Tim Kawakami on June 24th, 2009 at 4:19 pm | Categorized as College basketball, NBA, Warriors

Fourth in a series detailing logical options for the Warriors with the No. 7 overall pick in tomorrow's NBA draft…

This one's REALLY going to get the short-shrift, since I am typing this almost literally as I throw on nice clothes for a Comcast show appearance tonight.

Sorry, got caught up with the Crawford-to-Atlanta deal and writing that little column for the newspaper that pays me.

Anyway: Brandon Jennings.

We're all at a severe disadvantage evaluating his NBA prospects because almost none of us has watched him get serious minutes on any level (he was a star prep PG who didn't get into college, then went to Italy where he barely played).

Pre-draft work-outs have been mostly closed. All I can go by is what I hear and what I've seen on limited tape.

What I've heard about Jennings: He's probably the quickest player in the draft, with good vision and a nice knack for using his lefty dribble to slice through pick-and-roll defenses and for using his speed to mess up the opponent.

I've also heard that his shooting in the work-outs has been less than stellar and that's what has kept his projections down far below the Nash/Paul/Billups level.

But if you had to pick one player, other than Blake Griffin or Ricky Rubio, whose selection might totally change the way the Warriors play, it might be Jennings.

And the Warriors probably need to change the way they play. They need more guys like Anthony Randolph, who don't fit the "system" per se, but whose presence on the floor make the Warriors a more difficult team to play, just by energy, speed, vision, whatever.

Instead of run, fire up the three-pointer, don't run back on defense, more three-point misses… lose.

Changing up brings both good and bad, of course, since Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette like the way the Warriors play just fine and have made large amounts of money and taken large amounts of shots in this system.

And Jennings is an extremely cocky kid-which is also good and bad, since I don't see him backing down to NBA veterans off the bat, but you also envision those veterans souring on him if he doesn't bring the right attitude to the practice court and to the arena.

Jennings is the pick if you want the Warriors to start a major re-do right now: He's a guy who will either turn into a cornerstone in two years… or he'll mess up whatever chemistry they already had.

But what did that chemistry get them last year? 29 wins and grumbling and an old coach who took random games off and a leading scorer who isn't a point guard and yet wants the ball in his hands.

You put Jennings out there, let him develop with Randolph, Anthony Randolph, Andris Biedrins, maybe Marco Belinelli… maybe you trade Ellis for an outside-shooting big man… maybe Jennings is the guy who pulls it all together.

It's a big reconstruction, I admit. But I'm not sure where the Warriors are headed with Ellis, Jackson and Maggette. And Nelson.

The Warriors need players who can become stars. They've got one in Randolph. Today's NBA favors fast point guards… And Jennings has all the signs of a guy who will be either boom or bust at that key position.

If you roll the dice, you roll it with a guy like Jennings.

-The series so far:

Option 1: The case for Jordan Hill.

Option 2: The case for DeMar DeRozan.

Option 3: The case for Stephen Curry.

Option 4: The case for Brandon Jennings.

-Next: The case for Jrue Holiday.

 

[livemyreality]

Tomorrow will be exciting, I hope they trade away a contract pleaseee.

 

[daprescription]

In a perfect world, T-Wolves trade the 5&6 to Memphis, then the Warriors have a possibility at landing Evans (even though he doesn't want to come

).

 

[daprescription]

[h1]Kawakami: Warriors draft choice seems obvious[/h1]
By Tim Kawakami


Mercury News Columnist

Posted:�06/24/2009 09:45:39 PM PDT

Updated:�06/24/2009 09:58:06 PM PDT


If the Warriors had a clear-thinking front office, uncluttered by insecurity and frequent controversy, today's NBA draft would be pretty easy to ace.

Select Arizona power forward Jordan Hill, stepping into the Warriors' rebounding void with the potential to provide low-post offense.

Or UCLA guard Jrue Holiday, adding athletic perimeter defense and possibly offensive direction.

The way the top of the draft is coming together, the Warriors, with the No. 7 selection, might even have their choice between Hill and Holiday.

I would take the tough, 6-foot-3 Holiday. He's a potential standout either in the Don Nelson-coached present - a passer alongside Monta Ellis - or the post-Nelson near future, when defense might matter more.

It's likely that Warriors General Manager Larry Riley, with the approval of Nelson and Robert Rowell, will take Hill, 6-10 and 235 pounds.

Solid, justifiable, practically protest-proof choices either way, all things being equal.

But there is no equilibrium in this Warriors franchise.

Personnel moves are never easy when a franchise has an invisible owner (Chris Cohan), a meddling team president (Rowell), a finicky coach (Nelson), a sensitive high-scorer (Ellis) and 14 failed seasons out of the past 15.

For instance, even if Hill is their consensus choice among the players likely to be available, Nelson's distaste for non-passing, erratic-shooting big men would create instant playing-time tension.

Hill, who has hit 15-footers in college but is iffy beyond that, immediately would be fighting for minutes with Anthony Randolph, Andris Biedrins, Ronny Turiaf and Brandan Wright.

Could Nelson team the turnover-prone Hill with Biedrins for long stretches? Or Hill with Randolph? Hard to see.

The Warriors' rebounding numbers would go up, but their offensive movement might disappear. And Nelson almost always will sacrifice rebounding to increase offensive spacing and fluidity.

And while Holiday is the perimeter player who makes the most sense playing alongside Ellis or leading the team if Ellis is moved, Holiday is represented by Dan Fegan, a loud critic of the Warriors' recent dysfunction.

One NBA source indicated that Holiday could be the Warriors' pick, but he has declined to work out for the team.

In his case, missing out on the up-close look is significant, because Holiday is a natural point guard who moved to off guard his freshman year at UCLA because of the presence of Darren Collison.

Does he have NBA point-guard instincts? The Warriors brass might not know.

Plus, drafting Holiday could raise the hackles of Ellis, who apparently wants no threat to his status as the team's offensive initiator.

Trip wires everywhere.

Wednesday, the Warriors had pinned down a deal that would send Nelson-panned guard Jamal Crawford to Atlanta for point guards Acie Law (a Nelson favorite from the 2007 draft) and the injured Speedy Claxton.

The deal would save the Warriors $10.1 million in 2010-11 salary and also give them a one-year look at Law, who is the same size and has the same general strengths and weaknesses as Holiday. Does that rule out drafting Holiday or anybody like him?

We can go on and on, pointing out the reasons the Warriors might avoid certain players.

Point guard Brandon Jennings: Electric threat, but might be the player most likely to upset Ellis, and Jennings might be too immature to play for Nelson.

Guards Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry: Great talents, but both might annoy Ellis, both declined to work out for the Warriors and are likely to be gone by No. 7, anyway.

Guard DeMar DeRozan: Tremendous wing athleticism, but that duplicates Stephen Jackson, Ellis, Anthony Morrow, Kelenna Azubuike and Corey Maggette.

You go through it deeply enough, you can come up with reasons the Warriors can't draft anybody.

That, of course, is not the way it's supposed to be for a 29-53 team, sitting with what would seem to be an easy choice.

If they're thinking straight, it still is easy: Forget the politics, deal with the natural issues and select Jrue Holiday or Jordan Hill.

That's what a normal, secure front office would do.

 

[gusyouout]

I still think the Warriors should look at TWill and I've really grown on Sam Young. I think they need a true SF. If you look at the roster the closest inheight are Maggette and Jackson, but both of their games resemble a SG as opposed to a SF. The closest in terms of SF game are Azubuike and maybe even Morrow,but they're just too undersized and would match up better against SG's. With the way things are now I'd like the Warriors to try and get rid ofJackson and Maggette. Both are kind of old and IMO stunt the growth of other players. Both need the ball in their hands to be effective and both want the ballin their hands as much as possible. With a guy like Williams though, he can be effective without even touching the ball for a long stretch.

 

[andrew630]

i don't know why i don't really like jordan hill, but as long as we don't draft stephen curry, i'll be happy

 

[paul is on tilt]

Originally Posted by JapanAir21

Jeffrey Lisandro won his third bracelet of the 2009 WSOP today in a Razz tournament, dude is running away with the POY award.

Lisandro!

This year, the pros are coming out meaning business.