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: The Present Tense

With the Eighteenth Pick...

Tomorrow is the NBA draft, and following precedent I set last year, I'll go ahead and post a short Warriors preview.

Coming on the heals of a good season and amazing post-season, the Warriors are looking to get stronger, and deeper. Personally, I don't really want the team to get younger and go for a project. I'd much rather them take a solid college player who can serve as a good role player. It's rare to find anything better at the 18th pick, but recent drafts have had some very good players, and even all-stars available this late.

The Warriors are pretty well set at the 1 and 2 position with the BoomRich backcourt and Monta! At the three, we're solid with Stephen "Whoo!" Jackson, and hopefully we can hang on to UCLA alum Matt Barnes. Up front is decent with Baby Al and Andris. But outside of these 7, the Warriors are looking pretty thin (notice, I'm assuming we let Pietrus walk).

While the Warriors could out-quick anyone in the NBA, except for probably Phoenix, they met their match in Utah where they were dominated down low. However, it's not like Don Nelson to try to go big, and so I wouldn't expect another big guy, especially with the Warriors having drafted 3 big guys in a row: Andris Biedrins aka Ivan Drago, Ike Diogu aka Doug E. Fresh, and Patrick O'Bryant, aka The Notorious POB.

I think we may end up going for a 3/4 combo player, the kind Nellie loves. A player who can play inside/out and is ultimately much quicker than he is strong. A greta fit would be Al Thornton, even though he did go to FSU. Unfortunately, he'll probably be gone by 18. Other potential options that I think would fit well in a Nellie ball system are Vandy guard/forward Derrick Byars and Georgia Tech forward Thaddeus Young. I think Young would be an incredible coup if he was still available. His athletic ability is off the charts and he has decent size. Of course, Young is probably a couple years away, from being a solid pro, and could end up being a major bust.

Personally, if I'm holding the pick, I go with Wisconsin forward Alando Tucker. Sure he's projected lower than 18, but the guy can flat out ball. NBAdraft.net has him at 6'5 210, which is decent size, and he can play the 2 or the 3. I think he'd immediately be an improvement over Pietrus, and could become a solid pro. I think the comparison to Josh Howard is not far off.

Like I said though, Tucker is a reach, and so the Warriors will probably go a different route. We'll see what happens tomorrow. For more draft coverage, check out NBAdraft.net and Golden State of Mind.

Full post as published by The Present Tense on June 27, 2007 (boomark / email).