The draft Lottery is coming up an extremely unfortunate and familiar sight for Warrior fans around the world. It seems like yesterday we made our last pick but whats bothersome is fans continue to spend a dollar on an aimless product with an owner best suited to sueing the next guy who looks at him the wrong way. With the Lottery tommorow I thought it would be a great time to look at Mullins last 4 drafts 2004,2005, 2006 and 2007. Most of them have been flustered with opportunistic desperation picks but for every bad choice gems were ther as well. Here we go.
2004 NBA Draft Andris Biedrins #11
Andris Biedrins: He had two lacluster seasons which made warrior fans wonder if we ever would get a decent big man but indeed the last two campigns Biedrins has been a very solid and conistent player as well as being the best Rebounder. He can cut to the basket very easily and can finish in ways that not many other previous Warrior centers could. If you want to point out the negatives perhaps the lack of a jump shot or any go to offensive moves would hold him back but he's only 22. Still a lot of time for him to put up Al Jefferson numbers.
Passed on
#15 Al Jefferson- Superior big guy who came off a 21-11 campaign something Biedrins will undoubtedly never do.
#17 Josh Smith- He's only 22 but his wingspan and althletiscm means he has the chance to be a superstar the next few seasons.
#26 Kevin Martin- 23.7ppg ain't no joke. Should have won MIP two year ago
#31 Anderson Varejão- Not fun watching him but his hustle and energy would have been what the Dubs need
Overall grade A-
They passed on a lot of decent to excellent players but they got a starting Center with the #11 pick. Seattle's GM might want to take advice.
His ability to dunk the ball without looking was one of the many reasons Biedrins went this high
2005 NBA Draft Ike Diogu (#9), Monta Ellis (#40), Chris Taft (#42
Ike Diogu: Did mullin really brand this guy as untouchable for Ron Artest. Seriously with Artest on board you're looking at a 52+ win team of course with J-Rich on board. Instead this was Mullins bigger failure keeping Ike on board who has averaged the steady numbers of up 6.5 ppg and 3.3 rpg. His failure to beat out Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy means he'll never be starting material in the League. His low post moves and soft touch extending to about 18 feet means fans fell briefly in love with him but then once he was traded he was a mere footnote.
Always outmuscledPassed on
#10 Andrew Bynum: Just one word Yuck
# 17 Danny Granger- If Diogu wasn't taken we would have drafted Granger.
#19 Hakim Warrick- This guy should have got more time in Memphis because he's more then capable of averaging 15 and 8 in 30 minutes. Would hope the Warriors go after him this Summer
#21 Nate Robinson- The Warriors would have DOMINATED the All-Star Slam Dunk tourney in the 2000's.
#27 Linas Kleiza- Why didn't the Nuggets trade im for artest as rumoured. Still better then Ike
#30 David Lee- Decent pick by Isiah. Imagine him and Biedrins on the glass!
#37 Ronny Turiaf- His energy and hustle means he's unguardable when playing the Dubs He'd give them some nice size and depth down low.
Monta Ellis: Greatest second round pick of all time and Mullin and company's best draft selection by far. Virtually ungurable on the fast break with uncanny finishing abilities and roadrunner like speed his Defense was atrocious last year but he holds a 53.1% FG percentage. I think that covers Mullins best pick.
Future Dream Teamer maybe in Bejinng?Passed on:
No one- thank you very much!
Chris Taft: It shows you the value of mock drafts that many perdicted Taft was a lottery pick even perdicting he'd go to Golden State at #9 which ironically Ike was a bust anyway.
#45 Louis Williams- From afar seems like another quick combo guard in the mold of Tony Parker and Monta Ellis.
#49 Andray Blatche- Very intriguing young player that could be a great option off the bench for Nellie.
Overall grade C-. This was a tough one to grade fully. Obviously I could just as well give it a D considering Taft is out of the League and Diogu was traded without panning out but I'm giving this a C-. Monta saved this draft from being a dud.
2006 NBA Draft
Patrick O'Bryant (#9), Kosta Perovic (#38)
POB: The Notorious P.O.B. has the dubious distinction of being one of the first lottery picks to be demoted to the NBDL. Throw in the even more dubious honor of playing more minutes in the D-League than the NBA and you have yourselves Patrick O'Bust. Don't be surprised if he's not in the NBA in a few years a la Taft.
Super reflexesPassed on:
#11 JJ Redick- Just seeing if you're paying attention.
#14 Ronnie Brewer- The Warriors could have used the depth.
#16 Rodney Carney- I thought the Warriors should have taken him at the time. He hasn't made a major impact, but I'm still willing to bet he has a better NBA career than Project O'Bryant.
#20 Renaldo Balkman- A potential future NBA All-Defensive team member.
#21 Rajon Rondo- How nice would it be having Rondo back up BD?
#23 Josh Boone- Pretty nice rebounder with some good size.
Kosta Perovic: I still don't understand the Kosta pick. At a time where the Warriors shot themselves in the foot by handing out the rephrensible contracts to Derek Fisher, Adonal Foyle, Troy Murphy, and Mike Dunleavy combined with Monta having a bad Rookie season give Perovic the midlevel exception for two years at $3.5 million (plus an Adonal Foyle-like contract team option for the third season) to play in the DLeague and be cemented to Nellie's bench.
Kosta the bustPassed on
#42 Daniel Gibson Give me some boobie.
#47 Paul Milsap- Exactly what the Warriors need.
#49 Leon Powe- PR-wise and hoops-wise it would have made so much sense to bring in this local fav, but the Warriors front office and ownership isn't interested in making sense, just cents.
Overall Grade F: Mullins worst draft by far. Completely inexcusable to have such a bad draft
2007 NBA Draft
Brandon Wright (#8), Marco Belinelli (#18), Stephane Lasme (#46)
Brandon Wright- Considering the Warriors gave up fan favourite J-Rich for Wright why does nelson have a complete lack of faith when the Warriors desperately needed depth at the forward spots this season. It is also peculliar as to how Wright weighs less then 20 pounds then the SG Marco Bellineli.
Unlike the Diogu and O'Bryant picks where I went on record saying I'd take a different player (Hakim Warrick and Rodney Carney respectively), I can't say I would've done anything differently with the #8 pick.
Another questionable pick#42 Joakim Noah- After the first month of the season his rebounding numbers were actually pretty impressive. The Warriors could have used his 7.9 rpg (March) and 6.8 rpg (April) down the stretch.
#12 Thaddeus Young- The 76ers got a steal here.
#16 Nick Young- It would have been nice to have a shooter and scorer of Young's caliber this past year coming off the bench.
Marco Bellineli- Jiri Welsch- oops, I mean Marco Bellinelli didn't exactly set the hoops world on fire this past year. So far he's been nothing but pointless hype. You know it's bad when Nellie asks a rookie to go down to the DLeague and they straight up refuse. After all that offseason hype from the media and the Warriors organization, you'd expect more than a 2-guard with terrible defensive instincts and horrendous shot selection.
Can you believe some people had Belinelli penciled in the starter at the 2-guard spot over Monta this season? Can you believe some people actually thought he was going to be better than Jason Richardson this year?
#19 Javaris Crittenton- What's not to like about a young point guard with size who could back up BD this season?
#21 Daequan Cook- An up and coming athletic scorer.
#31 Carl Landry- There's a reason this guy made the All-Rookie team this season. I doubt the Rockets would have the success they had this past year without him.
#35 Glen Davis- He's probably the next Michael Sweetney and Nellie would never play him till he slimmed down, but it's a thought.
Stephane Lasme: NCAA swat machine Stephane Lasme didn't even last 1 full month with the Warriors. Props to Lasme though for working his way back to the NBA for some major minutes with the tank-job 2007-2008 Miami Heat. He actually wound up averaging 5.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.9 steals, and 1.5 blocks with the Heat which betters both Wright (4.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 0.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks) and Belinelli's (2.9 ppg, 0.5 apg, 0.2 steals, and 0.0 blocks) lines for the seasons. I'll be the first one to tell you that that's completely meaningless, but seriously who would've thought?
Overall Grade D- There's always the temptation to give this young draft class an incomplete, since it's too early to really say. But that's just a cop out plus very boring. This Warriors draft class has already produced 1 cut (Lasme), another DLeague level player in that not-so-fine Kosta and POB tradition, and one huge question mark in a skinny forward who doesn't have the bulk to play the 4 or 5 nor the jumper or footspeed to play the 3 in the NBA. We won't even get into that cheap and questionable 2007 Draft Day Jason Richardson and Brandan Wright swap here. Let's check back next year, but as of right now...
That's a lot of high draft picks from Mullin that haven't panned out and a lot of nice names they passed on. If it weren't for the solid Biedrins pick and the money Monta find, it would be a complete disaster as of now. It's way too early to judge that 2007 class or even Kosta Perovic, but it's pretty fair to make some strong assessments about the rest.
Overall Grade for 2004-2007 Golden State Warriors Drafts: C-
All eyes are focused on who the Warriors should hire to follow the legendary Don Nelson after this season, but few seem to be closely monitoring the status of Chris Mullin's current GM deal which expires in 2009. If I were the one deciding whether or not to extend Mullin's tenure in the front office, I'd put a lot of weight into the progress and performance of Kosta Perovic, Brandan Wright, Marco Belinelli, and the 2008 Warrior Draft picks this upcoming season. Coupled with his embarrassing contract negotiation history (Adonal Foyle, Derek Fisher, Mike Dunleavy, and Troy Murphy) I can't say I'm all that sold on Mullin being in the driver's seat of the Warriors' front office, especially if his drafting record doesn't take a huge turn for the better. As of right now it really looks like it's time to not only plan for a critical head coaching search in the summer of 2009, but possibly also a search for a new GM.
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