User account number (aid): 10252
Posted by stomper on 2006-06-28 00:48:08
Mully likes Gay!!!
I found this quote in the middle of Tim Kawabitchnutz POB lovefest.
TRADE UP MULLY!! DO it! DOOOOOOO it!!!
Posted on Tue, Jun. 27, 2006
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Kawakami: This is easiest pick since Mullin at No. 7 in 1985
By Tim Kawakami
Mercury News
Either formally in print or informally to squeamish colleagues during the long months preceding the NBA draft, it is my curse and tradition to plot three impending Warriors selection scenarios:
The Lucky Path, the Smart Path and the Safe Path, always very different, clear-cut choices for this haunted and flinching franchise.
Surprise! Today, for the first time in recorded history, or at least in my heat-depleted memory, all paths lead to a single destination, the No. 9 pick, and a multi-skilled 7-footer.
It's Bradley center Patrick O'Bryant, the convergence of multiple Warriors draft destinies and the easiest pick they've had since tabbing Chris Mullin with the seventh selection of 1985.
Not J.J. Redick, please. Not a talented but incomplete swingman, because the Warriors have too many already. Not a trade up or down, because No. 9 is shaping up to be a sweet spot in this year's draft.
Because O'Bryant will be there. Barring a massive trade for a crucial veteran big man, the Warriors will be lucky and smart to get O'Bryant and will be taking a slight but well-considered risk by plopping him right into the starting lineup.
Mullin, who does the Warriors' picking these days, wasn't about to tip his hand when I asked specifically about O'Bryant late last week.
``I've watched him with his team and in the workout setting,'' Mullin said. ``Yeah, he's intriguing for sure.''
There are scattered reports about O'Bryant declining the Warriors' request for a final private workout. Since the Warriors wouldn't comment about it to me Tuesday, I have no idea if any of that is true or means anything.
Maybe it'll nudge Mullin and General Manager Rod Higgins to selecting a versatile scoring guard like Villanova's Randy Foye, the same way high school player Gerald Green's blow-off last year solidified Mullin's decision to take Ike Diogu.
But I think there are too many factors shoving O'Bryant straight to the Warriors, and it would be foolish for Mullin to deny them.
What luck has to do with it: The Warriors are never lucky in the draft. Never. That hasn't stopped me from imagining it, of course.
In 2003, I dreamed up a scenario in which Dwyane Wade stunningly slipped to the Warriors' 11th pick. Wade went fifth to Miami, the Warriors took Mickael Pietrus, and that's one big reason Miami won the title last week and the Warriors did not.
This year, there's an illogical love-fest brewing for limited Duke big man Shelden Williams (who can thank power agent Arn Tellem), vaulting Williams into and knocking O'Bryant out of the top eight.
Williams is OK, but he'll be yet another shooting-challenged short NBA power forward. O'Bryant has P.J. Brown's size and if he can have his career, too, it'd be a steal. And it'd be lucky.
What safety has to do with it: Before Mullin's takeover in 2004, the Warriors were draft scaredy-cats, which meant they stayed away from Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki but also saved themselves from Eddie Griffin and Kedrick Brown.
Risky is better than scaredy-cat, and there's nothing cowardly about taking O'Bryant, who is still raw, who has issues with consistency and who slightly duplicates Andris Biedrins.
O'Bryant is taller and more skilled than Adonal Foyle, stronger than Troy Murphy and Biedrins and probably could play NBA post defense today if you asked him to.
Plus, drafting O'Bryant doesn't hurt Mullin's attempts to acquire Jermaine O'Neal, Kevin Garnett, Carlos Boozer, Tyson Chandler or Nene. In fact, the Warriors could trade O'Bryant, Biedrins, Diogu or Murphy, in any combination, to land that key big guy.
Toss in Pietrus, due but not deserving a big contract extension this summer, and maybe you've got something.
What smart thinking has to do with it: In this balanced draft, No. 9 is almost the same as No. 3, especially if you're looking for a big guy, since a bunch of good, but not great, wingmen will fill up the Nos. 3-7 slots.
``Gay is the one in that group who catches my attention,'' Mullin said of Connecticut's Rudy Gay.
Gay almost certainly won't be there at nine; if he is, maybe Mullin jumps in, presuming he has a deal in place to move Pietrus or Mike Dunleavy.
Mullin also sounds tempted by Foye and a potential three-guard offense with Baron Davis and Jason Richardson, or by point guard Marcus Williams (if Davis is a short-termer).
But there are too many moving parts in that scenario, none of them resulting in a new Warriors big man. O'Bryant is a big man. Everybody else is maneuvering at the Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 8 slots, trying to land Adam Morrison, Gay, Brandon Roy or one of the top three big guys -- LaMarcus Aldridge, Andrea Bargnani and Tyrus Thomas.
That leaves O'Bryant and the No. 9 slot as almost afterthoughts, and I think he could be just as good as any of the top guys. Smart. Lucky. Safe. Good.
It's destiny, unless Mullin decides it's not.
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Contact Tim Kawakami at tkawakami@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5442.
- stomper 2006-06-28 00:48:08 (1064 views)
- The Earth Ghost 2006-06-28 01:17:20 (144 views)