Is anyone else a little skeptical of Curry? Sure, I believe he'll be a solid rotation-type player, but I can't imagine him being an All-Star. I bring this up because I was hoping that the Warriors would draft Brandon Jennings, who has that high risk/high reward player. Anyway...I got thinking more about it, and usually when the Warriors make the "safe" decision, it's come back to haunt them.

Trip down memory lane?

1995

Let's start in 1995, where we took the All-American from Maryland, the infamous Joe Smith. Solid player, showed flashes of brilliance, but was never a superstar. Oh, and he was picked before McDyess, Stackhouse, and the high risk/high reward Kevin Garnett.

1996

The very next year, we again went the safe route, electing to draft Todd Fuller, over numerous other future stars, including Steve Nash, Peja Stojakovic, and again another high risk/high reward player named Kobe Bryant.

1997

Again, elected to go the safe route, choosing All-Time Block leader Adonal Foyle from Colgate over Tracy McGrady.

1998

In '98, we actually drafted the higher risk/higher reward player in VC, but then seemed to get cold feet and traded for his college teammate, Antwan Jamison. Sure Jamison was solid, but he never had the star power VC had.

2002

The Draft of Dunleavy...enough said.

2005 and 2006

We drafted Ike Diogu and Patrick O'Bryant, both star players for their collegiate teams, dud players for the Warriors

Now, some of you may argue that Curry had more success in college than these guys, citing the fact that he scored around 25 ppg against D-1 competition. However, look at all the guys above, most of them had solid college pedigrees, and Ike Diogu was even named Pac-10 player of the year. It seems that the college prowess most of these guys had didn't translate well to the NBA.

I'm a big believer in talent trumping experience. If you've got the talent, you've got a much much higher ceiling in this league. IMO, Brandon Jennings' talent > Stephen Curry's.

Some of you might argue that we don't want to wait on Jennings, but what's the rush? Even if we somehow sneak into the playoffs over the next 2 years, do anyone of you truly believe we are championship contenders?

I guess what I'm trying to do is have you guys try to sell me on Curry. Does anyone really see this guy as an All-star? I just see him as being another guy with a solid college career who will never make the All-Star team as a Warrior.

Don't know if this has been brought up before but I was just wondering if the Suns have any interest in pursuing Shawn Marion? And if not, why not?

It looks like Alvin Gentry is going to put back in a run n' gun style, and the important pieces are still in place that made those playoff runs...Nash and Amare. Couple that with Jason Richardson and Barbosa, and the Suns can still run. Why not take a look at Marion when his stock is low?

Just saw this posted on espn a few minutes ago. Looks like we're close to shipping out Jamal Crawford and getting back Speedy Claxton and Acie Law in return.

Here's the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4284512

This deal is nothing more than a salary dump for the Dubs, but who knows maybe Speedy Claxton can help us get something nice in return again (Baron Davis).

The Hawks look good next year, although defense might be a problem. Wonder what J Craws role will be with the Hawks set to begin contract negotiations with Bibby.

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Editor's Note (Atma Brother #1): Thanks to Rotudo for getting this up so quickly and to all of you who have commented here. In order to consolidate the discussion, let's all move on over over to this front page story: BREAKING NEWS: Warriors and Hawks closing in on Jamal Crawford for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton swap

Earlier today, Minnesota conducted a workout for all the top-rated PGs in this upcoming draft class. Granted, we are 99.9999% sure the Clippers are going to take Blake Griffin as they should, but I've also seen some posts discussing whether we could make a trade that would land us another lottery pick. The general consensus seems to be that if we were to do so,backup PG would be our most pressing need.

And face it, the draft and its prospects are always fun to discuss and talk about.

The biggest thing that jumped out at me was first:

Jonny Flynn displayed the type of personality that made him a fan favorite at Syracuse. The speedy point guard would have the same type of effect in the Twin Cities if the Wolves decided to select him at No. 6. The consistency from the 3-point arc may have separated Flynn and Ty Lawson from the four other point guard prospects.

One of the biggest knocks on Flynn is his outside shooting is suspect, but it looks like he was impressive in the workout.

The writer also ranked the prospects:

Timberwolves.com rates the six point guards at the work out:
1. Tyreke Evans - size, athleticism, and upside
2. Brandon Jennings - ball handling skills, can create own shots, flashy, athletic
3. Jonny Flynn - extremely quick, solid outside shot, great personality, leader
4. Jrue Holiday - size, strength, ability to reach the basket
5. Ty Lawson - speed, range from the perimeter, leader
6. Jeff Teague - scoring mentality, defense, improved each year at Wake Forest

What stands out to me here is that Evans is rated the highest, maybe because he fits in best with Minny, but still impressive considering he is projected to go later in the draft. Seems like Flynn has a lot of the same qualities as Chris Paul. Not saying he will ever get to that level, but just interesting to note.

Minnesota recently brought in all of the highest rated PGs in this year's draft for a workout. As an added bonus, Tyreke Evans, who had a scheduled workout later in the day, decided to work out with the rest of the PGs.

The immediate reaction to the collection of prospects on Friday morning was the physical differences between Evans and the rest of the point guards. Evans hovers over the rest of the competition with his 6-foot-6 frame and 220-pound NBA ready body.

Also, the writer had rave reviews for Jonny Flynn:

Jonny Flynn displayed the type of personality that made him a fan favorite at Syracuse. The speedy point guard would have the same type of effect in the Twin Cities if the Wolves decided to select him at No. 6. The consistency from the 3-point arc may have separated Flynn and Ty Lawson from the four other point guard prospects.

The biggest for me is that Flynn showed that he could knock down shots from the perimeter, which would be important if he were to play alongside Monta.

However, the final rankings for the prospects were as follows:

Timberwolves.com rates the six point guards at the work out:
1. Tyreke Evans - size, athleticism, and upside
2. Brandon Jennings - ball handling skills, can create own shots, flashy, athletic
3. Jonny Flynn - extremely quick, solid outside shot, great personality, leader
4. Jrue Holiday - size, strength, ability to reach the basket
5. Ty Lawson - speed, range from the perimeter, leader
6. Jeff Teague - scoring mentality, defense, improved each year at Wake Forest

They still rate Jennings over Flynn, but surprisingly, they have Evans rated the highest. Granted, this could be based on what the writer perceives to be the biggest need in Minny, but still interesting rankings to say the least.

Complete article along with interviews here: http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/fans/draft_central_2009.html

According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

Have the Griz tried to pry away to No. 1 overall pick from the Clippers?

Most definitely. Word on the street is that the Clippers aren't entertaining any discussions without a suitor's willingness to take Baron Davis off their hands. It's a hefty price to acquire the No. 1 overall pick -- Davis has major attitude, and five years with more than $53 million left on his deal

 

Now, it also says that the Grizz will not meet this demand. But I think the talking point here is that with only one sure-fire impact player in the draft, the Cips are willing to forego that in order to move Baron. Of course this could all be speculation and maybe there would be more to that deal, but I think it's interesting that the Clippers would even want to talk about giving up the pick.

Another part of the article that's interesting:

Are there any potential trades scenarios that have gone underreported?

Sure. The New Jersey Nets are said to be willing to part with point guard Devin Harris. The Griz should ponder if Harris is worth the second pick.

Wonder why the Nets want to part with Harris after the stats he put up for them last year? He put up near All-star numbers and they would be willing to give him up for the 2nd pick? Doesn't make sense to me.

Looks like the Suns are intent or at the very least willing to talk about moving Amare and his salary. A lot of people thought they were shopping Shaq, but looks like both of them are on the trade block.

Good move IMO by the Wolves to turn it down. Al Jeff is one of the best low post players in the game today, while Amare relies heavily on his athleticism. I think hands down Al Jeff will have the better career.

Here's the article: http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/2009/06/jefferson_stayi.html

There's been a lot of talk about who we want to see the Warriors take at No. 7, most notably the decision to take either Jennings or Flynn if both would fall to us.

Both of them recently worked out for the Warriors, but other than a few clips of them shooting around and interviews, not much information was given about how they stacked up head to head.

So I thought this would be interesting...

Sam Amick, the Kings beat writer, observed the Kings' workout, which included Jennings matched up with Flynn, and also included Jrue Holliday. He took some hand-written notes about the workout, and had some raving reviews about Jennings.

We ask the above question because we all know who won the battle off the floor, even if Ricky Rubio wasn't around to defend himself against Brandon Jennings.

Chances are, Rubio wouldn't have been able to stop Jennings no matter where he was.

The 19-year-old is simply too quick. That was the prevailing impression among those who watched Jennings play.

Here's a link to the complete article.

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/sports/kings/archives/2009/06/so-who-won-the.html

Was surfing through clipsNation and came across one of their posts concerning Azubuike and it had this to say.

Azubuike opened last season as a starter and had a 33pt/ 8rb game against the clipps and followed a few games later with a 27pt 11rb game against dallas which is good… but he was playing injured the whole season and it just kept getting worse and worse because he never took 2 weeks off the let it heal.

Kelenna got a bone bruise in his ankle in summer league that had not healed by the start of the season. He was playing(and well) but was putting all his weight on his right leg because of his left ankle. He developed tendonitis in his right knee. The big dallas game was really the last time anyone saw a healthy Azubuike. He would have been fine if he sat out 2 weeks and let the right knee heal but he couldn’t for fear of falling out of crazy nellie’s rotation and Nellie wouldn’t sit him out because even though they were having to pump him full of liquid tylenol just to play, he was still better than both Barnes and Pietrus which were the alternatives. He averaged 8.5 pts / 4rbs in 20 minutes/game for 81 games while playing really injured… Imagine what he will do while healthy in 35 mins/game as a starter alongside Baron(who is probably the one who filled the clips in that Kelenna’s numbers were achived while playing injured all season). 

This is some really interesting information. I remember watching Azubuike during the first two weeks of the season and all I can say is he was flat out balling. I expected a lot more of those kinds of games but they never seemed to come. Most people attributed his production fall off to the return of Stephen Jackson, but really Buike didn't look like his same explosive self. Anyone remember his dunk on Kaman and putback over Diop?

I know this topic has been debated back and forth already, but knowing this information now, it'd be hard not to sign him for 3 mil/year. At the same time, will he ever get the playing time to show off his potential? Another reason I don't think we should have went out and got Maggette. Why not just commit yourself to the youth movement and let the kids play, including Azubuike? Who really knows what he's truly capable of to this point?