DRAFT THREAD part II: Come Together.... Right Now....

[MightyReds2020]

I suggest we trade Klay. I can't fathom why all of the emphasis on defense and we draft a guy who is going to get constantly beat off the dribble. Klay is a spot up shooter and was unable to create shots for himself in college, how in the world is he going to take Monta's place?

Totally agreed, and I don't buy Sleepy's theory that this pick is a "give-in" to West so we can keep Monta. Looks to me only 2 things will happen in the near future:

1. If Monta is kept, Thompson became a tremendous backup SG, but only plays 10, 15 minutes a game
2. If Monta is gone, then Thompson will pair up with Curry to form one of the more potent backcourts in the league, with abysmal defensive abilities

Either way, Thompson will be gone in 3, 4 years after Warriors reliaze he cannot be a longer-term running mate with Curry and he has just a bit too much talent for a bench-role.

Bad pick.

[Mylie10]

No way is Thompson ready to start...Monta or not.

What is so wrong with having depth and not forcing guys to immediately be THE MAN. Monta will be better off giving up some minutes, and both Steph and Monta will benefit from depth in the back-court.

We can now mix and match our guards throughout the game. Klay will have an opportunity to play some SF as well. Dorell needs to play less minutes as well and there will be times in every game where Klay can slide to 3.

It's not always either or you guys.

[MightyReds2020]

No way is Thompson ready to start...Monta or not.

What is so wrong with having depth and not forcing guys to immediately be THE MAN. Monta will be better off giving up some minutes, and both Steph and Monta will benefit from depth in the back-court.

We can now mix and match our guards throughout the game. Klay will have an opportunity to play some SF as well. Dorell needs to play less minutes as well and there will be times in every game where Klay can slide to 3.

It's not always either or you guys.

It's more about the fit, not depth. Will you be comfortable for a Curry-Thompson and/or Monta-Thompson pairing? Defensively they still will get kill the way the Curry-Williams, Monta-Williams pairing did last year, so what's the improvements here?

[Mylie10]

No way is Thompson ready to start...Monta or not.

What is so wrong with having depth and not forcing guys to immediately be THE MAN. Monta will be better off giving up some minutes, and both Steph and Monta will benefit from depth in the back-court.

We can now mix and match our guards throughout the game. Klay will have an opportunity to play some SF as well. Dorell needs to play less minutes as well and there will be times in every game where Klay can slide to 3.

It's not always either or you guys.

It's more about the fit, not depth. Will you be comfortable for a Curry-Thompson and/or Monta-Thompson pairing? Defensively they still will get kill the way the Curry-Williams, Monta-Williams pairing did last year, so what's the improvements here?

If you're asking me, then I would have chosen Kawhi, Singleton, Jordan Hamilton in that order. Klay was not on my board.

Riley's spouting team defense now in response to the defensive questions....so that's all we can go by. We have to hope that our new lead assistant coach Malone will scheme the Warriors into an improved defense.

But from an offensive standpoint Klay fits well...he can shoot the ball and has good court vision.

[Mylie10]

So does Jenkins by the way, because he's 215-220 at 6'3".

[Left*My*Heart]

So does Jenkins what?

I hear he is a pretty good defender and some had him a late first round pick. I think had he gone to a bigger program, he would have gone in the first round.

[Left*My*Heart]

I would have preferred we had traded Klay.

To improve our defense we need to start at the perimeter. With Curry and now Klay when he is in the game, it will be waltz into the lane for the opposing guards.

I'm starting to fear the wrath of West and where senility will take us.

Yes, we needed a spot up shooter that can't create his own shot. This team historically have been terrible about setting screens and having players work off of them.

[Souvlaki]

http://www.pacersdigest.com/wordpress/?p=484

Decent write up. A bit harsh on his defense.

So we have our Anthony Morrow replacement. His defense sounds like Monta's. Not totally thrilled with this pick. Much more pleased with Tyler and Jenkins.

[KevinMcreynolds]

I don't understand why you guys are saying he can't create his own shot...you know...since he can.

[turk3d]

We needed a 3rd guard, with some height, and a possible 6th man to replace No Neck. We got him plus we got a backup PG with a good all around game. Our guard problem is more or less solved. Now we can just focus on the bigs and maybe a backup SF.

[Motivated-Baron]

2010-11 Udoh vs Monroe
2011-12 Klay vs Alec

[azwfan]

Where's Curry vs Jennings

[cellomac1212]

We needed a 3rd guard, with some height, and a possible 6th man to replace No Neck. We got him plus we got a backup PG with a good all around game. Our guard problem is more or less solved. Now we can just focus on the bigs and maybe a backup SF.

+1. There's so much whining around here it's not even funny.
Pre-draft: We need a big guard Wah, Wah, Wah.....
Post-draft: Our big guard isn't a great defender Wah, Wah, Wah....

I wonder when people are going to realize there are few quality defensive minded shooting guards in the league. It isn't people blowing by our backcourt (as a good offensive guard can blow by anyone), it's the lack of help and rotation d that follows. Then it's the lack of securing a rebound when they miss.

We just got two really good guards with size that both should be able to spell Monta and Steph with minutes immediately and allow Steph and Monta to not need to be on the court at the same time all day, and all you guys can do is cry.

I like Leonard but you can't just draft one defensive wing player and expect an entire culture change. This team is an offensive team (and has been for over 10 years), if you don't like it, switch teams. The best shot at success is getting our offensive players to play as hard d as they can and buy into a defensive system to the best of their ability. Success does not lie in favoring defensive minded players over the type of team we already have unless your in favor of a complete rebuild. It will take years on top of more years to change this roster defensive. I'm more of a build on what you got type of guy, the people complaining must be more of start completely over types of guys.

We got size in the backcourt, be happy!!!!!!

[turk3d]

One of the problems (I think with some people) is that they want to make these new guys starters right away. Aint gonna happen (unless we want to be a lottery team again next year and Lacob aint going for that). As a 6th man, Thompson won't having to defend the best players most of the time, since he'll likely be getting much of his minutes against the 2nd string. And as for Jenkins, I'd like to see him become our guard defensive stopper (when Curry is getting torched out there).

So I think both players have the potential to fit in quite nicely. And Thompson (unlike Morrow) is not just one dimensional and at an inch taller and a bit quicker (he seems to have very good footwork) he should be a better defender than Morrow was (and Reggie too) @ the two position, even if not great. And let's not forget of course that this guy can shoot the lights out. Could be dynamite coming off the bench for us.

[GSForever]

There has been a few swingmen who have not panned ou! Morrison, Babbit. I'm afraid Klay might turnout like one if them.

[MightyReds2020]

We needed a 3rd guard, with some height, and a possible 6th man to replace No Neck. We got him plus we got a backup PG with a good all around game. Our guard problem is more or less solved. Now we can just focus on the bigs and maybe a backup SF.

+1. There's so much whining around here it's not even funny.
Pre-draft: We need a big guard Wah, Wah, Wah.....
Post-draft: Our big guard isn't a great defender Wah, Wah, Wah....

I wonder when people are going to realize there are few quality defensive minded shooting guards in the league. It isn't people blowing by our backcourt (as a good offensive guard can blow by anyone), it's the lack of help and rotation d that follows. Then it's the lack of securing a rebound when they miss.

We just got two really good guards with size that both should be able to spell Monta and Steph with minutes immediately and allow Steph and Monta to not need to be on the court at the same time all day, and all you guys can do is cry.

I like Leonard but you can't just draft one defensive wing player and expect an entire culture change. This team is an offensive team (and has been for over 10 years), if you don't like it, switch teams. The best shot at success is getting our offensive players to play as hard d as they can and buy into a defensive system to the best of their ability. Success does not lie in favoring defensive minded players over the type of team we already have unless your in favor of a complete rebuild. It will take years on top of more years to change this roster defensive. I'm more of a build on what you got type of guy, the people complaining must be more of start completely over types of guys.

We got size in the backcourt, be happy!!!!!!

Totally disagreed with your post. We have a new owner, a new head coach and a new assistant head coach. If we are going to change the mindset, this is the time to do it. By drafting Thompson and assuming he stays, the Warriors will just continue with the trend they have tested, and failed, for most of past 15 years.

I don't know if you realize, but the predominant message pre-draft is we need more defense, not we need a big guard. There is some relation to that because typically good defense comes from a guard with above average size, so you may have confused with the actual message.

To me, it was loud and clear that the coaching team thinks we needed to focus on the D, and we have not done that with the Thompson-pick. We have, in fact, picked a guy where Nellie and Smart would absolutely love to have. That right there is an issue. If you want to change the team's mindset, drafting a guy who fits that need will be a great start, and the Warriors failed to do so.

A player like Leonard may not change the entire culture, but it will send a clear message - Instead of just talks, the management team is seriously about follow-through this time around. And it is not like the talent disparity between Thompson and Leonard is very big that Thompson is the BPA. In fact, Leonard was ranked higher in many expert's opinions pre-draft.

[turk3d]

For one thing, both Babbitt and Morrison were Forwards and neither had the quickness that Thompson does. Nor could they drive the lane as well as he does.

[MightyReds2020]

For one thing, both Babbitt and Morrison were Forwards and neither had the quickness that Thompson does. Nor could they drive the lane as well as he does.

You know, this right here is a problem. No, you are not wrong with your comment, but why are we only talking about the offense here when supposedly we wanted to address the defense?

[xRapHeadx]

One of the problems (I think with some people) is that they want to make these new guys starters right away. Aint gonna happen (unless we want to be a lottery team again next year and Lacob aint going for that). As a 6th man, Thompson won't having to defend the best players most of the time, since he'll likely be getting much of his minutes against the 2nd string. And as for Jenkins, I'd like to see him become our guard defensive stopper (when Curry is getting torched out there).

So I think both players have the potential to fit in quite nicely. And Thompson (unlike Morrow) is not just one dimensional and at an inch taller and a bit quicker (he seems to have very good footwork) he should be a better defender than Morrow was (and Reggie too) @ the two position, even if not great. And let's not forget of course that this guy can shoot the lights out. Could be dynamite coming off the bench for us.

AMMO is going to be better than Klay...and that's not a knock on Thompson.

[turk3d]

Actually, we have addressed the defense with those picks. I believe that Jenkins has the ability to be a lock down type of defender (really impressed). And believe it or not, although not the greatest, I believe that Thompson will give us better defense at the 2 position than Reggie does.

So it is an improvement (maybe just incremental) but why sacrifice offense if you don't have to and perhaps even improve it by becoming more efficient which the Thompson/Jenkins acquisitions can accomplish with Monta now needing to play less minutes (we don't lose as much on offense with Thompson in there maybe).

Just his additional height adds something defensively to go with his good IQ. I think that in order to make the cultural change it's more about emphasizing defense more than in the past (probably cultural shock for some, including our fans) because it has to start there (you could being in a a generally good defensive player to the Ws and their defense suffers).

It's going to take time, but no reason to shoot ourselves in the foot and just throw away all those years of good offensive play. Just make it more efficient so that it doesn't hurt the D so much like it has in the past.