Grading the Warriors Draft

The first draft under the new Lacob regime was a good one and dissimilar to the common drafts in the Cohan era. Since the NBA Finals have ended, rumors have heated up involving Monta Ellis and whether or not he will be traded. He wasn't traded last night, but the Warriors' selections made it seem that Monta Ellis is no longer a core part of the Warriors' future. Ultimately, it was a good draft for the Warriors, and should impact this team in the upcoming season in various ways. Onto the picks...

11th- Warriors take Klay Thompson 6'7" SG from Washington State- Grade: B+. Thompson is a great shooter and has good basketball DNA. His father, Mychael, was picked first overall in 1978 and had a long, successful NBA career. Thompson is a below average defender, but has a decent sized frame and is tall for a two guard. His offense will immediately help the Warriors and, hopefully, he will pick up the defense with experience. This pick would have received a much worse grade from me if it hadn't been praised so highly by Jerry West. He is one of the best talent evaluators in the NBA and that leads me to believe that Thompson will be a great player and should have a long career with the Warriors.

39th- Warriors take Jeremy Tyler 6'10" PF last played in Japan, originally from San Diego, CA. Grade: A. This a great pick up by the Warriors. All it cost was 2 million dollars. Now, this would never have happened in the Cohan era. Cohan would have laughed at the idea of paying for a project player. Jeremy Tyler might not do anything good in the NBA, but he has the chance to be great. It is a slim chance, but it is a chance worth taking. He was rated very highly in high school before he left to play in Israel for a year and then Japan for a year. Overall, the Warriors made a great move by buying Tyler; low risk, high reward. If he is not good, Lacob and Co. only wasted 2 million, if he's great, it's an amazing deal.

44th- Warriors take Charles Jenkins 6'3" SG out of Hofstra. Grade: A. Draft Express says Jenkins in the best case scenario will be like O.J. Mayo. In the worst case scenario, he will be Randy Foye. Any team would love that at the 44th overall pick. He is a very good scoring guard and was supposed to be taken much earlier. Although this may signal that Ellis is gone, I still love the pick. In the second round, teams shouldn't go for need, they should go for anyone who they think has a chance of being an NBA player, and Jenkins can be an NBA player. He led his conference in points and assists and was second in True Shooting Percentage and Effective Field Goal Percentage for guards. This guy is a steal and is going to be a great player.

Overall Grade: A-. The Warriors did a great job in this draft. Klay Thompson was an iffy pick with Kawhi Leonard still on the board; however, if Jerry West wants Thompson, I'll trust his opinion. Tyler was a great pick considering he can be a great player and all the Warriors gave up was 2 million. Jenkins was another great find, an efficient shooter who always won on the collegiate level. Furthermore, I am very impressed with the Warriors draft and look for these players to impact the Warriors in the future.

Warriors hire Mark Jackson as Head Coach

Originally, I really did not like this Mark Jackson hire, but the more I read and think about it, it grows on me. It proves that Lacob wants to make his own mark on the franchise and be known around the league as someone who takes risk. Jackson was a great point guard and is a decent analyst; however, he has no coaching experience and no one really knows how he'd run a team. He brings passion and energy to the sideline, but how can he get those emotions out of the Warriors this upcoming year? Being overlooked to some extent was that the most important move was actually the hiring of assistant coach Mike Malone from the New Orleans Hornets staff. He was Mike Brown's right hand man in the Cavs/LeBron era and even though the prevalent mindset is that the Cavaliers were only good because of LeBron James, it is not true. Although they were offensively inept, their defense was great and the biggest reason for their success. The orchestrator of their defense was Mike Malone. He was with the Hornets this year and was part of the reason they were a strong defensive team.

The reaction that most fans should take is one of optimistic caution. Unlike any other Warriors regime in a long time, there are smart minds all in one room making decisions. If Jerry West approved of this decision, it makes me more confident about the hire. He is definitely one of the greatest evaluators of talent out there and likes to make risky albeit smart decisions. Mark Jackson is going to bring something very different to this Warriors organization. Ultimately, fans should be cautious because he has no experience and no other teams were pushing hard for him; but, should be optimistic because he was hired under Jerry West's eye and along with him came an outstanding assistant coach who knows X's and O's very well.