Warriors offseason: Pietrus, Barnes,Azubuike

CH, has doubts and I agree with what he's feeling about Wright. I was pretty skeptical too because of his weight class.

But my buddy was showing me things that this kid can do as a college freshman against bigger bodies and it looks very promising that he could one day be a 20/10 or 16/8 type of guy because of his physical ability and his base skill level as a face-the-basket/back-to-the-basket big player. In fact for him to fall to #8 was a bit of a steal because he was projected by many mock drafts (espn, draftexpress, nbadraft) to go #3 or #4 at least. He's got undoubtedly tremendous upside, but also tremendous question marks because of his experience, quiet demeanor, and body weight. I think what eventually swayed me was that this guy does have very good skill as a power forward with his post footwork, his hands, and his passing. Then his length... He's easily got to be the longest guy for his height, similar to Patrick O'Bryant or Saer Sene of the Sonics.

The difference is Wright proved himself as a youngster in a great conference in college and he's got more polished footwork and scoring instinct. I was pretty happy with the Ike Diogu pick, but I'm even happier with the Wright pick knowing he could fill some of the things that I like in the modern power forward. He seems to play bigger than his size, he's shown some inside/outside game, great hands, ability to handle the ball some, the ability to operate from the high post or the low post in terms of setting up plays, weakside shotblocking, and quality footwork for getting inside position in rebounding or putbacks. It's like having a second Biedrins sometimes, because he's another guy who knows how to rebound and cover a lot of area, but struggles from being underweight and shooting bad free throws.

We never know who will turn out as projected with the draft... We though Jrich was going to be the next Vince Carter and although we love Jrich, he was never the next Vince Carter because he couldn't dribble very well to the basket or score with making tons of free throws. Then with guys like Jermaine O'neal or Joe Johnson who saw that coming? I'll admit I was a Joe Johnson jocker but some guys saw that he wasn't getting very much playing time in Boston and all he was mostly doing was shooting threes for the Suns. But he's an all-around player and those guys can elevate the team in more than just one way. I believe that Wright is a very good all-around player at power forward that he may be a piece that elevates this team to the next level. The only thing holding Wright back is playing time and not being as strong as Chris Bosh. I'm pretty confident that because of Wright's base skill level and his sheer length, he can be quite a mismatch as he gets more developed. On the other hand, what are we looking for? More power or finesse, because I don't believe Wright will ever try to be a power player unless he's trying to make a statement like that one dunk over another nba player. I can't remember who he dunked on, though.

[video=youtube;Vy2O-0dbVqE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy2O-0dbVqE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy2O-0dbVqE[/video]

 

Trust me, I see that Wright has talent. I think if he succeeds, he'll be a Chris Gatling like player. Now, I think that's good, but it'll take awhile to get there. If there's a trade out there to be had hat moves Harrington and Wright for a guy like Sheed and a solid backup PG wouldn't you make that deal?

If the Pistons blow this, it's conceivable that they blow the whole thing up and start over, and Wright is the peice that can make that happen.

BTW... Buike is the guy I hold on to of the 3, without hesitation. Price per production. If you can find a way to get Pietrus back cheap enough then you get him to, but I see his worth being quite a bit after that push at the end of the season.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CohanHater @ Apr 26 2008, 08:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>If there's a trade out there to be had hat moves Harrington and Wright for a guy like Sheed and a solid backup PG wouldn't you make that deal?</div>

Yes.

 

I say don't do it. This ain't even the right opportunity to make a run for anything. The West is overloaded, we don't have a young, franchise big man that can rebound (and Sheed ain't it). We don't even know what kind of backup point we're getting. Unless we're getting Kidd for cheap and we get Sheed, yeah maybe that might be something. Of course we're still talking chucksville from outside in the halfcourt. We need a low post bruiser badly so the defense gets sucked inside and we can set up down screens in the lane. Then we need shooters, lots of good all-around shooters that can also play some defense.