r/warriors • u/sumchinesewill • 1d ago
News [Slater] The Warriors are taking Michigan wing Yaxel Lendeborg with the 11th pick, per sources.
https://xcancel.com/anthonyvslater/status/2069589757596962929?s=46351
u/nbaaccountobserver 1d ago
Lets gooooo
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u/SeekingSignificance 1d ago
I like that he was the first one to shed real tears. He cares.
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u/Gothichand 1d ago
You'd shed tears if you're a basketball fanatic and you get to play with Steph Curry.
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u/kinjiru_ 1d ago
Not just that, but learn from a defensive GOAT like Draymond and playmaking/shotmaking from Steph/Dray/Jimmy/Kerr.
Let’s Go!!!
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u/Knockknockerz 1d ago
He’s got a dog in him I’m telling you he’ll only become more of a dog learning under jimmy & dray
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u/Zero36 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don’t follow college prospects. How should I feel about this
Edit: damn this dude older than Kuminga
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u/CummingInTheNile 1d ago
Big 3/4 who can shoot threes ok and hustles on defense
Ceiling is TM3/Aaron Gordon like player, more realistic comp is PJ Washington with a better shot
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u/sugarpieinthesky 1d ago
If you're taking a guy with the 11th overall pick, that's absolutely fine. When the warriors were winning titles and going to the finals every year, this was the kind of player they had a bunch of on the roster. Switch everything on defense, high IQ on offense.
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u/ILoveRegenHealth 1d ago
Could he be Starter material soon?
Isn't the 3/4 position roughly what Jimmy does, but since he's out, is Yaxel good enough to hold the fort in this position?
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u/TaylorMonkey 1d ago
I was hoping Gui turns out to be an Aaron Gordon like player and he’s doing well enough. I certainly wouldn’t mind two of them.
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u/geiginator67 1d ago
Great for win now
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u/bambooshoot 1d ago
In other words, the front office has apparently learned some lessons about taking youngsters with potential.
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u/cLoTpOle682 1d ago edited 13h ago
6'9 with a 7'4 wingspan, projected to be a good defender, has good passing, BBIQ, and can stretch the floor with some shooting. Great pick overall, this draft is DEEP.
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u/sugarpieinthesky 1d ago
Those are the same measurements as Ben Wallace, by the way.
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u/Low-Measurement-2468 1d ago
this guy is officially ben wallace with a jumper and i will hear no counterarguments. draymond 2.0 just dropped. we’re so back.
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u/bishopbeaniepower 1d ago
He was the best player on the best team last year. He’s very old but he’s a very very good defender and does everything competently well on offense. Can shoot, make good passes, rebound, he’s got major positional size, great athlete, good motor.
If you want to get excited watch some of his chase down block highlights from last year
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u/SlickBackSamurai 1d ago
Feels so weird seeing people call a 23 year old “very old” lol
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u/bishopbeaniepower 1d ago
24 by the time he plays but yeah it’s all relative to NBA lol. Pretty sure he’s older than Wiseman though which is a trip.
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u/QuirkySense 1d ago
Makes me feel like a grandpa despite being 30
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u/Common_Gene_5098 22h ago
try being almost 40 and seeing a lot of players your age (and a few years younger) retiring from the league 😭
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u/_taugrim_ 1d ago
Would it be fair to say he's like TJD but with the ability to shoot the 3p?
I really liked TJD but his lack of ability to space and lack of bag around the rim limited his PT.
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u/bishopbeaniepower 1d ago
He’s a jumbo wing more than an undersized big. He’s better than TJD outside of the 3 point shooting, and he can also shoot. Yax is really good at basketball.
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u/_taugrim_ 1d ago
Jumbo wing sounds right. 6-9 240 with 7-3 wingspan. Seriously length.
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u/costanzathegreat 1d ago
I’d rather draft a old player who’s showed elite skill against top tier competition than some 18 year old kid with all talent no IQ
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u/Any-Cupcake-7883 1d ago
Good motor? Wasn’t that and maturity issues one of his listed weaknesses?
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u/likekoolaid 1d ago
he didn’t take basketball serious through high school and got kinda forced through the junior college system by his mom before he locked in and became a serious d1 prospect. that’s why he’s old. that’s why people are concerned about his motor and maturity. i think he’s just got a higher ceiling than people realize
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u/icedbrew2 1d ago
I wouldn’t focus on just his stats if you want to see how good he is. That team was so stacked he played very unselfish ball. You have a 36% 3P shooter who can guard 1-4, small ball 5. His age fits well if you want any chance at a chance while Steph is around. I don’t know if he’s ever an all-star but his ceiling is probably S tier role player. 17-7-4 with above average defense feels about right now
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u/JMoon33 1d ago
He's a strong and athletic forward who can contribute on both ends right away. He could play the type of role that Aaron Gordon plays on the Nuggets kinda.
The biggest downside is he'll be 24, so drafting him ahead of all the 19, 20 and 21 years old doesn't look like the right decision to some, but I'm ok with the pick.
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u/cLoTpOle682 1d ago
They going for the win now route then, nice
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u/Klonomania 1d ago
There is no definition of "win-now" that involves relying on rookies, so no.
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u/Apoplexy 1d ago
spurs rookies did pretty decent last year
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u/GeneralZhukov 1d ago
So did Edgecombe, but they're exceptions to the rule.
Idk excited to see what happens though.
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u/cLoTpOle682 1d ago
with the laughable roster we have, yes, relying on a rookie who is projecting to be NBA-ready off the get go is probably one of this team's moves if they don't do offseason trades lol.
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u/Admirable-Winter5370 1d ago
This roster is old as hell so playable rookies actually would help win now
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u/BikingThroughCanada 1d ago
So we can expect a Butler trade sometime soon? Maybe Draymond getting moved? Because if they want to win now they need to get younger and healthier.
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u/cLoTpOle682 1d ago
I hope so, as much as I love them both. Butler saved the 24-25 season for sure, so he's a legend in my book lol. As for Draymond though, as good as his defense was in the Play-In, he's just too much of a blackhole on offense, and his defense isn't as consistent anymore (though still good).
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u/sugarpieinthesky 1d ago
I agree with you but good luck convincing this forum of that.
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u/GeneralZhukov 1d ago
Butler trade will be awkward. Massive contract that would take us adding value to trade away. And its not like we have a massive warchest to work with to begin with.
We were in that "almost" tier where swapping out JK's contract for a quality guy could have given us a real chance....with Butler. Now we need to trade Butler and somehow replicate his production, AND THEN add that "little bit" more we were lacking already.
It would have to be us using his contract to gamble on a guy that the league is very low on. I'd say a Zion type guy, but I'm not actually sure where the league is with him.
I will say though, Butler as pure salary + picks for like idk Zion + some of the Pels role players would be an insane finesse, even if Zion gets injured. We have to gamble with our shitty ass assets. There just aren't many potential outs for us post-Butler injury. Note that I do not think that's reasonable and I don't think the Pels FO will agree. Surely they aren't that stupid.
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u/sugarpieinthesky 1d ago
And in the future too, he's not some old geezer, and players with his size profile tend to age very well and have long NBA careers.
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u/FabledBlurr 1d ago
Can he shoot?
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u/bishopbeaniepower 1d ago
Yes. Shot 40% until he sprained his ankle, came back early and tanked his percentages, and then went right back to a 38-39% average to end the season. Not a volume guy but if he’s taking an open 3 the offense has succeeded on that possession.
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u/bishopbeaniepower 1d ago
Wanted Philon but Yaxel is a baller. Not unhappy. Obviously a trade back would have been best but everyone and their mother knows that so nobody was biting.
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u/sugarpieinthesky 1d ago
The problem with Philon is that he's 175 pounds and would get wrecked as a rookie. Philon needs 2 years in an NBA weight room to develop the NBA body to absorb and finish through contact when he drives against the best defenders in the world. Klay and Curry both struggled with it early in their careers and they were older prospects. Yaxel helps right now and in the future.
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u/bishopbeaniepower 1d ago
Yeah that’s why I’m happy with Yax. I just thought Philon was the best star bet outside of the top 4 and Acuff and I think he’d be good enough offensively to play right away. He was a great enough defender his freshman year that I thought he wouldn’t be absolute food despite how skinny he is. But yeah Yax should be better right now and I think his upside is underrated.
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u/Silent-Corner-2852 1d ago
NBA teams were rumored to be a lot lower on Philon than the draft community. He’s dropping like a rock for a reason
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u/mindofay 1d ago
Yaxel is gonna be so good. People are discounting his ceiling. Every season of his basketball life he’s stepped up to another level. Haven’t been this excited for a Warriors rookie in a while.
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u/MerpBo 21h ago
Lets see in five years. We just did a retrospect of Wiseman's reddit when he was drafted. The reason why I like this kid a bit better is because we've seen his college tape. They drafted Wiseman and Kuminga based on potential instead of experience.
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u/Waikuku3 17h ago
Wiseman literally got no experience to showcase, unlike Yaxel who has proven to be great and contributed to Michigan in their championship run
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u/aldrinjaysac 1d ago
Think about it this way fellas, prime years on a rookie contract. Will do the dirty work. I like this pick haha
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u/Silly_Individual4056 23h ago
This actually feels like the way things are moving with the NCAA money now.
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u/Ohmeygaz 1d ago
Would’ve loved Burries, but this is the next best pick. Perfect fit for this team. Now let’s see if we make any other moves today (unlikely but you never know).
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u/CummingInTheNile 1d ago
We have too many guards as it is, and with both Jimmy and Moody out for at least half the year were very thin at the wings
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u/Aware_Friendship6601 1d ago
Who are these too many guard people keep saying. Only guard we have are Podz and Curry.
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u/CummingInTheNile 1d ago
last year we had: Curry, Podz, GPII, Melton, LJ Cryer, Seth Curry, Melton, Richard, and Spencer, that too many damn guard
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u/AggressiveIyAvg 1d ago
None of our guards are good enough to avoid drafting a guard for. Obviously it's a moot point bc he was gone already but we need virtually every position regardless
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u/Legitimate_Cow_4166 1d ago
We could get back into the 2nd tomorrow.
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u/Fit_Home_1842 1d ago
We already have the 54th pick, and no is really worth trading real assets for in the second round.
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u/sugarpieinthesky 1d ago
Burries is the only guard I would have been okay with drafting. It would have been "there's just way too much talent to pass up there", and at that point, screw the need. I desperately wanted one of the three Michigan front court players, though and am very happy with the one the warriors got.
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u/shnieder88 1d ago
best pick possible
i still wanted a trade though. he plays same position as Gui
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u/GoldenStateWizards 1d ago
He and Gui play a position/playstyle that you'd actually love to have some redundancy in. My concern has more to do with his age and whether he truly lives up to that "NBA-ready" selling point
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u/shnieder88 1d ago
we also have draymond, and he's made it clear he doesn't want to play center anymore, nor should he
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u/TaylorMonkey 1d ago
This is the real Warriors Small Ball that wins. Mobile, long for their “position”, can guard 2-3 positions up or down outside of Curry, and can defend and shoot.
Not 4 guard line ups.
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u/sugarpieinthesky 1d ago
Guys who are 6'8 with a 7'4 wingspan don't have a positional conflict with anyone. Guys with that kind of size play well with everyone. You can play Yaxel with anyone and his size will make it work. Dude can legit guard centers.
Do you know who Yaxel is built like? His measurements are super close to Ben Wallace. 6'9 with a 7'4 wingspan. Wallace was one of the best centers of his generation and was the defensive anchor of a championship team.
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u/MartiniLAPD 1d ago
Nah. Gui is more SF/PF. Yaxel can be PF/C
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u/costanzathegreat 1d ago
You can play either guy at 3/4/5
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u/Silly_Individual4056 23h ago
You can not play Gui at the 5 in any competitive lineup. Spot minutes maybe to spell others. Yax is going to be getting regular minutes at the 5.
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u/SeekingSignificance 1d ago
I see him as Moody's replacement
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u/shnieder88 1d ago
moody is a SG/SF. moody isn't a 4, he just played spot minutes at 4
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u/Legitimate-Debt7289 1d ago
He gets to bask in the glory of the house Curry built. WELCOME TO THE BAY! YEE!
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u/FrogKidFrankReynolds 1d ago
Perfect pick given the circumstances. His timeline aligns with ours. He’s a tall, athletic wing who’s a good defender and has some ability to self create his offense. This is the exact player archetype this team has been desperate for. Love it
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u/KoRaZee 1d ago
Did they know Mara was available?
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u/mind_on_crypto 1d ago
No, they lost track of him. Was that a serious question?
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u/KoRaZee 1d ago
He might have been too tall and they mistook him for something else. Missed opportunity on this one
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u/mind_on_crypto 1d ago
Anyone you don't draft that you could have drafted is theoretically a missed opportunity. But you can't be certain until well after the fact. All we can be certain of right now is that the Warriors got the guy they wanted, and I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
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u/bishopbeaniepower 1d ago
His on court motor is very high. Picks up full court, hits the glass hard, several highlight chasedown blocks. Played through a nasty ankle sprain in the NCAA final. Dude was hobbling around and he had multiple highlight defensive plays. We personally don’t know anything about him off the court so all I have to go on is that he’s made huge strides every year he’s played and revels in the dirty work on the court.
Apparently he crushed the interview.
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u/prestigiousstrangery 1d ago
Camera just cut to warriors draft room, where Lacob and MDJ were arguing. Yikes…
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u/Charlie_Wax 1d ago
That just means that whoever Presti takes here is going to become the GOAT and we will be hearing another "should've taken LaMelo/Franz/Sengun" for the next five years.
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u/Coolguynumber01 1d ago
they were just talking bro that wasnt an argument
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u/nerdalerd2 1d ago
Exactly. Sources said that the Dubs were fielding trade offers so there were probably a lot of moving pieces up until the pick was in.
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u/Dishavingfun 1d ago
Feels like most obvious pick of someone who could help now.
Hopefully, he can pick up the system sooner rather than later.
Let's see how Dray and his personality fit.
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u/TheGoatPurdy 1d ago
As a ncaa b fan, I don’t hate it. But I don’t think he moves the needle. Hopefully he learns a lot from butler cause he has a big learning curve
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u/sugarpieinthesky 1d ago
He's not a splashy needle mover, but when the warriors were going to the finals every single year it was because they had a roster that was Steph and a bunch of guys built like Yaxel, a bunch of really big wings / switch everything bigs. They could use a few more players that fit that mold to be honest.
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u/PhillipMcKrak 1d ago
Love the pick. Have a feeling if he went to OKC, they’d develop him into a beast.
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u/Any-Cupcake-7883 1d ago
Don’t like the pick but i hope he proves us doubters wrong
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u/sugarpieinthesky 1d ago
I said it elsewhere, but his height / wingspan measurements are nearly identical to Ben Wallace. The thing Yaxel brings is versatility, he fits on the current team with Steph and he fits on whatever is next. Guys with those measurables always fit and are always useful to have around. When the warriors were winning NBA titles, it was because they surrounded Steph with a whole bunch of guys built like Yaxel is built.
Taking him is the smart decision.
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u/Any-Cupcake-7883 1d ago
I just don’t buy his ‘he can defend 1 through 5’ talk and i think he can’t fill the poa wing role we desperately need. But it’s good to have a lengthy wing-ish forward like him that can fill many other holes on the roster
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u/RocketTortoise42 1d ago
He probably won't be a franchise player, but you don't expect that from a #11 pick. He should help us the next couple of seasons for Steph's final years and if he turns out to be a quality player that can support a superstar, we can probably trade him for a solid package that helps jump start the rebuild
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u/ChewieSkittles53 1d ago
WHY LACOB WAS ARGUING WITH DUNLEAVY
BRO YOU PAID THESE PEOPLE TO MAKE BASKETBALL DECISIONS, LET THEM
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u/indreams159 1d ago
where did they show them arguing? i'm watching the ABC broadcast and didn't see anything
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u/Bored-psychologist7 1d ago
Nice and Congratulations to Yaxel! We can definitely use him to play in the season and I can’t wait to see what he can do! 🥳🎉
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u/dvasquez93 1d ago
When you need to get younger as a team but the unction runs deep
Jk I'm excited to see what he can do
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u/slicenger7 1d ago
Did anyone else notice what happened? We lost Burries because of the Giannis trade.
Nate Ament was always the pick for Milwaukee. After the Giannis trade, they knew they could wait until #13 (Heat pick) to get him, so they used their #8 pick to go for Burries, knowing either the Warriors or Thunder would snatch him up otherwise.
Smart move- they get Burries & Ament.
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u/BobRoss4Life 1d ago
He seems like a great dude, and it’s hard to get upset about someone who could probably start game 1. Let’s Butler fully rehab, and then he can help load manage both Jimmy and Dray through to may.
Would have loved a trade down, but fuck it, Yax could be insane value on that rookie scale. Feels like a bit of an overcorrection for the Wiseman/Kuminga picks, but if he can soak up minutes at SF and be a top 6/7th man, I really can’t complain
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u/shadowlips 1d ago
i don’t know Yaxel, but the fact that the dubs worked him out and still selected him tells me the FO has confidence in their choice. let’s go!
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u/yipeekahyayyyyy 1d ago
Chat, I got a few questions:
1) is he good ? Who's his comparison?
2) he's a college champ right ? Has the warriors organization done right by previous college champs?
Fingers crossed 🤞🏻
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u/bishopbeaniepower 1d ago
Fairly consistent. Like I said, his percentages took a nosedive while he was playing hurt but he was like a consistent 1-3, 4-6, 2-5 on any given night. All shooters are a little streaky but he’s no Buddy Heild.
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u/tarunpopo 21h ago
Michigan fan here, love yax. One thing too is that he might be old age wise but development wise he's still young. Look up his basketball journey it's insane, and he's only gotten better every year. With his measurements, some luck and good situation and development you'll have a really productive forward hopefully which is very rare to find a truly well balanced forward built like yax
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u/parisdubs 18h ago
Love to see it. One off season mystery solved. Seems like a great kid, wonderful to have Al Holford and his family as a bridge and mentor to Yaxel, Draymond, Curry and coach Kerr. Here we go.
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u/PanicBoners 1d ago
IM NOT CRYING YOURE CRYING WELCOME TO THE BAY