NBA Draft

Golden State Warriors

In honor of the NBA Draft Combine tipping off, take a look at the first step of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson's NBA careers!

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Before They Were Splash Brothers... Stephen & Klay's NBA Draft Combine!

Before being selected with the 11th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, Thompson's NBA journey began at the combine.

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Klay Thompson at the 2011 NBA Draft Combine

Once a prospect, now a Warrior. Back in 2009, Stephen Curry began his NBA journey at the NBA Draft Combine.

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Stephen Curry Shined at the 2009 NBA Draft Combine

Andy Fahey

The Golden State Warriors acquired the draft rights to University of Oregon forward Jordan Bell, the 38th overall selection in the second round of tonight’s 2017 NBA Draft, from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for cash considerations, the team announced.

Bell, 22, posted career highs of 10.9 points and 8.8 rebounds to go with 2.3 blocks (second in the Pac-12) as a junior in 2016-17, earning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors. Bell (6’9”, 224) compiled career averages of 7.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 steals, 2.3 blocks and 24.9 minutes in 104 games over three seasons at Oregon, garnering Second Team All-Pac-12 accolades last season. Oregon’s career leader in blocked shots (235) and field goal percentage (.610), Bell helped the Ducks advance to the 2017 Final Four with an 11-point, 13-rebound, eight-block performance in a win over Kansas in the Elite Eight. In a Final Four matchup with North Carolina, he scored 13 points to go with a career-high 16 rebounds against the eventual champion Tar Heels.

A native of Long Beach, Calif., Bell attended Long Beach Poly High School. Bell will wear No. 2 for the Warriors.

The league’s annual selection process took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., with the Warriors’ basketball operations staff working from the team’s draft headquarters in downtown Oakland.

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Warriors Acquire Draft Rights to Jordan Bell from Chicago for Cash Considerations

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Full Event: Warriors introduce Jones & McCaw

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Warriors Players In The Draft Through The Years

Too small. Not strong enough. An average athlete who will struggle to match up with opposing guards.

These were just a few of the knocks against Stephen Curry in the lead-up to the 2009 NBA Draft, a day that forever altered the course of the Warriors franchise. A darling of the NCAA tournament, everyone knew Curry could shoot the lights out, but many doubts persisted about his ability to make the same kind of impact at the NBA level. Almost exactly five years later, this much is for sure: not all scouting reports are created equal.

Whatever it took for Curry to slip to the seventh pick in that 2009 Draft, you can bet the Warriors aren’t complaining. They say hindsight is 20/20, and after watching Curry ascend to greater heights yet again this past season, culminating in his first-ever All-Star and All-NBA selections, there’s no doubt there’s numerous other current or ex-GM’s kicking themselves for missing out on one of the league’s most electric and promising young stars.

2009 Draft Class Statistical Leaders (Career)

Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. While every team would love to have Curry, that 2009 Draft also boasted the likes of fellow All-Stars Blake Griffin,  James Harden, and DeMar DeRozan, who went first, third, and ninth overall, respectively. Furthermore, several quality starters and role players could be found later in the draft, such as Brandon Jennings, Gerald Henderson, Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague, Darren Collison, Taj Gibson, DeJuan Blair, Patrick Beverley, Danny Green, and Patty Mills. Obviously certain players are expected to be better than others, hence the reason why they’re selected higher. But being successful in the draft isn’t about getting the top picks; it’s about making the best pick in a given scenario. Just ask the Spurs, who just won yet another Championship aided tremendously by that strategy.

That’s the situation currently facing the vast majority of NBA teams, with the draft merely four days away. The Warriors don’t happen to be one of them, or at least not to the same degree, given the fact that they do not possess a draft pick at this time. But in order to illuminate the cruciality of maximizing value in the draft, we thought we’d take a look back at the drafts of certain current Warriors to see what the drastic difference between a hit and a miss can mean. And where better to start than where everything begins with the Warriors: Curry, of course.

There’s no denying his superstar status anymore. That time came and went long ago. Whereas all conversations regarding Curry a couple years ago surrounded the status of his chronic ankle injuries, the sound of Curry’s three’s splashing through the net now drowns out any semblance of doubt. He’s firmly planted himself in the conversation of best point guard in the league on any given night, and his recent selection to the All-NBA Second Team only confirms that. There is no better shooter on the planet, and he’s rapidly improved as a facilitator and ball-handler, as well as on the defensive end. With each and every season that passes, the more it feels like the Dubs got away with highway robbery when they selected him with the seventh pick.

So where should he have been drafted? Higher than he was, that’s for sure. Obviously team needs certainly come into play, but if we’re simply attempting to rank the players according to who is the “best”, he’s going to be at or near the top. Now, I leave it to you.

The results of the 2009 Draft can be found below.  Now, it’s your turn to play GM. If a re-draft were to take place today, where would Curry be picked? What would the top 10 look like? The lottery? Post your thoughts in the comments below and keep your eyes out for more re-draft hypotheticals in the coming days.

* Involved in draft-night trade following his selection.

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Do-Over: 2009 NBA Draft

Let’s face it, we all like to be arm chair analysts. It’s part of the fun of being a sports fan. It connects us with friends, family, co-workers and schoolmates, or anybody else you can get to pay attention. Whether you’re a proponent of the way things are going with your team or you just can’t stand what has happened over the last few months, years or decades, you have your opinions and you like to share them. And when it comes to the NBA, nothing strikes the nerve of a team’s fan base quite like the draft.

Whether you’re a basketball junkie who is an encyclopedia of prospects in both the college and international ranks or a fan whose draft knowledge is mostly based on performances in a few games in the NCAA Tournament, you probably usually have an ideal player in mind for your team’s draft position.
Unfortunately, the Warriors are currently without a pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, so predicting which prospect the Dubs should target on Thursday is somewhat of a meaningless exercise as things stand now. Instead, we can revisit the NBA Draft of years past and wonder, with the knowledge we have today, where would Klay Thompson be selected if we re-did the 2011 NBA Draft?

As you can remember, the Warriors selected Thompson with the 11th pick in 2011, right after Jimmer Fredette and before Utah took Alec Burks. Going into the draft, predictions on who the Dubs would take were all over the map, but the most popular opinions on the mock draft circuit had the team taking Thompson, Marcus Morris or Bismack Biyombo.

Of course, when you evaluate a draft three years after it happened, you’ll see some hits and misses. Players like Chandler Parsons (Houston) and Isaiah Thomas (Sacramento) would certainly go higher than their actual second round selections. And based on his recent MVP performance in the NBA Finals, you would think Kawhi Leonard would find his way into the first half of the lottery (he was taken 15th). On the other hand, common sense would indicate that Kyrie Irving remain as the number one selection, as he is the only player from the 2011 draft class to become an NBA All-Star so far, let alone MVP of the 2014 NBA All-Star Game.

But with what pick would Klay Thompson be taken?

We’ll let you decide, but here’s some information that might help support your decision. Thompson is tied for second in scoring in his draft class, averaging 16.0 points for his career. He and Irving, who is at the top of the 2011 draft class in terms of career scoring and assists, are the only two players selected in 2011 to rank in the top four in scoring among their fellow draftees in each of their three NBA seasons. Thompson, as all Warriors know, is an elite 3-point shooter. He made nearly 100 more treys this past season (223) than the second most by a player in his draft class (130 3-pointers by Parsons). Not only does Thompson fill up the scoring column, but he does so while winning games. The Warriors were 24-9 in 2013-14 when he had at least 20 points, and he has helped lead the Warriors to the postseason in each of the last two years.

2011 Draft Class Scoring Leaders By Season

In addition to being productive, Thompson has been extremely durable in his NBA career. He has missed only one game in three seasons, and that was to attend a funeral of a family member. He has logged more career minutes and games than anybody in his draft class, and in addition to his offensive prowess he has the size and athleticism to defend multiple positions. Thompson is one of the league’s premiere shooters whose game has improved throughout each of his first three NBA seasons. Furthermore, he is one of four 2011 draftees on the 2014-16 USA Men’s National Team Pool (Irving, Leonard and Kenneth Faried are the others).

So we ask the question again: If we were to re-do the 2011 NBA Draft, where would you select Klay Thompson? Share your thoughts in the comments below.