Tweet
Kudos to the Warriors who won their 2nd straight trip to the NBA Finals last night - taking the series-clinching 7th game from OKC.
The Warriors have done it the past couple years in a very unconventional way.
-first they hired a guy (Steve Kerr) who had never coached before anywhere let alone the NBA, not even at the assistant level...
-then they brought in numerous players who were NOT that highly touted or who were passed on by others...
guys like Steph Curry (2009 draft- behind Blake Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn), Klay Thompson (10 teams passed on him in the 2011 draft - taking Jimmer Fredette, Jan Vesely, Jonas Valančiūnas & others instead), Andre Iguodala (Warriors traded & got him from Denver), Shaun Livingston (signed after the Nets cut him loose), Draymond Green (a Round-2 draft pick by Golden State, passed on by 29 other teams), Marreese Speights (signed as FA), Andrew Bogut (Warriors traded dead weight for him when Milwaukee thought his career was done with injuries), Festus Ezeli (drafted behind 29 other players by Golden State, then did not give up on him thru injuries)...
BTW - how many people know this...
Bradley had a good shot at landing Festus Ezeli but Vanderbilt got in the door and lured him away.
Ezeli was at Yuba College, where Bradley had a strong recruiting presence after landing Zach Andrews & Lawrence Wright.
But due to injuries, being a very late-bloomer, and lack of transferable academics- he never played there.
But BU checked him out and was one of the FIRST teams to see him and offer him and might have landed him except-
word got out and other schools came calling and willing to take a chance. Vandy had just lost their top big man Andrew Ogilvy to an early draft decision so Ezeli saw a great academic plus playing-time chance.
Check out the posts we had on Ezeli from 2007 & 2008, including one from his coach
The Warriors have done it the past couple years in a very unconventional way.
-first they hired a guy (Steve Kerr) who had never coached before anywhere let alone the NBA, not even at the assistant level...
-then they brought in numerous players who were NOT that highly touted or who were passed on by others...
guys like Steph Curry (2009 draft- behind Blake Griffin, Hasheem Thabeet, James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, Jonny Flynn), Klay Thompson (10 teams passed on him in the 2011 draft - taking Jimmer Fredette, Jan Vesely, Jonas Valančiūnas & others instead), Andre Iguodala (Warriors traded & got him from Denver), Shaun Livingston (signed after the Nets cut him loose), Draymond Green (a Round-2 draft pick by Golden State, passed on by 29 other teams), Marreese Speights (signed as FA), Andrew Bogut (Warriors traded dead weight for him when Milwaukee thought his career was done with injuries), Festus Ezeli (drafted behind 29 other players by Golden State, then did not give up on him thru injuries)...
BTW - how many people know this...
Bradley had a good shot at landing Festus Ezeli but Vanderbilt got in the door and lured him away.
Ezeli was at Yuba College, where Bradley had a strong recruiting presence after landing Zach Andrews & Lawrence Wright.
But due to injuries, being a very late-bloomer, and lack of transferable academics- he never played there.
But BU checked him out and was one of the FIRST teams to see him and offer him and might have landed him except-
word got out and other schools came calling and willing to take a chance. Vandy had just lost their top big man Andrew Ogilvy to an early draft decision so Ezeli saw a great academic plus playing-time chance.
Check out the posts we had on Ezeli from 2007 & 2008, including one from his coach
Comment