Significant debate has recently raged about the merits of one-and-done draft rule and proposals to raise requirements. Interestingly, GSW has achieved its recent successes without a one-and-done starter. During the 2011-12 Season, GSW had starters with less than two years of college including Dorell Wright who came to the NBA straight from High School. During the four seasons since then, the regular starters have all had at least 2 years of college. This will soon no longer be true when Kevin Durant and probably Zaza Pachulia become starters in 2016-17.
Substantial continuity has existed over the last four seasons, as only seven players have been regular starters. I list them in the table below with college, draft, and age information. At the bottom, I also list Kevin Durant’s information. For any who may have forgotten, Festus Ezeli started 41 games as a rookie in 2012-13. In summary, of these seven starters, 3 were four-year students, and only 2 were two-year students.
Player |
College |
Draft (age on Draft Night) |
Date of Birth (age as of July 19, 2016) Location of Birth |
4 years at Michigan State University |
35th pick 2012 (age 22) |
Born March 4, 1990 (Age 26.137) in Saginaw, Michigan |
|
Festus Ezeli |
4 years at Vanderbilt University |
30th pick 2012 (age 22) |
Born: October 21, 1989 (Age 26.272) in Benin City, Nigeria |
4 years at University of Florida |
30th pick 2005 (age 22) |
Born: April 29, 1983 (Age 33.081) in St. Louis, Missouri |
|
3 years at Davidson College |
7th pick 2009 (age 21) |
||
3 years at Washington State |
11th pick 2011 (age 21) |
Born February 8, 1990 (Age 26.162) in Los Angeles, California |
|
2 years at University of Arizona |
9th pick 2004 (age 20) |
Born January 28, 1984 (Age 32.173) in Springfield, Illinois |
|
2 years at University of Utah |
1st pick 2005 (age 20) |
Born: November 28, 1984 (Age 31.234) in Melbourne, Australia |
|
|
|
|
|
Kevin Durant |
1 year at University of Texas at Austin |
2nd pick 2007 (age 18) |
Born September 29, 1988 (Age 27.294) in Washington, District of Columbia |
Another probable starter in 2016-17, Zaza Pachulia, did not attend a US college. He was drafted 42nd in 2003 at age 19 and born on February 10, 1984 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The Golden State Warriors have based their recent success entirely on starters who were not one-and-done draftees. In particular, Draymond Green spent four years in college, and Curry and Thompson three years.
POSTSCRIPT: For a discussion of one and done with statistics see here.
ANNEX
GSW has had a key reserve that was a straight-from-high-school player, Shaun Livingston.
Player |
College |
Draft (age on Draft Night) |
Date of Birth (age as of July 19, 2016) Location of Birth |
Shaun Livingston |
0 years college |
4th pick 2004 (age 18) |
Born September 11, 1985 (Age 30.312) in Peoria, Illinois |
Shaun Livingston did not play 2007-08 because of knee injury.