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Introducing... Brandan Wright and Stephane Lasme

By Fantasy Junkie


Welcome to the Bay

Yesterday, Brandan Wright and Stephane Lasme were introduced as Golden State Warriors (Belinelli was unable to attend). The two newest Warriors smiled, spoke to the media, and held their jerseys up. Typical rookie intros. The atypical situation that Brandan Wright finds himself in is the possibility that he might be on his 3rd team in the upcoming days. With all the rumors swirling about including him in a potential trade for KG, he knows he can't rest easy until the dust settles.

"Right now, I feel good about the situation. I feel like everything's in place, but if I were to be traded, it would be just one of those things, a business decision," Wright said. "When you get to the (NBA), you might have to take some hits sometimes. Like I said, it's a business as much as a game. It would be a big thing for me if I was here for five years, and had my family (living in the Bay Area) and all that type of thing, but we'll see what happens."


As far as his talents and what he can bring to the team, Wright knows his own scouting report well.

"I think I'm an athletic guy, a big guy that can run the court, use my talents and abilities to create matchup problems," Wright said. "I think I can make a lot of plays in transition, think I can block a lot of shots, get a lot of rebounds and just run the floor real well."

"I think I can really use my length to my advantage and grab rebounds that are out of my area," Wright said. "I feel like I can bring a real tough aspect to the rebounding of this team."

I remain skeptical that a 6'10", 200 pounder can bring a tough aspect to the rebounding, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. He may just be wiry strong. He'll have to put on lots of muscle and bulk up. For this year, I don't expect a whole lot out of him, but given 3 years he could become something similar to Chris Bosh.

As for Stephane Lasme, like most second rounders, he'll have to prove himself to stay on the team.

Lasme may be facing an uphill battle to crack the roster as a second-round pick, but don't expect him simply to be a shot-blocking wonder based on his record-setting credentials in that department at UMass. "Everyone knows me because I blocked a lot of shots," Lasme said. "I can rebound, and I hope that coach likes that about me, and hopefully along the way they're going to see some other stuff that I can do well. There are a lot of things that I can do."

I like the fact that he can block shots and rebound, but I'm skeptical about what a guy 6'8" can do in the paint. I know there have been some undersized guys who have done well, but the majority of players in the post are a couple inches taller. If he can run the floor and shoot a little bit, he'll make the team. But I don't expect much from him this year, maybe 5 minutes per game. I'm hoping for more.

Welcome to the team guys, for now.

I'll go out on a limb here and make a prediction. Either Andris Biedrins or Brandan Wright or both will not be a Warrior by the time the season starts. In order for Nelson to come back, he'll want another star player on the roster. The current set of players is not a lock for the playoffs and is definitely a roster geared towards the future. Why Nelson would come back with the current roster is beyond me. At this stage in his career he doesn't want to develop players, he wants to win, now. So, assuming that Mullin, Cohan, Rowell, etc want Nelson back, a trade must be made, most likely by the end of July. In order to land a significant player, the Warriors will have to give up one or both of those players. So Brandan, don't unpack all your bags yet.

What do you think? Will Brandan Wright still be with the team by start of the season? How about the trading deadline?

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