:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66632000/1206489979.jpg.0.jpg)
The Golden State Warriors have made some spectacular draft picks over the years. They’ve also made some rather horrendous ones. So why not rank them all?
But simply ranking every draft pick in Warriors history would be a little fruitless, because obviously those taken at the top of draft are likely to be better. Instead, I wanted to focus on the players drafted within certain slots.
So I ranked all of the Warriors draft picks by section: Picks 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, and 51-60.
A few notes:
- I needed a cutoff somewhere, so I went with 1989. Why? That’s when the NBA Draft switched to two rounds. In 1988, for example, there were three rounds and 75 picks. 1971, the first year that they were officially the Golden State Warriors? 19 rounds and 237 players.
- I’m only using players that the Warriors effectively drafted. Players they technically drafted but traded are not included; however, players they didn’t technically draft but immediately acquired are included. In other words, Antawn Jamison counts but Vince Carter does not.
- I’m valuing players in a vacuum. It’s a ranking of how good the player is, not how good the selection was. So Adonal Foyle isn’t docked for being taken one slot ahead of Tracy McGrady. That said, I’m including a note as to what other players might have been available, just for context and self-loathing.
- I’m only judging players based on NBA production — with or without the Warriors — but I will note what they’ve done outside of the NBA.
Wednesday covered slots 51-60. All four of them. Now it’s time for slots 41-50, which has produced nine players over the years, and only one memorable one.
9. Richard Hendrix
Drafted
49th overall, 2008 NBA Draft
Warriors and career stats
None
Notable players selected after him
None
Hendrix is the only player on this list who didn’t appear in a single NBA game. That said, he came close. He started his rookie year on the Warriors roster, but was inactive. He was sent to the then-D League, but was released a few months into the season when the team needed to clear a space for Monta Ellis’ return.
He only spent one year in the D League, even though he was a D League All-Star. He’s been playing in Europe ever since.
8. Stéphane Lasme
Drafted
46th overall, 2007 NBA Draft
Warriors stats (1 year, 1 game)
0.0 minutes, 0.0 points, 0.0 rebounds, and 0.0 blocks per game
Career stats (1 year, 16 games)
18.9 minutes, 5.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game
Notable players selected after him
Marc Gasol, Ramon Sessions
Without doing any research, I would guess that Lasme holds the record for shortest tenure in Warriors history. He made it into one game with the Warriors, and played . . . wait for it . . . 3.8 seconds.
And then he was waived.
Despite putting up decent stats for the Miami Heat, who signed him for the final weeks of the season, Lasme’s NBA career didn’t last beyond his rookie season, though he has had a fair amount of success in Europe.
7. Martin Lewis
Drafted
50th overall, 1995 NBA Draft
Warriors stats
None
Career stats (2 years, 25 games)
9.6 minutes, 3.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.3 assists per game
Notable players selected after him
Fred Hoiberg (!!!)
The Warriors drafted Lewis, hung onto him for a little while, and then sent him to the Raptors, where it was apparent why they got rid of him.
6. Chris Taft
Drafted
42nd overall, 2005 NBA Draft
Warriors and career stats (1 year, 17 games)
8.5 minutes, 2.8 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.4 blocks per game
Notable players selected after him
Lou Williams, Marcin Gortat, Amir Johnson, Ryan Gomes, Andray Blatche
In the back of a closet in my parent’s house, there is a shoe box. Inside that shoe box is a stack of basketball cards. In the middle of that stack is a Chris Taft autographed rookie card.
That’s all I have to say.
5. Dwayne Morton
Drafted
45th overall, 1994 NBA Draft
Warriors and career stats (1 year, 41 games)
9.6 minutes, 4.1 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game
Notable players selected after him
Voshon Lenard, Lawrence Funderburke, Anthony Goldwire
Morton played one year for the Warriors, put up okay stats, and then never played in the NBA again.
Riveting, I know.
4. Matt Fish
Drafted
50th overall, 1992 NBA Draft
Warriors stats
None
Career stats (3 years, 50 games)
10.2 minutes, 3.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.5 assists per game
Notable players selected after him
None
Give Fish some credit for tenacity. The Warriors waived Fish before his rookie season, but he caught on with the Los Angeles Clippers, and played 26 games. Over the next two years he played 24 more games for four different teams. All in all, he played for five franchises, despite appearing in just 50 games, but stretched his NBA career out over three years.
That’s better than anyone drafted behind him, as the four players selected after Fish combined for just 12 NBA minutes.
3. Charles Jenkins
Drafted
44th overall, 2011 NBA Draft
Warriors stats (2 years, 98 games)
12.1 minutes, 3.9 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game
Career stats (2 years, 110 games)
12.1 minutes, 3.7 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game
Notable players selected after him
Isaiah Thomas, E’Twaun Moore
I liked Charles Jenkins. He always looked like a cool guy, and he was absolutely ripped.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t that good. Most players drafted in this range aren’t, as I think we’re all learning together.
But he was good enough to have highlights:
Jenkins had 27 points and 6 assists in that game!
2. Sasha Danilović
Drafted
43rd overall, 1992 NBA Draft
Warriors stats
None
Career stats (2 years, 75 games)
31.1 minutes, 12.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game
Notable players selected after him
None
Danilović had already been playing professionally in Europe for a few years when the Warriors drafted him. And he kept playing professionally in Europe for a few years after they drafted him, during which time he was included in the Billy Owens for Rony Seikaly trade.
He was a quite good NBA player, and perhaps could have had a long career, but instead opted to forgo the remaining years of his contract so that he could return to Europe.
1. Eric Paschall
Drafted
41st overall, 2019 NBA Draft
Warriors and career stats (1 year, 60 games)
27.6 minutes, 14.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game
Notable players selected after him
None (yet)
Are you ready for a crazy stat?
Eric Paschall has scored 837 points for the Warriors. The other eight players on this list have scored 592 points for the Warriors.
It took Paschall one pandemic-shortened season to accomplish more than 30 years worth of picks in his range.
That’s not a knock on the other players on this list. It’s a credit to Paschall, who has shined from a place where very few do. By all accounts Paschall appears to be a staple in the Warriors rotation for the foreseeable future. Apparently that comes around every three decades or so.