San Francisco – The Golden State Warriors had two picks in the 37th NBA Draft Lottery today. The Warriors got the No. 7 and No. 14 pick. That’s pretty good considering the league’s best shooter, Stephen Curry came out of the draft at No. 7 for Golden State.
The Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets got the No. 1 and No. 2 picks. The Warriors focus is building another championship team around Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Along with their draft picks, there will be options for some potential trades this offseason. If you factor in more help in the paint, backup for injuries should they happen and guys who want to win.
Golden State will definitely have their hands full. With the return of Thompson and James Wiseman, the Warriors can focus more on adding the necessary pieces to improve the chances of becoming the playoff caliber team, they once were.
Best scenario would be to bring in a Power Forward and a veteran Center to help mold Wiseman. Draymond Green did a great job mentoring Wiseman and becoming the floor General last season. Next season we hope to see a more dominant and explosive team. We look forward to seeing with the upcoming season brings!
Warriors President & COO Rick Welts to make final appearance at upcoming Draft Lottery
San Francisco – Outgoing President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Welts announced his retirement at the end of the season. So, his final act will be representing the Golden State Warriors in Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery. Welts doesn’t look at his last event with the team as his final curtain call, but the beginning to a new and brighter future in sports.
When asked how he would continue his role, his response was simply, “giving bad advice that’s frequently ignore.”
Welts successful career in sport ends with his last ten years with the Warriors building a championship team. He’s also had roles with the Seattle Supersonics and the Phoenix Suns. Welts entered the Hall of Fame in 2018 and was the first executive of a sports team to come out as gay.
Welts was also asked about the potential of having a WNBA team here in the Bay Area.
“The Bay Area’s history in women’s basketball and basketball in general, I think the corporate base here is significant,” Welts explained. “To be able to make this work, you have to be able to sell tickets and you have to be able to sell local sponsorships. Without those two things, you’re not going to have a financially successful WNBA team, and I think we do those two things really well.
There’s no plan in the door right now but I would be very disappointed, within the next five years, we don’t have a WNBA team playing here, somewhere in the Bay Area.”
In the meantime, Welts will be grabbing his good luck charms in hopes of getting a good pick for tomorrow’s Draft Lottery. Due to the ongoing pandemic, each team will join the draft live via Zoom.
“I’m not superstitious, but I figured I could at least bring the 2015, 2017 and 2018 championships rings,” said Welts. “I will be bringing those because as we see in these payoffs, there is an element of luck involved.”
Photo by Warriors/Twitter
