Aaron Craft going to training camp with Golden State Warriors: Analysis

After impressing during summer league, undrafted rookie free agent Aaron Craft is going to training camp with the Golden State Warriors, according to Bob Baptist of the Columbus Dispatch. 

"Aaron Craft has agreed to a contract with the Golden State Warriors to go to training camp with the NBA team, his agent said in an email to The Dispatch today.Craft received a “small guarantee” as part of the deal, said Lance Young, the agent with Excel Sports Management in New York.Craft, who will try to find a niche as a third point guard, played four seasons at Ohio State and twice was the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year."

As with most training camp guys, Craft gets a small guarantee, which is awesome for him. This comes on the heels of point guard Nemanja Nedovic injuring his right foot in the lead up to the FIBA World Cup. The Warriors may need to bring another point guard onto their roster, and liked what Craft brought to them in Las Vegas.

Craft is obviously an extremely polarizing prospect. Some love him for his ability to defend the perimeter, which is extremely difficult in today’s NBA with the hand-check rules. Others are turned off by his complete lack of shooting ability. One of those guys that did come away impressed with Craft was Warriors coach Steve Kerr, calling him a “basketball player and a winner” while coaching him in summer league. So it’s definitely not surprising that the team has brought him back.

Depending on the severity of the Nedovic injury, I think there is a real chance Craft can make the Warriors. They could use a point guard that can come in for five minutes at a time and annoy the hell out of opposing point guards. Last year they often used Klay Thompson to do just that, but if they can limit his time facing off against point guards and start to get him more experience defending wings, that would be beneficial to his development as a two-way player. It’s also worth mentioning that Shaun Livingston is also in the fold, so there may not be a ton of time for Craft generally. But he’s also a great glue guy that you can count on to not complain about sitting on the bench and cheering for his teammates.

The Warriors already have so much offensive firepower in their backcourt, they could probably do worse than signing Craft for his defense.