3 prospects the Warriors have to avoid in the NBA Draft

1. The Warriors should beware of Scottie Barnes

Scottie Barnes is a player who could conceivably fall to the Warriors at No. 7 or maybe even be enticing enough to try and trade up for. He’s a very strong defensive prospect with the size to play the 4 and switch out onto perimeter players and comfortably defend in space. He’s not much of a shooter but he’s an excellent passer and ball-handler who often functioned as 6-foot-9 point guard for Florida State last season.

Barnes has drawn some (dramatically optimistic) comparisons to Draymond Green and that’s ideally the kind of role he would play at the next level — versatile frontcourt defensive anchor who can handle the ball and help elevate perimeter offensive threats around him. But the Warriors already have one Draymond Green and the idea of him mentoring Barnes into that role for the next iteration of this team has a bunch of problems. It minimizes the value of the pick in the short-term since Barnes would be playing behind Green, there’s no guarantee Barnes ever becomes as good as Draymond or that the next iteration of the Warriors has versions of Klay or Curry to help make him as effective. And, most importantly, Barnes doesn’t really fill an immediate need or offer any additional versatility to the Warriors for a championship run the next two seasons.

They’d be better off with someone who can play next to Draymond Green in the short-term, rather than trying to find his replacement. If the Warriors stay at No. 7 and No. 14, I think players like Wagner, Moody, Usman Garuba, Keon Johnson or Alperen Sengun offer a much more interesting mix of present skill and future upside.