In yesterday's edition, my man Rafa had one take 
on the Warriors 2003 NBA Draft, which proved to be 
the majority opinion of sports reporters across the 
league. Lines such as "Typical Warriors," or in the 
words of Bill Walton, "What were they thinking?" 
resonated across the league. As you may already know, 
with the 11th pick in this year's draft the Golden 
State Warriors selected 6'6" 210lb SG Mickael 
Pietrus, a 20 year old prospect from Paris, France, 
who has played with powerhouse EB-Pau-Orthez 
(France) since 1999. Winning the French National 
Cup in 2001, 2002 and 2003 with his club team, 
Pietrus has also been a member of the French Junior 
National Team. He also was a member of the French 
Under-20 National Team which won the silver medal 
at the 2002 European Under-20 Championship. At the 
very tender age of 20, the kid already has quite a 
resume. 

Rafa pointed out that Pietrus 
was not slated to be a starter 
on his club team, EB-Pau-Orthez 
next season, but one must 
realize that this kid is still 
young and has plenty of upside. 
Nobody is saying that he is 
going to start for the Warriors 
next season either, but if you 
think about it, how many players 
selected 11th in the draft 
                     are immediate impacts to their 
                     ball clubs and start right off 
                     the bat. 


Pietrus, tagged with the nickname "The Euro Jordan," 
is the consensus most athletic player in Europe at 
the moment, which gives his game more of an American 
NBA feel (think Desmond Mason or Ricky Davis), quite 
an advantage over many of those other stiffs playing 
in Europe at the moment. One should note, however, 
that the European game is completely different than 
the American game. Coaches use different strategy 
and players such as Pietrus are sometimes not able 
to show off their true talents and abilities under 
a confined system. If the coach calls for a more 
stiff game, a la "Hoosiers" and Northgate High 
School Basketball (California state champs 1994 by 
the way), then obviously players with tremendous 
athletic ability would not be able to shine and 
find as much success as they would playing in a fast, 
running "showtime" system like that of Eric Mussleman 
and the Golden State Warriors. 

The point here is that this kid should not be judged 
on his performance in Europe, but instead on his 
potential for success in the NBA. While Pietrus is 
known for dunking over the domes fluorescent white 
Josef Stalin look alikes during his days in Europe, 
he has been praised for his aggressive game and 
solid defense. Pietrus also can shoot the NBA 3, 
and has a nice shooting touch, which if proves to 
be correct gives him a tremendous advantage over 
current starter and now border-line expendable SG 
Jason Richardson, whose shot and defense has been 
questionable as of late. 

If there's any negative aspect to Pietrus' game, 
it's that he lacks tremendous ball handling skills, 
but of anything that just means that he will more 
than likely not play any point for the Warriors 
anytime soon. Scouts say that he has enough skills 
that will grant him the ability to break a few 
ankles with a nice first step, and establish 
himself an opening to get himself a lane to the 
hoop to show the league what the "Euro Jordan" is 
all about. 

While it is very easy to always knock the Warriors, 
just wait a little bit on this one before you go 
ahead and berate them for having another poor, Todd 
Fuller type of draft. As MC Punjabi said, "this 
guy was not the typical Warriors 'safe' pick." Rane 
is right, the Warriors could have taken either PG 
Luke Ridenour or Reece Davis but GSW Hoops took a 
chance on this one, and went ahead and drafted who 
was the best available player in the draft, a kid 
that league sources say NBA Guru and current 
Grizzlies GM Jerry West was salivating over. Now, 
if they can only re-sign Gilbert Arenas, it could 
be the beginning of something very special in Oakland.

- July 2, 2003

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