Newest Warriors hope to help team return to title form
Jones, McCaw hope to make impact as team faces uncertain future
OAKLAND — Warriors first-round draft pick Damian Jones came into contact with the Larry O’Brien Trophy when Festus Ezeli brought it to Vanderbilt campus last summer.
It was his first time meeting Ezeli, also a center from Vanderbilt. Now it’s Jones, after being selected by the Warriors with the 30th overall pick in the NBA draft — like Ezeli was — who hopes to do what he can to help them recapture that championship glory.
Jones knows that because Ezeli is a restricted free agent, it’s possible he could be asked to help replace that other Vanderbilt big man if he departs.
“One Vanderbilt guy leaves, and I can just come in,” Jones said of the possibility. “It’s crazy, but you never know. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but we’ll see.”
Jones and second-round draft pick Patrick McCaw were introduced Friday as Warriors. The team hopes that its draft haul turns into a bonanza at a time when free agency could see numerous contributors to the Western Conference championship squad part ways.
For Jones, he’ll have to wait to make his impact after undergoing surgery to repair a pectoral muscle in which the tendon was torn. Wearing a sling, he said he was told that at most it would take him six months to recover, putting the start of the season for him in jeopardy.
The weightlifting injury might have allowed the athletic 7-footer to fall into the Warriors’ lap.
“I probably would choose other people because I’m hurt right now, so I don’t have an immediate impact,” Jones conceded, as he believed that he could have been drafted in the 20s range.
The Warriors wanted McCaw so much that they sent $2.4 million to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for his draft rights and then agreed to a guaranteed two-year deal with the 38th overall pick.
“It’s crazy,” McCaw said. “I mean, I didn’t know how much the Warriors really, really, really wanted me as a player. And to have that feeling, have guys that really have interest in me and really care about me as a player, to do that is something special. Me and my family felt like the Warriors was the best situation for me. I really felt like it was home.”
The guard out of UNLV is scheduled to make his professional debut at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas next month, displaying some of the versatility and defensive skills that made him desirable to the Warriors.
Warriors general manager Bob Myers said McCaw was a multidimensional wing with good size. The 6-foot-7 McCaw said he liked watching defensive-oriented players like San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard and Chicago’s Jimmy Butler.
“I take a lot of pride in my defense,” McCaw said. “It’s just something that I really focused in on, and I know defense translates into offense.
“I never feel like I’m as good as I can be, so I always as work as hard as I possibly can each time I’m in the gym.”