A second-year player out of Villanova, Golden State Warriors big man Omari Spellman knows about the comparisons to former Warrior Marreese Speights.
With Spellman in his first year with Golden State, he respects Speights, but he’s focused on making his own way in the NBA. Spellman talked about how he’s working to fulfill his own path to success with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Logan Murdock.
“Mo is a great player. No disrespect to Mo Speights at all,” he continued. “But if I can, I want to be better than Mo Speights. And I’m pretty sure he would tell me the same thing. I’m pretty sure he would tell me the same thing like ‘bro, you don’t want to be me. Your goal should be to be better than me.’ So I don’t want to be Mo Speights.”
Spellman, 22, has been compared to Speights because they are of similar build, but they also have similar play styles.
Speights could knock down open jumpers, and Spellman can, too. Speights was also a solid rebounder, as he averaged 4.1 rebounds for his career. He was a key player for the Warriors during their 2015 championship season. During the regular season, he scored a career-high 10.4 points per game on 49.2% shooting from the field. Speights also grabbed 4.3 rebounds a game.
During the NBA Finals that season, Speights played three games and totaled nine points. His performance in Game 1 was his best, as he scored eight points and shot 50% from the field.
This season, Spellman has been one of the Warriors’ best young players. He’s averaging career-highs in points per game (7.4) and rebounds (5.5). He’s also done well grabbing offensive rebounds. Spellman ranks third in offensive rebound percentage (14.9%), according to Basketball Reference.
With Spellman being a quality player off the bench, he has a chance to continue being key for the Warriors during this transitional season.
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