With the Golden State Warriors’ title defense over and the NBA draft lottery set, it’s officially time to look ahead to the draft. Following the draft lottery on Monday, and the San Antonio Spurs landing the No. 1 overall pick and presumably top prospect Victor Wembayama, mock drafts are beginning to pour in.
While the Warriors likely won’t make noise at the top of the draft with a top pick, they will have the chance to add a potential contributor with the No. 19 overall selection.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic recently dropped his post-lottery mock draft with the Warriors landing some help on the wing. At No. 19, Vecenie penned Indiana’s Jalen Hood-Schifino to the Warriors. According to Vecenie, the 20-year-old wing is a “strong on ball defender” with the ability to handle the ball.
Via The Athletic:
Hood-Schifino is a well-rounded, young prospect who won the Big Ten’s Rookie of the Year award this past season, carrying the Indiana perimeter while averaging 13 points, four rebounds and four assists. He’s also a very strong on-ball defender with real size for a ballhandler at 6-6. He’s shown great unselfishness and comfort in ball screens, with a penchant for knocking down midrange jumpers. However, he’s not a particularly adept shooter off the catch yet and will need some fine-tuning in that regard. If he can improve that and some decision-making questions, Hood-Schifino could get on the court a touch earlier than most one-and-dones. But the shooting needs to improve, as he made just 33.3 percent from 3.
Read Vecenie’s full mock draft via The Athletic here.
In his freshman season under Mike Woodson at Assembly Hall, Hood-Schifino averaged 13.5 points on 41.7% shooting from the field to go along with 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per contest.
The Warriors will have until June 22 to prepare and scourt for the 2023 edition of the draft.
This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
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