You didn’t really expect Bob Myers and the Warriors to sit out the 2017 draft, did you? Golden State began Thursday with no picks, and they’ll end it with an early-second round selection of a player who some thought could go in the first.
The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Warriors acquired Oregon big man Jordan Bell, who was drafted by the Bulls with the 38th overall pick. The 6-foot-8 Bell played three seasons with the Ducks and averaged 10.9 points and 8.8 rebounds last season on a Final Four squad.
Golden State will acquire Oregon's Jordan Bell in a trade, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 23, 2017
Like they did with Patrick McCaw last season (also at the 38th overall selection), the Warriors reportedly outright bought the pick from the Bulls, who had quite the active draft night. According to Bay Area News Group’s Marcus Thompson, Bell cost the Dubs a pretty penny.
Warriors paid $3.5 million for the rights to No. 38 pick Jordan Bell
— Marcus Thompson (@ThompsonScribe) June 23, 2017
The pick appears to be somewhat of a steal for Golden State, who certainly can use the frontcourt help with Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee and David West all set to test free agency. Bell was rated #27 on NBADraft.net’s big board, and was the 35th-best prospect in this class according to DraftExpress.
He was named the Pac-12’s Defensive Player of the Year this past season after averaging 2.2 blocks per game. He was a monster on the defensive end all three years with the Ducks, and had 233 career blocks in just 105 games. Bell doesn’t have much of a 3-point game, with just three makes in his career at Oregon, but his 61-percent career field goal percentage shows impressive efficiency.