The Promise Express

DraftExpress hands out grades for the 2005 draft:

#9: Golden State: B

Ike Diogu, PF, Arizona State (#9)
Monta Ellis, PG, Lainier HS (#40)
Chris Taft, PF, Pitt (#42)

Although he probably won’t be an allstar, Diogu is an excellent pick for the Warriors for where they were drafting. He will bring them a lot of things that they are sorely missing right now, including scoring inside the post, toughness, work ethic, rebounding and a high character. We’ve been telling you for months and months about how underrated Diogu is, and the truth finally came out on draft night. Diogu was promised by the Warriors that he would not slip past them after he worked out for them a few days before the draft (DraftExpress were the only ones to report about this workout), but only if Channing Frye was not on the board. He was there, and unlike a few other promises we heard about, this one was actually kept. In the 2nd round the Warriors took Monta Ellis, a player who was ridiculously overhyped by most scouting services all year, but was destined for the 2nd round since the day he declared because of his attitude and lack of PG skills. Ellis reportedly refused to work out for a couple of teams drafting in the late first round, citing that he had a promise already from another team. He then allegedly came in hung over to the combines at the pre-draft camp and narrowly edged out Luke Schenscher to save himself from ending up as the worst athlete in Chicago. At the end of the day he saw his stock fall to the mid 2nd round, where the Warriors got great value for a guy they can stash in the D-League for the next year or two until he’s maybe ready to back up Baron Davis or take his game to Europe. Chris Taft is a guy who was projected as a lottery pick for most of the year, but absolutely killed his stock with his poor work ethic and by coming in out of shape and working out poorly for every single NBA team we spoke with. Maybe he’ll come in with some type of chip on his shoulder next season, but that’s pretty doubtful unless the NBDL can somehow wake him up from his coma.