The Warriors basically got a free lottery pick when they signed Kelenna Azubuike from the D-League.

Azubuike is:

Number 1 among Rookies in 3pt FG% at 48.6%(3rd in the NBA behind only Jason Kapono and Steve Nash)

Number 4 among Rookies in Points per game at 9.3 and plays fewer minutes and has a higher overall FG% than those ahead of him.

Number 5 among Rookies in Efficiency

Number 7 among Rookies in combined points/rebounds/assists

Number 7 among Rookies in Steals per Game

Number 16 in FT% at 79%

How many Lottery players are there again???

The most points scored in a game by a rookie this season belongs to Adam Morrison with 30... second place is a tie: Kelenna Azubuike and Brandon Roy both have a 28 point game.


How is his defense? Only 4 Warriors have a positive Net Production rating from 82games.com: Harrington at +7.4, Davis at +4.7 and Azubuike at +2.0, and Powell at +1.7 meaning that they score more points than they give up.

Azubuike is outperforming the majority of the players taken by the lottery picks this season... and the Warriors got him for minimum salary. Great Deal!!

He rebounds great for a SG, shoots a good overall percentage and is one of the best 3pt shooters in the league, isn't foul or turnover prone, is super athletic and has a fairly high Bball IQ... he doesn't make a lot of rookie mistakes.

The numbers say that he is for the most part playing better than the players that are playing in front of him right now.... I hope Nelly sees fit to increase his minutes......

AzubuikeFan wrote:The Warriors basically got a free lottery pick when they signed Kelenna Azubuike from the D-League.

Yep. I like everything I've seen from him... well, almost. I don't consider him a good defender, no matter what the stats say. Keep in mind he usually plays against the second unit of opposing teams...

The only problem is that he's signed to a minimun deal til the end of the season... and the better he plays, the better offers he'll get to sign elsewhere this offseason. Then again, who wouldda knew that he was going to be able to stick with the team for the whole season?

i agree, offensively this guy is like a lottery pick, but can he handle the rigors that is the nba. the mental aspect. this is the type of stuff that separates men from boys. so far i like what i see in him, i'd like to get him more minutes.

If you give him the minutes, he'll perform. You saw what he could do in big time minutes when the trade happened. The Warriors were down to only 7 bodies, 6 overall. Azubuike is scary offensively, that's a proven fact because he's shown us every night he plays more than Nellie usually gives him now.

Basically, he was a huge NBADL steal. I have a hard time wondering why no one tried picking him up.

No doubt. Kid's a stud. Starter-material, in my opinion. I just hope we can keep him as a backup SG (yeah right).

Yet another stellar move by Chris Mullin.

ChronicallyInclined wrote:i agree, offensively this guy is like a lottery pick, but can he handle the rigors that is the nba. the mental aspect. this is the type of stuff that separates men from boys. so far i like what i see in him, i'd like to get him more minutes.

I was surprised he didn't get some time last night. The Ws seemed like they were wearing down at the end and could have used an infusion of energy. I wish Nelson used his bench depth more.

carlgo wrote:

ChronicallyInclined wrote:i agree, offensively this guy is like a lottery pick, but can he handle the rigors that is the nba. the mental aspect. this is the type of stuff that separates men from boys. so far i like what i see in him, i'd like to get him more minutes.

I was surprised he didn't get some time last night. The Ws seemed like they were wearing down at the end and could have used an infusion of energy. I wish Nelson used his bench depth more.

I wasn't expecting Azubuike to play last night.....

If you will notice... Nelly is playing him every other game for 16-18 minutes instead of playing him every night for 8 mins or so and dragging his per game stats down. I'm sure Kelenna is happier with that arrangement than the alternative.