OAKLAND -- The Warriors spent the Thursday night hoping for a chance to pounce on a player they liked in the NBA draft. That chance came in the second round.
And, like the 2016 draft, with the 38th overall pick.
Buying the pick from the Bulls, the Warriors wound up with Oregon’s Jordan Bell, a 6-foot-9 center/forward that as a junior in 2016-17 was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Bell possesses a wingspan a fraction shy of 7-feet and bears, by some accounts, similarities to Draymond Green inasmuch as there is a strong desire to defend and a deep reservoir of energy.
The Long Beach Poly product led the conference in field-goal percentage (63.6) while shooting almost exclusively in the paint. Bell was sixth among Pac-12 rebounders at 8.8 per game and 13th in steals at 1.3 per game.
Bell needed only three seasons became the Ducks all-time leader in blocks and during the NCAA Tournament became the first player since Hakeem Olajuwon (in 1985) to snag at least 12 rebounds in five consecutive tournament games.