NBA Draft 2012: Golden State Warriors Look to Keep Momentum Going

The Golden State Warriors look to finally have things going their way.  They pulled the tank job to tie for the seventh worst regular season record, won the coin toss with the Toronto Raptors and lucked out in to keeping their seventh pick.

So, now what do the Warriors do with the seventh pick and the three others (Nos. 30, 35 and 52) they have in the 2012 NBA Draft?

First of all, the Warriors will be leaving their pre-draft workouts in Oakland to attend the four-day pre-draft combine in Chicago.  Warriors brass and GM Bob Myers will have a chance to interview players and hold workouts.  This will also be a good chance to feel out what they can obtain if they decide to package some of their picks.

The Warriors' most gaping hole in its current lineup is the small forward position.  The Warriors need to focus on this position in the draft, but the only true top talent at SF is slated to be taken between second and fourth in the draft, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.

Possible picks the Warriors are looking at are SF Harrison Barnes, who underperformed at North Carolina, Ohio State PF Jared Sullinger, who would have been the first pick in the 2011 draft had he come out and Baylor's SF/PF Perry Jones III. 

But that would be too easy, don’t you think? 

Joe Lacob and Peter Guber bought this team to turn it into something similar to the Lakers and the Celtics, a team that Lacob was part owner before acquiring interest in the Warriors. Jerry West, who is the master at constructing teams, is also on board.

So far, they traded away the Warriors' most recognizable face in Monta Ellis, so they could play in a normal system with legitimate center Andrew Bogut. 

They have also pledged their allegiance to moving to a state-of-the-art waterfront address at Piers 30 and 32 in San Francisco.

Besides Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, the Warriors will need a recognizable face to sell season tickets when they move into that arena for the 2017-18 season.  With that in mind, the Warriors will try to use the seventh and 30th pick to move up to the top four to select Kidd-Gilcrhist, Florida SG Bradley Beal or Kansas PF Thomas Robinson. 

The more likely possibility is to seek the answer by acquiring a veteran small forward via trade.  The Warriors have been flirting with Andre Iguodala for years.  If they trade their seventh pick, either Andris Biedrins or Richard Jefferson (the top-heavy contracts), and the 35th pick to the Sixers, the Warriors would have the small forward they crave.  The Sixers could then amnesty Biedrins or Jefferson and build with the acquired picks.

If Iguodala is unattainable, the Hawks’ Josh Smith, the Pacers’ Danny Granger, the Grizzlies’ Rudy Gay or the Blazers’ Nicolas Batum are other possibilities.  If the Warriors can unload either of their top-heavy contracts and get a proven small forward in return, they have done their job.

The Warriors finally have a plan, and they have the right people at the top to execute it.