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crzymdups
Posts: 52018
Alba Posts: 0
Joined: 5/1/2004
Member: #671
USA
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yeah, the Warrick/Granger piece was very interesting. Their write-up made it seem much less one-sided than the Chad Ford write-up. Warrick apparently held his own and was able to disrupt Granger's shot in a one on one drill. But one on one and two on two aren't five on five. I'd still rather get Warrick than Granger, but I'd be happy with either.
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- Hakim Warrick vs. Danny Granger: While the Fernandez and Ilyasova workouts were going on at Moody Bible, a large chunk of NBA executives made the short trek over to the Lake Shore Athletic club to take in a highly competitive workout between two potential lottery prospects in Danny Granger and Hakim Warrick. The two promising forwards were joined by Jay Straight from Wyoming and Paul Marigney from St. Mary's. The workout started off with a variety of different shooting drills in which Granger looked extremely impressive, showing off a much better three-point shot than you may have expected. At one point, he hit 12 NBA threes in a row, doing it with a high and quick release and good elevation on his shot. Granger has a super soft touch off the glass which he uses to bank shot after shot from the mid-range area. The whole experience looked quite effortless for the very smooth Granger. Warrick, on the other hand, shot the ball pretty well considering that this is considered one of his biggest weaknesses at the moment. With that said, he has odd mechanics, particularly his inconsistent release point, wasted motion, and the fact that he kicks his leg out while releasing his shot. Compared with Granger, Warrick's jump shot looks very violent and not very natural. He still did a decent job here in the shooting drills.
After the drills, the players went into a one-on-one matchup where the are asked to start from the opposite three-point line and take the ball full speed at his opponent on the way to the basket. Warrick looked outstanding in this drill, thanks to his superb athletic ability and what appeared to be a slightly improved handle. In one sequence, he took the ball at Granger at full speed, and then pulled up with a sharp crossover before elevating for a sweet mid-range shot. Any player would have a tough time keeping up with Warrick's speed and tenacity, and Granger is no exception here. We started to wonder about Granger's lateral quickness at this point, as he was beaten numerous times off the dribble and had a very tough time staying in front of his man. On the other end, Granger seemed to settle a bit too much for pull-up jump shots, which he did not hit at anywhere close to as good of a rate as he did in the one-on-zero drills. He looked a bit soft and not as focused here as he did previously in the workout, letting Warrick get into his head a bit, and being noticeably bothered by his superb length.
Two-on-two drills ensued and Granger regained his focus. He started to pull ahead of Warrick in the individual matchup between them again. Granger received the ball closer to the basket this time and used his footwork and strength to back down Warrick a bit and showed off a very nice turnaround jump shot in the process. Granger caught fire for a while and barely missed once again from almost anywhere on the court. Granger may not yet adequate at creating his own shot, and is better when others get him the ball in a good position to score. Warrick really struggled putting the ball on the floor from static positions and was forced into settling for numerous outside shots, which is clearly not his game. That, combined with his weak ballhandling skills, once again let Granger establish superiority.
All in all, this was definitely the most competitive and insightful workout we've seen so far this week, with a lot to be learned about both players' strengths and weaknesses. We think this matchup ended up as a draw, but every NBA team in attendance will draw their own conclusions and will decide which prospect better suits their needs.
It should be noted that Paul Marigney was a pleasant surprise thanks to his outstanding athletic ability. He is quick and explosive and showed a pretty nice touch from outside as well. He would be a great prospect if he was 6-foot-6 rather than 6-foot-3, but due to his lack of height he will have to make the transition to the point if he has any NBA aspirations. This workout did not give us much of an idea about how far along he is in that aspect of his game.
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