Warriors Rumors: Draft & Stash Prospects ‘Hurt’ By Coach Leaving

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Golden State Warriors rookie Gui Santos handles the ball during the summer game against the New York Knicks.

Few players can make as much of an impression as Golden State Warriors director Gui Santos on his summer league debut. The Brazilian emerged from relative obscurity to land the club in 55th place overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, then quickly went bananas in his first game on July 2.

In a contest that also featured a fourth overall pick of Keegan Murray as the Kings forward, there were many instances where Santos looked like the best player on the pitch. In 25 minutes of action, he scored 23 points in a 7/13 shot while adding six more, three and one block.

Though the 20-year-old failed to use that magic again in subsequent appearances, the Dub Nation was nonetheless enraged by what they saw from the native Brasilia.

However, there are still a lot of questions regarding his timeline to becoming a true contributor at the NBA level. And one league executive believes his transition to the US pro will be more difficult than it has been due to the recent departure of the Golden State coaching staff.

GM: Santos could benefit from Barbosa’s presence

When asked by Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney about when fans might see some fireworks from Santos – or even him locking up an end bench spot – an Eastern Conference GM used the Bruno line The infamous Caboclo.

The GM said: “He has two years left. “The joke is always, he has two years to go and that could be the case with him. But he’s only 20 years old, so he could be ready for the NBA in two years or they’ll move on.”

However, the moderator still thinks Santos has a chance to catch up.

“He can go there. He’s fun to watch but he’s like a lot of young players from Brazil, very raw,” insisted GM. “He’s not a crazy athlete and he has good ball-handling instincts but he needs senior experience.”

Unfortunately, the one person perhaps best suited to ease Santos’ transition to the Association has just left the Warriors for a new gig about 90 miles up I-80.

“Leandro Barbosa leaving that employee would hurt him,” he said. “I doubt Leandro will still help the boy, but it’s a perfect connection to have on that team, a good line from team to player. But they will find a way to bring him along, they can be the best in the league when it comes to attention to detail and making sure they get what they can from their assets. “

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In the end, he just needed an NBA game and a little luck

Even if foreign players are brought to a gentle landing with a countryman or other person they are familiar with, that is not a complete guarantee that they will succeed. In the end, they are good enough to grow or not.

Case in point: former No 5 picks Dante Exum.

After Aussie was selected by the Jazz in 2014, the team finally made the move to get Joe Ingles – Exum’s childhood hero and another Down Under rugby player – as babysitter. for him. However, when all was said and done, it was Ingles who kept the ball better, and with a substantial profit at the time.

Exum (a potential client himself was permanently absent for two years), never developing a jump or squeezing his loose grip to make himself a viable player. He also fell prey to a series of serious injuries, which hampered his ability to find stability as a young professional player.

So, after six seasons in the league with multiple teams, he went overseas, finishing his NBA career at just 26 years old with a career average of 5.7 PPG and a goal-scoring rate. efficiency in the south is 50.

Whether Santos can avoid following a similar path remains to be seen. But if he can’t keep up with the NBA athletes or bad luck begs him somehow, it doesn’t matter if Barbosa is there or not. In other words, look at what happened to Caboclo over the years.

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