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Reading the tea leaves on the future of the Warriors’ roster, which underwent a difficult overhaul as contributors like Gary Payton II, Damion Lee, Nemanja Bjelica and Otto Porter Jr. all bolted for bigger paydays elsewhere in the NBA, one thing should be encouraging: The Warriors’ will get to continue to move forward with their development system, as the team will be keeping not only first-round pick Patrick Baldwin Jr. but also second-rounder Ryan Rollins.
There was some question about what the future would hold for Rollins, who was chosen by the Warriors out of Toledo with the 44th pick on draft night, but suffered a fractured foot on Wednesday and will miss all of Summer League. But Golden State did spend $2 million during the draft to move from No. 51 to 44th, because the team was afraid Rollins would not be on the board when it picked.
The Warriors still intend to keep Rollins on a multi-year contract, even with the injury. Any doubt about that was erased by the contract the Dubs gave to guard Donte DiVincenzo, which was not for the full taxpayer midlevel exception, worth about $6.4 million, but, rather, started at $4.5 million, leaving the Warriors with nearly $2 million to work out a deal for Rollins.
As Anthony Slater of The Athletic wrote, “They still have plans on rostering second-round pick Ryan Rollins, a combo guard, and need a chunk of that mid-level to sign him to a multi-year deal.”
Ryan Rollins Was an All-MAC Guard Last Year
Rollins is a 6-foot-4 combo guard who averaged 18.9 points as a sophomore at Toledo, where he also notched 6.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists. He shot 46.8% from the field but only 31.1% from the 3-point line, which will surely be a point of emphasis once he beings to work with the Warriors.
Rollins was the MAC Rookie of the Year as a freshman and was an all-conference selection as a sophomore. He earned a reputation entering the draft as a solid athlete with good defensive instincts (as well as a massive 6-foot-10 wingspan) who moves well off the ball, which checks three of the boxes the Warriors were looking for in picking players on draft night. He must improve his outside shot and could struggle because he is not much of a pure playmaker but is too short to be a point guard.
Rollins Says He Is a Steal
The Warriors pressed upwards to draft Rollins, and were heaped with praise by none other than well-known ESPN talker Dick Vitale, who tweeted he thought coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors got, “a slam-dunk sleeper” when they selected Rollins.
And Rollins, to no one’s surprised, tended to agree with that sentiment.
“Yeah, I believe so, too,” Rollins said, when he was asked about being a steal of a pick in the second round. “Me and Dick think alike a little bit … I was pretty underrated coming from a mid-major and whatnot. Not everybody got to see me still through this process, but I think I’m one of the better players in this draft.”
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