From: terry@garfield.Stanford.EDU (Terry Wong)
Subject: Warriors sign #1 pick
Keywords: Warriors
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 07:13:11 GMT

The Warriors today (Oct. 8th) on the eve of the opening of their
92/93 training camp, announced the signing of their 92 first
round draft pick (24th overall), Latrell Sprewell.  
Sprewell (6'5", 190 lbs) was a swingman
at Alabama where he averaged 17.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, and 2.1 apg in his senior
year.  He has a rep as a defensive specialist and a 3 point shooter.
He didn't really score much until his senior year and the Warriors figure
he has a big upside.  Nelson was extremely impressed by Sprewell's performance
in the Warriors' summer league games.

He was signed to a 4 year deal, details of which were not announced.

The Warriors also announced that they were relinquishing the rights to
Shaun Vandiver, their 1st round draft pick (25th overall) in 91.  Vandiver
was the third Warriors 1st round pick that year.   Chris Gatling (16th 
overall) and Victor Alexander (17th overall) were also selected by the Warriors
in the 91 draft.  Vandiver played in Spain during the last season.
The Warriors could have kept his rights for 1 more year, but chose not to,
after Vandiver played extremely poorly in the Warriors summer league.
After seeing him upclose this summer, Nellie not only chose not to invite
him to training camp -- he has given up on him altogether.  

Was this pick a mistake by the Warriors?  It's hard to say, since nobody
of the players selected after Vandiver, 
outside of Mike Iuzzolini and Donald Hodge (both 2nd round Mav picks), have
shown much in the NBA.  It's pretty slim pickings when you get near the
end of the 1st round (except this year) and the Warriors took a gamble on
someone who could fill their center hole.  They knew Vandiver had
chronic knee problems that prevents him from jumping more than a couple of
inches off the ground, but took a chance that did not pay off.  

The Warriors open training camp tommorrow with 18 players in camp.
The following 12 players have guaranteed contracts:
Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway, Billy Owens, Sarunas Marciulionis,
Chris Gatling, Victor Alexander, Tyrone Hill, Jeff Grayer,
Alton Lister, Latrell Sprewell, Byron Houston, and Tom Tolbert.

Jud Buechler is a restricted free agent, so they can resign him without
violating the salary cap.  His performance in camp will determine whether
he stays.

Of course, Marciulionis will miss all of training camp and the first month of
the season so this leaves an opening for Buechler on the 12 man roster.

Of the remaining 5 players, one is 2 round pick, center Matt Fish.
The other 4 are free agent guards.  Of these 4, Keith Jennings, a 5' 7"
point guard who played in Europe last year, has the best shot at sticking.

The Warriors have also mentioned that they are going to look at using
Paul Pressey, their new assistant coach, as a temporary roster fill-in
for Marciulionis.  Pressey finished up an illustrious NBA career last
year with the Spurs.  His last season was an injury plagued one in
which he played in 56 games, in which he averaged about 14 minutes per game
and 3 ppg and 3 apg.  Pressey had his best years under Nelson at Milwaukee
and has always been one of Nelson's favorites.

Of the 12 guaranteed contracts, only Tolbert is in danger of being released.
However, anyone who replaces him will really have to prove themselves in camp
in order for the Warriors to eat another contract.  The Warriors will be
already eating Jim Petersen's million dollar plus contract for the next
3 seasons.

					terry@garfield.Stanford.EDU
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro