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OAKLAND — During last year’s draft, the Warriors bought into the second round and snagged Patrick McCaw with the 38th pick, which worked out famously for them.
This year, they’re hoping the same blueprint brings the same success. On Thursday night, the Warriors purchased that exact same 38th overall pick from the Chicago Bulls and took Oregon forward Jordan Bell.
“We’re thrilled,” Bob Myers said. “I actually was not optimistic we would be able to get him, but it came to fruition.”
To get the selection, the Warriors sent $3.5 million to Chicago, right around the limit the NBA will allow for such a transaction. Joe Lacob, again, was willing to shell out the cash. Last year, he spent $2.4 million to buy the pick to secure McCaw, who played an immediate and important role this past season.
This upcoming season, the Warriors hope Bell can do the same. He was a three-year contributor at Oregon, arriving from his hometown of Long Beach in 2014 as an immediate 20-minute per night, double-double threat.
“I’m lucky to work with a great owner who is willing to spend,” Bob Myers said. “Not a lot of people allow their front office to pursue things like this, especially for that kind of money.”
Listed at 6-foot-9, Bell is a bit short for a traditional NBA big man, especially since, in Steve Kerr’s system, he’s likely to only play the center spot for the Warriors.
But what he lacks in height he makes up for with NBA-level strength and athleticism. Rebounding is one of his specialities. Bell averaged 10.3 rebounds as a freshman, 10.3 as a sophomore and 12.2 this past season, as a junior.
He was one of the country’s best offensive rebounders, grabbing 12.4 percent of available offensive boards this past season, which is a massive number.
Bell was also a prolific shot-blocker at Oregon — the program’s all-time leader in the category — tallying up 233 swats in his three seasons, including a 2.2 per game number this past year, when he won the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
But Bell didn’t just win the award because he was a brute who could block shots. He’s known as a versatile big, able to slide well laterally on the perimeter and switch onto guards when needed. Oregon had a stingy defensive rating of 89.0 with him on the floor last season.
“We love his ability to defend,” Myers said. “He can probably defend most positions and in the NBA, that’s huge.”
So how did this potentially impactful big man, who fits the ideal defensive mold for today’s game, fall into the early second round?
It’s primarily because of his height and limited offensive game. Bell wasn’t a shooter in college. He only took 16 threes in his three seasons at Oregon and only made three, which, according to Draft Express, were the only three shots he made in his entire career outside of 17 feet.
Bell also isn’t much of a shot-creator for himself or others, which is probably what most differentiates him from Draymond Green, another versatile defensive minded big man the Warriors snatched in the second round.
Most of Bell’s hoops were assisted at Oregon and he only averaged 1.5 assists per game in his career. Green, meanwhile, was up near four assists per game at Michigan State and that’s only spiked in the pros.
“(Bell) scores mostly off the glass and on drop-offs and lobs, things like that,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said. “But he can really get off the floor and plays his tail off.”
Bilas also mentioned another Bell issue in college: Turnovers. Despite rarely handling or passing the ball out top, he turned it over nearly two times per game last season. That primarily came on the interior on fumbled passes or mishandled post-ups.
“Coughs the ball up a lot when he gets it inside,” Bilas said. “But he gets you extra possessions with his rebounding and his ability to protect the rim.”
The Warriors have no expectations that Bell will have anywhere near the impact of Draymond Green, who they snatched 35th overall back in 2012. But there’s a reasonable hope that he’ll provide something similar to McCaw, last year’s 38th overall selection.
McCaw popped in and out of the lineup all season, providing mini contributions when given the opportunity and showing enough in the playoffs, including the closeout game in The Finals, where Steve Kerr is already talking about him as a nightly rotation piece next season.
Bell should have an opportunity to grab some minutes at that center spot, if he impresses. Zaza Pachulia, David West and JaVale McGee are all free agents. A couple of them may be back, but likely not all three.
Damian Jones, last year’s first-rounder, has flashed some promise. But Bell would seem to have a quicker, more polished defensive game than Jones and a window for some minutes.
But we’ll know more the first time he steps on the court as a Warrior, which is expected to come at Summer League next month in Las Vegas, where McCaw began turning eyes last year.
Bell will be introduced to the Bay Area media in Oakland on Friday afternoon. He will wear No. 2 for the Warriors.
