Warriors Lottery Picks Looked Good in California Classic Loss

We got our first look at Golden State’s new draft picks today when the Warriors were defeated by the Heat by a score of 89-82 in the Warriors’ second summer league game.

As it always is with summer league, we are less concerned with wins and losses and more concerned with player development. The Warriors summer league roster is filled mostly with players that will not likely make the final roster.

With that said, Wednesday’s game was quite the success, as both the rookies had good first games with the team. 14th overall pick Moses Moody led the way for the Warriors with 19 points on 7/18 shooting from the field and 2/4 from three. He also had seven rebounds, with four of them offensive.

7th overall pick Jonathan Kuminga was effective as well, playing 25 minutes and scored 18 points and added three rebounds, two steals, and a block. He shot 7/14 from the field.

The other notable player from this game was Gary Payton II, who outside of Kuminga and Moody might have the best chance of making the roster. He was extremely effective in all facets of the game in small doses last year, and he easily had the best all around game out of anyone on the Warriors, scoring 13 points while adding eight rebounds, four assists, and four steals.

The Warriors did struggle with turnovers, as Kuminga turned it over six times along with three from Payton and one from Moody. The team as a whole finished with 18 turnovers. Obviously, this is a summer league game, but the turnovers will be interesting to watch, especially in Kuminga’s case. We all know how talented he is, but this summer league is a great chance for the Warriors to find out how NBA-ready he actually is.

The Warriors next game comes on August 9th against the Magic in their first Vegas summer league game, as the previous two games had both been played at Golden 1 Center. The Warriors will continue to use these games to see what they have with their two draftees as well as look for hidden talent.