With the cap spike turning funny money into the NBA's chief currency, the Golden State Warriors found one hell of a way to spend $2.4 million.
They used it to
buy the Milwaukee Bucks' second-round pick back in June and then turned it into Patrick McCaw—who has not only made an irrefutable case for rotation minutes, but who has also shown the potential to be something more than that.
McCaw is tearing it up statistically, as Mike Schmitz of Draft Express illustrated:
And he's doing it conspicuously, hitting game-tying triples at the end of regulation and game-winning floaters in overtime...in the same contest. He did that to the Denver Nuggets on Oct. 14, and head coach Steve Kerr's reaction was that of a man certain he'd already gotten away with too much luck in his coaching life but who now seems to be getting away with even more:
McCaw's game looks like it was created in a lab with the eventual decline and departure, respectively, of
Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston in mind: He's all smarts, ranginess and craft.
Still just 20, the UNLV product is a ball-handling guard with phenomenal hands and a 6'10"
wingspan. His court sense is uncommonly advanced, he's a ball-hawking steal magnet who made the Mountain West All-Defensive Team last year, and he's taking over games on offense now.
Getting a rotation player in the second round is hard. Getting one who can contribute immediately is almost impossible.
Getting
more than that when you're already a 73-win monster that added an MVP over the summer is...well, it's stupid and unfair and ridiculous and absolutely award-worthy—that's what it is.
