The Warriors' owner is excited about the future with Lendeborg.
Yaxel Lendeborg is the draft pick of the future for the Golden State Warriors and with that selection at 11th-overall comes a sign of hope for the future of NBA basketball in the Bay.
A talented and experienced forward with a championship pedigree from his time with the Michigan Wolverines, Lendeborg presents an optimistic look ahead for a Golden State team that has been feeling the pressure to get back to championship contention quickly.
Lendeborg has received glowing praise from his new Warriors teammates as well as general manager Mike Dunleavy, and now Warriors owner Joe Lacob has weighed in on Lendeborg and given his own optimistic review of his newest player.
Lacob Speaks
“We got a great player. We are so excited about it," Lacob said to the media. "I’m very fired up. It couldn’t have gone any better for us. We got the guy we were looking to get. I think he’s a game changer. Jimmy is going to love playing with him. I think this guy is just fantastic."
Lacob did make a stir on draft night when a live television broadcast caught what seemed like an argument between Dunleavy and Lacob about the Lendeborg pick and some have speculated that Lacob may have been pushing to select another player, like Aday Mara or Nate Ament.
Dunleavy brushed off the argument with a joke about the best golf courses in the Bay Area when he was asked about it and Lacob may have lamp shaded the argument himself with some additional comments that he made during his own media availability.
Why the Draft is "Hard"
Lacob expanded on the fact that the draft is "hard" and with how much talent was available in this draft and the fact that the rest of the league is also vying for talent in a draft adds to that difficulty.
He didn't expand further on what other difficulty there was in the draft process, but he continued to praise Lendeborg and express excitement for the future with Lendeborg in it.
Lendeborg will have a heavy placed upon him with the amount of responsibility he'll have to be the future of a franchise as illustrious as the Warriors are, especially in recent years, and he does look like he's up to the task.
Next season will be a critical one for the Warriors as they look to adjust course and make themselves competitive again as the Western Conference around them also rapidly improves and if they want to prove themselves as contenders, Lendeborg will have to be a big piece of that and at least publicly, Lacob thinks he will be.
