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Why the Golden State Warriors won the Omari Spellman trade

By Sean Rimar

HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 25 : Omari Spellman #6 of the Atlanta Hawks goes up for a dunk against the Houston Rockets on February 25, 2019 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 25 : Omari Spellman #6 of the Atlanta Hawks goes up for a dunk against the Houston Rockets on February 25, 2019 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Golden State Warriors won the Omari Spellman trade. Here’s why.

On July 8th, Shams Charania of The Athletic announced that the Warriors traded away Damian Jones and a second-round pick for Omari Spellman from the Atlanta Hawks.

Spellman had a successful college career in which he won the NCAA Championship with Villanova and was the 30th pick in the 2018 NBA draft. He is a 6-foot-9 big that struggled with his weight his rookie year. He will likely play the center position for the Warriors.

Due to his struggles with his weight, Spellman had a rocky first season. He spent a lot of time with the Hawks G-league team but still saw 46 games of action with the big club.

In his rookie year, Spellman averaged 5.9 points per game in only 17 minutes per game. He also chipped in 4.2 rebounds and 1 assist per game according to Basketball-Reference.

When the Warriors signed Willie Cauley-Stein early in free agency, Damian Jones quickly became expendable for the Warriors because both the bigs play the same role.

They run the floor, protect the rim and finish above the rim on offense. Unfortunately for Jones, he has been a lesser version of what WCS brings to the table. Spellman brings a completely new dimension to the Warriors. He will be an offensive-minded stretch 5.

Spellman was able to shoot 34% from three-point land on 2.8 attempts per game. That percentage doesn’t exactly put fear into opposing defenses but Spellman should be able to improve. In college, he shot 43% from 3 in his one year with Villanova.

Steve Kerr has shown the ability to utilize a shooting big effectively. Mo Speights and David West thrived as mid-range shooters for the Warriors within Kerr’s motion offense.

Ideally, Spellman can provide Steph and DLo some shooting and spacing in next season. Look for Spellman to possibly get spot minutes when the offense momentarily gets bogged down and needs extra spacing.

The Warriors now have a good center rotation with Looney, WCS and Spellman. All of them bring different talents to the team and can shine against specific matchups.

Next, the Warriors seem like they will be over the cap for the rest of the Steph, Klay and Draymond era. Warriors will have very limited options to add players to their roster over the next couple of years. This makes players on their cheap rookie contracts very valuable to the Warriors.

The Warriors now have Spellman under team control until the 2021-22 season. Comparatively, Damian Jones would have been a restricted free agent after next season.

The Warriors need to get Spellman on a good nutrition plan to keep his weight down. If this happens, Spellman can develop into a valuable rotation player for the Warriors over the next three seasons.

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Bob Myers has done a great job making creative moves with the deck he was given. Acquiring Spellman was a good under-the-radar move for the small price that the Warriors paid for him.

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