Kawakami: Warriors' Rookie Remains A Mystery

He's livelier than Patrick O'Bryant. He's cannier than Ike Diogu. And he's probably faster than Andris Biedrins.

Beyond that, Brandan Wright, who missed summer league because of a hip injury, is a blank.
Until there is actual basketball being played and Wright's rookie season with the Warriors begins, Wright will continue to be a live-wired 6-foot-9 blank.

Except: He's probably already better than O'Bryant and Diogu, the double-duds who preceded Wright as Warriors rookie big-man hopes; and Wright gets up and down the court better than Biedrins, a young big man who has flourished.

That's all we know about Wright after a few weeks of early work at the Warriors' practice facility, with another month of pre-training camp left.

I think that's all Warriors fans wanted and needed to know about Wright for now. He's not as limited as 2005 first-round pick Diogu, who was dumped last year; and he's not as passive as 2006 first-round pick O'Bryant, who is still around but nearly forgotten.

"(Wright)'s quiet, but the more you get to know him, he opens up, like all young guys," assistant coach Stephen Silas said last week. "But he's ready. You can see he has a little bit of an edge to him."

An edge. I picked that up in a recent talk with Wright, too. He'll need it if he's going to turn into the Warriors' first top-tier power forward since Chris Webber.

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source : mercurynews.com