Warriors draft Festus Ezeli with 30th and final pick of first round

Warriors minority owner Jerry West said on Wednesday that one area where the team had to get better was in the toughness department. Well, it took a little while, but Golden State got around to it with their second pick.With the No. 30 overall pickthe last one in Round 1the Warriors selected Vanderbilts Festus Ezeli, a 6-foot-11, 255-pound center who is far more of a defender than an offensive player.Ezeli, 22, played four years for the Commodores, and he averaged 10.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 23.2 minutes per game. He exited Vanderbilt as the teams all-time leader in blocked shots.I will do whateverI have to do, Ezeli said on a conference call. I will run through a wall. Iwill work as hard as I can. Whatever they ask me to do I will try my best to doit.if they want me to be a tough guy, thats what Ill be.Ezeli shot 56 percent from the field for his career at Vanderbilt, but that number speaks more to how limited he is on offense rather than his efficiency.His story is a compelling one. Ezeli graduated from high school in Nigeria at the age of 14, and then moved the U.S. to live with his uncle.The Warriors had Ezeli in for a workout on June 11, when he went up against North Carolina center Tyler Zeller. Apparently, Ezeli held his own -- and then some that day."I played well at theworkout," Ezeli said. "They were open about their interest in me. They told me they liked meas a player and I was very coachable and that my best days were ahead of me. They wereexcited to have me there.The coaches, GM, we all got a long."