ED REINKE / Associated Press

ED REINKE / Associated Press

I know it’s early. The Warriors still have 56 games to play. Andris Biedrins could return and lead a dramatic turnaround of a season that has gone even worse than the most pessimistic predicted.

But I think it’s about time to come to grips with the reality of this season. Even if the Warriors start playing better when Biedrins returns, even if they manage to play .500 basketball the rest of the way, they’d still finish with 32 or 33 wins. So, maybe it’s time to start looking forward to the promise of better things.

Maybe it’s time to start looking forward to the NBA draft.

With a record of 7-19, Golden State is in line to pick fourth in the 2010 NBA Draft. But if they could somehow move their way up to that top pick … Kentucky freshman guard John Wall would be there waiting for them.

Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times wrote the following about Wall:

A furious debate is already under way … as to who the No. 2 pick will be. Forget No. 1. That’s locked up (by Kentucky freshman guard John Wall). … Imagine Kobe Bryant as a point guard at 17.

“I was sitting there with (a West GM),” said another Western team official of last week’s Kentucky win over Connecticut in New York. “After five minutes, we just looked at each other and started laughing.

“If New Orleans has the top pick, they would take John Wall, even with Chris Paul. That’s how good Wall is. You would just take him and then work it out later.”

Wall is truly a spectacular player. If you haven’t had a chance to watch him play yet, check those TV listings and sit down for a couple hours the next time Kentucky is playing. Wall is one of those players you watch and just know he’s going to be very, very special.

It doesn’t matter that the Warriors already have a logjam of talented small guards (Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis, C.J. Watson). Wall is good enough that, as was illustrated in the between-general-managers conversation that Heisler wrote about, you draft him no matter who else is on your team’s roster. Would you pass up on Chris Paul because you have Stephen Curry or Monta Ellis? No. So you wouldn’t think twice before picking Wall.

Wall is leading the way for Kentucky, which is ranked No. 3 in the country, averaging 18.1 points, 7.1 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 2.8 steals and shooting 54 percent from the field, 78 percent from the free-throw line and 37 percent from distance.

He’s a franchise changer.

Dare to dream, Warriors fans.

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