If you're looking to follow the progress of Chris Taft's professional career next season, you might be able to find him in a minor-league city.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Chris Taft was drafted by the Golden State Warriors with the 42nd pick in Tuesday's NBA draft. Click photo for larger image. --> Columnist Ron Cook: Cook: It's not time to give up on Taft

Under the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement, which is awaiting ratification from the NBA board of governors and the NBA players' association, NBA players with less than two years experience can be loaned to the NBDL, the NBA's developmental league.

In years past, NBDL players were free agents and eligible to sign with any NBA team. Now, if the agreement is ratified, players can earn an NBA contract and play in the minor leagues.

Taft, the former Pitt power forward who was taken with the 42nd overall pick by the Golden State Warriors in Tuesday night's draft, is a prime candidate to be one of those developmental players.

Once considered a lottery pick by many, and a top-five selection by some, it is now apparent he and his management team made a terrible mistake in assessing his readiness to play in the NBA.

"We were surprised he was there," Golden State president Chris Mullin told Bay Area reporters.

"We saw another opportunity to get bigger and tougher. He has great size and a pretty good feel for the game. There is a lot of room for him to grow."

Taft could not be reached for comment yesterday, but he did speak with Bay Area reporters Tuesday night and expressed a strong desire to rebuild his soiled reputation.

"I'm so motivated, it's unbelievable," he said. "People haven't gotten a glimpse of the real Chris Taft yet. I am ready to show everyone what I can do."

His first opportunity to impress is in the NBA summer league, which runs from July 8-15. It will be easier to determine after the five-game summer league schedule if Taft is a legitimate candidate to make the Warriors roster next season.

It is more than likely that Taft, who is 20, will spend one year or more in the NBDL refining his skills.

He dropped like a rock in the draft because he was badly outplayed by his peers in several workouts leading up to the draft, including Arizona State's Ike Diogu, the Warriors' first-round selection (9th overall), in a workout before Golden State scouts a few weeks ago.

The pending collective bargaining agreement allows for rosters to be expanded from 12 players to 15 and eliminates the injured list, where rookies and other young players found themselves in years past.

Taft is not being counted on for major contributions next season. Golden State is set with starting forwards Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy and center Adonal Foyle. Diogu will take another of the forward positions as will Zarko Cabarkapa, a 6-11 third-year pro from Serbia-Montenegro who was the first forward off the bench last season.

Other forwards or centers on the roster include Andris Bierdens, Nikolosz Tskitishvili and Rodney White. Tskitishvili and White are not locks to be on the team next season. The Warriors have to decide whether to exercise a team option on White, and Tskitishvili is a restricted free agent.

After the Warriors make decisions on those two players, Taft's future with the team could be clearer.