So, they got the 5, 10 pick this year, supposedly deep draft (see 2014 draft hype vs 2015 sleeper draft). Their draft history since Cousins has been absolute TRASH. The Kings will have about 35 million in cap space, and a good chunk of Toronto's pieces are becoming Unrestricted free agents. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy an optimistic young future with high draft picks, but the Kings are one of the worst at evaluating talent. Do you guys think they should take two rookies with their picks, or should they trade out for proven talent and sign good core to help salvage their name? I think one of Lilliard or McCollum could be had, Paul George, Jimmy Butler. Maybe go after Lowry/Ibaka, fill in with vet role players like Tucker, Reddick, Korver, James Johnson (only if you can pull a legit star first of course). Then you have your restricted free agents like Nerlens, Otto Porter, KCP, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonathan Simmons. Buddy is 23, Cauley-Stein is 23, Skal is 21, McLemore is 24, Papagiannis is 19. They have a lot of young talent, granted 3 of them play center. Will adding the likes of De'Aaron Fox/Jason Tatum/Frank Ntilikina/Zach Collins/Lauri Markkanen really help them become a future contender? Thoughts?
They should hire Hinkie. Heild is a good piece. WCS is iffy. Skal looks good. They should've kept the Chriss pick last year. Best case sceanrio this draft for them would be a Josh Jackson, otherwise Fox, he's the kind of player they'd want to build their teams mentality around. Or Isaac at #5. For #10, I'd go with someone with upside as they've got a fair few youngsters now. Markkanen is a great shooter, just don't know how he'll translate to the NBA but good size too, especially if paired with a defensive C. Otherwise they should look at Jackson or Anunoby.
Didn't feel like starting a new thread. Over a year later and the Kings have done the following: 1. Drafted De"Aaron Fox (Houston Kid) with their #5 Pick. 2. Traded the #10 pick for Pick #15 and #20. 3.Drafted Justin Jackson, Harry Giles and Frank Mason with their 15,20 and 34 picks. 4. Signed George Hill, Vince Carter, and Z-Bo to contracts. 5. Still finished 12th in the West with a record of 27-55. 6. Drafted Marvin Bagley with the #2 overall pick. Team line up Projection by me: PG: Fox SG:Buddy Hield SF:Bagley PF:GIles C:Cauley Stein Bench: Mason Jackson Skal Bogdonavic. Other Vets. If teams played off potential, this would be a pretty good starting 5! I really wonder how Sacramento does this year, maybe they can turn the corner. West is too deep, they should move their team out East
Bagley looks like a keeper. The only thing stopping Fox from eventually becoming an All-Star is himself (and being in the West). Not going to judge Giles until after 30-40 regular season games. I expect a very slow start from him. Sometime in the future, Buddy Hield might develop into a legit role player on a good team. We'll see. Nobody else on their roster is worth a dime. In my book, Fox and Bagley (by themselves) are enough to make the Kings interesting.
Not sure what to make of Bagley yet. He looked good in the first game, but absolutely terrible in the second one.
I attribute that to burning himself out against the Lakers and having to play the next day. IMO, he will do well in a structure NBA offense. But, we'll see.
I think the Kings are going to keep saying to themselves, “We could have had Doncic. We could have had Doncic. He’s more than ready ro play 2 days in a row and has been around pro lifestyle for some time.
I don't know what to think anymore. I don't want to believe Vlade didn't draft Doncic just because he's a Slovenian. I believe historically Slovenians and Serbians aren't on good terms to put it mildly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-Day_War - but @Koperboy can correct me if I'm wrong.
Some year the Kings have to be close to the 8th seed right ? Some year ....but the West is improving each year .
I don't think it was that at all. I think that the Kings liked the idea of Bagley playing PF and they also really liked the fact that he was excited about the possibility of playing in Sacramento. The Kings have had a lot of guys come in and not want to play there. Having someone want to play there has to be important, especially to ownership. Also the Kings probably felt that Bagley was a safe pick. He should be a long term rotation player in the NBA like Drew Gooden. Sometimes beaten down franchises find that valuable. I oddly think the Kings are in better shape than they have been in a long time. Giles looks promising, they have Bagley and a couple other building blocks. If they manage their cap in a better way, they may be a playoff team in a few years.
Bagley is playing out of position have no clue why he is in the SF spot at 6'11 he is tall enough to be the PF so I can't really say if he is good or not. If Blake Griffin as a rookie was asked to play SF he would probably suck just lile Bagley these 2 games. But if they wanted a SF all along why didnt they get Luka Doncic smh.
Fair enough. I don't know much about their relationship. I guess I was just drawing parallels to the history of my own country. The pain of oppression/conflict still lingers even 1 or 2 generations later.
That was my own speculation. I'm sure you could run Jackson at the 3, Bagley at the 4, and have Giles off the bench. Heck Bagley could play the 5. Fox Hield Jackson Giles Bagley Could be a dangerous "small ball" line up.
Maybe what happened was Ranadive wanted Luca but Vlade didnt like him and painted Bagley as a better SF thats why he is playing SF. Really have no clue why a guy everyone pegged as a PF/C and played as a PF/c in college would suddenly play SF in SL.