https://www.nba.com/kings/blog/get-know-2019-nba-draft Justin James 101 Selected No. 40 in the 2019 NBA Draft, we dive into the career of the Wyoming product. BY JORDAN RAMIREZ DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR | JUN 25, 2019 “Very strong and a very smart basketball IQ,” Kings GM Vlade Divac said of the newly drafted Justin James. “He can definitely keep up with the way we want to play." Pace has been Sactown's calling card since last season, improving from last in the league (97.1) to third (105.5). As a result, the Kings have added talent around the perimeter to further keep up the speed at which the young squad played. JJ@1JustinJames BEYOND GRATEFUL ! God is great... #GoKings https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1141914000994816000 … NBA TV ✔@NBATV The @SacramentoKings select Justin James with the No. 40 pick in the 2019 #NBADraft! 1,867 10:51 PM - Jun 20, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 379 people are talking about this This was noticeable in the 2019 NBA Draft, where the Kings selected three guards, the first being Justin James of Wyoming. The four-year player started every game his final two seasons, averaging 15.6 points, 8.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists on 44 percent shooting during his college career. Sacramento Kings ✔@SacramentoKings Already reppin'! @1JustinJames 733 11:17 PM - Jun 20, 2019 137 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy James finished his Cowboys career with the third-most points in school history (2,061). As Mountain West's leading scorer last season (22.1 PPG), No. 1 was First-Team All-Conference as selected by media, and Second-Team as selected by coaches. "I feel I can guard one through four in the NBA," James told The Athletic. "I know I can play one through three offensively. And just the passion and intensity that I bring, it doesn’t matter if it’s shootaround, practice, games, I’m always going to be locked down, 100 percent and give it my all. I take pride in my work ethic and competing.” JJ@1JustinJames https://twitter.com/wyo_mbb/status/1143573125235392512 … Wyoming Cowboy Basketball ✔ From to ! #OneWyoming #GoWyo 331 3:28 PM - Jun 25, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy 30 people are talking about this James is the first Wyoming player drafted since the Los Angeles Lakers drafted Larry Nance Jr. in 2015. The newly drafted backcourt player worked out for the Kings during the Pre-Draft Workout process as well, visiting Sacramento on May 30. “I’m just excited to step into the facility and show them what I’m about,” James continued. “I’m not here to promise anything, I’m not here to promise the fans anything. I’m just going to go out, play hard and do what the coaches ask me.” JAMES, JUSTIN, KINGS, 2019 NBA DRAFT Latest from Kings Galleries
Roc, really happy for your cousin, and for you. Hope he has a long, prosperous career, and retires a Rocket. Caring or rooting for someone other than one's self surely sweetens life.
Why Kings should call Rockets if Clint Capela is available via trade By James Ham June 26, 2019 1:47 PM THE KINGS INSIDER PODCAST Having more than $60 million in available salary-cap space is both a blessing and a curse for the Sacramento Kings. On the one hand, they need to spend at least $50 million to get to the NBA’s salary floor. On the other hand, they don’t want to spend, just to spend. While the team hopes to be a player in free agency, there is a full menu of ways to improve the team. One of those options is to package a future asset and some of their coveted cap space, and trade for an established NBA player on a long-term deal. Steven Adams was the first major center to potentially come available, but it looks like he won’t be the last. The Rockets reportedly are trying to make a play for Jimmy Butler, and they're willing to deal away a couple of their key players. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that one of those players is center Clint Capela. Adrian Wojnarowski ✔@wojespn Reporting w/ @ZachLowe: Houston’s offering Clint Capela, Eric Gordon and PJ Tucker individually to teams w/ space to absorb salary. Rockets trying for best available first-rounder for any of those three, hoping to redirect pick to Philly in pursuit of Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade. Capela checks all of the boxes for the Kings. At 25 years old, he fits the team’s player arc, and he is the rim-running, shot-blocking rebounder they desperately need. He’s also locked up on a four-year, $72 million contract that is completely affordable for a player who averaged 16.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game last season in Houston. It likely would cost the Kings a top-10-protected first-round draft pick, but the team is young enough to withstand another year without a selection. Sacramento also has seven second-round selections over the next two years to sweeten a deal. If the Kings were feeling generous, they could make a mega-deal out of the situation. They have the available cap space to absorb Capela ($16.4 million), Eric Gordon ($14 million) and P.J. Tucker ($8.3 million), freeing up just under $40 million for the Rockets. In a scenario like this, the Kings still would have more than $20 million per year to pay Harrison Barnes. They also could clear $22 million off the books next season when Gordon and Tucker expire and Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic come up for extensions. Whether or not the Kings have held discussions with the Rockets is unknown at this time, but Sacramento needs to be aggressive in all facets of the summer schedule. The team knows Willie Cauley-Stein wants out, and there are options to replace him on the market. But very few offer the contract, numbers and age fit that Capela does. [RELATED: Kings' 10 options to fill small forward opening in free agency] Kings general manager Vlade Divac selected three players in the second round, but the likelihood of any of them making an impact this season is minimal. If the Kings are going to compete for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, they have to take risks in free agency and on the trade front. A deal for Capela would add another impact player to the foundation of the team. It would come with future costs, but it’s hard to imagine finding a better fit than the 6-foot-10 center. Bring JJ to Houston!
The other two teams that were interested in Justin on draft night with the Pelicans and the Magic #ears
Justin James Can’t Wait to Get to Work with Kings The Mountain West’s leading scorer, who rose from unheralded prospect to NBA-ready contributor, has his sights set on winning at the next level. BY ALEX KRAMERS WRITER, KINGS.COM | JUN 28, 2019 As he waited, the hours ticking away and pick after pick sliding off the board in the NBA Draft, Justin James anxiously fidgeted on a couch inside his South Florida home, his mind racing and his enthusiasm slowly waning. And then, shortly past 11:30 p.m. on the East Coast, James finally heard the words he’d long envisioned in his head, before being wrapped in joyous embraces from family members who saw his name, adjacent to a Kings logo, flash across the screen. By the time he looked down at his phone and exhaled, the realization of being an NBA player still sinking in, the Sacramento draftee had a missed call from his agent and countless Twitter notifications from fans welcoming him to the team. “It’s just a surreal feeling,” James said. “Me and my family, we were jumping and screaming at the TV, just thanking God for this opportunity. The excitement level was through the roof. We couldn’t even get to sleep that night!” Even though he didn’t walk across the Barclays Center stage to shake hands with the commissioner on Draft night, the No. 40 pick wore a special Kings cap to commemorate the milestone – thanks to his father’s intuition. Unbeknownst to Justin, John James purchased hats of the three teams he thought might draft the Wyoming senior; the investment proved fortuitous. “Thankfully, when the Kings called my name, he surprised me and brought the hat out,” Justin said. “I was super stoked.” Reaching the NBA seemed improbable five years ago, when James, a native of Port St. Lucie, Fla., was lightly recruited by Division I programs despite flourishing in the prep ranks. His public high school wasn’t a basketball powerhouse, and were it not for a Facebook message to then-Wyoming Assistant Coach Allen Edwards through a mutual friend, James may have faced an even more uphill climb to the pros. An impressive highlight reel brought Edwards, a Miami native, to St. Lucie West Centennial High to get an in-person look at “J.J.” – who averaged 21.1 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists as a junior. After observing multiple open-gym scrimmages, Edwards consulted with Head Coach Larry Shyatt, and offered the lanky standout a full scholarship. “Coach Edwards came into my gym many times. He was at my grandmama’s house for Thanksgiving,” James said. “He just showed that he was really interested in me, and he really wanted me to be the best player I can be, on and off the court. I (felt) a lot of loyalty to him for that.” When James transferred to Oldsmar Christian School for his senior campaign and earned Player of the Year honors against higher-level competition, another half-dozen offers from high- and mid-majors stuffed his mailbox, including letters from Mississippi State, Georgia Southern and Murray State. Playing in the SEC was tempting, but by then, he’d verbally committed to Wyoming and wouldn’t renege on his promise. For the three-star recruit, early interest from the Edwards, who prioritized signing him before any other school sent scouts to his games, made a lasting impression. “Coach Edwards, that’s my role model right there,” James said. “I owe him the world.” Within the next three years, the 6-foot-7 guard rose from an under-the-radar backup (5.1 points in 16.6 minutes as a freshman) to a scoring threat from anywhere on the court (18.9 points on 47.2 percent from the field) and a legitimate NBA prospect. He tested the Draft waters in 2018 and worked out with the Celtics, Rockets and Spurs, but withdrew his name after listening to feedback from coaches and executives. As Wyoming’s do-everything senior, James elevated his Draft stock by setting career-highs in nearly every offensive category, becoming the first NCAA player since Penny Hardaway in 1992-93 to average over 22 points (22.1), eight rebounds (8.5), four assists (4.4) and one steal (1.5) per game. The Second-Team All-Conference selection increased his scoring average for the fourth straight season and finished his career with the fourth-most points (2,061) in conference history. James concluded his stay in Laramie on a high note, with seven straight games of 20-plus points, including 31 points against New Mexico in the MW Tournament on March 13. Earlier in the year, he scored a career-high 36 points on 10-of-14 from the field and 11-of-12 from the free throw line, to go along with seven assists and six rebounds, in a win against the Cowboys’ main rival, Colorado State. That all-around production and evident improvement, in addition to his maturity and hunger to get better, factored heavily in the Kings decision to select the 22-year-old early in the second round. “We followed his college career, and that’s the reason why we were so high on him and brought him here to Sacramento,” said Kings General Manager Vlade Divac. “We talked to everybody about his professionalism and his love for the game. We were so excited when we spent time with him in Sacramento.” Divac and the Kings staff, who hosted James for a pre-Draft workout and then accompanied him to dinner, view him as a “combo guard” who’ll see playing time at both backcourt spots, as well as slide to small forward to help spread the floor. “He’s very strong and (has) a very smart basketball IQ,” Divac said. “He can definitely keep up with the way we want to play. I think he’s a ready NBA player.” With opposing coaches game-planning to keep the ball out of his hands last season, James was consumed by incessant double-teams, which contributed to a decline in his field goal percentage (40.9) and uptick in turnovers (4.1 per game). James isn’t using that as an excuse – “I just need to get in the gym and keep shooting my shot,” he said – but in Sacramento, where De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic will serve as the primary playmakers, he expects to operate more off the ball and see the kinds of open perimeter looks he could only dream of in college. “It was definitely a year where I grew a lot, just by the different coverages that I was going up against every night, seeing multiple people guarding me and always having a hand in my face,” he said. “I feel like it helped me in the long run … I’m just super excited to play with some high-level NBA pros who are the best in the world.” Playing the bulk of his minutes at point guard, James thrived in the pick-and-roll, ranking in the 64th percentile with 0.812 points per possession (PPP) and generating 13.4 points per game when accounting for passes to teammates, according to Synergy Sports. He also ranked in the 71st percentile (1.263 PPP) on cuts and in the 66th percentile (0.986 PPP) on hand-offs. “I take pride in my versatility, just being able to do multiple things on the floor and doing whatever the coach asks me to do,” he said. “Having my eyes up, seeing the floor and making the right reads are huge parts of (my game). I can play one to three offensively, and I can be a tremendous defender in the League, to potentially guard one through four.” James, who recorded the fastest times in the three-quarter sprint (3.088 seconds) and lane agility drill (10.095) at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, said he’ll have no problem keeping pace in the Kings accelerated offense and scoring in transition. “Playing with De’Aaron, you know he loves to run the floor, and Buddy loves to run the floor, too, and get shots up,” he said. “Those players are going to be respected so much, so I know there’s going to be a lot of space on the floor for me to run and make plays for the team.” His first opportunity to showcase his skill set on the next level will come on July 1, when Sacramento will tip-off the second annual California Classic, a three-day Summer League event. With a Kings hat already tucked away in his closet, James is eager to add a matching purple-and-black uniform. “I can’t wait to finally put on a Sacramento Kings jersey and put on for the city,” he said. “(The fans) will see a hard-working, passionate player who’s going to do whatever the coach needs me to do to help us win games.”
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