Kings select for the 8th pick - Nik Stauskas
- Thread starter Rockmeister
- Start date
I've been saying the same thing. You don't take a high lottery pick in a loaded draft and draft a rotation guy....you should be going after the guy(s) with the high upside and can contribute now. I hope the FO is correct on Stauskas because no one, and I mean nobody had or has Stauskas rated like the FO does. If they nail this pick, then hats off to them. Only time will tell.
Yeah he owns the team but every interview I hear with Vivek he says "I surround myself with people smarter than me". Whats the point of that if your backing your "experts" into a corner and treating them like yes men(at least from what we see in that clip). We all know Vivek has this love affair with the Warriors and if he went with Stauskas because he envisions him as our Thompson or Curry, when maybe PDA and Malone were telling him to go with Payton because he brings defense and a pass first mentality, then this franchise has some serious issues going forward. I like Stauskas, but lets be honest, Payton was the logical pick unless we plan on trading for Rondo this summer(in which case Stauskas becomes a great pick). As of right now we added another scorer to a team with Cousins, Gay and potentially IT.
I personally think some are reading way too much into things. And, as you say, there may be reasons that what you and others call the "logical pick" weren't really logical.
I'm just not as interested in analyzing every single move, comment, etc. as some are. I should know by now, though, just to sit back and read and enjoy. Bottom line for all of us is we still have a team to talk about and a new season to look forward to. Everything else is just details and we can argue/discuss those to our heart's content.
It's all good.
I'm just not as interested in analyzing every single move, comment, etc. as some are. I should know by now, though, just to sit back and read and enjoy. Bottom line for all of us is we still have a team to talk about and a new season to look forward to. Everything else is just details and we can argue/discuss those to our heart's content.
It's all good.
The best owners (of any business) know how to balance involvement with stepping back to let experts do their jobs. He's a tech guy and by all accounts a really good businessman. Be that and let basketball people make hoops decisions.
If these is even an issue like the public presentation of his involvemt suggests.
If these is even an issue like the public presentation of his involvemt suggests.
I couldn't care less what Mcdermott would have scored at Michigan. Facts are facts. While he consistently scored around 15ppg (good), as a scorer he has never scored over 26 in a game (bad). I'm hearing BRoy, Klay, Curry, Peja comparisons. Well, to this point in his career, he is a broke man's version of each.
I really think that video was made just for the drama. I liked Payton , but he was raw and cannot shoot the rock. Our team wouldn't get better with Payton next year, but could dramatically get better with Nik because of his shooting. We got the best player at 8 hands down. What I really like about this kid is how hard he works. He will be great because he wants it.
For those of you saying that Payton can't shoot, not many rookies entering the league light it up exactly unless your one of those pure shooters. I mean take Beal for example, he was known as a hot commodity due to his shooting. In his rookie year he missed a ton of open looks and every month made strides. As far as Payton is concerned, who cares if he can't shoot right away, that's an art that you can learn. Whether he masters it is up to his work ethic and mechanics, wasn't that the knock on Kawhi Leonard? That he could not shoot, hence why he dropped to 14 I believe?
I don't think he's destined to be a huge huge scorer, and you know what? That's GOOD. I'm more interested in his passing/creative ability than in having another chucker on the team. First time he pulls up for a contested three off his own dribble I will be calling for Boogie to walk over and break his nose same as any other chucking guard. But now an ability to be a broke man's Manu, to move the ball, create things, run sets, make saavy plays etc.....that's where we could get a value player. the last thing this team needs is another volume shooter.
I consider Drummond to be far more athletic than Vonleh and the better player. I don't think Vonleh at his absolute peak amounts near to what Drummond might look like in 2-3 years. Vonleh's lack of elite athleticism, slighter build, and his "chris bosh" attitude are all red flags to me, especially when we might have been considering him for defensive purposes. I don't think he ends up to be a "Damn, I should have drafted him instead of Nik" type of player. After a few days of processing the pick, I think we picked up a good player, and one that can potentially fit in very well, but like the rest of you, I am left wondering why we 1) drafted a SG two years in a row and 2) What happens to Ben? I don't buy that we can play them both at the same time crap, I still think Ben would be shipped out if the right deal came along. If Ben stays, then I simply have no answer or idea to what direction we are going in. Ultra-smallball would be my best guess.
Drafting SG two years in a row is buring assets for a team like ours.
One way you might be able to play both Ben and Nik together is if you have a big PG who can guard multiple positions (eg Shaun Livingston who guarded 1-3 in Brooklyn last year).
Its limiting and debilitating to a degree because you are "forced" to always have a certain type of player with those 2 but its doable in certain situations with a certain type of player. There were rumours that we might be interested in Livingston and this might be the front office pre-empting some of their plans going forward. Time will tell. I am more concerned about our lack of addressing the defensive issues so far. We seem to ne talking a lot of defence but keep recruting a lot of offense.
One way you might be able to play both Ben and Nik together is if you have a big PG who can guard multiple positions (eg Shaun Livingston who guarded 1-3 in Brooklyn last year).
Its limiting and debilitating to a degree because you are "forced" to always have a certain type of player with those 2 but its doable in certain situations with a certain type of player. There were rumours that we might be interested in Livingston and this might be the front office pre-empting some of their plans going forward. Time will tell. I am more concerned about our lack of addressing the defensive issues so far. We seem to ne talking a lot of defence but keep recruting a lot of offense.
This can only happen with differing philosophies in the FO. Offense has currently taken over as priority number one, but we weren't efficient with offense either last year, so I can somewhat understand their reasoning. The position we have put ourselves in now demands that our PG be extremely defensively oriented, because the #2 spot won't be (frankly, neither are the rest of the positions). I have no idea if Livingston is the answer for us, but it certainly isn't typical what we are doing. Like you said, time will tell. Hopefully, PDA makes a move or two that will shine some light on what direction he is steering the team in.
One just never knows. Last year's draft was difficult, because it was a lot weaker than this one. A lot of the kids in the draft had quite a few question marks to their name, and Ben happened to be slipping down right to us. Many people had him going top 3, and the FO thought he had the most talent and upside, so they drafted him. Ben made sense with Cousins (and Tyreke, but that's a different story). Ben is still super super young so give him some time. He may surprise us all with improvements. To be honest, it isn't like Steven Adams is taking the league by storm. He is a nice young player, but he isn't anything more than that at this point. He doesn't even start over Perkins, and Perk sucks!
To your GSW comment... I truly have no idea what we are trying to do. It's as if all 3 of them (Vivek, Malone, PDA) want to do their own thing and each want a different type of player. Vivek is clearly all about GSW, so I think he is winning that fight, which sucks for us. What a shame with Cousins down low. Cousins alone should make anyone with any knowledge of basketball go "I am going to give the big guy here the ball and watch him kill you inside all night long while you shoot contested 3s." Instead, we are making Cousins watch IT shoot a contested shot every third possession.
To your GSW comment... I truly have no idea what we are trying to do. It's as if all 3 of them (Vivek, Malone, PDA) want to do their own thing and each want a different type of player. Vivek is clearly all about GSW, so I think he is winning that fight, which sucks for us. What a shame with Cousins down low. Cousins alone should make anyone with any knowledge of basketball go "I am going to give the big guy here the ball and watch him kill you inside all night long while you shoot contested 3s." Instead, we are making Cousins watch IT shoot a contested shot every third possession.