2016 NBA Draft Discussion
- Thread starter Dime Dropper
- Start date
I actually like Sarunas comp here. What I like is that he is not afraid of contact and can finish after it. Tough shooting guard with skills who can give us good 15-20 minutes will help us tremendously. It is like we selected Stauskas again, only this time he can actually play and play with guts and heart.
Funny thing is that if the order which the players were picked were switched around, Vlade would be a genius to all the naysayers and national media.
If the draft went:
#13 Skal Labissere
#22 Big Papa
#28 Malichi Richardson
#59 Isaiah Cousins
Voila, Vlade is a Genius!!!
Grade A+++
If the draft went:
#13 Skal Labissere
#22 Big Papa
#28 Malichi Richardson
#59 Isaiah Cousins
Voila, Vlade is a Genius!!!
Grade A+++
Our team of last year needs significant rebuilding. This off season we nave the need to mprove yet again, and we have at least three means of improving, Chapter 1- the draft, Chapter 2 - free agency, Chapter 3 - the trade market. All were a little "up hill" for the Kings, no guarantees. Any time you need a new starter it s enough of a rebuild to call it such.
In that regard we need someone we don't have to start at SG and, n addition, though I may be alone n feeling this way, we need a starter at PF or along side Cuz, in my view Willie needs another year coming from the bench. And we haven't even talked about PG because we are truly unsure what the future holds for Rondo. So call it what you want but it's a significant way towards a lrebuild s the way I see it.
Two and half moths to start of training camp. Let's not call anything a failure until then and even then be careful.
In that regard we need someone we don't have to start at SG and, n addition, though I may be alone n feeling this way, we need a starter at PF or along side Cuz, in my view Willie needs another year coming from the bench. And we haven't even talked about PG because we are truly unsure what the future holds for Rondo. So call it what you want but it's a significant way towards a lrebuild s the way I see it.
Two and half moths to start of training camp. Let's not call anything a failure until then and even then be careful.
Dude unless one of our Dunn or Hield slid to 8 there are no other players that would have helped us win starting next season.
Baldwin is no better as a back up PG in the NBA than Seth Curry is. Curry certainly helps more if we are talking about a win now mode.
Luwawu is a project. I bet you have not seen a single game he played for Mega Leks. He is not ready to contribute to a play off team in his rookie season. Nice prospect but c'mon.
I can't comment on Murray because I have not seen him play.
We basically got four 1st round picks for pick 8 and Bellineli. We had no youth other than WCS and McLemore. With 3 of the 4 first round picks we went for high upside picks to fill out the end of the roster.
McLemore will be traded and Richardson becomes the rookie SG with high upside who will not get much playing time but will be in development year.
Kosta is very likely to be traded in order to sign Anderson to try and get a more flexible 3 man big rotation that will get most of the minutes.
Essentially, Papagiannis, Richardson and Skal are 3 high upside picks that will take the spots of Moreland, Dukan et al. We are increasing the talent pool and asset base from the bottom of the list up. The rest gets filled up during the free agency and with trades.
Bottom line is unless you were picking top 6 or if cards fell you way, you could get players to help you now. We didn't get the break so we did what any smart franchise does, trade down, increase asset base and in a weak draft go for high risk high reward picks. We are talking 3-4 roster spots on a 15 spot roster. Good play off teams go 10 deep and fill out the bottom of their roster with rookies and youth.
People fall in love with certain picks and all hell breaks loose if we don't pick those players. The job of the the GM is to look at both short and long term. He realized that we have no young prospects and little picks coming in next 1-2 years so he needed to take that into account at some point.
By trading Bellinelli and trading down, we have cleared additional cap space to go and get role players that fit. Not only did we unload Bellineli on Charlotte for a 1st round pick, but we also made it harder for them to re-sign Lee given all the FA they want to bring back.
Again, unless we were drafting Dunn and maybe Hield, no other player would be instant help so I am not sure why people are going nuts over it. In a crap draft, swing for the fences. You can always get role players in the free agency but small market teams get stars via the draft.
Baldwin is no better as a back up PG in the NBA than Seth Curry is. Curry certainly helps more if we are talking about a win now mode.
Luwawu is a project. I bet you have not seen a single game he played for Mega Leks. He is not ready to contribute to a play off team in his rookie season. Nice prospect but c'mon.
I can't comment on Murray because I have not seen him play.
We basically got four 1st round picks for pick 8 and Bellineli. We had no youth other than WCS and McLemore. With 3 of the 4 first round picks we went for high upside picks to fill out the end of the roster.
McLemore will be traded and Richardson becomes the rookie SG with high upside who will not get much playing time but will be in development year.
Kosta is very likely to be traded in order to sign Anderson to try and get a more flexible 3 man big rotation that will get most of the minutes.
Essentially, Papagiannis, Richardson and Skal are 3 high upside picks that will take the spots of Moreland, Dukan et al. We are increasing the talent pool and asset base from the bottom of the list up. The rest gets filled up during the free agency and with trades.
Bottom line is unless you were picking top 6 or if cards fell you way, you could get players to help you now. We didn't get the break so we did what any smart franchise does, trade down, increase asset base and in a weak draft go for high risk high reward picks. We are talking 3-4 roster spots on a 15 spot roster. Good play off teams go 10 deep and fill out the bottom of their roster with rookies and youth.
People fall in love with certain picks and all hell breaks loose if we don't pick those players. The job of the the GM is to look at both short and long term. He realized that we have no young prospects and little picks coming in next 1-2 years so he needed to take that into account at some point.
By trading Bellinelli and trading down, we have cleared additional cap space to go and get role players that fit. Not only did we unload Bellineli on Charlotte for a 1st round pick, but we also made it harder for them to re-sign Lee given all the FA they want to bring back.
Again, unless we were drafting Dunn and maybe Hield, no other player would be instant help so I am not sure why people are going nuts over it. In a crap draft, swing for the fences. You can always get role players in the free agency but small market teams get stars via the draft.
Couldn't of said it better myself. What Vlade did in the draft was a start, not the finished product. He replaced low end players with high upside players, whether they pan out we won't know for a few seasons and I'm okay with that. As long as they get playing time moving forward to get acclimated to the pro game. Phase two of the off season starts July 1st.
And that's a problem how exactly?!
He comes in as a ready made player about to enter his basketball prime years. That is like getting a free hit. At this point there is enough youth there. We just drafted 4 rookies. If two pan out, brilliant! The year after that you get a ready made skilled player in Bogdanović who comes in and contrinutes straight away and his age profile fits in perfectly with Cousins.
And with all due respect to Bojan, Bogdan has always been a better player with killer instinct. I have seen a lot of both of the players over the years. Admittedly I have watched Bogdan a LOT more given he played for my team Partizan. He was a leader of that team at the age of 19/20. He was the best player on a young underdog team with the lowest budget in Eurolegue but he took them to top 16.
He is a key player for Fenerbahce who plays a lot of minutes and is the game breaker for them. If they need a basket, he is the guy they go to despite being pretty stacked in terms of talent. Denver's Jeoffrey Lauvregne was also on that team.
He comes in as a ready made player about to enter his basketball prime years. That is like getting a free hit. At this point there is enough youth there. We just drafted 4 rookies. If two pan out, brilliant! The year after that you get a ready made skilled player in Bogdanović who comes in and contrinutes straight away and his age profile fits in perfectly with Cousins.
And with all due respect to Bojan, Bogdan has always been a better player with killer instinct. I have seen a lot of both of the players over the years. Admittedly I have watched Bogdan a LOT more given he played for my team Partizan. He was a leader of that team at the age of 19/20. He was the best player on a young underdog team with the lowest budget in Eurolegue but he took them to top 16.
He is a key player for Fenerbahce who plays a lot of minutes and is the game breaker for them. If they need a basket, he is the guy they go to despite being pretty stacked in terms of talent. Denver's Jeoffrey Lauvregne was also on that team.
I think this needs to be reiterated. Training camp is what, 2.5 months away? And FA hasn't started yet. We look to be aiming for Ryan Anderson as our top FA prospect, who can help space the floor for Boogie and others better than most. I'm sure there is a list of players they plan to go after to improve this team.
I fully expect KK and Rudy to be traded, bringing in additional help at the guard and wing positions.
Everyone needs to just quit hyperventilating until the next couple months are over and we see what we actually have after summer league and going into training camp. I'm sure that Vlade still has some work ahead and he has shown that he is not afraid to pursue his vision.
Do we not forget last summer how he pursued defensive help and went after vets we were all happy to see brought in (KK, Butler, Marco, etc.)? Maybe they didn't pan out as expected, but the intent and direction was correct and almost universally lauded in these parts. Give the man some time to work. I think it will end up a lot better than it looks at the moment.
And I have no issues with him trading down for more picks in a draft like this. I don't follow college ball, but it seems like he had goals for replentishing the pipeline for some talented bigs (can't really have too many of those, always good in trades if nothing else) and other skilled players. I fully expect some trades to balance out the roster a bit. The draft is ALWAYS a crap shoot unless you have a LBJ sitting there at #1. Did we pass on some guys who might be stars? Maybe. Did we draft guys who end up being stars or at least major role players? Who knows? We will see in time how it all plays out.
I fully expect KK and Rudy to be traded, bringing in additional help at the guard and wing positions.
Everyone needs to just quit hyperventilating until the next couple months are over and we see what we actually have after summer league and going into training camp. I'm sure that Vlade still has some work ahead and he has shown that he is not afraid to pursue his vision.
Do we not forget last summer how he pursued defensive help and went after vets we were all happy to see brought in (KK, Butler, Marco, etc.)? Maybe they didn't pan out as expected, but the intent and direction was correct and almost universally lauded in these parts. Give the man some time to work. I think it will end up a lot better than it looks at the moment.
And I have no issues with him trading down for more picks in a draft like this. I don't follow college ball, but it seems like he had goals for replentishing the pipeline for some talented bigs (can't really have too many of those, always good in trades if nothing else) and other skilled players. I fully expect some trades to balance out the roster a bit. The draft is ALWAYS a crap shoot unless you have a LBJ sitting there at #1. Did we pass on some guys who might be stars? Maybe. Did we draft guys who end up being stars or at least major role players? Who knows? We will see in time how it all plays out.
At draft night, I really liked the trades that Vlade made. It started even before the draft. Belinelli for #22, are you kidding me? At best I thought we could get #45 from Boston for Belinelli.
At this point I expected us to draft Hield at #8 and Baldwin at #22 because Draftexpress had updated their mock and had Baldwin falling to #23. I remember wondering why they didnt had him at #22 to us and instead had us picking a greek center there..
I also really liked the trade with the Suns. With two additional picks I thought we were sure to get a wing and our PG of the future. It turned out to be different, but listening to Vlade explaining the picks I am okay with all of them. I hope Papagiannis, Skal and Richardson prove everyone wrong.
At this point I expected us to draft Hield at #8 and Baldwin at #22 because Draftexpress had updated their mock and had Baldwin falling to #23. I remember wondering why they didnt had him at #22 to us and instead had us picking a greek center there..
I also really liked the trade with the Suns. With two additional picks I thought we were sure to get a wing and our PG of the future. It turned out to be different, but listening to Vlade explaining the picks I am okay with all of them. I hope Papagiannis, Skal and Richardson prove everyone wrong.
At some point, the drafting of players is a crap shoot. I think Chriss at a risky pick at 8. I mean, he looks to be a stretch 4 at best. Legit question to be answered over time....Who will have the better career, Chriss or Skal?
We know Vlade nailed last years pick with WCS? What if he nails this draft? I feel confidant that he knows what to look for in big men. What if all of his draft picks and Bogdanovich become good. We could look back on this draft one day and say this is where it turned around.
We know Vlade nailed last years pick with WCS? What if he nails this draft? I feel confidant that he knows what to look for in big men. What if all of his draft picks and Bogdanovich become good. We could look back on this draft one day and say this is where it turned around.
I think Chriss will have the better career. Skal has massive bust potential. I'm just talking out my you know what here but if I had to put a number on it I'd say he has a 90% chance of being a bust. Richardson and Papa also have bust written all over them but at a lower percentage in my opinion. I get it though...if you hit a home run with just one of them, it doesn't matter if the other ones never make it out of the D League. I just didn't think that Skal was worth even a late first round pick due to the risks but I understand the thought process behind it.
Skal was projected as a top 2 pick in this draft a year ago. This is the kind of top of the draft talent that we rarely have a shot at. He played on the biggest stage possible in college basketball so everyone saw that he didn't live up to the hype as a Freshman who was expected to come in an dominate like Kevin Durant did at Texas. If he played for a smaller program that needed him to play 30 minutes per game he would have put up better numbers. If he'd just sat out a year like Thon Maker did instead of going to Kentucky he would have been a top 10 pick. He needs to put on weight but he's got a very good looking jumpshot, long arms, and good anticipation as a shotblocker. If you follow the High School All-Star games, he scored 21 points and blocked 6 shots in last year's Nike Hoop Summit. That's against the best players in this draft class. There's enough reasons to believe in his potential to draft him with the 28th pick. He's going to be making about 1 million a year for the next 3 years during which time he'll have unlimited access to training staff and facilities. Yes he probably should have stayed at Kentucky with Coach Cal for another season, but sometimes these players want to start their career ASAP. He lived through the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and he's lucky to be alive, really. I'll take top of the draft upside with high bust potential at the end of the first round in a heartbeat.
As for the other picks, Malachi Richardson is a long-armed athlete who can really shoot the ball. Syracuse made it all the way to the Final Four this year partly because of his impact as a scorer. We were going to be looking for a player like him in free agency this year anyway and the going rate for a full-size SG with a 3 and D skillset is probably going to start at 6 or 7 million a year. If that's our only pick in the draft, yeah I can see where the bust potential is discouraging. But we got 4 first round players out of this draft and he's a guy worth taking a flier on because if he does live up to his potential, he's exactly what we need at that position. And I'm actually starting to think that Papagiannis might be the best pick out of all of them. He wasn't on my radar, but something to keep in mind about bigs -- as much as people fawn over the Splash Brothers leading GS to 73 wins, they're getting all those jumpshots off of Andrew Bogut and Dramond Green (illegal) screens. We just drafted a huge screen-setting menace. He's not weak, he doesn't shy away from contact, and he's mobile enough to present a good target rolling to the basket. When you talk about the nuts and bolts of team basketball, we need a guy like that. We're paying Koufos 8 million a year to do this kind of thing and now we have a cheaper, younger prospect who'll probably surpass him in time.
That's just my input. My next day analysis is that Vlade actually put together a very strong draft class here and while I initially may have wanted someone else at 13 and 22, I'm not mad about the picks we made.
As for the other picks, Malachi Richardson is a long-armed athlete who can really shoot the ball. Syracuse made it all the way to the Final Four this year partly because of his impact as a scorer. We were going to be looking for a player like him in free agency this year anyway and the going rate for a full-size SG with a 3 and D skillset is probably going to start at 6 or 7 million a year. If that's our only pick in the draft, yeah I can see where the bust potential is discouraging. But we got 4 first round players out of this draft and he's a guy worth taking a flier on because if he does live up to his potential, he's exactly what we need at that position. And I'm actually starting to think that Papagiannis might be the best pick out of all of them. He wasn't on my radar, but something to keep in mind about bigs -- as much as people fawn over the Splash Brothers leading GS to 73 wins, they're getting all those jumpshots off of Andrew Bogut and Dramond Green (illegal) screens. We just drafted a huge screen-setting menace. He's not weak, he doesn't shy away from contact, and he's mobile enough to present a good target rolling to the basket. When you talk about the nuts and bolts of team basketball, we need a guy like that. We're paying Koufos 8 million a year to do this kind of thing and now we have a cheaper, younger prospect who'll probably surpass him in time.
That's just my input. My next day analysis is that Vlade actually put together a very strong draft class here and while I initially may have wanted someone else at 13 and 22, I'm not mad about the picks we made.
I have a hard time getting excited about Courtney Lee. He only projects to give us Ben McLemore level production. Granted consistent game-to-game production instead of the roulette wheel of misfortune Ben has subjected us to is worth paying a little extra for, but I see better options out there. Then again, Joerger is already familiar with Courtney Lee and he's got a solid career 3pt percentage. I can see why Lee/Anderson makes sense, I'm just not obsessed with acquiring 3pt shooters when our biggest problems lie elsewhere. I'd rather have a better defender at that SG position and a more well-rounded PF who can play inside and out, set hard screens, and rebound instead of a 3pt specialist like Ryno.
He has a reputation as a good defender -- mostly stemming from one good playoff series against Cleveland in his rookie year. But if you look at his whole career, he's been average at best on that end of the floor. If you draw a line between Ben's good days and Ben's bad days, Courtney Lee is basically that line. Not a scorer but he'll hit open shots. Not an impact defender, but he's better than terrible (which I suppose qualifies him as an upgrade in Kings land...)
He's negative value on the defensive end of the court and a below average rebounder at his position. He may not be a one-dimensional shooter, but you're not paying him $17 million dollars a year for any other reason than he knocks down 3 pt shots. I'd say that makes him a specialist. Regardless of the terminology though, he's just not a guy I want as our last big in the rotation. With other teams trending smaller we can get away with Omri at the 4 spot in stretches if we need more shooting on the floor. Cauley-Stein is a lot of things but he's not really a banger in the post. I really want a rebounder/post defender down there to take some of the pressure off of Cousins defensively. Especially if we're not spending money to upgrade the perimeter defense situation.
I agree, I think the best way to describe Lee is "solid". In a perfect world we would get Bazemore but I don't think he will come here and therefore I wonder if it would make more sense to focus on Lee as a priority. Another option would be Shumpert via trade. Who else you got?
Regarding Anderson, the interesting thing about Anderson for me is not even his 3 point Shooting but his ability to give his team a first option on offense. He would anchor our bench and give us a first option when Cousins misses some games because of injuries. We all know our record without Cousins. With Anderson and Willie beside him I would at least expect us to have a chance. He is also a good teammate and finished top five in teammate of the Year voting. The question is: how much is all that worth? 12 million? 15 million? 18 million?
Regarding Anderson, the interesting thing about Anderson for me is not even his 3 point Shooting but his ability to give his team a first option on offense. He would anchor our bench and give us a first option when Cousins misses some games because of injuries. We all know our record without Cousins. With Anderson and Willie beside him I would at least expect us to have a chance. He is also a good teammate and finished top five in teammate of the Year voting. The question is: how much is all that worth? 12 million? 15 million? 18 million?
I still don't understand why a lot of people here think Ryan Anderson couldn't play SF a majority of the time.... Sure in certain match-ups he wouldn't be able to as a lot of SFs are the size of SGs these days, but Ryan Anderson's game reminds me a bit of Peja's. Anderson doesn't mind the post play at times, is a great spot up shooter, and has good bball IQ. I say to hell with it, start Anderson-WCS-Cousins and let's see what small-ball is made out of ! Lee would be our perimeter pest and Rondo hopefully elevates his defense to an acceptable level.
This of course assumes Rudy Gay is out of the picture, which I think seems quite likely as he and KK are our biggest trade assets. Also, Rudy is suddenly on a great looking contract for a career 18-20ppg scorer. These guys don't grow on trees.
This of course assumes Rudy Gay is out of the picture, which I think seems quite likely as he and KK are our biggest trade assets. Also, Rudy is suddenly on a great looking contract for a career 18-20ppg scorer. These guys don't grow on trees.