Let's start with this draft. If Divac gets the luck of the ping pong balls, it's all good. Everything regarding the Kings' tanking strategy goes out the window and all the people (like me) who were concerned with the non-strategy of the Kings to get a high ping pong ball percentage looks moot, and maybe even foolish. We can all rejoice then in a top three pick. If the Kings would get the sixth pick, it's possible some other team does something stupid and a player that has high potential drops to the Kings. Again, all is good.
But if the Kings get the 7th or 8th pick, it doesn't look good. Vlade then probably drafts a guy who has so-so ability who is either a decent role player or a flat out bust, not exactly what most Kings fans had in mind. That's the situation where the pressure starts to build. Then Vlade has to do something very good in FA, which is highly unlikely, or a trade, which is scary. For the most part, the only players he has to trade are developing young prospects in which there is very little certainty of their ultimate potential. The two "developed" young players that could possibly be traded would be Hield or Bogs. (If he really likes Young in the draft at the 7th or 8th position, he could make a deal at or prior to the draft sending one of the above to a team in a trade to obtain a small forward, power forward, or center). Barring that, he has to trade undeveloped youngins who could either be extremely good, or not, just depending. It's like selling a seedling when you don't know whether it's going to turn into a redwood tree or weed. As a rule of thumb, you don't get top dollar for undeveloped seedlings in the NBA. It's the equivalent of "selling low." All in all, if Divac doesn't get lucky with the ping pong balls, he's going to have a much more difficult challenge, imo. Other than the ping pong ball gods, the other wildcard is Harry Giles. If Vlade gets unlucky with the ping pong balls and Giles looks like a future All Star, Divac's reputation will have been saved. If not, or if Giles gets injured, the monopoly board just doesn't look very good for Vlade Divac.