Potential draft picks.

[SacTownKid]

I kept waiting to see if he can handle the ball but he's so long that 2 dribbles standing from the 3 point line and he's slamming it down.
Again, considering who is pop was I wasn't expecting so much agility and skill regardless of where each grew up.

He looks like a young Zydrunas Ilgauskas or Rik Smits and considering that those players still maintained a productive career when their athlectic abilities started to decline it's a good sign of him having staying power if healthy. Hopefully the foot problems already creeping up aren't anything like Big Z's. Maybe he could be the player everyone though Shawn Bradley was going to become. I've been off an on playing attention to Bol for a few years and he's come a long way with his mobility but even as an awkward kid you could see the coordination was there.

 

[jiimbob]

He looks like a young Zydrunas Ilgauskas or Rik Smits and considering that those players still maintained a productive career when their athlectic abilities started to decline it's a good sign of him having staying power if healthy. Hopefully the foot problems already creeping up aren't anything like Big Z's. Maybe he could be the player everyone though Shawn Bradley was going to become. I've been off an on playing attention to Bol for a few years and he's come a long way with his mobility but even as an awkward kid you could see the coordination was there.

I too hope his foot issue doesn't keep him from having a nice career. If he can add some weight and strength recon he would be the rim protector we are missing.
Is this draft looking more promising than most originally thought? I pretty much gave up on it considering it was thought not to be deep and the fact we have no 1st this year.

 

[SacTownKid]

I too hope his foot issue doesn't keep him from having a nice career. If he can add some weight and strength recon he would be the rim protector we are missing.
Is this draft looking more promising than most originally thought? I pretty much gave up on it considering it was thought not to be deep and the fact we have no 1st this year.

My personal opinion is it has solid players but very few true star types. I still think Naz Reid is underrated as well as Bol on most mocks. They have players in the high lottery that I don't see much out of to be honest. However good news for the Kings is there are plenty of solid 2nd round pick ups that really have 1st round potential IMO as a result. Most of them are wings but I like more supposed 2nd rounders than most players slotted in the mid to late 1st.

 

[OptimusRhyme]

Bol compliments Bagley & Fox really well. Floor stretcher\Rim protector.. his legs alone are as big as earl boykins! I'd be down to see if Bogi could net us him. If we could somehow come out of this draft with him and Thybulle i'd be hyped.

 

[bajaden]

I kept waiting to see if he can handle the ball but he's so long that 2 dribbles standing from the 3 point line and he's slamming it down.
Again, considering who is pop was I wasn't expecting so much agility and skill regardless of where each grew up.

Bol is quite capable of putting the ball on the floor. That was one of the surprises for me. He's a much more fluid athlete than he father was. His moves look effortless and under control. Make no mistake, barring injuries affecting his future, in a few years, he could be a star in the league.

 

[bajaden]

My personal opinion is it has solid players but very few true star types. I still think Naz Reid is underrated as well as Bol on most mocks. They have players in the high lottery that I don't see much out of to be honest. However good news for the Kings is there are plenty of solid 2nd round pick ups that really have 1st round potential IMO as a result. Most of them are wings but I like more supposed 2nd rounders than most players slotted in the mid to late 1st.

Sadly, I think Reid is right where he's supposed to be in the middle of the 2nd rd. He's been a bit of a disappointment to me, and I came into the year fairly high on his possibilities. He's listed at 6'10", but when measured at the Nike highschool all star game he was measured at 6'9" in shoes with a 7'1" wingspan. I see him as more of a PF, but doubt he has the lateral quickness to defend many of the PF's in the league. He's a pretty decent athlete, but far from an elite athlete. He also struggled with his weight throughout highschool.

He's a surprisingly good ball handler for his size, and has a pretty good post game. However, once he gets the ball in the post, his recognition is poor at times, meaning, he has tunnel vision, missing teammates that are open on the perimeter. The result is too often a turnover. He had 85 turnovers against 29 assists. Not good! He did shoot 33% from the three, and his shot looks good, so he could project to to a floor spacer as a small ball center. Personally, I would have advised him to stay at least one more year at LSU.

 

[bajaden]

Nope. Bol looked incredible in his highlight reel in his short tenure in the college ranks. I'm not saying he's as good a prospect as Bagley but he certainly looks incredible. And he might just be if he can stay healthy.

If you watch that video closely, you'll see that he has that quick 2nd jump similar to Bagley. Not as quick, but above average. I would suggest that if you watched DeAndre Ayton play last season in his first 9 games, and compared it to Bol Bol's first nine games, you'd come away thinking that Bol Bol was the better player. The only thing superior by Ayton is his body. Bol's instinctive reaction time is also very similar to Bagleys. Meaning he makes decisions on the floor quickly and instinctively, which usually doesn't give defenders time to react.

Now, one has to remember that while he looked like a man among'st boys, he was for the most part being guarded by players much shorter than him. It would have been nice to see him go up against some players more his own size. But hey, he did what he was supposed to do, dominate the smaller players. That's something Ayton didn't do at times, which bothered me.

Everyone got excited last year about Bamba's ability to shoot the three last season, but he only took 1.7 attempts a game, and shot 27.5%. How about Ayton, who took 1 attempt a game and shot a respectable 34.3%. But both men's stats pale when compared to Bol Bol's. He took just a tick under 3 attempts a game and shot a blistering 52% from the three.

I'm not sure how good Bol will be, but there's certainly something there worth pursuing. I think if Bol had Ayton's body, and hadn't gotten injured, he would be battling Zion for the 1st pick in the draft. But as my great aunt used to say, "if" is for children!

Here's another video of Bol Bol which is redundit for the most part, but has some plays that show his ballhandling and passing a bit more.

 

[Cojc]

Sounds like someone we should look at if he drops down into the range we could get him.
What I am not for is trading away good assets that would or could cause problems this upcoming season.
Trading Bogi and then spending time to replace what he gives us doesn’t make much sense to me.

I have no problem trading him but it should be for a decent upgrade to a position of need.

 

[OptimusRhyme]

Okeke might be a solid pick for us. Impressive overall game, knockdown shooter, solid passer and nice defensive stats 1.2 bpg, 1.8 spg, 6.8 rpg.

He tore his ACL, but so did Giles and look at him now.

 

[Entity]

Okeke might be a solid pick for us. Impressive overall game, knockdown shooter, solid passer and nice defensive stats 1.2 bpg, 1.8 spg, 6.8 rpg.

He tore his ACL, but so did Giles and look at him now.

yeah i said this a while back. I think you get him and redshirt him as we did with Giles. if not for the ACL he would have been in the 15-25 pick range

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Okeke might be a solid pick for us. Impressive overall game, knockdown shooter, solid passer and nice defensive stats 1.2 bpg, 1.8 spg, 6.8 rpg.

He tore his ACL, but so did Giles and look at him now.

At the same time, Giles was a full year back from his ACL tear when we drafted him, and then we sat him another year, and then we eased him into things. At this point he's just becoming a reliable player in terms of minutes he can give us physically, three years after his injury. Okeke tore his ACL a month and a half ago. So it could be a situation where you give a guy a three-year deal and maybe he doesn't even suit up until year 3. And then you can start to figure out what you've got. It's definitely a risk. In the second round, sometimes risks are worth taking, but there are definitely players that mock drafts seem to think will fall in our range (e.g. Darius Bazley, though I really believe he goes much higher than projected) that are ready to go that have similar or even higher ceilings than Okeke.

 

[bajaden]

Sounds like someone we should look at if he drops down into the range we could get him.
What I am not for is trading away good assets that would or could cause problems this upcoming season.
Trading Bogi and then spending time to replace what he gives us doesn’t make much sense to me.

I have no problem trading him but it should be for a decent upgrade to a position of need.

Well if Willie walks, I would presume that you would think the center position to be a position of need.

 

[bajaden]

At the same time, Giles was a full year back from his ACL tear when we drafted him, and then we sat him another year, and then we eased him into things. At this point he's just becoming a reliable player in terms of minutes he can give us physically, three years after his injury. Okeke tore his ACL a month and a half ago. So it could be a situation where you give a guy a three-year deal and maybe he doesn't even suit up until year 3. And then you can start to figure out what you've got. It's definitely a risk. In the second round, sometimes risks are worth taking, but there are definitely players that mock drafts seem to think will fall in our range (e.g. Darius Bazley, though I really believe he goes much higher than projected) that are ready to go that have similar or even higher ceilings than Okeke.

I agree that Okeke is a risk, but maybe not as big a risk as Giles was. Giles has torn the ACL in both knees, and had to have a cleanup in one, which set him back. There were other physical problems with Giles that also had to be cleaned up. Problems that were believed to have caused his knee problems to begin with. However, if I were to take a risk on Okeke, and or Porter, I would do it with our 47th pick. I'd prefer using our 40th pick on a player that is able to play right now.

Of the two, between Okeke and Jontay Porter, I would go with Porter. He's extremely talented and without the injuries would be a lottery pick, maybe a top five pick. If he can return to total health, he'd be worth the risk and the time required.

 

[SacTownKid]

The thing about Okeke is he was another tweenerish player before the injury. Now, he's probably even more stuck and more a stretch 4 than anything. He reminds me of a poor mans Kyle Kuzma.

 

[OptimusRhyme]

At the same time, Giles was a full year back from his ACL tear when we drafted him, and then we sat him another year, and then we eased him into things. At this point he's just becoming a reliable player in terms of minutes he can give us physically, three years after his injury. Okeke tore his ACL a month and a half ago. So it could be a situation where you give a guy a three-year deal and maybe he doesn't even suit up until year 3. And then you can start to figure out what you've got. It's definitely a risk. In the second round, sometimes risks are worth taking, but there are definitely players that mock drafts seem to think will fall in our range (e.g. Darius Bazley, though I really believe he goes much higher than projected) that are ready to go that have similar or even higher ceilings than Okeke.

All really good points. Okeke just really sticks out to me for some reason.

OG Anunoby tore his ACL in January of 2017 and i'm pretty sure he suited up like nine months later for the raps. And became a decent starter. So its possible to rehab those injuries a lot quicker then Giles did.

 

[ESP47]

The thing about Okeke is he was another tweenerish player before the injury. Now, he's probably even more stuck and more a stretch 4 than anything. He reminds me of a poor mans Kyle Kuzma.

I'd take a poor mans Kuzma as my 2nd round pick any day. A solid backup/rotational player is good value when picking in the 40s.

 

[jcassio]

I thought Kuzma was "a poor man's Kuzma."
Jontay Porter is intriging. He reminds me of KAT on offense. But he's not athletic enough to defend well in the NBA. And post-injury, who knows? He may have gone from a slow second jump to no second jump. Still, could be a big reward if captured with a late 2nd round pick and given a full opportunity to rehab, including working on his BMI.

 

[Entity]

I agree that Okeke is a risk, but maybe not as big a risk as Giles was. Giles has torn the ACL in both knees, and had to have a cleanup in one, which set him back. There were other physical problems with Giles that also had to be cleaned up. Problems that were believed to have caused his knee problems to begin with. However, if I were to take a risk on Okeke, and or Porter, I would do it with our 47th pick. I'd prefer using our 40th pick on a player that is able to play right now.

Of the two, between Okeke and Jontay Porter, I would go with Porter. He's extremely talented and without the injuries would be a lottery pick, maybe a top five pick. If he can return to total health, he'd be worth the risk and the time required.

How about Tacko Fall with the irrelevant pick? If nothing else could provide practice for Giles and Bagley going against the likes of Gobert.

 

[upinsmoke]

 

[Tetsujin]

Bol's got serious injury concerns (his dad had the same issues) and below average lateral quickness for the modern NBA. That said, as a potential 3rd or 4th big behind Bagley, Giles, and whoever, you'd stand a chance to mitigate those issues a bit.

 

[jiimbob]

nbadraft.net has us taking Jontay Porter with the 47th in their updated mock draft. Guess he could fall that far, he took an unfortunate risk going back for that sophomore season.

 

[jcassio]

How about Tacko Fall with the irrelevant pick? If nothing else could provide practice for Giles and Bagley going against the likes of Gobert.

Let's nab him with our 80th pick.

 

[bajaden]

Bol's got serious injury concerns (his dad had the same issues) and below average lateral quickness for the modern NBA. That said, as a potential 3rd or 4th big behind Bagley, Giles, and whoever, you'd stand a chance to mitigate those issues a bit.

If you comparing Bol Bol's lateral quickness to a SG, then yeah, he's not as quick, but compared to the average 7 foot center in the league, I think you'll find Bol Bol is just fine. No, he's not Willie, but then most 7 foot centers aren't. I only have one concern about Bol Bol and that's his health. Everyone was excited about Bamba last year, and Bol is is more skilled than Bamba. Not denying its a risk though, especially if taken in the first round.

 

[bajaden]

Let's nab him with our 80th pick.

Personally, I don't think he'll get drafted, so we could probably sign him to a two way contract. Of course grabbing him with the 60th pick would guarantee us having him. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it one way or the other. Would be cool to see him on our summer league team though.

 

[bajaden]

By the way, don't know if anyone's posted it or not, but if your looking for the website with all the measurements here it is:

https://stats.nba.com/draft/combine-anthro/#!?sort=WINGSPAN&dir=1

 

[bajaden]

While on the subject of that site, a couple of players I'm interested in measured out just fine. Kabangele came in 6'10.25" in shoes with a 7'3" wingspan and a 9'1.5" standing reach. That's legit size for a PF in the NBA, and big enough to slide over and play some center as well. He'd definitely be a 2nd rd target. Don't think he'll slide that far, I'd grab him if he did. Dylan Windler came in at 6'7.5" in shoes with a 6'10" wingspan and a 8'8.5" standing reach. I'm a huge Windler fan, and I think he goes bottom of the first to top of the 2nd. We'd probably have to trade up a bit to get him.

Others of interest, at least to me are DaQuan Jeffries, who measured at 6'5" in shoes with a 6'11.25" wingspan and a 8'8" standing reach. Jeffries also has huge hands which measured at 10.25". That puts him up there with Tacko Fall and Bol Bol.

Darius Bazley came in at 6'9" in shoes with a 7'0" wingspan, and a 8'11" standing reach. Lastly, Moses Brown, who I would keep my eye on. I doubt he stays in the draft unless he gets a promise from a team. And I mean a 1st rd promise. He's definitely 1st rd talent, at least on paper, but didn't have what I would call a dominate year. He was just sort of OK across the board and not great at any one thing. He's a terrible free throw shooter, and scores all his points at the basket. He's a decent, but not great rim protector. A decent but not great rebounder. OK, you get the idea. But he should be more than that.

Do we attribute it to the style of play at UCLA, or perhaps the general malaise that seemed to permeate the team as the season went on? Don't know, but he measured out great. 7'2.5" in shoes, with a 7'4.5" wingspan and a 9'5" standing reach. He'd have to really impress someone at the combine to get a promise for the 1st. I think he goes back to school, and he probably should.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Lastly, Moses Brown, who I would keep my eye on. I doubt he stays in the draft unless he gets a promise from a team. And I mean a 1st rd promise. He's definitely 1st rd talent, at least on paper, but didn't have what I would call a dominate year. He was just sort of OK across the board and not great at any one thing. He's a terrible free throw shooter, and scores all his points at the basket. He's a decent, but not great rim protector. A decent but not great rebounder. OK, you get the idea. But he should be more than that.

Do we attribute it to the style of play at UCLA, or perhaps the general malaise that seemed to permeate the team as the season went on? Don't know, but he measured out great. 7'2.5" in shoes, with a 7'4.5" wingspan and a 9'5" standing reach. He'd have to really impress someone at the combine to get a promise for the 1st. I think he goes back to school, and he probably should.

The rumor, for what it's worth, is that he may have had academic issues so returning to school might not be a realistic option. We shall see.

 

[SacTownKid]

I heard Eric Paschall with a strong all around showing on his measurables. He's definitely one of the ones I wouldn't mind seeing the Kings take a chance on. He's a prototype 3/4 that you see making a difference deep in the playoffs.

 

[bajaden]

The rumor, for what it's worth, is that he may have had academic issues so returning to school might not be a realistic option. We shall see.

Ahhh, wasn't aware of that. Makes the situation more interesting. If he stays in the draft, I think he slides down to the 2nd rd, unless he really wow's some teams with his workouts. Too bad, he really needs another year of development.

 

[bajaden]

I heard Eric Paschall with a strong all around showing on his measurables. He's definitely one of the ones I wouldn't mind seeing the Kings take a chance on. He's a prototype 3/4 that you see making a difference deep in the playoffs.

I agree, Paschall is definitely a player I'd consider in the 2nd rd. I think he improved this season, especially his shot. He can definitely play both the PF and SF position. He's a deceptive athlete.