Don't want to over-react, since we were picking quite low, and I don't follow college ball at all (or even much of NBA outside of Kings right now), so knew very little about the prospects. Don't also want to comment on possible trades either, since we don't know what was being offered, and the price we were asked to cough up. That said
- Trading down for cash considerations is extremely disrespectful to the fans. Perhaps they were aiming to get Guy, and thought he will be available at 55 too. Even so, the optics of it is really bad.
- While 2nd rounders rarely amount to much, teams need to do their due diligence, and hope they will get rotation players. These guys can have value in a couple of years. Good teams try to make the best of the assets they have. Not dissing on JJ, but if he was not on anyone's radar, he could have been picked with a lower pick/signed as an undrafted player.
- I'm okay with not drafting for need. So, if Vlade thought that there is no decent SF available, they should have picked the BPA. In Gabriel, we already have a prospect, who (after an year in the G-league), is hopefully better than anyone we could have picked with 40th or lower pick. We are of course talking about someone who can play backup SF minutes. I'm assuming HB is coming back.
That said, welcome to the Kings guys!