NBA Lottery Thread

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The main reason I believe in Cade is that he possesses more than just skill, size, and athleticism. He has an 'it' factor that doesn't come around very often. Star level players have a knack for making plays out of nothing and Cade did that consistently this year. I think I can count on one hand the number of prospects who I felt were can't miss because of some intangible 'it' factor. Luka had it. Embiid had it. Westbrook had it. That might be the whole list for me.
I think Cade will be one of the best players in the NBA in a few years. Look how far he took an Oklahoma State team this year that would have had zero chance at the NCAA tournament without him.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
The main reason I believe in Cade is that he possesses more than just skill, size, and athleticism. He has an 'it' factor that doesn't come around very often. Star level players have a knack for making plays out of nothing and Cade did that consistently this year. I think I can count on one hand the number of prospects who I felt were can't miss because of some intangible 'it' factor. Luka had it. Embiid had it. Westbrook had it. That might be the whole list for me.
Cade took over and took a sub-par college program and turned it into one of the best in the country literally overnight. Just as a comparison, Ben Simmons went into a similar situation and LSU still sucked. That says winner to me.
 
A part of it is, I don’t see Cade as a generational talent. I would take Green, Barnes, Bouknight, or Mobley over him. So it’s not just Bouknight. I think his range is somewhere between Harrison Barnes with better handles and Paul George. Don’t think he’ll be able to be the team’s primary ball handler either.
He probably isn't but with the Pistons he has a great shot in terms of role to look like it for awhile. You've got a high potential beastly young big in Stewart to run pnr with and a wing that could be his poor mans version of Pippen in Bey.
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
Cade's bigger than him too.

The one area that I will say that Luka was clearly better than Cade coming into the league is body control. Luka understands angles better than pretty much any non-Harden player in the league.
I think this is worth clarifying. Cade might be taller, but I don't know if I'd say he's bigger. Especially when Luka is an expert at using his bulk to dislodge defenders just enough to get a good shot when he's inside the paint.

Right now the swing factor for Cunningham is whether he's able to tighten up his handle and be able to get where he wants on the court. Currently good defenders (even smaller ones like Davion Mitchell) are able to keep him out of the paint and/or force him to help more often than you like to see for a guy that you want as your primary creator.

And right now he isn't able to do what Doncic does and bully smaller defenders.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
I think this is worth clarifying. Cade might be taller, but I don't know if I'd say he's bigger. Especially when Luka is an expert at using his bulk to dislodge defenders just enough to get a good shot when he's inside the paint.

Right now the swing factor for Cunningham is whether he's able to tighten up his handle and be able to get where he wants on the court. Right now good defenders (even smaller ones like Davion Mitchell) are able to keep him out of the paint and/or force him to help more often than you like to see for a guy that you want as your primary creator.
Yeah, you're right on that end. Cade's size probably shows itself more on the defensive end, where he's probably going to be capable of guarding everyone except for the biggest of big men and fastest guards. On offense, he's definitely had difficulty getting into the paint though I'm still not sure how much of that has been him being weak in that area and how much of it was college defenses generally being stouter in that area than pro ball.
 
I think this is worth clarifying. Cade might be taller, but I don't know if I'd say he's bigger. Especially when Luka is an expert at using his bulk to dislodge defenders just enough to get a good shot when he's inside the paint.

Right now the swing factor for Cunningham is whether he's able to tighten up his handle and be able to get where he wants on the court. Currently good defenders (even smaller ones like Davion Mitchell) are able to keep him out of the paint and/or force him to help more often than you like to see for a guy that you want as your primary creator.

And right now he isn't able to do what Doncic does and bully smaller defenders.
2 for 1:
 
The main reason I believe in Cade is that he possesses more than just skill, size, and athleticism. He has an 'it' factor that doesn't come around very often. Star level players have a knack for making plays out of nothing and Cade did that consistently this year. I think I can count on one hand the number of prospects who I felt were can't miss because of some intangible 'it' factor. Luka had it. Embiid had it. Westbrook had it. That might be the whole list for me.
The list of college stars, who had it, but never made it is long. John Wallace, Ed O’bannon, Mateen Cleaves, Tyus Edney…so that’s a tough one for me to agree with.

Having followed Russ from lightly recruited 3 star prospect to NBA stardom, I don’t recall any time when he truly had that it factor in college. His sophmore year, he certainly popped athletically (not what he is now, but his athleticism jumped a few levels), but Howland rarely featured him. Collison was the primary ball handler, Love was the star his soph year, Affalo the star his fresh year, and…

Still think Russ should’ve guarded DRose in the semis. I didn’t think Russ would be as good as he turned out. His athleticism jumped even more once he got into the nba. Those runs in the sand really paid off for him.

But speaking of that it factor, the guys that I knew would be stars, were Baron Davis and DRose. If both were coming out this year, they’d go 1a and 1b. Ahead of any of top the players. Way ahead.
 
I think this is worth clarifying. Cade might be taller, but I don't know if I'd say he's bigger. Especially when Luka is an expert at using his bulk to dislodge defenders just enough to get a good shot when he's inside the paint.

Right now the swing factor for Cunningham is whether he's able to tighten up his handle and be able to get where he wants on the court. Currently good defenders (even smaller ones like Davion Mitchell) are able to keep him out of the paint and/or force him to help more often than you like to see for a guy that you want as your primary creator.

And right now he isn't able to do what Doncic does and bully smaller defenders.
I think Cade having problems getting into the the paint had more to do with college rules than his lack of ability.
 
I won't lie, I'll be disappointed if the pick is Wagner. He's a surefire role player, but a role player nonetheless. This team needs so much more than just a role player right now. Going into next season there is an argument to be made that we are one of the 3 worst teams in the West. We need to go for high ceilings and potential. Someone that can help win us extra games while being a major spark for the team and lighting a fire under the fanbase. Wagner isn't that guy.
wouldnt hurt to have good~~~ role players which we sorely also lack along with a lot of other things
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
Salary matching would be an issue. Prior to the draft, they could either send Steven Adams (yes, please) or a package with Bledsoe (no thanks!)

But if you said Adams+10 for Buddy straight up, sign me up!
Oooooh I would love it. Adams would be good Holmes insurance, and we can definitely use his kind of toughness on the team.

Then we can get ourselves a high risk/reward player AND a boring role player type with the 9 and 10th picks!

Hopefully McNair tries to tinker something out.
 
Oooooh I would love it. Adams would be good Holmes insurance, and we can definitely use his kind of toughness on the team.
If we got Adams in a trade, that would basically end the Kings pursuit of Holmes. I can't see the Kings spending $17 million on Adams and trying to resign Holmes for $10+ million in free agency. That would be $27 million on 2 non-3 point shooting centers. That's not the way to construct a team in today's NBA.

Also, if the Kings were to get Adams, his defensive prowess could actually make up for Bagley's lack of defensive presence and make Bagley a viable power forward option for the Kings. If Adams cleans up on defense, Bagley can concentrate on his strengths on offense.
 
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dude12

Hall of Famer
So, somehow this leaks out from the Monte led organization that basically is not divulging any, and I mean ANY information on the draft, but this gets out? I just don’t think so. Also, I don’t think it really necessary to give Wagner a promise as the guy is going to be a top 15 pick no matter what and possibly a top 10. I don’t think those guys tend to get promises. It’s not like he’s at risk of going in the second round
 
So, somehow this leaks out from the Monte led organization that basically is not divulging any, and I mean ANY information on the draft, but this gets out? I just don’t think so. Also, I don’t think it really necessary to give Wagner a promise as the guy is going to be a top 15 pick no matter what and possibly a top 10. I don’t think those guys tend to get promises. It’s not like he’s at risk of going in the second round
Ahem, Bogdan Bogdanovic. Whether it was Monte's fault or not, that was a pretty big blunder so anything can happen. I mostly agree though. Promises can do certain things like keep a player from working out for other teams above them.
 
Ahem, Bogdan Bogdanovic. Whether it was Monte's fault or not, that was a pretty big blunder so anything can happen. I mostly agree though. Promises can do certain things like keep a player from working out for other teams above them.
Yeah, you can run as tight of a ship as possible but anything communicated to an outside party is no longer under your control.

The angle for the Kings here would be for Wagner to refuse to work out for other teams (he also did not participate in the combine for what it’s worth). There’s also the rumblings that Halliburton’s fall last year was somewhat orchestrated, so maybe this is Monte’s MO.

I don’t put a lot of faith in random Twitter accounts, but Chad Ford also said that Wagner to the Kings was likely, so maybe there’s something there.
 
The more I look at mock drafts the more I see the next tier of players after the first 5-6 all over the place. I’m not as good as scouting talent as some in here, so I’m just basing it on the mocks, but since we here at kingsfans don’t have a consensus at who we want at 9, how would you feel about trading it for okc’s 16 and 18? Is there a big drop off cuz I’m seeing mocks that have 2 of either jalen Johnson, sengun, Kai jones, Wagner, moody, z. Williams etc available at the 16 and 18. Basically if these guys are all within the range of 7-18, wouldn’t it be worth it to get 2 of them. (Assuming a top 5 doesn’t drop to us again)

sorry if this scenario has already been brought up.
 
The more I look at mock drafts the more I see the next tier of players after the first 5-6 all over the place. I’m not as good as scouting talent as some in here, so I’m just basing it on the mocks, but since we here at kingsfans don’t have a consensus at who we want at 9, how would you feel about trading it for okc’s 16 and 18? Is there a big drop off cuz I’m seeing mocks that have 2 of either jalen Johnson, sengun, Kai jones, Wagner, moody, z. Williams etc available at the 16 and 18. Basically if these guys are all within the range of 7-18, wouldn’t it be worth it to get 2 of them. (Assuming a top 5 doesn’t drop to us again)

sorry if this scenario has already been brought up.
My problem with this proposal is very likely all forward prospects (Wagner, Ziaire, Jalen Johnson) are gone at 16. And then most late 1st round guys are guards. We may end up drafting a big and guard. I won’t say it is bad outcome but we are desperate for a forward I would say.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
This topic will never not make me sad.
Fun things for me are:
a) two rival cities - this would be like the Lakers having the #2 pick (or getting Doncic, take your pick)
b) Portland fans voted for Oden, so no "you blew the layup"
c) Seattle doesn't have a basketball team anymore

That Portland core of Oden, Aldridge and Roy won something like 75% of the 82 total games they played together over 3 seasons.

Not fun thing here:
I moved to Portland in 2005, the beginning of our final playoffs season.
Portland was hot garbage. I routinely got free tickets WITH FOOD the first two years I was here.

They put together the aforementioned Oden, Aldridge and Roy lineup while we missed the playoffs.
That team imploded.
They put together a new core around Dame that reached the WCF.

All during the same timeframe we have not sniffed a playoff game :(
 
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