i'll tell you who isn't happy about the fact that rubio was still on the board: geoff petrie. this clearly wasn't a last-minute, on-the-clock decision. we've heard through the wires that petrie favored tyreke evans over ricky rubio, because tyreke evans can score, and petrie loves scorers. my bet is that petrie would have rather seen rubio taken off the board at #3 by OKC, because then he would have gotten to draft his guy with no blowback. but i anticipate that the sacramento bee and the sacramento kings fanbase is going to crucify him in the aftermath of this draft. unless lebron james is in the building, fans pay to see a basketball team play, especially in sacramento, with the legacy of the chris webber/vlade divac/peja stojakovic/mike bibby/doug christie years behind them...
i like tyreke evans. i think he's a talented young player with potential, but realistically, he'll probably pan out as another combo guard who finds success in the nba as a john salmons type of player, who gets his points, but doesn't make his team any better. if this draft were stronger, than i would have no problem with petrie drafting bpa, because in great drafts there's the potential for impact players to fall anywhere in the top 5. but in such a weak draft, i think the team would be better served thinking about putting a young and exciting team on the floor, especially with fans getting restless in an empty building with roots in a city that might not even be home to the kings much longer. tyreke evans won't be playing much PG for the kings, and i'm not excited about trotting out beno udrih in '09-'10 as the long-term starting PG once again. as for sergio rodriguez, the kid is a longshot's pipe dream, at this point...
here's to hoping for another season of tanking, and the potential of john wall at #1 in 2010, though the kings would likely just end up with #4 again, anyway...