I think a lot of people are undervaluing a top 5 pick. You generally have to trade a bloody good player or take on a super ugly contract to get your hands on that pick.
If I am giving away pick5 then we better get some real nice assets and/or major cap space in return.
I have long loved the idea of Tyreke - Lowry backcourt. Both can handle and defend. Lowry can also play off the ball and is a genuine threat from 3. If you manage to add Dalembert to that mix and a decent defensive SF, the team should improve significantly at the defensive end. Its a nice balance in the starting line up and you have major 6th man in Thornton who can come on and light it up.
The last thing this team needs is another shot munching star type player. This team is in desperate need of complementary role players and some structure both offensively and defensively. In this case, sometimes is better to address more needs by trading the pick (or trading down) than sitting pat and selecting another young player looking for his shots.
"No ****" to the bold faced and "you betcha" to the rest.
First off I want MKG because he is darn near perfect for us. I think once we see his energy and how inspiring a guy like him can be, we will forget that he has no three point shot. Hell, we loved Michael "The Animal" Smith.
If we can't get MKG or Davis, we open the can of options that the #5 pick gives us. Here's where Petrie kicks into high gear.
There are soooo many options this year and we are a team that doesn't need offense or a franchise player. In my view there is only one way we could screw this up and I trust Petrie. My "never trade down" mantra can be altered because of our unique needs or LACK of needs is maybe a better way to put it. I still would not trade down if Davis or MKG were available. The rest of the potential picks have holes in their games that don't work perfectly for the Kings. Barnes can't create his own shot and despite the fact he may develop a solid three point shot, he doesn't have it yet. Drummond - disaster in the making. Why take the risk when I think we can get what he offers NOW in other ways. There are other ways of giving us one of the best front courts when we have Cuz and JT already. Also, thinking down the road, getting a superstar may not be affordable. Finally, Robinson is a great energy player who isn't the type of defensive player we need.
Let me set this paragraph alone. Why ruin having the #5 and all the options it gives us in a deep draft by picking Drummond? That would take cuevos of steel as a screw up would send Petrie into retirement.
We can load up on role players and because of the depth of this draft, the mid first round where we are showing a lot of interest has a lot of people good enough to be very good role players. If we came out of this with Tyreke and Cousins still on the team and Henson and Lowrie as additions, I'd be a happy camper. Throw in Daly, one year or not, and I would wet my pants. The options certainly aren't limited to this and as much as we criticize Petrie, he's a good draft day GM.
This is a time where intelligence is one of the main characteristics we need in a GM. As we fans have time to think before we post, we can be brilliant. He, on the other hand, will be making draft day decisions in real time and needs to have all the info at his finger tips going into that day. Thus the workouts of mid level people.