Here's a fun game.
When the season starts, go back and see how many 2nd round picks made the team that drafted them. And more importantly, how many guys picked after McCallum.
Yes, absolutely on paper Withey was a better fit for the Kings. But in the 2nd round even getting a player who sticks in the NBA is an achievement.
How many people really think Thornton is going to play out his contract in Sacramento? Or that Jimmer will be re-signed? It's not even a given that the Kings pick up IT's option and even if they do he's a FA after this season. And of course Tyreke is a restricted free agent this offseason. Logjam is such a strange word to me when considering how fluid NBA rosters are and can be.
The only way being upset over this pick is validated is if in three years or so Withey is a better player than McCallum.
the bolded portion above is key. some of us are upset not so much with the pick itself, but rather with what it reveals about the FO's strategy. i'll have no problem if thornton and/or jimmer is traded. i won't even be terribly upset if they let IT walk. but if they retain thornton and jimmer, and allow toney douglas to walk, for example, it tells us something about the FO that doesn't really jive with mike malone's philosophy of building a defense-first team. or, if they allow tyreke evans to walk in favor of any combination of their mismatched guards, it tells us something about the FO's strategy, and i don't find that to be a compelling strategy
at all...
in general, why let IT walk in favor of mccallum? for that matter, why let tyreke walk in favor of mclemore? neither mclemore nor mccallum have proven an ounce in the nba, whereas evans and thomas have proven quite a lot already in their young careers. i just
hate strategies that assume younger and cheaper is going to lead a team to the promised land, especially when the team is young enough as it is, and when the
only significant moves that the previous regime had made in the last seven years was to snatch up two all-star potential talents in demarcus cousins and tyreke evans in the draft...
all told, there's a thousand factors at play, and we'll just have to wait and see what happens. i just think that drafting a guard in the second round further muddies the water, as it tells us nothing about the kings' plans for the frontcourt rotation, which clearly needs considerable work. fans often act as if you can just go out and snatch up quality PF's and C's on a whim. they don't grow on trees. they
are trees. that's why they're so coveted in the nba. and while withey hardly qualifies as a "quality" talent in the nba, given how unproven he is, at least he represents a team need that you can stash in the D-league for developmental purposes, whereas mccallum
does not represent a team need, so there's little purpose for him on either the roster or in the D-league, as far as the kings are concerned...
