Buddy needs to make the playoffs next year

#1
Everyone uses the youth excuse for young players when they fail to lead their respective teams to the playoffs. Is this a valid excuse? We used it for Cousins...and looked how that turned out for everyone. I decided to look at top 10 draft picks who failed to make a playoff appearance within their first 4 years in the league (rookie contract) Does this give us an idea of a player's future success?


2009 Missed Playoffs
2. Hasheem Thabeet
4. Tyreke Evans
5. Ricky Rubio
6. Jonny Flynn

2010 Missed
4. Wesley Johnson
5. DeMarcus Cousins
7. Greg Monroe
8. Al-Farouq Aminu

2011 Missed
2. Derrick Williams
6. Jan Vesley
8. Brandon Knight
10. Jimmer Fredette

2012 Missed
4. Dion Waiters
9. Andre Drummond

2013 Missed
1. Anthony Bennett
4. Alex Len
5. Nerlens Noel
7. Ben McLemore
9. Trey Burke

2014 Missed
1. Andrew Wiggins
4. Aaron Gordon
7. Julius Randle
8. Nik Stauskas
10. Elfrid Payton

2015 Missed
3. Jahlil Okafor
4. Kristaps Porzingis
5. Mario Hezonja
6. Willie Cauley-Stein
7. Emmanuel Mudiay

Looking at the list above, almost everyone mentioned has underwhelmed in the NBA, or became a bust. After their 4 years of being playoff-less, most of them have had very limited playoff success afterwards. Of course there are exceptions like Kevin Love.

What does this mean for Buddy Hield? He's going to be entering his 4th year as a 26/27 year old. Fox will also be entering his 3rd year as a 21/22 year old. From watching the playoffs right now, we're seeing it define legacies and success. I mean hell, everyone still salivates over our glory years in 2002. For players, every year counts towards playoff success. This is a very bleak list composed of players who have disappointed in this league. Every case is unique, but I do think there's some urgency for a playoff push from the Kings. Youth is an excuse that should be done with.

It's officially been 3 years since we traded DeMarcus. We saw a dramatic increase of success this year jumping to 39 wins, but we fired the HC who led us here. I think a lot is on the line next yer.
 
#4
You'll find alot of the players on this list on the same teams though. That should tell you something..
Memphis, Sacramento, Minnesota, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Utah, Orlando, LA, NYK, and Denver. There's actually not a lot of repeats outside of Sacramento, Minnesota, and Cleveland.
 
#5
Memphis, Sacramento, Minnesota, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Utah, Orlando, LA, NYK, and Denver. There's actually not a lot of repeats outside of Sacramento, Minnesota, and Cleveland.
Orlando, Philly which was clearly tanking so you can't really count them. Take those and the team's you mentioned out and you're not left with a very long list.