DeMarcus Cousins

[bajaden]

No, they aren't, but neither is Garcia. Until Evans, the Kings hadn't had a pick higher than #7 since 1991, so there were exceedingly few franchise bigs to be had, unless you think that ZI or Jermaine O'Neal (who were passed on to get Peja) would qualify. Well... or Dirk.

Since July 1994, Geoff picked a 6'7" combo F (Corliss, '95), and didn't pick anyone else whose natural position was PF or C until 2007 (when, not surprisingly, we wound up with a 7' guy who likes shooting 3s, followed by a guy with good character from a tiny school). Can you name any other team that's gone on a 12 year run without drafting a big? One or two may exist, but that isn't a normal pattern by any stretch of the imagination.

That's not to say that I'm sure we won't end up with Cousins, I wasn't trying to argue that we weren't. I'm not even sure that Geoff is going to make the draft choice this year, I think he might be getting ready to retire before much longer, and may leave it to his 2nd in command and the coaching staff.

But I do think there is a Geoff style of pick, whether it matters anymore or not.

I think its a combination of things. Up until three years ago, I think they were still trying reinvent the team on the fly. They hadn't seriously bit the bullet and decided to totally rebuild. With that in mind, I think Petrie had a tendency to look for experienced big men through freeagency or trades rather than drafting one. Thus we had Vlade, Miller and assorted other bigs in the Mikie Moore ilk come through the doors. Reason being, that it usually took big men longer to develop, and he was looking for immediate help.

Not saying it was justified. I just think that was the mind set.. Once we started to rebuild, then I think he started looking at bigs in the draft.

 

[hrdboild]

Draftexpress is reporting that Cousins won't even work out in Minnesota (on the Twitter feed) -- someone else trading up is a possibility, but otherwise it seems more and more likely that Cousins will fall to 5.