Draft Analysis...somebody had to start this

[Bricklayer]

Jason Thompson is a nice pick. Having played 4 yrs in college will make him a solid player in the NBA for sure with his skill set and size. Its just a matter of whether he will have a chance to be an all star. He has a good chance if he works hard on his game.

Too many people draft for potential sometimes and a huge majority of those "upside" picks never comes through. Wasn't Darko an upside pick? Look what happen. Some people say its not good to pick seniors because they must suck if they are not good enough to get drafted until the 4th yr. Well some people are still developing. I much rather have a senior that can come in and contribute right away as oppose to drafting a freshman "upside" guy like Anthony randolph and have to wait 3 yrs before AR can contribute. I rather have the guy develop his game in college rather than 3 yrs on a pro team and have to pay them while they sit on the bench.

Yes, but what you are also saying is you would much rather lose, as in forever. You draft that way every eyar and you basically NEVER cna draft a star. Ever. No fully realized proven star is ever going to slip to #10 or #12. Or frankly evne to #1. Because anybody that good is gone after 2 years of college tops.

Once upon a time everybody stayed 4 years. But now, staying four years is a definite sign that you have not been all that. And while you grab your nice and safe 22 yr old 4 yr guy, the guy drafting the 19 yr olds knows that his guy could blow right by yours -- he's years behind in the development curve.

That only partially applies here -- Thompson is a solid looking pick wiht real size, and now we just have to find out whetehr he's more Tim Duncan or Jason Collins. But the strategy of drafting fully realized 4 yr players is a loser's strategy. You are just drafting the leftovers -- the guys that the other teams snagging guys as frosh and sophs left behind. They are older, able to contribute "now". But their potential to contribute more than they do now is much lower.

 

[rhythmless]

Jason Thompson is a nice pick. Having played 4 yrs in college will make him a solid player in the NBA for sure with his skill set and size. Its just a matter of whether he will have a chance to be an all star. He has a good chance if he works hard on his game.

I love how people throw in this all star mention for players. Look at the current landscape of the west. Theres Boozer, Brand, Amare, Pau, Odom, Nowitski, West, and Duncan. You're going to say that if he works hard he can be a top 3 PF (and thats saying one of the last 2 spots will be a PF) out of these guys? Spare me. While its popularity, the people who are given all star nods are stars. Look at Martin's season last year, and he was barely mentioned as a reserve. I'm glad youre optimistic, but how bout we try and be educated fans too?

 

[nbrans]

People are acting like Thompson is a geezer. He's 21. Six months older than Mr. Potential Joe Alexander. This isn't like when we drafted Francisco Garcia and he was already 23. He's got time to get better.

And being a four year senior isn't the kiss of death, in fact, their success probably translates better on average than non-seniors -- Al Thornton, Brandan Roy, Randy Foye, Channing Frye, Danny Granger, Hakeem Warrick, Jason Maxiell, David Lee, Ronny Turiaf... all seniors. And that's just the last few drafts.

 

[Jerryaki]

I love how people throw in this all star mention for players. Look at the current landscape of the west. Theres Boozer, Brand, Amare, Pau, Odom, Nowitski, West, and Duncan. You're going to say that if he works hard he can be a top 3 PF (and thats saying one of the last 2 spots will be a PF) out of these guys? Spare me. While its popularity, the people who are given all star nods are stars. Look at Martin's season last year, and he was barely mentioned as a reserve. I'm glad youre optimistic, but how bout we try and be educated fans too?

i love how you think those PFs you mentioned in the west are going to be around forever.

 

[Bricklayer]

People are acting like Thompson is a geezer. He's 21. Six months older than Mr. Potential Joe Alexander. This isn't like when we drafted Francisco Garcia and he was already 23. He's got time to get better.

And being a four year senior isn't the kiss of death, in fact, their success probably translates better on average than non-seniors -- Al Thornton, Brandan Roy, Randy Foye, Channing Frye, Danny Granger, Hakeem Warrick, Jason Maxiell, David Lee, Ronny Turiaf... all seniors. And that's just the last few drafts.

He's three weeks from 22 -- he;s 22, same as most seniors.

Not decrepit. But if the rough cutoff point for major improvement is 25 (and it is), then he's got maybe half the time of a guy who is 19, and is much more into his full grown body now as well.

Until we see how good he is on the court whether that is a small issue or a big one we won't know. If he comes in and averages 20-12 in the pros the same way he did in Div I-AA or whatever, then obviously the potential issue is anon issue. If he comes in and averaged 6pts 5rebs however, its not remotely the same thing as if a 19 yr old kid does that.

Best chance he has of bucking the senior = solid but no star trend is that he came into his body late, and he played for a third rate school (basketballwise). So maybe he;s still learnign to play big, and if he does get off to a slow start, maybe he will adjust to the step upp in competition as the eyar goes on. Or not. We will see.

 

[rhythmless]

i love how you think those PFs you mentioned in the west are going to be around forever.

out of the ones i mentioned, only duncan is on a downward trend. all of these guys will be here in 5 years. and when theyre not, guys of equal caliber will take their places. keep in mind that there are only two guaranteed spots at pf, so if you say all star, you are really saying he is a top 4 pf in the league. bold statement there. i dont think i said they would be around forever, but good try at the humor/sarcasm mirror technique. try again.

Boozer(26),Brand(29), Amare(26), Pau(27), Odom(28), Nowitzki(30), West(27).

If you really think Thompson is going to crack all stars, I feel sorry for you. Or I envy you, in the ignorance is bliss mold.

Course, if he turns into a beast, you are all welcome to tell me how wrong i was, and i wish i will be.

 

[ParniValjak]

out of the ones i mentioned, only duncan is on a downward trend. all of these guys will be here in 5 years. and when theyre not, guys of equal caliber will take their places. keep in mind that there are only two guaranteed spots at pf, so if you say all star, you are really saying he is a top 4 pf in the league. bold statement there. i dont think i said they would be around forever, but good try at the humor/sarcasm mirror technique. try again.

Boozer(26),Brand(29), Amare(26), Pau(27), Odom(28), Nowitzki(30), West(27).

If you really think Thompson is going to crack all stars, I feel sorry for you. Or I envy you, in the ignorance is bliss mold.

Course, if he turns into a beast, you are all welcome to tell me how wrong i was, and i wish i will be.

3 years ago no one here or anywhere for that matter would have predicted David West being as All-Star and he was this past season.

The point is NO ONE here knows how well these players will develop. Thompson could well go on and become a perenial all-star, equally he could be a huge bust. Same goes for Singletary. Until they start playing in the NBA and have a couple of seasons under their belt, no one can predict what kind of impact these players will have in the NBA.

I recall no one considered Carlos Boozer as an NBA all-star coming out of college but he has turned into a very good player. There is nothing stoping Thompson from doing the same. The kid has talent. How much?! We are set to find out.

 

[Rockmeister]

If Thompson averages 50ppg, and 30rpg and Jordan/Chalmers/CDR turn into good NBA players then I will call this an unsuccessful draft.

Well, you better call this an unsuccessfully draft. I have not ever seen one player every have 50ppg and 30rpg.

Anyways, I liked the Thompson pick. I can't really say if I like the Singletary pick. And I don't know why the hell Petrie picked Patrick Ewing Jr.

 

[bajaden]

The main reason that Thompson was considered a reach is because of where he played. Had he played at UCLA or some similar school and put up similar numbers, well, he wouldn't be a King now would he? There's no doubt, its harder to figure out how he translates to the NBA as opposed to some of the others that were out there because of where he played.

So what do we know? We know he put up great numbers in his conference. We also know that he played against good competition at least twice, three times if you count DeAndre Jordan, and outplayed the competition every time. He's a very good passer, which for this team, that forgot what an assist looked like last year, is critical. He was a good rebounder at the level he played at.

Lets say your the Kings, and you bring him in along with a couple of other bigs and you have them go one on one. And he outplays all of them. You go down to the Warriors workout where they had about 12 players. And once again he outplays the competition. Competition that the mock drafts say should be picked ahead of him. Is he then a reach at 12? If there are rumors that the Warriors are as high on him as you are, do you gamble to trade down, and possibly loose him.

I'm not a mind reader. The Warriors could have been throwing up a smoke screen, wanting Randoff all along and trying to convince us to take Thompson. I doubt that, but who knows. He's the player I wanted all along, so I'm one of the happy ones. To be honest, I didn't think that Petrie had the guts to take him at 12.

As for the second round. Singletary is not a bad pick. I was higher on Mike Taylor, but were talking second round here. Ewing, I have no clue about. I certainly wouldn't have picked him based on what I saw from him this past season. He's strictly a hustle player with no shot to speak of. He plays mostly around the basket. Maybe the Kings saw something I didn't see in they're workouts. Or maybe Patrick paid them just to get his kid drafted. Beats me..

 

[hammystyle]

He's three weeks from 22 -- he;s 22, same as most seniors.

Not decrepit. But if the rough cutoff point for major improvement is 25 (and it is), then he's got maybe half the time of a guy who is 19, and is much more into his full grown body now as well.

Until we see how good he is on the court whether that is a small issue or a big one we won't know. If he comes in and averages 20-12 in the pros the same way he did in Div I-AA or whatever, then obviously the potential issue is anon issue. If he comes in and averaged 6pts 5rebs however, its not remotely the same thing as if a 19 yr old kid does that.

Best chance he has of bucking the senior = solid but no star trend is that he came into his body late, and he played for a third rate school (basketballwise). So maybe he;s still learning to play big, and if he does get off to a slow start, maybe he will adjust to the step upp in competition as the year goes on. Or not. We will see.

In college basketball the fact that he's a late-turning 22 makes him pretty young for his grade. Kevin Love is a Freshman, but Thompson is only two years older. Marreese Speights is a Soph, and Jason Thompson is a year older than him. He's younger than Mario Chalmers, Tyler Hansbrough, and Brandon Rush, juniors. He's younger than . I'm cherry-picking obviously, but I'll bet if you average it out, he's about as young as most juniors. Not a huge deal, but worth noting.

The late bloomer, growing into his body thing is another plus.

But I'd say the main hope for upside is that any guy with fundamentals to develop can get a lot better. He got quite a bit better every year in school, and that bodes well for continued improvement.

 

[BritishColumbia]

Thompson is a late bloomer. Some people are like Oden or LeBron - they are 19 but their real genetic age is much higher, some are not. As I remember, he was only 6'8" is a freshman !!! Some people are finished products at age of 21-22 - they stop growing, accepting new things etc and some people are still developing.

 

[fnordius]

Since quite a few talking heads have now handed out grades for this draft, I thought I'd collect all of their foolishness into one place. I found it amusing that, although nobody gave us better than a C+, there's little consensus about the details.
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College Hoops: C-

I don't get the infatuation with Thompson. Perhaps the Kings think they've found another mid-major gem like Kevin Martin. To me, he's a mediocre athlete, that's already physically mature and doesn't offer much room for improvement. Basically, he's just a career backup.

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/Draft/2008/reportcard.htm
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Walker Sports

Sacramento Kings Grade C-)Thompson was a strange and I think a bad pick at 12 they could have done better. Sean Singletary could be the steal of the draft. He is a gamer, just a bit on the small side, but he knows how to work the ball up the court and get it to the open man or put it in the bucket if he needs to. However, he will need a lot of help.

http://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/Walker_Sports_Gives_Out_NBA_Draft_Grades/282982
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Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo

Sacramento Kings
Additions: Jason Thompson, Sean Singletary, Patrick Ewing Jr.
Score: 4/10
You get the feeling that they were so surprised that every player the Kings thought they had a chance at had gone so swiftly in the minutes before their pick, that they just bite the bullet and went with the last remaining player at the top of the "best player available" list.
Sort of out-thinking yourself without thinking at all, and getting caught when you get too cute. There's no way they should have had this guy ranked this high, but they probably never thought they'd have to be forced into considering taking Thompson, and it may come back to bite them. Hopefully it doesn't, Geoff Petrie's so good at what he does that you'd like to hope for the best and see it actually come through.
Then again, when you think about Patrick Ewing Jr. (has he ever shown us anything that could be parlayed into a pro career?), it makes you wonder, even if he is a second round pick.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...lt=Asw.dnAsfNcqS3MOInB.HMu8vLYF?urn=nba,90778

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Sam Smith, Sporting News: D

Sacramento Kings. It's not like you're getting instant Hall of Famers with the 12th pick in the first round, but going for Jason Thompson from Rider was the biggest surprise of the first round and certainly of the lottery. (Russell Westbrook at No. 4 is a close second, though.) Throw in the fact the Kings took Spencer Hawes in last year's draft and more confusion ensues, though it means Brad Miller should be dealt now. Maybe Ron Artest is making the picks. And they got the wrong Patrick Ewing.

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=428492
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Mike Kahn, Fox
Sacramento Kings

First round: Jason Thompson, F-C, 6-11, 250, Rider
Second round: Sean Singletary, PG, 6-0, 180, Virginia
Second round: Patrick Ewing Jr., SF, 6-7, 225, Georgetown
Thompson is a solid, lunch-pail guy that should be able to give them minutes, if not just fouls. Singletary seems like a strong candidate for the NBDL, but Ewing is a relentless defender and explosive athlete that will give them energy from the bench. The roster is better than it was before the draft.
Grade: C-plus.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8288054/Did-your-team-make-the-grade-in-NBA-draft?
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Marty Burns, SI

C
Sacramento Kings Jason Thompson (12); Sean Singletary (42); Patrick Ewing Jr. (43); Thompson was projected to go lower, but president Geoff Petrie must have been either unwilling or unable to trade down. Singletary and Ewing Jr. appear to be solid picks at their respective spots.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/marty_burns/06/27/grades/index.html
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Chad Ford, ESPN

Sacramento Kings Grade: C-
Round 1: Jason Thompson (12)

Round 2: Sean Singletary (42), Patrick Ewing Jr. (43)

Analysis: A team should not be criticized just for doing the unexpected. But the Kings made a huge reach for Thompson at No. 12. He's going to be a solid rotation player at best. But it looks like he might be the Shelden Williams of this draft. With solid players like Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers and upside guys like Anthony Randolph and Marreese Speights on the board, I think the Kings blew it.
Singletary could be a nice second-round pick. But I have a hard time believing Ewing has a spot in the league.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=DraftGrades-080627

 

[rfdong]

thoughts

As I read along about how we should have 4 draft picks etc etc....I keep wondering why? Let's remember, before the draft our goal is still cap space in 2010 isn't it? and signing a bunch of second rounders in 2008-9 is gonna help how? Maybe they aren't guaranteed, but I'll take one quality player and hang on for 2010. Kings aren't that far away. They played great against the best teams last (with and w/o Artest) year, but played down to their competition. Thompson I never saw in person, but I would guess if he was that good he was double teamed often and still put up great numbers. He may have more upside than people think. Some guys flourish in the NBA with the lack of consistent zones and hopefully he's one of them. Look at the Kings, we have a very good but not superstar in K Mart, a young center who as a ROOKIE showed flashes of being very good (that's difficult for ROOKIE centers) and a young hopefully productive PF who can handle the ball, face up and rebound/score around the basket. We have a solid bench and some bench pieces who hopefully will start producing (Douby). I didn't mention Ron-Ron cause he's gone either way. PG is still up in the air but I wouldn't be disappointed in Beno at least short term next couple of years as he's solid. Remember Portland was in our shoes or worse off just a few years ago with SAR and Randolph being whales on their payroll, add in D Miles and Rasheed and they were toxic. But they finally with and w/o help got the whales off the beach (where's Isaiah when you need him?) and had cap space and young prospects to deal. They also took a long term view and took some chances with high schoolers that have so far panned out but are just beginning to (Webster and Outlaw), neither has been consistent but are showing signs. Unlike Seattle who took high school stiffs/tattoo aficionados. Future is bright in Sac, believe in it as all true fans do. We stayed even in the dark days BV (before Vlade)...........sorry for the rambling.