Draft talk?

Gargamel · Mar 4, 2005

Yeah, it's early, but the draft is inevitable, so why not? Anyone got some hopefulls that Petrie will select at Sac's likely range? Here are the mocks from nbadraft.net and draftcity.com.

http://nbadraft.net/index.asp

http://draftcity.com/mock.php?y=2005

Both sites order the players based on projected range, not based on the team that's likely to pick them. Therefore, nbadraft.net has Jarret Jack (PG - Georgia Tech) in Sac's slot. There's no way he'll slip that far. He's borderline lottery. They also place John Gilchrist (PG - Maryland) right under Jack. Same deal with him...the answer to LA's defensive prayers at the PG slot. I'm getting verklempt.

Draftcity.com has Channing Frye (C - Arizona) in Sac's slot. That's about right placement wise, although I doubt Petrie picks an Arizona center (to say Arizona isn't a bigman school is a gigantic understatement).

Simply judging by both mocks, two gems in Sac's range are Francisco Garcia (SG - Louisville) and Wayne Simien (PF - Kansas). Although injuries are said to be a concern, Simien is a beast down low...recently had a 25/20 game. He's like butter. I think it's doubtful that he stays in Sac's range, but if he does, I think Petrie would be foolish not to take him and run. Garcia is a bomber. He could feasibly be in Sac's range.

Anyway, who would you like Petrie to look at from Sac's likely range? Who's impressed you in college ball this year in general? Any comments about any players in particular? Draft talk...you know...no big whoop.

piksi · Mar 4, 2005

You guys have a solid chance of getting what You want especially being a lottery team.

We just want to get trough season first. The draft pick will depend on what plans GP has in remodelling the team

Mad Iron · Mar 4, 2005

Does it matter who Sac gets in the Draft? It's not like Adleman will use them.

AriesMar27 · Mar 4, 2005

what are our needs though? or how does petrie want to build this team.... depending on whether or not mobley stays or what we do with some of the new guys.... i dont know, i kinda wanna keep corliss and skinner.... unless we can find better replacements for them, icant wait to see how our bench looks with bobby, evans, corliss, darius and skinner.... until then i really dont know what to think of the draft because i dont know what the team has planned.....

Kev.in · Mar 4, 2005

I like Jarret Jack, he's strong for a point guard and I think he'll be able to play both backcourt spots in the NBA. That'd be a big boost for a team like our Kings, but I doubt he lasts until the mid-20s where we'll be picking.
I also like Simien, but we might not have a need for another big forward. He is an impressive free throw shooter for such a big, strong dude so that's worth keeping in mind.

Another guy that would be worth keeping an eye on is Danny Granger from the University of New Mexico. He's a well rounded wing player and a good defender. If the draft was tonight, he'd be a second round pick. But isn't and people will bring him in for some workouts. By June I think he could shoot up many teams' draft boards.

Alacron · Mar 4, 2005

Gargie's second link says best case scenario for Bogut is Brad Miller meets Vlade Divac. Someone must have been wathing a Kings game when they were typing up the profiles.
~~

HndsmCelt · Mar 4, 2005

Mad Iron said:

Perhaps better put, it will not matter who the Kings are left with in the draft beceause Adelamn will not be albe to use them. When etreemly tallented rookies have come his way Adelman playes them and has started them (read Pedja, Hedo, J. Will) But the price a team pays for being a top play off team year after year is late pics that all need developmental time unless the are drafted into a team where they ARE the best option (read Smith in Atlanta). What amamzes me is that frequeetly the same peoepl that complain about Adelman's rotation are also complaining about their favorite player not geting enough shots. I suggest folks do some basic math. You can pay more palyers but those min come form some where, usualy a starter, ans you cant give gaurd min to a forward unless you want to create line upthat average 6'5".

swisshh · Mar 4, 2005

That argument loses stength when you look at Dallas and San Antonio, two teams who have been right up there with the Kings for all these years and two teams have have drafted and developed young players. Parker, Ginobli, Udrih, Howard, Daniels and even Devin Harris. Young draft picks on contendors who get playing time and are either already important parts of the team or turning into important players for the team. The Mavs and Spurs show you can improve an already great team through the draft, through young players. Adleman just sucks at it.

edit: now that I see this quoted I realized I made the classic American grammar fubar

Mad Iron · Mar 4, 2005

HndsmCelt said:

You're right. Adleman would have used a Lebron or Carmelo if we got that high of a pick, although not to the same capacity as CLE and DEN use them. But Adleman has a problem with using untested rookies after they have a bad game. He'll give them some minutes at first, but once they screw up a game it's right onto the "mateen" side of the bench for them*. That's when they become trade bait.

*until the inevitable injury curse comes for the starters, then he's forced to play them.

uolj · Mar 4, 2005

swisshh said:

How are the bold players above different than:

HndsmCelt said:

swisshh · Mar 4, 2005

uolj said:

Those players are still on their team, those players are recent. Peja and Jwill are from Adleman's first season.

Bricklayer · Mar 4, 2005

swisshh said:

1) those players are also better than ours have been, as a rule. And a little "?" there for Geoff, as good as he's been otherwise.

2) something that is not always talked about, but Pop and Nellie basically draft for the teams they also coach. Makes a big difference -- those kids are people they believed in enough to draft, so its a more unified thing than when Geoff drafts somebody and gives him to Rick and Rick has to figure out what to do with him.

3) until just recently, we have always had just about the best 1-6 or lineup in basketball. Established stud players. When confronted by that, of course near All-Star level players are gong to get the minutes of...well, near All-Star level players. Different situation than when you have 2-3 main guns and then open minutes at the other positions.

HndsmCelt · Mar 4, 2005

Bricklayer said:

1) those players are also better than ours have been, as a rule. And a little "?" there for Geoff, as good as he's been otherwise.

2) something that is not always talked about, but Pop and Nellie basically draft for the teams they also coach. Makes a big difference -- those kids are people they believed in enough to draft, so its a more unified thing than when Geoff drafts somebody and gives him to Rick and Rick has to figure out what to do with him.

3) until just recently, we have always had just about the best 1-6 or lineup in basketball. Established stud players. When confronted by that, of course near All-Star level players are gong to get the minutes of...well, near All-Star level players. Different situation than when you have 2-3 main guns and then open minutes at the other positions.

Thanks for getting my back on this one Brick, I could not have said it better my self.

natedizzle · Mar 4, 2005

HndsmCelt said:

Kings may be a lottery team

Kev.in · Mar 4, 2005

uolj said:

Ginobili, Udrih, Howard, Daniels and Harris all play better defense and are more of the role player types than Peja, Hedo and J-Will who were projected as offensive stars coming into the league. They do not shoot the three as much as the Kings trio and probably didn't take as many shots (per 48min) in their rookie years as the Kings trio.

Kev.in · Mar 4, 2005

natedizzle said:

I wouldn't count on it. 8-14 the rest of the way gives them 44 wins which would be enough to make it in as the 8th seed. Do you really think they're going to play that far below .500 the rest of the way out? They might struggle, but not to that extent.

With that said, this team could really use a lottery pick, so I wouldn't mind too much if they did go in the tank. It'd be an awful couple of months of basketball, but if you get a special player out of the deal, it's worth it.

ovrush · Mar 4, 2005

Kev.in said:

I don't think being lottery bound is that far fetched. The Kings are currently 1 loss ahead of Houston and Memphis before dropping to the seventh seed which I think is a near certainty. We are 4 losses ahead of the Lakers and if they're this close missing Kobe for most of the season I don't know if we can hold them off.

Looking at our remaining schedule, if Bobby does't get helthy and we don't get some practice time I don't think 7-13 is that far outside reality. Sorry if Im sounding like a pessimist, Im trying not to I sincerely hope Im wrong.

I think we will wind up battling for the eigth seed with Minnesota and Denver. Denver is 5 losses behind us, and Minnesota is 6 losses back. Realistically, I don't see Minni putting it together if they haven't yet. Denver, however could really catch us. They have a TON of talent and are just meshing as a team. They're getting healthy and are currently on a 5 game win streak. If B52 stays hurt for any extended period of time we could find ourselves in the ninth seed in a hurry. Additionally, even with Brad, without practice time for the guys to come together, if Bobby doesn't get healthy soon I still have my doubts about holding the eight seed....

HndsmCelt · Mar 4, 2005

natedizzle said:

absurd and unsupportable. Show me your work.

piksi · Mar 4, 2005

HndsmCelt said:

it might work only if the class had the title "science fiction in proffesional baskettball"

PejaStojakovic · Mar 4, 2005

Remember this name http://nbadraft.net/profiles/nemanjaaleksandrov.asp

Bricklayer · Mar 4, 2005

ovrush said:

I don't think being lottery bound is that far fetched. The Kings are currently 1 loss ahead of Houston and Memphis before dropping to the seventh seed which I think is a near certainty. We are 4 losses ahead of the Lakers and if they're this close missing Kobe for most of the season I don't know if we can hold them off.

Looking at our remaining schedule, if Bobby does't get helthy and we don't get some practice time I don't think 7-13 is that far outside reality. Sorry if Im sounding like a pessimist, Im trying not to I sincerely hope Im wrong.

I think we will wind up battling for the eigth seed with Minnesota and Denver. Denver is 5 losses behind us, and Minnesota is 6 losses back. Realistically, I don't see Minni putting it together if they haven't yet. Denver, however could really catch us. They have a TON of talent and are just meshing as a team. They're getting healthy and are currently on a 5 game win streak. If B52 stays hurt for any extended period of time we could find ourselves in the ninth seed in a hurry. Additionally, even with Brad, without practice time for the guys to come together, if Bobby doesn't get healthy soon I still have my doubts about holding the eight seed....

I doubt we'll fall that far. Home games will be kind to us and let us get our feet under us. Would not surprise me if we slipped to 7th, but slipping down to 8th or out seems highly unlikley barring complete collapse (whihc I think you're kind of predicting).

ovrush · Mar 4, 2005

Bricklayer said:

Yeah, you're right, I'm being a bit of a pessimist, but I'm having a hard time gettng positive about our prospects right now. I just hope everyone takes my comments with a grain of salt for a couple weeks. Although looking at the schedule, which I posted in another thread, I don't think a complete collapse is that difficult to see happening without home being VERY kind to us (It hasn't been the loud boistrous ARCO of old lately), the team getting and staying healthy, and getting time to practice and get the new guys involved we could very easily go 7 - 13

Kev.in · Mar 4, 2005

PejaStojakovic said:

His profile on DraftCity says he has a nice jumper, a little post game, great potential as a slasher and that he's a good defender with long arms. Sounds like an interesting prospect.

BobbyJ_for3! · Mar 4, 2005

Gargamel said:

personally, since im praying we win the championship and have the last pick, im looking at Salim Stoudamire. Although he'll probably move up on the draft board as the NCAAB season winds down and the championship tourneys get going, plus that little thing we call the Big Dance. And the workouts over the summer. BUt still, as of now, if the draft was tomorrow, id want Salim coming to sactown. Long range bomber fits in, and I hear hes an above average defender. Even tho we need defense and not shooting hes a good fit and the draft cant solve a teams problems way down at pick 25+

just my thoughts

(i also noticed that draft city doesn't have andriuskevicius anywhere on their board and nbadraft.net has him at #2 overall...that confuses me...does nbadraft know somehting draft city doesnt, or the other way around?)

Packt · Mar 4, 2005

It's kind of early for the draft, but I've found myself thinking about it more and more, lately. I know it'll be hard to to get an impact player, but I hope we're looking at players in the 4-5 spot; hopefully someone who is a shot blocker. It'll be hard to get players who play that position through trades without giving up core players.

I don't see a rookie getting minutes behind Bibby, so we should forget that, and we already have a young, inexperience but with potential, player in Martin at the 2 guard, so another one will be redundant.

Gargamel · Mar 4, 2005

PejaStojakovic said:

You see this guy play? Share your insight.

Big Cuz 15 · Mar 4, 2005

swisshh said:

i agree with your statement fully. adelman really sucks at developing young talent! nellie knows how to play young talent so does big poppovich.

Gargamel · Mar 4, 2005

BobbyJ_for3! said:

I doubt it. It's usually difficult predicting which Euros will actually make it far enough to be drafted. If Martynas does declare, I think the invitational tournaments will really affect his draft range. I fail to see how anyone can project him at #2. Most 7 footers are projects. He's a 7'3" thin teen Euro project with raw offensive skills. I can see him getting some Darko stigma.

PejaStojakovic · Mar 5, 2005

Nemanja Aleksandrov

Stengths:
Aleksandrov is a very versatile forward; extremely gifted with great height, excellent athleticism and superb skills, the combination that all NBA teams dream of. He's long, with a great wingspan (apparently, he hasn't stopped growing yet), has great mobility, a nice vertical and he is very coordinated. He can run the floor almost like a guard, and thrives when doing so. His jumpshot is amazing for a player his age. Not only is it very effective, but his mechanics are beautiful; fluid, just perfect, and lightning quick. When he shoots, he jumps quite high (more like a guard than like a PF) something that makes blocking his shot nearly impossible on the perimeter. He needs very little time and space to execute his jumper, never feeling intimidated if an opponent is close by. He is also reliable in the paint thanks to a variety of post moves, a soft touch, and of course his height and long arms, ala Gasol. His favourite move is spinning after a fake to deliver a semi-hook. He combines his inside game extremely well with his outside game, not abusing his picture perfect shot, something that is common for big men with a decent jumper like him. He has very good handles and can pass the ball. He likes to lead the break and feed his teammates. He finds the right man to pass in every situation, keeping the ball moving on the offensive end. You won't see him spending valuable seconds of a possession thinking what to do with the ball. He just has a great feel for the game and a very fast mind. He sees the best option right away. He can penetrate, being too fast for most of the power forwards to stop him. A couple of steps and he's right at the rim. It's not unusual to see him finishing alley-oops, effortlessly as usual. He's a solid defender, with good lateral speed (I would say very good for a 6-11 player), able to stop almost any big man one on one and also making sure to take care of the team defense, always helping his teammates when needed. He can also grab a good amount of rebounds and block shots on a regular basis. Great basketball IQ. Aleksandrov knows the game and makes very few mistakes. Nemanja is a humble player. He plays for the team, he is a hard-worker. He never forces shots or plays just to fill the box-score. He's not cocky at all, and you won't notice any sign of disrespect to his rivals, nor his teammates.

Weakness:

It's not easy to find weak points in such a prospect, but being so young, it's impossible not to have some. Aleksandrov is a skinny player, and needs to bulk up to be more effective in the paint, basically banging in the post and rebounding. Of course, he should add weight carefully in order to keep his athleticism intact, or even improved. He could be more aggressive in the paint, as he would be more intimidating when defending. With his athleticism, height and long arms, you might expect more blocks out of him. The truth is he doesn't go up wildly for blocked shots, like many players his age, and usually won't risk his defensive position to take one. He finds it difficult to penetrate in traffic in the paint, but that's logical given that he's a power forward, and doesn't have the ability to make sudden changes of direction in motion in a confined space, like many guards can. As great as his shot is, it's a bit static. For the moment, he doesn't have a great shot off the dribble. Again, being a power forward, this isn't a decisive skill. His footwork can be improved, although it's not bad at all. Right now he mainly takes advantage of his length and soft touch to score in the post. If he worked on his post moves, improving his repertoire and the use of his body would help him a lot in the pros. Especially against the bigger, stronger and faster matchups then he has faced so far playing with people his age.

Outlook:

Aleksandrov is an amazing prospect. His combination of height, athleticism and skills is off the charts, and his character and attitude to go along with that will do wonders to fully develop his magnificent potential. In spite of his great shot and desire of playing small forward, I think he will become a full-time power forward, as his defensive attributes and offensive possibilities would fit perfectly there. Of course, I don't rule out a future focused on the perimeter, but he should work on his lateral quickness to be a reliable small forward defender. Aleksanderov is a dream player from a country that eats and sleeps basketball.

Best Case Scenario: Kevin Garnett
Worst Case Scenario: Wang ZhiZhi

swisshh · Mar 5, 2005

Bricklayer said:

Peja and Jwill are lottery picks, but Hedo wasn't and has been good. Wallace isn't a stud, but he's a good role player like some of the players I listed. Out of all the Kings picks, it seems Peja is the only player to really improve from his rookie year. Wallace, Jwill and Hedo all ended up being less and less a part of the team from year one. Meanwhile, players like Parker and Ginobli have grown each year and have turned into starters.

Yes, Nellie and Pop draft their own guys, but it isn't like there's a wide gap between Petrie's brain and Adleman's. Petrie drafts guys that fit Adleman's offensive system. The only guy drafted outside of that system is Wallace, but to think that Nellie or Pop haven't gone outside their system in drafting is a bit foolish. Parker isn't the prototypical Popovich guy, he wasn't a tough defensive minded player coming into the league. The Spurs offense was set up on passing it into the post and getting open jumpers from double teams. Parker and Ginobli are slashers, Parker's shot is inconsistent. The Spurs drafted players to extend their system and Popovich figured out how to use them to benefit the team. They are not just a halfcourt team now. If Petrie gives Adleman a player not fit for his game of HORSE then that player loses out. Adleman doesn't expand or intergrate new players with different qualities for the benefit of the team.

And Mark Cuban made sure the Mavs were loaded with talent each year and they still managed to develop young players.

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