The statement that Vlade made where he put his head on The Chopping Block by giving himself a timetable on the rebuild is looking like a genius move. It gave a lot of fans like me cannon fodder to roast him when the time came because of my disagreement about the Boogie trade.
I honestly believe that even if the team somehow blows everyone's minds and wins 35 or 40 games we are still in a good position because if I'm not mistaken the Kings have 9 first round picks on the roster 25 and under. Essentially, if two or three of these players develop into solid NBA starters and two or three of them develop into at worst quality role players or rotational bench players, then Vlade Divac won't have to worry about the position of the 2018 pick nor losing the 2019 pick.
I'm not projecting this team to win 35 or 40 games I'm just saying that because of the solid work the Vlade has done already, it is not as desperate as it was prior to this year's draft. To me, Fox is at worst Brandon Knight who is at worst a sixth man on a bad team but is still a capable every night 15 and 5 kind of player on a below average to bad team. Also to me, Bogdan Bogdanovic is at worst a 15, 4, 5 kind of player on a low-level playoff team. With that said, to me those are the bottom level projections for Fox and Bogdanovic. I honestly think that Fox, if he can improve the shooting at all to even be serviceable, has a real shot at being a starting point guard for a playoff team. I don't think he'll have sensational All-Star numbers but he'll be highly respected and a quality defender. One of the things many Kentucky fans did not learn until after the season was basically over is how infectious of a personality, how high of a charisma, and (speaking to upper classmen teammates) how high his leadership skills are. Some of the players compared him leadership wise to Tyler Ulis. In Kentucky circles, Tyler Ulis is in the Mount Rushmore of leaders in Kentucky Wildcat history. That is why I was willing to take Fox at 5 when he was still being talked about as being in the 7-9 range.
The real mystery and intrigued for me is what Harry Giles and Skal Labissiere can become. If they can be anything like what their talent leads us to believe, then I think the Kings are a 2020 Western Conference Championship contender. If a lineup like the one listed below all tap into their potential, who could argue with that?
Fox
Hield
Jackson/Bogdanovic
Skal/Willie
Giles/Big Papa
With Frank Mason being that Bobby Jackson like lightning rod off the bench. Wowza!
Keep in mind that all these projections are not including any potential free agents that might come over once they see a winning new culture. As a Kings fan I've learned to never trust free agency. I think Vlade has the same thing in mind which is why he is focusing his efforts on the European players in free agency.