Cardwell is definitely cemented in as a backup C at minimum. I don't know if the rest are NBA players. I've been really disappointed with Nique and Carter. Neither guy looks like an NBA player. Raynaud is mostly NBA ready offensively but he's not even remotely close defensively and there's really not much of a place in the league for a 5 that can't play a lick of defense.
With that said, all these guys should be getting max minutes from here on out to see what they've got.
Yeah, outside of Cardwell, the statistical profiles are real rough, despite some flashes from Nique/Max/Carter. Cardwell thriving is a major bonus to him and shows he's actually legit to thrive in these conditions. The other guys are basically going through some typical rookie/young player struggles in one of the worst team environments in the league.
Doug spending the first 4 months of this season 1. Not playing them consistently and 2. Even if they got on the floor, they went and stood in the corner to watch DDR/Russ dribble the air out of the ball. And now they're expected to shoulder this massive USG workload when they've been ignored the entire year? Madness.
Max has also drawn the short-end of the stick where he's been the sacrificial lamb to play with the death trio of Russ/LaVine/DDR for a bunch of his minutes this year. Where outside of Russ hitting him in the PnR on occassion... largely ignored and not given a chance to really show his offensive value. I think he's very clearly an NBA player; like he's better than Drew Eubanks and if you go down the line of back-up bigs currently, you'd rather have Max than a good chunk of them, especially going forward. Whether he has more upside than a 12-15 MPG guy with the occasional spot-start? Eh.. But step 1 for a 2nd round pick is just clear the "this guy is an NBA rotation player" hurdle, and I think Max has shown that.
Cardwell is a starting C, right now. He's 10th in the NBA in TRB, He's 3rd in ORB%, he's 4th in the NBA in Block%, he's elite across the board in every defensive advanced statistic, the Kings a +10.8 points better with him on the floor, he's managed a 60.2% TS and the Kings somehow have a better ORtg with him on the floor than off, despite looking like one of the worst offensive players to ever suit up for SL 8 months ago. Also, just an ultimate vibes guy which I actually think does matter to get the home crowd into the game, energize the team, etc. He fouls too much and his FT shooting remains abysmal, but the Kings somehow lucked into another elite defensive talent, this time in a much more impactful position as a rim protector. If we do move off Domas, it should be to get Cardwell into the starting lineup for 30+ MPG.
Not too much to really say about Nique other than overall disappointing. I do think he's been set up to fail, but outside of a few flashes where you see the "jack of all trades" player come out, it's been bad, even in the context of how this team is set-up. He needs a real strong last 25 games here for him to continue to be on a "future rotation player" list for me.
Carter is even more tragic. I don't see how anyone could really expect him to succeed when he's literally been glued to the bench the whole year, all of a sudden thrust into this massive role... only to not play again in the last game. You can see how his confidence has just been utterly shot down and Doug's management of his minutes has been truly abysmal. Maybe he was never meant to work out, but the Kings basically made sure of that fact on how we've managed his development the last 2 years. Like Nique, needs a real strong last 25 games to really be in contention for a future rotation player spot. Which sucks, because I believe in Carters tools whole-heartedly. He gets to the paint at will, he's an impact defender, willing passer and playmaker. He's just too wild and out of control a lot of the time which is something you'd hope to reign in through reps and him just getting consistent floor time. Along with the shooting.
They are both still on rookie scales, so I'm not giving up on either as Kings will be horrible again next season so who cares if they're bad or not. They SHOULD get all next season to establish if they're high-end NBA guys or not. Enough with the Russ Westbrook/Dennis Schroeder/Tyus Jones (who for some reason I could easily see us bringing in next season as the "Vet mentor" PG) and just go let Nique and Dev sink or swim.
