Kings Down-Picks

There was a rumor floating around that Sabonis refused to workout with the Kings and would refuse to play for us, if drafted. If those rumors were true, then that's really unfortunate.

a rookie has the right to determine where he wants to play? that's news to me.
 
It doesnt surprise me Sabonis is looking good. Smart player with good BB genes, and he gets drafted by a winning franchise.

For the record I was afraid the Kings were going to draft him. Seemed like a Vlade type of player to me. I bought into the short arms and non athletic rap.

He would be doing nothing on this team IMO...you said it yourself, he got drafted by a team that has had years of winning, they have a winning culture in place and a solid front office to boot.
 
https://twitter.com/sacramentokings/status/797999395157356544

The rookies played in Reno

Skal 9 pts, 11rebs
Malachi. 22 pts and 7 Rebs
Papa. 15 pts 2 blks

Good to see them put up some numbers


I watched the game. Papa was the same as we remembered - had issues with length and athleticism, despite his two blocks wasn't protecting the rim and got out rebounded by smaller guys. Played within himself on the other end and made some nice finishes and putbacks.

Malachi missed a lot of shots but also went to the line a lot, at least half of those fouls he got bailed out by the defense. His shots were not falling but dumb defense kept fouling him, his length + athleticism seemed to have made defenders more nervous than his shooting warranted. Had zero assist and overall was not that interested in sharing the ball.

Skal had a few putbacks but otherwise quiet offensively. Did pull down 11 rebs.

Lamar Patterson looked really polished - can shoot, pass, and rebound for a guard. Seems to be a jack-of-all-trade master of none type of player.
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I can't believe there are fans out there that advocate losing on purpose. What fun games those would be to attend at the end of a given season! Money well spent!!

It's one thing to watch a team lose when they are trying. It's another thing to watch a team lose when they aren't. I don't think they give discounts for those tickets either!

The playoffs were out of reach. I for one was dumbfounded when the wins started coming in @ 44 losses - they weren't going to win 12 in a row - fat chance. The games were meaningless at that point.....and draft positioning meaningful. Actually forfeiture would be nice for the fans. There are too many awful teams in the NBA, unworthy of playing. This Kings team is pretty close to that description. So if you're paying to watch this Kings team, you're paying too much. Hell your time is certainly worth more spent doing other things, but if you can afford and enjoy the diversion, enjoy the pain.

Isn't it in the Premier League for British Football that poor/losing teams get relegated down to lower sub-divisions.... - I kinda like that idea. Bad teams have to perform well to have the chance to play good teams.
 
The playoffs were out of reach. I for one was dumbfounded when the wins started coming in @ 44 losses - they weren't going to win 12 in a row - fat chance. The games were meaningless at that point.....and draft positioning meaningful. Actually forfeiture would be nice for the fans. There are too many awful teams in the NBA, unworthy of playing. This Kings team is pretty close to that description. So if you're paying to watch this Kings team, you're paying too much. Hell your time is certainly worth more spent doing other things, but if you can afford and enjoy the diversion, enjoy the pain.

Isn't it in the Premier League for British Football that poor/losing teams get relegated down to lower sub-divisions.... - I kinda like that idea. Bad teams have to perform well to have the chance to play good teams.

So are you, for all intents and purposes, advocating widespread Sixers-style tanking through out the league? I'm not saying that's wrong but it's certainly amongst the minority opinions in the league.

"If you don't feel like you can win a championship this season, just give up! That first round pick's really gonna make a difference next season!"
 
Our rookies are looking so bad.... they look like they're years from actually being able to contribute in the NBA.

Can anyone please tell me what Vlade saw in Richardson? I don't see the appeal. Papagiannis also looks so slow out there. He was better off staying in Greece.
 
Can anyone please tell me what Vlade saw in Richardson? I don't see the appeal.

While he makes the final draft decision, the opinion of the team scouts factor in as well. I highly doubt he was the only one that liked Richardson.

I think it's far premature to make any evaluation on Richardson. The Spurs drafted Dejounte Murray #29 and he's not playing much either. Bet your bottom dollar he'll be developed just like undrafted Jonathan Simmons. Perhaps Vlade is hoping to do something similar with Richardson and Skal?
 
Our rookies are looking so bad.... they look like they're years from actually being able to contribute in the NBA.

Can anyone please tell me what Vlade saw in Richardson? I don't see the appeal. Papagiannis also looks so slow out there. He was better off staying in Greece.

Well, you always seem to be the expert on these guys. Didn't you see him play at Syracuse? He looked like a first round pick, and ended up being the 22nd pick in the draft. Personally, I feel that's about right. So what is the problem? Did you expect the 22nd pick in the draft to come in and play like the 1st pick in the draft? Come to think of it, the 1st pick in the draft isn't even playing. Buddy Hield is struggling, as it Murray. What is Valentine doing? He's played one game in D-League, and his shot wasn't falling. It happens! I watched Chris Webber go something like 2 for 22 one night. Should I base all my judgements on Webber on that one game? Give me a freaking break!!!!!!!!!
 
Years away is kind of the point. The chance of drafting a starting caliber player in the draft is low enough. Add in the fact that if you are dependent on getting a great pick to save your franchise you are in deeper trouble than anything one pick is going to be able to do.

The point of the draftees getting playing time in the D - League is to get out of that dependence. It takes years to come to fruition but the goal is to be restocking your up and coming crop of players while hopefully benefiting from the choices of a past seasons choices in the draft. There has to be a lull period in between but once it gets rolling then you theoretically have a yearly influx of at least polished players who already know where they fit in your teams system.

The speed at which a player becomes viable to be called up and be a better option in one of the teams slots is going to vary.
 
Well, you always seem to be the expert on these guys. Didn't you see him play at Syracuse? He looked like a first round pick, and ended up being the 22nd pick in the draft. Personally, I feel that's about right. So what is the problem? Did you expect the 22nd pick in the draft to come in and play like the 1st pick in the draft? Come to think of it, the 1st pick in the draft isn't even playing. Buddy Hield is struggling, as it Murray. What is Valentine doing? He's played one game in D-League, and his shot wasn't falling. It happens! I watched Chris Webber go something like 2 for 22 one night. Should I base all my judgements on Webber on that one game? Give me a freaking break!!!!!!!!!
Come on Baja, this was not a knee-jerk reaction to his 1st DL game, but rather a reaction of reassurance because he's showed me 0. Richardson never looked like a 1st round pick at Syracuse. Frail 6'6 SG who lacks elite athleticism, quickness, finishing ability, etc. To make it worse, he's only an average ball handler, and has trouble getting to the paint.
What about that screams 1st rounder? He's also much older than most freshmen. Will turn 21 in January.

I'm not talking about his shooting. Everything about his game looks poor. He's not much of a passer. Can't facilitate. Inconsistent shooter. Settles for long 2s, despite not making them at a great rate. Can't get to the paint because he's too weak and his ball handling isn't good enough. Was an inefficient scorer at the college level. I was pretty vocal about my distaste with Richardson.
His only real positive is his shooting and shot creation. Does shot creation even matter when he was shooting 39% from 2pt% in college?

Nothing about his SL performance, or even his DL performance has made me think he's anything other than a raw inefficient selfish chucker. His 2nd game hasn't convinced me anymore than his 1st game:
5-13 FG. 1-4 3pt. 8-9FT. 2rebs. 0ASTS 2stls 7TOS.
 
Come on Baja, this was not a knee-jerk reaction to his 1st DL game, but rather a reaction of reassurance because he's showed me 0. Richardson never looked like a 1st round pick at Syracuse. Frail 6'6 SG who lacks elite athleticism, quickness, finishing ability, etc. To make it worse, he's only an average ball handler, and has trouble getting to the paint.


Um...that is a remarkably poor physical description of the guy who showed up in SL. Maybe he was frail at 18, maybe. But he's grown up fast and was something approaching a physical specimen by the time we saw him. A big SG with great length and obvious defensive potential.

6'4.75" no shoes
6'6.25" w/shoes
200 lbs
7'0" wingspan, one of the longer ones ever recorded for a player that size
33.0 inch no step vert
38.0 inch max vert

that's absolutely an NBA SG physically. In fact physically he's got a major edge in length over most of them.


Justice Winslow
6'4.5" no shoes
6'5.5" w/shoes
218lbs
6'9.5" wingspan
? inch no step vert
? inch max vert

Kentavious Caldwell Pope
6'4.5" no shoes
6'5.5" w/shoes
204lbs
6'8" wingspan
29.0 inch no step vert
34.5 inch max vert

Zach LaVine
6'4.5" no shoes
6'5.75" w/shoes
181lbs
6'8.25" wingspan
33.5 inch no step vert
41.5 inch max vert

Ben McLemore
6'3.5" no shoes
6'4.75" w/shoes
189lbs
6'7.75" wingspan
32.5 inch no step vert
42.0 inch max vert

Jason Richardson
6'4.75" no shoes
6'5.75" w/shoes
213 lbs
6'11.5" wingspan
32.5 inch no step vert
39.5 inch max vert
 
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I thought we were going to use Reno to develop players and play the same system both offensively and defensively as the NBA team. It would appear to me that Reno team has approach similar to Summer League rather than the NBA franchise.
 
So are you, for all intents and purposes, advocating widespread Sixers-style tanking through out the league? I'm not saying that's wrong but it's certainly amongst the minority opinions in the league.

"If you don't feel like you can win a championship this season, just give up! That first round pick's really gonna make a difference next season!"

In the case of being eliminated from the playoffs, yes tanking, or musing about forfeiture - really what's the point of watching noncompetitive teams? Or subdividing the league - as teams become competitive they have a shot at the top division play. How many of the bottom 10 teams right now will make the playoffs? One maybe? Why not sub-divide them into their own division/league to compete until one shows merit. The lower divided game become more interesting and teams have a stepping ladder to build.
 
I think we should give most these guys more than 2 games before writing them off. Malachi and Skal at least have some tools.

Skal has started slow but I'm looking forward to seeing him pick things up as the season goes on.

Malachi has been inefficient but he's getting to the line at a Hardenesque rate. Still early but if he can make that a part of his game, it'll mask his inefficient shooting.

Papa has put up better numbers than he did in summer league and preseason by a long shot but from looking at the highlights, it seems as if his numbers are just coming from him being a lot bigger than everyone. Not because he's doing anything special basketball wise. Still, it's nice to see him at least putting up respectable numbers so far.

Lamar Patterson is the best player on the team so far. I'm hoping by the end of the season he's at least the 3rd best player with Skal and Malachi surpassing him.
 
This franchise needs to show it can draft before I can get behind tanking.

We've had nothing but top ten picks for a decade, with naught to show for it but Cuz.

This post needs to be a sticky, truer words have never been spoken.
 
I think we should give most these guys more than 2 games before writing them off. Malachi and Skal at least have some tools.

Skal has started slow but I'm looking forward to seeing him pick things up as the season goes on.

Malachi has been inefficient but he's getting to the line at a Hardenesque rate. Still early but if he can make that a part of his game, it'll mask his inefficient shooting.

Papa has put up better numbers than he did in summer league and preseason by a long shot but from looking at the highlights, it seems as if his numbers are just coming from him being a lot bigger than everyone. Not because he's doing anything special basketball wise. Still, it's nice to see him at least putting up respectable numbers so far.

Lamar Patterson is the best player on the team so far. I'm hoping by the end of the season he's at least the 3rd best player with Skal and Malachi surpassing him.

Lamar has been in the league a bit longer, so it's not unusual that he is the best player on the team at this point in time. Even if he hasn't been playing much in the regular season.
 
Lamar has been in the league a bit longer, so it's not unusual that he is the best player on the team at this point in time. Even if he hasn't been playing much in the regular season.

Yep and that's why I'm hoping these guys will develop into superior players by the end of the season.
 
Come on Baja, this was not a knee-jerk reaction to his 1st DL game, but rather a reaction of reassurance because he's showed me 0. Richardson never looked like a 1st round pick at Syracuse. Frail 6'6 SG who lacks elite athleticism, quickness, finishing ability, etc. To make it worse, he's only an average ball handler, and has trouble getting to the paint.
What about that screams 1st rounder? He's also much older than most freshmen. Will turn 21 in January.

I'm not talking about his shooting. Everything about his game looks poor. He's not much of a passer. Can't facilitate. Inconsistent shooter. Settles for long 2s, despite not making them at a great rate. Can't get to the paint because he's too weak and his ball handling isn't good enough. Was an inefficient scorer at the college level. I was pretty vocal about my distaste with Richardson.
His only real positive is his shooting and shot creation. Does shot creation even matter when he was shooting 39% from 2pt% in college?

Nothing about his SL performance, or even his DL performance has made me think he's anything other than a raw inefficient selfish chucker. His 2nd game hasn't convinced me anymore than his 1st game:
5-13 FG. 1-4 3pt. 8-9FT. 2rebs. 0ASTS 2stls 7TOS.


You see, I'm really trying to listen to what you say, but when you post nonsense like this, you make it hard for me to do so. Results wise, he was a better player than McLemore coming out of college. About the only advantage Ben had on Richardson is his athleticism. Richardson is a better ballhandler at the same point in time, he's taller and bigger, and has better BBIQ. When you consider where McLemore was taken in the draft, yes, I considered Richardson a 1st round pick. I had him going somewhere between 25 and 30, so at 22 that isn't much of a stretch.

I have a golden rule that I try my best to abide by, and its that I don't read anything about the college players I'm interested in. I base everything on what I see on the court. I don't want to watch any game having already been influenced by what I've read. I suggest you do the same. I was sitting in the stands at summer league watching him play, and I'm sorry, but I didn't see what you claim to have seen. Now there were some games at Syracuse that would have fit that description, but not in summer league. At Syracuse, he ended up being the main guy, and therefore he was asked to carry more of a load than he was able to. It resulted in him taking a lot of very bad shots. I commented during the year that if he could acquire some shot discipline he might become a good shooter.

For you to quote his stats from one DL game is ridiculous and I have no further comments on the subject.
 
This franchise needs to show it can draft before I can get behind tanking.

We've had nothing but top ten picks for a decade, with naught to show for it but Cuz.

To piggyback on this who has been in charge of player development? With so many top picks why haven't we had a top notch development team? Vivek/Vlade really need to invest in finding the best people they can to really get these rookies on the right path to becoming serviceable NBA guys. They cannot reach full potential if the organization can't put them in a position to succeed. They are kids they need guidance before they ever set foot on the court in the NBA! We need the type of staff that is willing to be in the gym 24/7 with these guys.

The one all star we have drafted in over a decade(IT got in because of Kyries injury last year) basically did it against all odds and even he has some glaring bad habits. If you look at all of the franchises who have successfully developed players i.e Spurs everything is calculated. From how much and when the player plays to exactly what the player does on the court. In Sacramento we jerk young guys around destroy their confidence then ship them off. Pop has guidelines for every rookie so they don't get overwhelmed and ease into their roles. Khawi would have been traded for a bench player had he been drafted here. With all of the top picks coming up(assuming we can't climb out of this 4-7 hole) we need to get Joerger some help in regards to this.
 
I think Malachi Richardson has a chance to be a good player. Put him a supporting role and I think he can help...at some point.
 
To piggyback on this who has been in charge of player development? With so many top picks why haven't we had a top notch development team? Vivek/Vlade really need to invest in finding the best people they can to really get these rookies on the right path to becoming serviceable NBA guys. They cannot reach full potential if the organization can't put them in a position to succeed. They are kids they need guidance before they ever set foot on the court in the NBA! We need the type of staff that is willing to be in the gym 24/7 with these guys.

The one all star we have drafted in over a decade(IT got in because of Kyries injury last year) basically did it against all odds and even he has some glaring bad habits. If you look at all of the franchises who have successfully developed players i.e Spurs everything is calculated. From how much and when the player plays to exactly what the player does on the court. In Sacramento we jerk young guys around destroy their confidence then ship them off. Pop has guidelines for every rookie so they don't get overwhelmed and ease into their roles. Khawi would have been traded for a bench player had he been drafted here. With all of the top picks coming up(assuming we can't climb out of this 4-7 hole) we need to get Joerger some help in regards to this.
http://www.nba.com/kings/roster/larry-lewis

Larry Lewis was hired this off season to oversee player development.
 
You see, I'm really trying to listen to what you say, but when you post nonsense like this, you make it hard for me to do so. Results wise, he was a better player than McLemore coming out of college. About the only advantage Ben had on Richardson is his athleticism. Richardson is a better ballhandler at the same point in time, he's taller and bigger, and has better BBIQ. When you consider where McLemore was taken in the draft, yes, I considered Richardson a 1st round pick. I had him going somewhere between 25 and 30, so at 22 that isn't much of a stretch.

I have a golden rule that I try my best to abide by, and its that I don't read anything about the college players I'm interested in. I base everything on what I see on the court. I don't want to watch any game having already been influenced by what I've read. I suggest you do the same. I was sitting in the stands at summer league watching him play, and I'm sorry, but I didn't see what you claim to have seen. Now there were some games at Syracuse that would have fit that description, but not in summer league. At Syracuse, he ended up being the main guy, and therefore he was asked to carry more of a load than he was able to. It resulted in him taking a lot of very bad shots. I commented during the year that if he could acquire some shot discipline he might become a good shooter.

For you to quote his stats from one DL game is ridiculous and I have no further comments on the subject.
ok, we'll revisit this conversation next year.

I'm not actively rooting for these players to fail, but when they struggle in the SL, and show very little progress through the DL, what can you even say about that? To make things worse, neither 3 were actually very effective contributors before the NBA. The Kings have a terrible track record of developing their players. In fact, it's arguable that within the last 10 years, Hawes, Cousins, and IT were their only successful developments.

Again, come back next year, because it's pretty obvious that 0 of our rookies are ready for the NBA.
 
Um...that is a remarkably poor physical description of the guy who showed up in SL. Maybe he was frail at 18, maybe. But he's grown up fast and was something approaching a physical specimen by the time we saw him. A big SG with great length and obvious defensive potential.

6'4.75" no shoes
6'6.25" w/shoes
200 lbs
7'0" wingspan, one of the longer ones ever recorded for a player that size
33.0 inch no step vert
38.0 inch max vert

that's absolutely an NBA SG physically. In fact physically he's got a major edge in length over most of them.
Richardson has a very weird body-frame. He's very lanky, but lacks strength even at 200. I don't question his length, I question his overall quickness and athletics. I've seen him loads of times settle for long 2s in college because he just wasn't quick enough to beat his man off the dribble. He had trouble just getting to the rim, and when he did get to the rim, he couldn't finish. Had to do with his lack of strength. Since he is 6'6 with a 7ft wingpsan, he should have an advantage finishing at the rim, but he didn't. Just compare his FG% at the rim to other wings from this draft: I should note, only 20% of his FG shots came at the rim, which is as little as Jamal Murray(someone who struggles to get to the rim, but can finish).
Malachi Richardson: 58.1%
Michael Gibinje(teammate): 63.5%
Buddy Hield: 64.1%
Jamaal Murray: 65.5%
Malik Beasley: 68%

His overall stats are some-what impressive, but athleticism and quickness isn't just measured by verts though. I'm sure Grayson Allen will measure with a very high vert, but he lacks quickness.
I don't think Richardson is Stauskas in terms of athleticism and quickness, but he's slightly below average for the NBA in both for a SG.

If he plays SF, I think it'll be less of a problem. However, right now, he's just way too weak to play SF. Maybe 2-3 years down the road? He'll need to add at least 30lbs to his frame if he wants to play SF in the NBA.
 
There are 65 rookies that have played minutes in the NBA so far this season. Out of the 65 rookies Skal has played the 49th most, Richardson has played the 58th most and Papa has played the 62nd most minutes. That's a lot of rookies playing more minutes then our 3 first round picks. Golden State has a rookie second round pick playing almost 15 MPG. I know it's still early but keep Papa in the D league and figure out a way to get rookies some minutes
 
There are 65 rookies that have played minutes in the NBA so far this season. Out of the 65 rookies Skal has played the 49th most, Richardson has played the 58th most and Papa has played the 62nd most minutes. That's a lot of rookies playing more minutes then our 3 first round picks. Golden State has a rookie second round pick playing almost 15 MPG. I know it's still early but keep Papa in the D league and figure out a way to get rookies some minutes

the rookies will get their turn once the season is a wash and the team is in a free fall
 
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