Kings trade 49th pick for rights to Sasha Vezenkov

The 37th pick was a let down but I will withhold judgment until the roster is set. If they get what they need but not necessarily what as fans we want, okay. I also wonder if they are looking at those future picks as perhaps the "tokens" needed for trades in the future. He has expended more than a couple in that manner. That rule where all the parties have to "touch" in a transaction.
I also heard that they were locked into a guy that ended up not falling to 37 (forget the source). Barnes and 2 seconds are still in play for finding a defensive disruptor for our starting 5.
 

Every team can use a Sasha kind of player. Big 6'8" wing who gets 24% of his points from catch and shoot, shot 60+% from corner 3 (65% from left corner, 59% from right), got a pretty quick first-step-and-floater game, and plays with energy.

Not a great defender though.
Excellent video. I’d like to see him lace it up for the Kings.
 
Never seen him live, but just from highlight reels/videos, seems like he's just a cannon that's not afraid to let it rip. Probably slides right into the 4 slot as a wing spacer. Haven't seen the defense, but the scouting reports seem to say he's pretty weak.

Regardless if he can come in and be an above-average shooter at the 4; that's valuable enough as a rotation guy.
 
The 37th pick was a let down but I will withhold judgment until the roster is set. If they get what they need but not necessarily what as fans we want, okay. I also wonder if they are looking at those future picks as perhaps the "tokens" needed for trades in the future. He has expended more than a couple in that manner. That rule where all the parties have to "touch" in a transaction.
If a late second is enough to buy somebody else’s 3 year eurostash it might actually be a sound strategy. If this is a one time thing though, not so much.

I am struggling to see how the guy we sent to Dallas would have fit with what Monte is doing and if we had used the pick on Keon people probably would have been ok with that after his first CC game. I guess there is a big gamble in all of that, but also we know most players who aren’t first round slips prefer to go undrafted than to get locked into one team’s G league affiliate.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
I'm waiting to see if this is for real and he's coming over from Europe or whether he goes the same way the 37th pick went. At this point, I'll believe it when I see it.
 
But but but, our board insiders, who judge every move instantaneously, and always in the worst possible light, said this was just selling a second round draft pick for cash, that we had never heard of this guy, and that there was no way he’d come over. There was no way this was part of a plan to acquire a guy we liked.

Turns out we really wanted the guy. Sasha said we had scouts at his games earlier this year and now it looks like there is real momentum to bring him. It looks like Monte had a plan after all, and he is probably bringing in a much better player than who we would have picked at 49. That is going to hurt the “narrative” some are trying to spin. Maybe, just maybe, Monte is a better GM than some want to admit…
That will be told by the deadline. He's pretty much gone all in now, and gave up a ton of flexibility. Now it's all about winning.
 
No disagreement. But the first two pages of this thread have a number of people blowing a gasket about selling this pick, when we had no idea the intention. Despite people saying “let’s wait and see,” they were certain it was a cash grab and spoke with authority on that point. Just curious if they will show up and admit they were wrong on this one.
I think people were more incensed trading 37 with 1st round talent on the board.
 
I'm waiting to see if this is for real and he's coming over from Europe or whether he goes the same way the 37th pick went. At this point, I'll believe it when I see it.
Well, the money looked like it was pretty much to go towards his pay. He wasn't making a ton over there so the odds are pretty good I think.
 
The real hope is that he can be as successful as someone like Joe Ingles, which would be a home run. Ingles came over at 27, a year older than Vezenkov currently is. Ingles is the better passer, but Vezenkov is probably superior in other aspects of his game at the same point in their careers. That would be a serious coup if he can reach that level, although it did take Ingles a few seasons in the NBA to hit his stride.
 
I think people were more incensed trading 37 with 1st round talent on the board.
Agree. But there are people on this thread, page 1 and 2, that were adamant (30 minutes after the trade) that the 49 trade was a cash grab and he wasn’t coming over. There was literally no other alternative. Where you at now Rick Barry 24? Lol
 
Agree. But there are people on this thread, page 1 and 2, that were adamant (30 minutes after the trade) that it was a cash grab and he wasn’t coming over. There was literally no other alternative. Where you at now Rick Barry 24? Lol
Well, would that be a first for Vivek? haha.
 
Agree. But there are people on this thread, page 1 and 2, that were adamant (30 minutes after the trade) that the 49 trade was a cash grab and he wasn’t coming over. There was literally no other alternative. Where you at now Rick Barry 24? Lol
James has to monitor Twitter in case of a Woj bomb happens he can call the organization to confirm.
 
Does he comp with Nicolo Melli who played on the Pelicans for a few years?
More skilled Luke Babbit from the Pelicans a few years ago, he doesn't have the floor game Melli/Bjelica have. The big thing going in his favour over Melli and Bjelly is he's younger and way less tread on the tires than both (who played International/Euroleague/World Comps/plus domestic leagues) when they came over.

The real hope is that he can be as successful as someone like Joe Ingles, which would be a home run. Ingles came over at 27, a year older than Vezenkov currently is. Ingles is the better passer, but Vezenkov is probably superior in other aspects of his game at the same point in their careers. That would be a serious coup if he can reach that level, although it did take Ingles a few seasons in the NBA to hit his stride.
I can't see him having the impact prime NBA Ingles had, Joe other than being a pure scorer is literally better at everything else. Joe despite coming off the bench was a starting NBA SF (played played PG and SG) basically and could compete night to night with anyone and helped winning as much as any Jazz player. Hopefully I'm wrong on everything I have said.
 
Last edited: