[Game] Kings vs Pelicans Game Thread(Summer League) 7/11/16 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT

[Gilles]

Baldwin hasn't looked great to me either tbh. Not really a PG, just freakishly long arms. Looks like a long armed Ray McCallum with less PG instincts.

Baldwin was playing next to another PG most of the time. And they never run P&R with him, which is his main weapon offensively. He did have a few drives here and there, but clearly plays SG at the moment. As Baldwin said multiple times in his interviews, whatever the coach needs from him...And you can understand the coach too as Baldwin only had half a year experience of running the team.

Juan Hernangomez is looking like a guy we should have looked at at Pappa spot, or Valentine, both look like they can contribute right away off the bench.

Juancho is playing like Casspi with a bit more offensive rebounding.

Draft is not about next season. Whoever is playing the best basketball in the next 12 months is barely relevant. Papagiannis gets 2-3 years at least, and given that this is a young big, we're talking about, probably even 4.

 

[KingsFanGER]

WCS looked much better in the first half - way more engaged, gobbled up a couple of nice rebounds (even though he outjumped everyone and didn't box out) and played solid D. Baby steps into the right direction.
Papa looks lost out there. Game is way too fast for him. He thinks too slowly and when he made a decision the opportunity is already gone. With Skal it's basically the same. He hit a lot of tough shots in this game, but with better, quicker decision making and more confidence things would be a lot easier for him.
Let's wait and see, if Papa's workouts (and from the form of his jumpshot and hooks you can tell he was special in workouts) will translate to an actual game at one point.
Willie gets quite a leash around here, because we all know, he has some special abilities. From my point of view it's the same with Papa - big european guy, well coordinated, good form on his jumpshot, can run and likes to use his body to go after rebounds or bother shots. There is some potential in Papa. With the right development staff and lots of help from DMC we should be able to mold him into something useful.

 

[Blob]

Just watched Buddy Hield's pre-game interview. Such a good kid, definitely rooting for this guy to succeed.

Buddy Hield can be a Top 10 scorer in the NBA...the guy is just great. There are these draft "gurus" with advanced analytics says Hield is a back-up or something outrageous. Those guy need to take up a new hobby. Hield is the real deal. When I first watched him play I saw a smaller version of Paul George the way he knows how to navigate within sets to free himself or teammate. His shooting touch, range and footwork is special. He's really a pleasure to watch play for the basketball purist like myself.

 

[Merdiesel]

Was a fun Game, Malachi and Skal were having a good Game until Buddy opened up a can of Whoop-A** on us

Papa has a long way to go, but hey he is young, maybe needs a year in the DL, But maybe since we have depth at 2,3,4
Keep Koufos and go ahead trade Rudy for a PG

Totally agree on KK. He's gotta stay. We don't want too much pressure on these young guys so early.

 

[Merdiesel]

Damn....Papagiannis is so hard to watch on offense............

He just looks extremely nervous out there. I'm not too worried about him at this point. The one thing I did like was how quickly he had Stockton's back on that double tech. That is the kind of stuff that Boogie loves, this kid needs to stay glued to DMC's hip when not in Reno.

 

[est.1999]

People crying about a young big from oversees struggling in a game of American summer league where little guards dominate the game? Lol

 

[Kingster]

I'm not at all positive about Papa. Papa is slow, not the most coordinated, can't jump very well. He doesn't have the athletic qualities on which you can build an NBA player. Yeah, he's tall, but if you're talking about the stereotype of big white stiff, he fits it. What is the upside there? I'd love to get the Kings scouting report that led them to believe he should be a lottery pick; and I'd love to know from Vlade why he thought he had a high upside. Did Vlade actually say he had All Star potential? I'd give him major bust potential.

Skal, on the other hand, looks like he's got a legitimate shot at being an NBA player. He's got a long way to go because of his strength, but the coordination is there, he's got pretty good athleticism for his height, and his shooting touch is above average. His BBIQ also seems pretty good. I certainly see more potential in Skal than I did with McLemore when he was in his first summer league.

Richardson falls in the middle of the two above guys. With a guy like Richardson it's so hard to tell whether he is going to make it in the NBA or not. There seems to be so many guys like him; some make it, some don't. I think with a guy like him a lot of his being able to make has to do with his work ethic and his ability to function and hit big shots under pressure. We'll see.

 

[M_Barragan]

What I liked about Malachi was his defense in this game. Heid went off when Malachi went off the floor in the 3rd. When Malachi came back in I was hoping to see him contain Heid and he did just that. Hied could not even get a shot off. This is a skill that translates to the NBA. He has the potential to be a 2-way player I am excited.

Skal... I was very impressed. Obviously it is easier to gain size and strength then it is to gain the skillset that he has so he looks very very promising for us. In 3 years I have a feeling a lot of teams will be kicking themselves for passing on him.

Big George... very raw but very young. Did not look good in the post. Showed flashes of what he could be as an interior defender with his size and I was impressed that he ran with Hied on a fastbreak and another guard before that. He has impressive foot speed for his size. He cant change direction quickly but once he gets moving he has an impressive top end for a dude his size. I wont pass judgement on that pick yet as he just turned 19. He is not ready to contribute in the NBA next year. KK needs to be kept.

Overall was a promising SL for our prospects I am excited for the future.

 

[itzcoatl]

I wasn't impressed with Papa in this last game. He looked better in the Houston game. I don't think he is ready to contribute to the NBA. I would like to see him work on his body this year and maybe play some in D-League. He could get some garbage time, but I think he would probably get smoked against NBA level talent. He was going up against McMorrow who is a 28 year old full grown man. Given that he is an 18 year old kid still growing into his body, I'd like to see more time from him.

 

[miltonap]

Papa also hasn't played in 2 months. Give the kid a break

 

[dude12]

I looked at SL stats for all of Vegas. Truth be told, the shooting percentages for many of the drafted players and many 1 year experienced drafted guys is not very good. Papa is 19. This is going to be a process. Maybe Koufos stays for another year....it would allow us to bring the pup along at an appropriate pace.

Malachi shot really well 2 games ago and not so good last game. He mightbe able to contribute this year but also needs developmental time, not heavy minutes. Same goes for Skal.

That being said, I'm excited about the rooks. Excited about Papa, he's raw but has that size and some mobility. Needs to learn the NBA pace for sure. If your writing him off already you either have no patience or have no clue on where these kids should be at in regards to current production or was butt hurt when we didnt take a different player at 13.

I think this draft is going tobe huge inthe future success of the franchise....maybe not so much in the current.

 

[notoriousBEN3]

I can see the upside with Papa but i can definitely see the downside as well. Yes, the pace was too fast for him last night. But i saw the potential with his post moves. They didnt' fall last night, but his footwork and technique didn't look bad at all. I think he rushed it a bit, but i do not think he's used to the game moving that quickly. It is going to be hard for him to get consistent minutes with the squad this year because he does need to work on his physique and his speed. I think the potential is down the road, if/when boogie is gone, he's an old school big who can work in the post, but may have the ability to play outside of the post, all the way to the 3.

I think there is a lot of potential with his post moves, actually. I can see the Spencer Hawes comparisons, b/c i thought Hawes had fantastic upside in the post, but he became too big of a wimp to want to play down low, and eventually ended up standing outside the 3 pt line waiting for the ball. Papa is a huge dude, I think he's not going to shy away from any contact down low. If he can stay healthy, trim down a little bit, and work on speeding up his play, i think he can be a player in this league.

Skal though...man, how did this guy slip all the way to 28? I get that there were concerns over his mental game, but he's so damn NATURALLY skilled...his smoothness with the ball at that height is something you can't teach. He also looked tough last night, and confident. Maybe slipping that low in the draft was the kick in the a** that he needed to fire him up. I love the upside, and my hopes are that he could be more of a SF than a PF.

 

[ockingsfan]

I think part of the problem with Big Papa was that he was getting the ball too far away from the rim.

He had to try and dribble and back down his defender in order to get close enough for his hook shot. I think once he gets better positioning and has better point guards to set him up for his shots, he will look better.

One thing I did notice is that Big Papa does hustle. On a couple of occasions, he was the one trying to chase down a guard with an open shot. He got his arms up and the player missed the shot, not many big men could have gotten close enough to alter those shots.

 

[ESP47]

I liked Malachi's defense last night. Hield was still scoring on him but he was scoring inefficiently. He was scoring quite a bit less than a point per shot with Malachi guarding. He didn't get going until one of our other guards came in and covered him. His shot was streaky as it gets and he should have had an And 1 on one of those breakaways but the ref called a charge when the defender wasn't even close to being set.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

papa: he needs an adjustment period. the guy has some skill and abilities for a big man. i think he could learn to be a bruiser being with the team this year. we got some bad ass defensive players who will definitely influence him in that department. lets exiercise some patience and see his growth from now to the end of the year. if he flat out stinks up the place like ben did the first year then the alarms should go off.

malachi: i have high hopes for the kid. he can definitely be a 2 way player with his length.

skal: the guy is oozing with talent. if he can put on some strength and weight... look out