The use of the word TOP PLAYERS is being used lightly I see
Michael Porter Jr
- Thread starter funkykingston
- Start date
The use of the word TOP PLAYERS is being used lightly I see
Sactown ExPat
Starter
Is everyone excited for the big “MPJ at #2” local media push to start today? We are about to experience one of the all time attempted NBA draft sales jobs by a mismanaged franchise to its beleagured fanbase. These guys better know that if MPJ is not immediately productive, which is how they’re selling him over Luka, then they will ALL be fired.
And that should mean everyone who is part of this sales job: Brandon Williams, Grant, Doug Christie, James Ham, etc. Anyone who is working for the front office to sell this pick needs to be fired if MPJ does not deliver on the front office’s promises.
And that should mean everyone who is part of this sales job: Brandon Williams, Grant, Doug Christie, James Ham, etc. Anyone who is working for the front office to sell this pick needs to be fired if MPJ does not deliver on the front office’s promises.
I don't know... Vlade brought Vivek to see Luka's last game. I don't think he bothers if he isn't very interested. All the Michael Porter chatter just seems like an attempt to solicit trade offers which we would only take if one of them is too good to pass up.
Sactown ExPat
Starter
I might agree if we were hearing it from national guys, but this all local. Nobody is using Ham as sounding board for a trade.
My respect level for Ham is about a -13 on a scale from 1 to 10. Who the heck cares what he says? My personal interactions with him left a lot to be desired, on his end.
Again - there is a lot of smoke this time of year. Why get your knickers in a twist over something that has yet to pass (and likely won't) that you have no control over? I think some of you have nothing better to do than worry and fret over who we might pick two weeks from now and, if he is selected, may still end up being the best player in the draft.
kingsfan1984
Starter
Any news yet from mpj Chicago exhibition?
He was amazing I wasn’t there but that’s what will be said in the drills he does that he’s worked on since March
ockingsfan
Starter
Here's a report from the MPJ workout from the Mavs side:
https://247sports.com/nba/mavericks...Jr-workout-Top-3-draftee-if-healthy-118901657
MPJ looked impressive according to Dallas reports.
Who knows how much of this is smoke screen, considering Dallas doesn't pick until #5. Why would you tout MPJ if you really liked him? If he goes top 3, he would be gone before their pick.
https://247sports.com/nba/mavericks...Jr-workout-Top-3-draftee-if-healthy-118901657
MPJ looked impressive according to Dallas reports.
Who knows how much of this is smoke screen, considering Dallas doesn't pick until #5. Why would you tout MPJ if you really liked him? If he goes top 3, he would be gone before their pick.
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jcwkings
All-Star
Damn the local media has started the Porter Jr sell job. From Ham calling him a potential superstar to Christie saying that's who he would take, and apparently Grant is selling the narrative too? Either smokescreen or there are gonna be a ton of pissed off Kings fans in a couple of weeks.
SLAB
Hall of Famer
Ugh... I'll give him a chance, but I'll also be eagerly following DeMarcus Cousins news for where he's landing.
Entity
Hall of Famer
Out of the top 6-7 guys. To me Porter is the only guy with a chance to be a 25ppg or more scorer one day. After watching last year and front office watched same games I did. We don’t have that guy on our team. Doncic would be good addition if we had a big or a sg that was that guy. Bagley and Ayton are interesting but I’m honestly sick of pf/c draft picks for a while. We need a great SF doncic and porter are the top two. Like I said one of those could be a 25ppg Guy the other could pass to one. We need the scorer
Entity
Hall of Famer
Hey if we got him back I’d take doncic lol
jcwkings
All-Star
We need talent. Doncic is the type of guy that can trasform the culture of your team. He makes everyone around him better. Porter is tall and can shoot but besides that has proven nothing else skill wise. Poor ball handler, poor passer, can't guard SF's or PF's right now. Right now you could say he is a less athletic Rudy Gay and that would be optimistic. IMO.
8 players averaged 25ppg if you think a player with limited handles and driving abilities will get close to that then I don’t know
kingsfan1984
Starter
How are you determining he is a less athletic gay? Also a poor handle? Wrong and wrong. his pre surgery tape where he is dominating he is only 75% due to his injury he played through for 2 year. Dude has all the athletic tools and coordination to be a superstar scorer with the size and willingness to be a good rebounder as well. I live that he has a chip on his shoulder to be the best. He has the passion to be great and that Kobe like confidince and swagger lacking in Ayton. He has that fire that the top ones have. He even came back early out of shape vut didnt care cause he wanted to help his team win. Thats moxy. If he healthy he is best prospect in the draft imo
Entity
Hall of Famer
I just said he had a chance. I don’t do absolutes. This isn’t the doncic thread promising all star appearances and triple double averages. Just said porter could be best scorer in this class. Scoring is what we need. I’m not excited about watching a game of catch between 4 guys that can pass good. Somebody has to be able our points up
Sactown ExPat
Starter
I been telling ya’ll. This front office is very transparent if you listen to Ham, Grant, and Doug...Jerry is pumping MPJ too. They don’t smokescreen. We just think they’re leak-free cause they don’t talk to the national guys.
And despite the local media sales job, most of our fanbase is going to be blinsided. Only the Kings could get the 2nd pick in a two man draft and come out with the HS stretch 4 with a bad back.
Just fire everybody now if we’re going to be this profligate with the #2 pick.
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Let's just see what happens. I personally think a LOT of you are reading way too much into what's being said by Grant, Ham, Doug. etc. They're making educated guesses and keeping a narrative going. They do NOT know what Vlade is going to do. That's not how Vlade works. Nobody knew what he was going to do last year and nobody knows now.
Only if you obsess over what people who have no idea what the Kings are going to do say to fill some hours every evening, and even then today Grant said he has no clue and that whoever they are looking at right now might not be who they end up selecting in two weeks. Really, everyone just calm down. They have time to kill and hockey and basketball are over. Football hasn't started yet and there is only so much baseball you can cover when the "local" teams are 2 hours away. Take everything with a pound of salt at this point and don't get so worked up over it all (not you in particular, everyone freaking out about every little announcement about everything).
edit: and VF beat me to it as I was typing.
TaxMan
Starter
I can’t say anything about him personally, but man that guy has some terribly simplistic basketball takes. I listened to his podcast a little bit last summer and couldn’t believe this guy was an ‘insider’. Rambling, long winded, nonsensical discussions.
Sactown ExPat
Starter
Literally everyone knew they had Jackson at 1, and Fox at 2. Plan 1a was to get Jackson at 5 and Mitchell at 10. Plan 1b was to get Fox at 5 and trade down at 10.
I keep harping on this, but Ham and Grant have the closest contacts to the team despite not being “basketball” guys. Grant is a football/baseball guy who happens to have an NBA job. Moreover, Sacramento is not a college basketball town, so there is nothing compelling him to watch these prospects as an avocation nor vocation. He does not know these guys at all. All he does is talk to Jerry about who are the 3-4 guys he should know about for our draft slot, and who are we leaning towards. That’s it—it’s all he does every year. If Porter’s dad played for the Yankees, I might think Grant knew something about him, but otherwise no.
Ham knows even less, cause he’s been around the game for a far shorter time period. Same thing—this guy is not digging into the film. He’s pumping Doug and Jerry for the 5-6 guys he should do a deep dive on, and who are we leaning towards.
If you guys don’t think Doug knows exactly what is going on in the front office, and precisely what he needs to be telling the fanbase, then I don’t know what to tell you. Admirably, those guys are brothers, and he’s got their back to the end. But, it means he’s going to sell us on Seattle native MPJ of that’s what he needs to do.
Ironically, I am also helping the front office here, because they are about to blindside the fanbase with another Lulz KANGZ type of pick. Just be prepared...they’ve been trying to warn us.
gunks
Hall of Famer
Somehow, after moving up to 2, I find myself in the "assume the worst to avoid disappintment" mode of thinking.
Our FO may have gone from chasing the next Curry to chasing the next Durant. Because we have such good luck with drafting "Whoever 2.0".
Or this is a hot take and I need to calm down. But I definitely agree that when the mouthpieces of the org talk a prospect up, we usually draft them.
Porter Jr might be awesome. But damn. Easily my 4th, maybe 5th choice. There goes my draft hype.
Our FO may have gone from chasing the next Curry to chasing the next Durant. Because we have such good luck with drafting "Whoever 2.0".
Or this is a hot take and I need to calm down. But I definitely agree that when the mouthpieces of the org talk a prospect up, we usually draft them.
Porter Jr might be awesome. But damn. Easily my 4th, maybe 5th choice. There goes my draft hype.
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The broadcast/media crew are the ones who know the least about the inner workings. If you really think Vlade or anybody else is gonna spill the beans to someone who talks into a microphone for a living, I don't know what to tell you. PDA did it but Vlade doesn't. The whole crew that was guilty of leaking has been rotated out (and unfortunately there was some collateral damage to a couple of real good guys who got caught up).
You can harp about Ham and Grant all you like, but it doesn't make you right. Yes, they do their homework but the implications have been that they somehow have insider knowledge and that's NOT TRUE. The front office is not going to jeopardize the most important draft pick this century.
Suicide King
Starter
You fit in just fine to my eyes. I was a lurker for well over a decade before I ever made an account. Also, I think Bajaden was paying you a complimentI know I don't fit in on internet message boards very well.
Suicide King
Starter
I enjoy your posts Gunks because you always offer at least a little sugar with your vinegar.
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rosa u podne
Bench
I don't see anybody talking about Mikael Bridges. I watched some videos and was impressed with his offense and defense. Looks like more athletic Peja to me. I admit that's small amount of information, but based on litle I know I would rather draft him.
sactowndog
All-Star
It’s a wierder than normal off season. Generally as a fan base we have some insight by watching players regularly. This year things are very different.
1) one key prospect plays in Europe and we see him play much less. Not to mention his true measurements aren’t posted/verified anywhere.
2) another prospect has been injured so what you see in workouts has so much more impact as do the private medicals.
3) fit is impacted by a player who has been practicing since Feb but no one has seen play and has no clue as to his capabilities.
Never that I can remember has their been such a huge gap between info the team has and info the fan base has. For that reason, I have not created a personal board as to much information is missing. I just hope Vlade can get all these guys in for an up close look.
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ockingsfan
Starter
I think Mikal Bridges would have been the boards favorite if we had stayed at #7. But being at number 2, there are other players with greater upside that are available to us. Mikal would had been my pick if we had stayed at #7.
With Porter I'm far less concerned with his injury and surgery as I am with not getting to see him play in real games at the college level. Seeing how guys adapt to a higher level of competition or deal with adversity is a key indicator for me.
It's a big part of what I like about Doncic and Bagley. When Doncic was asked to play more off the ball he found ways to thrive. When teams doubled him off picks he adjusted. When they guarded him with smaller, quicker guards he started bullying them in the post. After he flamed out in last year's Eurobasket Final Four he came back this year and won while earning MVP honors.
With Bagley it was just seeing him play within himself and be hyper efficient while attacking bigs on the next level. He always had a next play mentality and showed up and played hard every game regardless of what happened in the game before.
It's why I like Bagley more than Ayton. In HS the question with Ayton was his motor and not always playing hard. He definitely stepped up in that regard at Arizona but still drifted from time to time. How bad does he want it? I have a similar (though lesser) concern with Bamba while I also wonder how he'll develop physically.
But at least we saw all of those guys against a higher level of competition. Without that the idea of Porter Jr at #2 just seems way too risky. He was a very good HS player (#1 recruit before Bagley reclassified) but he wasn't a can't miss, generational talent like LeBron. Porter had things to prove at the NCAA level and we didn't get to see him prove them.
It's a big part of what I like about Doncic and Bagley. When Doncic was asked to play more off the ball he found ways to thrive. When teams doubled him off picks he adjusted. When they guarded him with smaller, quicker guards he started bullying them in the post. After he flamed out in last year's Eurobasket Final Four he came back this year and won while earning MVP honors.
With Bagley it was just seeing him play within himself and be hyper efficient while attacking bigs on the next level. He always had a next play mentality and showed up and played hard every game regardless of what happened in the game before.
It's why I like Bagley more than Ayton. In HS the question with Ayton was his motor and not always playing hard. He definitely stepped up in that regard at Arizona but still drifted from time to time. How bad does he want it? I have a similar (though lesser) concern with Bamba while I also wonder how he'll develop physically.
But at least we saw all of those guys against a higher level of competition. Without that the idea of Porter Jr at #2 just seems way too risky. He was a very good HS player (#1 recruit before Bagley reclassified) but he wasn't a can't miss, generational talent like LeBron. Porter had things to prove at the NCAA level and we didn't get to see him prove them.
Ozymandias
All-Star
I'm the opposite. I come to this thread in search of bombshells on his back, at 6'11 if he's healthy i have no questions about his competency on the court.
