The forgotten King, Arturas Gudaitis:

[bajaden]

Seemingly forgotten in our trade with Philly, was the acquisition of two European players, one of which was considered a top player until he suffered an injury two years ago. Lest we forget, here's a quote from then.


On July 10, 2015, the Sacramento Kings acquired Gudaitis and Luka Mitrović from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, and Nik Stauskas.[8] It was reported that Vlade Divac himself requested to acquire Gudaitis.[9]

That last sentence is the important one, because I believe someone on this forum described the two players as trash thrown in to fill out the trade. Gudaitis appears to be a player that Vlade knew, and wanted. So, where does that leave the Kings and Gudaitis? Here''s another quote from Rotoworld, an international publication.

"Arturas Gudaitis could come to the NBA as soon as the 2016-17 season.
The Kings own the Lithuanian big man's rights, and he will reportedly play for their summer league team next year".

Now that quite was made some time ago, but I would think that there's a high possibility of his being on our summer league team, and possibly our roster next season. I've watched quite a bit of film, and some of his games and he's a talented player. although he plays center, I can see him playing the PF position as well. At any rate, he may be part of our conversations next season. Or not!

 

[macadocious]

Whats your scouting report on him Baja?

 

[bajaden]

Whats your scouting report on him Baja?

Well the first thing that stood out to me was that he was a better athlete than I was expecting. He's a pretty good post player with some nifty footwork around the basket. He can play above the rim a little bit as well. He's not just a post player. He can hit the 15 to 18 foot jumpshot, and shot well from beyond the arc, but didn't take many from out there. His shot is a bit ugly though, and could use some cosmetic repair. The biggest surprise was on the defensive side of the ball. He's a very good rim protecter with excellent timing on blocked shots. He appears to have decent to good lateral quickness, and certainly gives effort on that end. Finally, he rebounds well.

Now having said all that, I find it hard to get an honest read on European players. They don't play a lot of minutes overall, and those minutes they do play are gotten in 5 minutes here and 4 minutes there. I don't know how any of them get into a flow. In short, he's more talented than I first expected, and he may develop into a serviceable player. Whether he can guard NBA PF's is a question he'll have to answer. Here's a little video of him.

 

[itzcoatl]

Thanks for starting this thread. I recall those picks being described as "trash" in another thread, so I'm hoping Arturas proves that wrong. Draftexpress describes him as a physical player, and I think I recall seeing one of the draft sites compare him to Darius Songaila. That comparison might be more as a result of their shared nationality than a reflection on Arturas' game. edit: in the little I have seen, he seems much more skilled in the post, and athletic that Darius ever was.

I'm interested to see what others think/know about him.

 

[VF21]

Probably nitpicking, but didn't we just acquire the rights to those players if they ever came to the NBA? Neither of them are actually under any kind of contract.

 

[bajaden]

Probably nitpicking, but didn't we just acquire the rights to those players if they ever came to the NBA? Neither of them are actually under any kind of contract.

Yeah, neither of them have been signed by the Kings, but we do hold their rights, so I took some liberty with the title. In a technical sense, as far as the NBA is concerned, we own both players.

 

[bajaden]

Thanks for starting this thread. I recall those picks being described as "trash" in another thread, so I'm hoping Arturas proves that wrong. Draftexpress describes him as a physical player, and I think I recall seeing one of the draft sites compare him to Darius Songaila. That comparison might be more as a result of their shared nationality than a reflection on Arturas' game. edit: in the little I have seen, he seems much more skilled in the post, and athletic that Darius ever was.

I'm interested to see what others think/know about him.

Yeah, that's the impression I got as well. Songaila was more of mid-range shooter than a post player, although he could score around the basket. Hopefully Gudaitis will be on our summer league team and we'll get a good look at him.

 

[Merdiesel]

Although I love mix tapes.. they are very misleading. Especially Euro league stuff. James Anderson looked like Jordan in his.

 

[Glenn]

I think there are other videos on Youtube. Gudaitis is worth a look in summer league. I wouldn't be surprised if he had an NBA career. The other guy, not so good. Vlade knows which guy is decent.

I certainly have trouble determining who is good and who isn't but I was impressed with Gudaitis. That's what we need, another big.

 

[Amit149]

Here are the strength and weaknesses videos draftexpress made:

 

[kingsboi]

look forward to watching him play in the summer league to see if there is anything worth keeping around

 

[New Era]

Well the first thing that stood out to me was that he was a better athlete than I was expecting. He's a pretty good post player with some nifty footwork around the basket. He can play above the rim a little bit as well. He's not just a post player. He can hit the 15 to 18 foot jumpshot, and shot well from beyond the arc, but didn't take many from out there. His shot is a bit ugly though, and could use some cosmetic repair. The biggest surprise was on the defensive side of the ball. He's a very good rim protecter with excellent timing on blocked shots. He appears to have decent to good lateral quickness, and certainly gives effort on that end. Finally, he rebounds well.

Now having said all that, I find it hard to get an honest read on European players. They don't play a lot of minutes overall, and those minutes they do play are gotten in 5 minutes here and 4 minutes there. I don't know how any of them get into a flow. In short, he's more talented than I first expected, and he may develop into a serviceable player. Whether he can guard NBA PF's is a question he'll have to answer. Here's a little video of him.

Well, looks like he has the dunk mastered!

 

[King Baller]

If he can defend NBA Bigs he will have an NBA career if he wants to. He is a rim protector and can handle the ball a little. His shot does look a little funny but if it goes in I would leave it alone. I hope we see him in SL and in training camp.

 

[Bricklayer]

Not so forgotten by me. Last summer I said I thought he looked like a pocket Boogie with his faceup game. Like his potential, just don't know how it will translate to a higher level with bigger opponents. And no feel at all defensively. Guys like Nurkic are proving that not all Euro bigs have to suck defensively, but it was the offense that caught my attention.

 

[bajaden]

Not so forgotten by me. Last summer I said I thought he looked like a pocket Boogie with his faceup game. Like his potential, just don't know how it will translate to a higher level with bigger opponents. And no feel at all defensively. Guys like Nurkic are proving that not all Euro bigs have to suck defensively, but it was the offense that caught my attention.

Defensively he has a reputation as a shotblocker. Not many Euro's do. However there's more to defense than blocking shots. Anyway, thats the point of bringing him over. To see if what he does translates to the NBA. If so, then that deal Vlade made with Philly looks a lot better. Not that I had a problem with it to begin with.