The Official NBA Draft Day Thread 2014 Edition

During the offseason, I've...


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Lets cut to the chase. Bill is downright horrible. How on earth he has a commentating job is,...well it's a sign of the times I guess o_O

He's a fan. He has no real knowledge of anything. He tried to say that Randle was better than Vonleh because he got to the championship game. Considering Vonleh and Randle weren't the main guys on their team, that comparison makes no sense. And I don't know how many times he's brought up youtube clips and citing other articles when talking about the players.
 
You know the 2nd round is good when NCAA players are still being taken instead of international-never-heard-of-the-guy picks.

Kings don't really need another 2nd rounder, so if they do buy in, it probably will be for a stasher.
 
That's no way to run a team, though. If there's a guy you love, you take him. If there's a guy you like, but wouldn't mind another guy, you trade back and hope the guy you like drops. If not, no big deal. But it seems like the Kings loved Nik Stauskas, so they took him. You can debate the choice all you want, but you can't draft the way you are suggesting.

Huh? That is exactly how smart teams draft. If Stauskas could have been had at say 12-16 (which i believe it many felt he would)why not trade back to that slot, accrue some more pieces while still getting your man?
 
I'll hold judgement of Stauskas until I see him play. BUT given all the Kings trade rumors before the draft, this draft has been a dud so far....I'm falling asleep.
 
Only problem with him is consistency. Some games he looked like a top 5 pick. Then, for seemingly no reason at all, he'd have 5 or 6 games where he looked like he could go undrafted. He'd disappear in some big games and inflate his stats against weaker teams. But, then he'd go off on a good team and look like a solid lottery pick again. IMO, he made a mistake leaving school early.

I think regardless if he were to declare last year or this year, he would of been a second round pick.
 
I'm on record as saying I like Stauskas. He's a very good fit with Gay & Cousins as a guy that spreads the floor.

But that was almost the same rationale for McLemore last year especially when we thought Tyreke would be retained. Ben was a sweet shooting 3&D wing with the athleticism/potential to be more. Now he lacks the 3 and the D and we have the King's brass saying they haven't lost faith in him despite drafting someone who plays his position just a year later.

So now the Kings have a high ceiling/low floor SG who may not develop and a high floor/low ceiling (presumably) SG and even if they both pan out the Kings still haven't addressed their defensive woes, still haven't found the pass first PG to either replace IT or push him to the bench and they still haven't found the PF or C to start next to DMC and anchor the D & block shots.

I like Stauskas but he's at best a really nice role player and when the rumors have the Kings in the mix for Love, Rondo, Josh Smith etc and reports are that there are 3 deals "on the table" for draft day, not to mention all the "draft 3.0" business, crowd sourcing draft help and PDA talking about being aggressive and swinging for the fences, staying put and drafting a nice role player is a bug disappointment. Especially when he plays the same position as last year's lottery pick.

D'Alessandro chose not to tear the roster apart & rebuild in favor of trying to retool and win now. The 8th pick was the team's biggest trade asset. So where does the improvement come from now?

IT will either be resigned, signed-and-traded or let go without compensation so unless PDA has tricks up his sleeve the best case scenario has the Kings returning the same roster that won 28 games plus Stauskas. No cap room, no draft picks and no young players that could possibly become stars.

It's frustrating. And PDA may want to heed Wooden's words:

"Never mistake activity for achievement."
 
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Huh? That is exactly how smart teams draft. If Stauskas could have been had at say 12-16 (which i believe it many felt he would)why not trade back to that slot, accrue some more pieces while still getting your man?

The only reason you wouldn't, is if you believe that some other teams picking in the 9-15 area, want him just as much as you do. Bad case scenario, to trade down and then miss your target player
 
kings fans watching Gerbil work his rodenty magic:

bored.jpg
 
Probably been said before. I kinda browsed through the comments, but I don't think PDA intends to move Ben. Reading between the lines, he's trying to build a Warriors type back court. You hear it coming out of Nik's mouth and coach Malone when they talk about Klay Thompson. Obviously this is what they've been discussing behind closed doors.

When you hear Vivek talk, he says he wants to be the Spurs. When PDA talks, he says we need scoring. When Malone is not covering for a poor draft pick, he talks about defense. They are not on the same page and it's all bad.

Combine that with the fact that PDA can't close a trade when it counts and we could be in trouble.
 
I'm on record as saying I like Stauskas. He's a very good fit with Gay & Cousins as a guy that spreads the floor.

But that was almost the same rationale for McLemore last year. 3&D wing with the athleticism/potential to be more.

So now the Kings have a high ceiling/low floor SG who may not develop and a high floor/low ceiling (presumably) SG and even if they both pan out the Kings still haven't addressed their defensive woes, still haven't found the pass first PG to either replace IT or push h to the bench and they still haven't found the PF or C to start next to DMC and anchor the D & block shots.

I like Stauskas but he's at best a really nice role player and when the rumors have the Kings in the mix for Love, Rondo, Josh Smith etc and reports are that there are 3 deals "on the table" for draft day, not to mention all the "draft 3.0" business, crowd sourcing draft help and PDA talking about being aggressive and swinging for the fences, staying out and drafting a nice role player is a bug disappointment. Especially when he plays the same position as last year's lottery pick.

D'Alessandro chose not to tear the roster apart & rebuild in favor of trying to retool and win now. The 8th pick was the team's biggest trade asset. So where does the improvement come from now?

IT will either be resigned, signed-and-traded or let go without compensation so unless PDA has tricks up his sleeve the best case scenario has the Kings returning the same roster that won 28 games plus Stauskas. No cap room, no draft picks and no young players that could possibly become stars.

It's frustrating. And PDA may want to heed Wooden's words:

"Never mistake activity for achievement."

Wonderfully stated.
 
Combine that with the fact that PDA can't close a trade when it counts and we could be in trouble.

I'm not going to fault PDa for that. Hastily closing out trades for the sake of closing out trades is what leads to Kenny Thomas taking up space on your bench for half a decade. And we don't really know what was being offered in those scenarios.
 
Huh? That is exactly how smart teams draft. If Stauskas could have been had at say 12-16 (which i believe it many felt he would)why not trade back to that slot, accrue some more pieces while still getting your man?

That's not how smart NBA teams draft. That's how smart NFL teams draft. Stauskas was going to be gone in the next couple picks. No way he'd slide anywhere from 12-16. McDermott went #11 and I think that pick would have been Stauskas if he hadn't been there.

As I said, If you LOVE a player like the Kings seemed to love Nik, you take him. Don't mess around. Don't chance it. Take your guy. If there's a player that you like but there's also some others that you like, sure...go for it. drop down. Get your 2nd round pick.

But since you know more than I do, what do you think the Kings would have gotten for moving down to the 12th pick? I say it'd be likely a no-upside veteran bench player and a mid-late 2nd round pick that won't make the team. That'd be complete idiocy. As I said, debate the player they took, but you can not run a draft like that and expect to succeed.

Now, if the Kings had went hard after the Bulls' two picks, maybe I wouldn't argue with you on this. It'd be a much bigger reward.
 
That's not how smart NBA teams draft. That's how smart NFL teams draft. Stauskas was going to be gone in the next couple picks. No way he'd slide anywhere from 12-16. McDermott went #11 and I think that pick would have been Stauskas if he hadn't been there.

As I said, If you LOVE a player like the Kings seemed to love Nik, you take him. Don't mess around. Don't chance it. Take your guy. If there's a player that you like but there's also some others that you like, sure...go for it. drop down. Get your 2nd round pick.

But since you know more than I do, what do you think the Kings would have gotten for moving down to the 12th pick? I say it'd be likely a no-upside veteran bench player and a mid-late 2nd round pick that won't make the team. That'd be complete idiocy. As I said, debate the player they took, but you can not run a draft like that and expect to succeed.

Now, if the Kings had went hard after the Bulls' two picks, maybe I wouldn't argue with you on this. It'd be a much bigger reward.

Look what 10 get for sliding to 12.
 
I'm on record as saying I like Stauskas. He's a very good fit with Gay & Cousins as a guy that spreads the floor.

But that was almost the same rationale for McLemore last year. 3&D wing with the athleticism/potential to be more.

So now the Kings have a high ceiling/low floor SG who may not develop and a high floor/low ceiling (presumably) SG and even if they both pan out the Kings still haven't addressed their defensive woes, still haven't found the pass first PG to either replace IT or push h to the bench and they still haven't found the PF or C to start next to DMC and anchor the D & block shots.

I like Stauskas but he's at best a really nice role player and when the rumors have the Kings in the mix for Love, Rondo, Josh Smith etc and reports are that there are 3 deals "on the table" for draft day, not to mention all the "draft 3.0" business, crowd sourcing draft help and PDA talking about being aggressive and swinging for the fences, staying out and drafting a nice role player is a bug disappointment. Especially when he plays the same position as last year's lottery pick.

D'Alessandro chose not to tear the roster apart & rebuild in favor of trying to retool and win now. The 8th pick was the team's biggest trade asset. So where does the improvement come from now?

IT will either be resigned, signed-and-traded or let go without compensation so unless PDA has tricks up his sleeve the best case scenario has the Kings returning the same roster that won 28 games plus Stauskas. No cap room, no draft picks and no young players that could possibly become stars.

It's frustrating. And PDA may want to heed Wooden's words:

"Never mistake activity for achievement."

Yep, but we'll see if there are any other moves before making an offseason judgement. Certainly seems like the Kings had a lot of other possibilities but who knows what happened behind the scenes.

Seems like a vet would've trumped Stauskas for this team for this season. Ben may still bear fruit.
 
kings fans watching Gerbil work his rodenty magic:

bored.jpg
I believe that's much of the problem with stauskas. Nothing against the kid he may be the next klay Thompson. Just so many rumors and expectations of big deals and changes. It's a let down for sure. Then they hype up Payton so much and he is there for the taking and bam. I'm underwhelmed for sure. I'm not like some hoping we get some worthless late 2nd rounder here. I will hold out until Tuesday see what we do early in FA. If things are the same after the 4th I'm gonna wonder what they promised Rudy to make him stay
 
Probably been said before. I kinda browsed through the comments, but I don't think PDA intends to move Ben. Reading between the lines, he's trying to build a Warriors type back court. You hear it coming out of Nik's mouth and coach Malone when they talk about Klay Thompson. Obviously this is what they've been discussing behind closed doors.

When you hear Vivek talk, he says he wants to be the Spurs. When PDA talks, he says we need scoring. When Malone is not covering for a poor draft pick, he talks about defense. They are not on the same page and it's all bad.

Combine that with the fact that PDA can't close a trade when it counts and we could be in trouble.

You've got the most dominant big in the league, lets pattern ourselves after the Warriors, yay!
 
People throw this out all the time but at one point Ben was being talked about as a potential number 1. He showed some serious potential in college, shot the ball just as well as Nik and put up arguably better numers whilst being an elite athlete. Nik is more confident and skilled but there are no sure things. People have very short memories and there's some extreme revisionism about what Ben was in college.

The thing with Ben vs Stauskas is three fold imo:
1. Ben has a season in the nba under his belt... the kings have seen him close up for a year, we have more data on him then we had last year. Much more... and unfortunately most of it is not so good. Of course he's still got a lot of upside and we figured he would struggle... and struggle he did.

2. Offensively, the main thing holding Ben back in his rookie year was probably his handle. Stauskas doesn't have that problem... so imo he has a much better chance of being a solid rotational player right away.

3. It's ok to have two good young sg's. Really, it's all good. Like I said, Jamal Crawford has made a career for himself as one of the best sixth men in the league. He and Reddick both played plenty last year for LAC. Green and Ginobli did the same for the Spurs. Ray and Dwayne for the Heat. Having two sg's play 25+mpg is all good... especially complimentary types like Ben/Nik.
 
I'm on record as saying I like Stauskas. He's a very good fit with Gay & Cousins as a guy that spreads the floor.

But that was almost the same rationale for McLemore last year. 3&D wing with the athleticism/potential to be more.

So now the Kings have a high ceiling/low floor SG who may not develop and a high floor/low ceiling (presumably) SG and even if they both pan out the Kings still haven't addressed their defensive woes, still haven't found the pass first PG to either replace IT or push h to the bench and they still haven't found the PF or C to start next to DMC and anchor the D & block shots.

I like Stauskas but he's at best a really nice role player and when the rumors have the Kings in the mix for Love, Rondo, Josh Smith etc and reports are that there are 3 deals "on the table" for draft day, not to mention all the "draft 3.0" business, crowd sourcing draft help and PDA talking about being aggressive and swinging for the fences, staying out and drafting a nice role player is a bug disappointment. Especially when he plays the same position as last year's lottery pick.

D'Alessandro chose not to tear the roster apart & rebuild in favor of trying to retool and win now. The 8th pick was the team's biggest trade asset. So where does the improvement come from now?

IT will either be resigned, signed-and-traded or let go without compensation so unless PDA has tricks up his sleeve the best case scenario has the Kings returning the same roster that won 28 games plus Stauskas. No cap room, no draft picks and no young players that could possibly become stars.

It's frustrating. And PDA may want to heed Wooden's words:

"Never mistake activity for achievement."

Hit the nail on the head
 
Probably more shooters, better play from the sg position, and a chance to play with the best big in the game as he approaches his prime.

Had to be more than that.

Of course could have been just a limp market for him in with Melo and LeBron screwing around to boot.

In any case, Gerbil keeps on wasting his time drafting indifferent young SGs and picking up scraps on the trade market, Rudy will go. Or he certainly would if I represented him.
 
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