kingofthejungle
G-League
Post-combine, it seems that this draft has a consensus "top 5."
Wall is clearly numero uno, but the race clearly tightens amongst the rest: Turner, Favors, Johnson, and Cousins. I've pretty much conceded that Turner and Favors are out of the equation but the rest of the pickens are not too slim. What a segue to discuss Demarcus Cousins...
Evans, Cousins, and the crew:
Cousins value has probably taken a hit after comming into the combine looking bigger and not interviewing particularly well. The fact that Cousins has never lifted weights in his life and is trying to lose wight be going on a "salad and seafood" diet (ahem, is he gobbling down a bunch of candied shrimp dripping with butter, cause technically that's seafood) ... I don't know, the kid sounds pretty misdirected and naive to me.
That said, it's unwise to ignore his 7'6" wingspan and tremendous standing reach of 9'5". And although Cousins was tipping the scales at 290, after claiming he dropped 5 pounds from dieting, I'm actually encouraged by his 16 percent body fat. Cousins actually has a great body to work with, the question is how hard is he willing to work. But the sky is the limit with Cousins and selecting him with the 5th pick would be well worth the risk.
Now if the Kings go with Cousins, they probably are best served selecting a guard at 33. For the sake of the below depth chart, lets assume the Kings select Terrico White, whose athletic testing and measurements were very impressive: 6'5" in shoes, 6'9" wingspan, 40" vertical, and 3.7% body fat. White has a good mid-range game and can curl off screens, which should fit nicely on offense and has the size and athleticism to guard either guard spot with Tyreke. Similar to Beno, he's not a pure point guard, which is fine as Tyreke will initiate the offense on most occassions. But White has many limitations as is to be expected at 33. Draft express compares him to Flip Murray.
Evans/Udrih
Garcia/White
Greene/Casspi
Landry/Thompson/Brockman
Cousins/Hawes
Back to the man of the moment, Cousins would address many of the Kings' front court concerns. Cousins would become the primary low post weapon while Landry could play second-fiddle and receive jumpers due to the double teams Cousins commands. Cousins shores up any remaining rebounding concerns and helps some with shot blocking. He actually shows very good mobility in the post and I expect his explosiveness will improve if/when he sheds 15-20 pounds of baby fat. And although some claim that Cousins' attitude/anger is his achilles' heel, it can easily be argued that the Kings need a rough and touble personality down low who knows how to throw his weight around.
Evans, Johnson, and the crew:
I was really impressed with Wesley Johnson's measurements, athletic testing, and interview. If Petrie believes that Johnson's ball-handling is up to par, he could compliment Tyreke Evans very nicely and fortify the Kings backcourt for the next decade. Defensively, both are tall and long. Their standing reaches alone, 8'8" and 8'10", would be average for a pair of NBA forwards for goodness sake! Shot-blocking, steals, and deflections would be common place. Both have good quickness relative to their size, but the Kings would probably want to think about a quicker, pure point to come off the bench down the road for match ups. Evans and Johnson would be just as complimentary on the offensive end. Tyreke needs room to operate and Johnson already has tremendous catch-and-shoot ability from distance. They even compliment each other athletically, Tyreke depending more on brute strength and Johnson on his graceful leaps to the hole (37" vertical).
If the Kings were to pick Johnson with the 5th pick, I think they need to pick the best available big with the 33rd pick. Assuming he's there, I'm plugging in Jarvis Varnado to the depth chart.
Evans/Udrih
Johnson/Garcia
Greene/Casspi
Landry/Brockman/Varnado
Thompson/Hawes
Basically, if Johnson is the worst-case-scenario, I still come away feeling like the Kings are winners in this draft. And tell me, how does a kid with a 7'0" wing span, who weighs 200 pounds and has less than 5 percent body fat rep 180 pounds 16 times? I was blown away by that number.
And how about a player of Varnado's status (all time NCAA shot-blocker?) possibly being available at 33? He actually measured pretty well IMO: 6'10" in shoes with a 7'3" wingspan and 9'1" standing reach. I think he'd compliment the front court nicely as he and Brockman can offer elite shot-blocking and rebounding, respectively, as needed. Kings need some rebounds, just summon the Brockness Monster. Kings need some shot-blocking, Jarvis is on the case!
I don't know if I'm in blind optimism mode or not, but I feel either Johnson or Cousins will help this team a lot. They'd help in totally different ways, but I think they both potentially address areas of significant need.
KOTJ
Wall is clearly numero uno, but the race clearly tightens amongst the rest: Turner, Favors, Johnson, and Cousins. I've pretty much conceded that Turner and Favors are out of the equation but the rest of the pickens are not too slim. What a segue to discuss Demarcus Cousins...
Evans, Cousins, and the crew:
Cousins value has probably taken a hit after comming into the combine looking bigger and not interviewing particularly well. The fact that Cousins has never lifted weights in his life and is trying to lose wight be going on a "salad and seafood" diet (ahem, is he gobbling down a bunch of candied shrimp dripping with butter, cause technically that's seafood) ... I don't know, the kid sounds pretty misdirected and naive to me.
That said, it's unwise to ignore his 7'6" wingspan and tremendous standing reach of 9'5". And although Cousins was tipping the scales at 290, after claiming he dropped 5 pounds from dieting, I'm actually encouraged by his 16 percent body fat. Cousins actually has a great body to work with, the question is how hard is he willing to work. But the sky is the limit with Cousins and selecting him with the 5th pick would be well worth the risk.
Now if the Kings go with Cousins, they probably are best served selecting a guard at 33. For the sake of the below depth chart, lets assume the Kings select Terrico White, whose athletic testing and measurements were very impressive: 6'5" in shoes, 6'9" wingspan, 40" vertical, and 3.7% body fat. White has a good mid-range game and can curl off screens, which should fit nicely on offense and has the size and athleticism to guard either guard spot with Tyreke. Similar to Beno, he's not a pure point guard, which is fine as Tyreke will initiate the offense on most occassions. But White has many limitations as is to be expected at 33. Draft express compares him to Flip Murray.
Evans/Udrih
Garcia/White
Greene/Casspi
Landry/Thompson/Brockman
Cousins/Hawes
Back to the man of the moment, Cousins would address many of the Kings' front court concerns. Cousins would become the primary low post weapon while Landry could play second-fiddle and receive jumpers due to the double teams Cousins commands. Cousins shores up any remaining rebounding concerns and helps some with shot blocking. He actually shows very good mobility in the post and I expect his explosiveness will improve if/when he sheds 15-20 pounds of baby fat. And although some claim that Cousins' attitude/anger is his achilles' heel, it can easily be argued that the Kings need a rough and touble personality down low who knows how to throw his weight around.
Evans, Johnson, and the crew:
I was really impressed with Wesley Johnson's measurements, athletic testing, and interview. If Petrie believes that Johnson's ball-handling is up to par, he could compliment Tyreke Evans very nicely and fortify the Kings backcourt for the next decade. Defensively, both are tall and long. Their standing reaches alone, 8'8" and 8'10", would be average for a pair of NBA forwards for goodness sake! Shot-blocking, steals, and deflections would be common place. Both have good quickness relative to their size, but the Kings would probably want to think about a quicker, pure point to come off the bench down the road for match ups. Evans and Johnson would be just as complimentary on the offensive end. Tyreke needs room to operate and Johnson already has tremendous catch-and-shoot ability from distance. They even compliment each other athletically, Tyreke depending more on brute strength and Johnson on his graceful leaps to the hole (37" vertical).
If the Kings were to pick Johnson with the 5th pick, I think they need to pick the best available big with the 33rd pick. Assuming he's there, I'm plugging in Jarvis Varnado to the depth chart.
Evans/Udrih
Johnson/Garcia
Greene/Casspi
Landry/Brockman/Varnado
Thompson/Hawes
Basically, if Johnson is the worst-case-scenario, I still come away feeling like the Kings are winners in this draft. And tell me, how does a kid with a 7'0" wing span, who weighs 200 pounds and has less than 5 percent body fat rep 180 pounds 16 times? I was blown away by that number.
And how about a player of Varnado's status (all time NCAA shot-blocker?) possibly being available at 33? He actually measured pretty well IMO: 6'10" in shoes with a 7'3" wingspan and 9'1" standing reach. I think he'd compliment the front court nicely as he and Brockman can offer elite shot-blocking and rebounding, respectively, as needed. Kings need some rebounds, just summon the Brockness Monster. Kings need some shot-blocking, Jarvis is on the case!
I don't know if I'm in blind optimism mode or not, but I feel either Johnson or Cousins will help this team a lot. They'd help in totally different ways, but I think they both potentially address areas of significant need.
KOTJ
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