Which Kings rookie are you most excited to watch develop during this season?

Which Kings rookie are you most excited to watch develop during this season?

  • Total voters
    82
  • Poll closed .
Jespher

Jespher

Starter
ESPN's David Thorpe has Donte Green ranked higher (14th) in his rookie rankings than Jason Thompson (17th). I haven't been too high on Greene, since we have a lot of people at his position already, but was very happy with the Thompson pick. I thought it would be an appropriate question of the board to see which new face people were most excited about watching develop during the upcoming season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playe...eason=2009&playerRankingType=1&period=1&set=1
 
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Donte Greene will tantalize many with his potential, and has the skill set, height and physical tools combination to become a star in the NBA. That being said, players that gifted often abuse their talents by coasting, taking bad shots and not playing a cohesive team game. But without a doubt, he can become a Kings favorite based on sheer talent alone.

Bobby Brown may also be a winner with us depending on whether he gets minutes--with BJax and Beno in front of him, he may get some. His work ethic appears to have increased much during his stay in Europe, and his athleticism/shooting ability combination may actually make him a second coming of BJax. He may be a Mateen Cleaves/Ronnie Price type fan favorite--getting few minutes but generating excitement whenever he plays--and I can really envision him to be that.

Jason Thompson has a solid and budding skill set reminiscent of a SF--can stretch the defense and hit shots, and has some rebounding and defensive abilities. I have to wonder how his game will appear in the NBA, but I'll wait until I see a game first. Many are higher on him than I am, because I have to wonder whether he is a jack of all trades, master of none type--or whether he can really excel in one/several categories. But I guess we'll find out soon.
 
Wow, nice concise write up Arby's. All three look enticing to me, but what the Kings have lacked for several years now is a dominant big man, and it looks like we have 2 promising ones now in Hawes and Thompson. Dante does have the tools too though. and I love his shotblocking from the 3 spot to compliment/surpass Cisco there. I'm just drooling for training camp to start.
 
I'm excited to see all three. I have a feeling that they will get alot of playing time since the next 2 years are going to be dedicated to devolping the youngins
 
I had to go with Thompson.

Greene may one day be a 20 pt scorer, but Thompson has a chance to be a 20/10 player (I know, a long shot...But still.). Dante also seemed to be quite the chucker in school. Maybe Reggie can break him of that habit cause from what I've heard the kid has other skills besides jacking 3s.

Also, since the Webber trade we havent even had a halfway decent replacement at PF. If Thompson can board in the NBA like he did in school, and give us a solid 12-15 ppg I'm happy. It would be nice to have a player that averages a double double again.
 
I voted Jason Thompson rather easily.

He has the edge on Donte Greene RIGHT NOW in at least 3-4 or more important areas. He has the far better NBA body and thus more of a rebounding and inside presence. He's more mature with four years of college basketball experience verses one year for Greene. He seems to be a better ball handler than Greene, due to the fact that Thompson was a back court player very early in his development. Lastly, he has a reputation as a hard worker and quick study whereas Greene was said to be more volatile in several of his NBA workouts (New Jersey Nets fiasco). The Houston Rocket board had some comments when the trade for Artest went down that their team was more than happy to depart with BJax, the $1M+ cash, and Greene in the deal. The harder part for them to swallow was Kings demand for a "future first round pick." Once that was included everyone signed off and got what they wanted. All that said, Greene might eventually be an NBA star, but I would bet on Thompson getting there faster and maybe exclusively. Young Bobby Brown? Who knows? If he gets more minutes as the season goes along than old vet Jackson - that would be telling me something about his level of skill and production.
 
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I also voted for Thompson. Of course I'm somewhat biased, since I wanted the Kings to draft him in the first place. Its probably not fair to compare him to Greene, simply because of the four years of college experience. He's more polished and mature at this point.

The downside of drafting a college senior is, of course, that he is older, and in the minds of some, you've lost a few years of his youth. The upside is that in most cases, the talented players come in more ready to play and contribute. Karl Malone was a four year senior from a small school and he wasted no time making his presence felt. He was a 20/10 player from the get go.

I'm not saying that Thompson is the next coming of Malone. The playing field may not even be the same. I'am saying that he should be the one who makes the biggest impact. And who know's, we may just get lucky.

Greene is a very talented player. He's also very immature. But what do you expect when you draft a 19 or 20 year old. He has some power forward skills, which he showed in the first half of last year. Its just a matter of his dedication and how well he's willing to take instruction. One thing that I noted about both Thompson and Greene is that their both confident and aggressive in their games. The difference is that Thompson is more will to take whats there, and let the game come to him. Probably just a maturity thing.
 
I think Thompson is the short term answer to this poll -- have we finally patched that gaping wound in our lineup? Will be very interesting to find out, and has the sort of skills package of a CWebb light (CWebb feather make that, but still).

Now long term, the Greene thing might be of at least as much interest. Can he get a hold of his potential and become a star? Could make a huge difference fro this franchise's future if the answer is yes. But don't expect to have too much of an answer to that one during this season. Will watch him with great interest, but I suspect it will just be garbage time spurts here and there.
 
Bricklayer summed it up the best for me, thompson for now but greene could really make the difference for us in the future.
 
I'm excited to see all three of them. I think Jason has the potential to have the greatest impact because we are weakest at his position. Dante will be fun to watch develop and could be an important part of our future. Bobby Brown probably won't get as much time as either of the other 2. Then again, if we don't use BJ much, Brown may get more time than I think.
 
I'm excited to see all three, but voted for JT. Mainly, because we've been so awful at the 4. I would love to see a bit of hope at that spot.
 
I think that Thompson's the only rookie that fills such a desperate need that he's likely to get much PT this year. Can't get so excited about people who won't get significant PT because their position's full.
 
I bet Greene's gonna have a killer game or two...


...But not until the last week of the season. But hey, if he drops 20+ on some team in game 79 that'll give us something to yack about in TDOS '09 haha



I have a feeling Thompson's rebounding is going to translate to the NBA. Good ole Justin Williams averaged about the same numbers in rebounds and he came from a small school...Dude tore up the boards whenever he got a chance.

But maybe I'm just optimistic because I'm going to be pissed if Speights (who I wanted picked) turns out the better player.
 
gunks said:
I have a feeling Thompson's rebounding is going to translate to the NBA. Good ole Justin Williams averaged about the same numbers in rebounds and he came from a small school...Dude tore up the boards whenever he got a chance.
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I'm not as sure as you on Thompson's rebounding, but I can tell you that Justin Williams had the motor, athleticism, length and hustling ability all rolled into one to really become an impact rebounder in the NBA--and he was for stretches, getting double digit rebounds with us whenever he got the minutes. He is an NBA level rebounder for a big man and then some, despite only being 6'9" and being relatively skinny. Even when he came out of the draft, scouts saw that his intangibles--rebounding, defense, etc--could translate to the NBA, and it did--it was really his lack of offense/foul trouble that held him back with us, as well as Reggie's lack of desire to play him.

As I've said before, I want to see a game of Thompson before I make any judgment, but he's of the sleek athletic type--gets on with smoothness and finesse athleticism, and accordingly plays a face up game rather than through strict brute force. That's not a bad thing (in fact makes him more unique/versatile for the NBA), but that means that those rebound averages may not be there for him in the NBA. He seems like a willing learner and has the tools to be an above average rebounder in the NBA, but I don't think he'll be anything like the freak rebounder that Justin was, who was literally pulling down 11 rebounds in like 22 minutes whenever he played with us.
 
Bricklayer said:
I think Thompson is the short term answer to this poll -- have we finally patched that gaping wound in our lineup? Will be very interesting to find out, and has the sort of skills package of a CWebb light (CWebb feather make that, but still).

Now long term, the Greene thing might be of at least as much interest. Can he get a hold of his potential and become a star? Could make a huge difference fro this franchise's future if the answer is yes. But don't expect to have too much of an answer to that one during this season. Will watch him with great interest, but I suspect it will just be garbage time spurts here and there.
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I agree with that assessment. Down the road, Greene has that potential to be very good. But right now, Thompson has the maturity of 4 years of school behind him and is ready for the pros now. Another thing I like about Thompson is his versatility. Starting off as a guard early in his basketball career and then growing and becoming a post player.
 
Beno counts as a rookie, sortof. Rookie franchise pg. Not that he can't do it, its just going to be difficult for a Serbian to be a point in the NBA; frankly, its never been done before. But yea Beno counts!
 
I compare Thompson's game to Amare, but with obviously less explosiveness and better passing. I consider his upside to be around 15 ppg 7-9 rpg 2-3 apg 1.5 bpg.
 
FakeInjury said:
Beno counts as a rookie, sortof. Rookie franchise pg. Not that he can't do it, its just going to be difficult for a Serbian to be a point in the NBA; frankly, its never been done before. But yea Beno counts!
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Huh? What?!? Duh...

Beno Udrih is not from Serbia - but born and raised in Slovenia. Furthermore, he's NO WHERE near a rookie in the NBA, since this season will be his 5th in the league. His rookie season in San Antonio he played in 80 games!
 
Jason Thompson gets my vote. With Reef officially retiring, he'll only be battling Moore(energy guy) and Williams(power player), who are both one dimensional. At least 20 mins. per game and he should be at 12ppg 7rpg on his rookie campaign. And maybe a few cracks playing at C.

Donte may see more playing time when a lot of teams finally realize how to capitalize on Salmons height at SF. But until that, his minutes will be dependent on how many mins. Douby and BJax will play backup at 2 this season. Coz both Cisco and Salmons can slide to 2 which will open up minutes for him at 3. For run and gun, he has a good chance at 4, with JT at 5, Garcia/Salmons at 3.
 
The way I look at this question, it's more so who will disppoint me more if they don't develop.

I'm glad we picked up Greene and I'm looking forward to seeing him develop, but with Salmons and Garcia at SF and the relative ease to pick up swingmen, if he turns out to be a bust I won't be disraught.

However the potential of Thompson combined with him playing a position of need has me cautiously optimistic and if he is a bust it will be borderline heartbreaking.

I could see Thompson starting by the All-Star break and really, at the beginning of the season if he excels in camp.
 
Rookies

Jason Thompson will be a real good player as he grows into the NBA game style. Bobby Brown wow I think this could possibly be one of the biggest coo's in basketball point guards, he looks like the real deal smooth fast got shooting skill and if he learns the passsing game I say wow what a find Petrie. I like the long term potential of Donte though I believe he will be the one that will grow into the higher ranks of the NBA player's. He is athletic can shoot the ball and has guard skills moving with the ball plus he is 6'10" that is a potion for something special, time will tell if he has the work habit to become great or just wants to get some money and play around.
 
What i look forward to hopefully watching Jason Thompson develope is his ability to maintain his position in the post and not settle for low % shots. What has impressed me so far is his mobility and the focus he has shown.
 
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