Seeing we don't have a pick next year it is great he's deepening this draft.
Who do you want, if the Kings pick #6 to #8 overall in the draft?
- Thread starter ockingsfan
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Yes Jokic is worth it he’s worlds better than Tons who the media hypes
I’ve got Trae Young number 3 right now behind Doncic and Ayton dude will be a beast. People get distracted by his his shooting and rightfully so but he has other elite things to his game that translate to nba play.
He has elite vision and passing he is the highest freshman assist leader in the last 15 years of college basketball. His passing in pick and roll is extremely advanced finding shooters on the corner and rolling bigs like a seasoned vet. He can come in and run an offense immediately.
He can also score on all 3 levels on the court at the hoop, mid range, and 3 point. In the pick and roll he had already mastered the floater which is a huge part of a PGs game.
https://www.thestepien.com/2017/12/11/can-trae-young-generational-shooter/
A lineup of Young-Hield-Bogdan would be lethal vs teams
https://www.thestepien.com/2017/12/11/can-trae-young-generational-shooter/
He’s not Curry but I see him as a 20-8 guy
He has elite vision and passing he is the highest freshman assist leader in the last 15 years of college basketball. His passing in pick and roll is extremely advanced finding shooters on the corner and rolling bigs like a seasoned vet. He can come in and run an offense immediately.
He can also score on all 3 levels on the court at the hoop, mid range, and 3 point. In the pick and roll he had already mastered the floater which is a huge part of a PGs game.
https://www.thestepien.com/2017/12/11/can-trae-young-generational-shooter/
A lineup of Young-Hield-Bogdan would be lethal vs teams
https://www.thestepien.com/2017/12/11/can-trae-young-generational-shooter/
He’s not Curry but I see him as a 20-8 guy
Siranthony
Starter
Young does look really good. He is a very crafty player. The thing is his build. He is very David Stockton-esque (At least that's how he looks on TV). If Stockton can't get a gig in this league, Young might have a difficult time also.
kingsfan1984
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Id have my concerns if we went with Young, but Id also be very interested. In todays league offensive is the dominant skill set and 3pt shooting is KING. Not sure if we would be building a contender with Young Hield Bogs as defense does matter, but i could see is easily equalling at least the Blazers level of success as a floor and who know of more. Would always have a shooters chance to blow the doors off the gym. If Mikal's stock falls in rivate workouts and MPJ injury doeant look lime it will ever NOT be an issue, id have no problem going with a top guard.
Also wpuldnt write off the other perimeter players like Shai and Sexton altogether. Im expecting we will run a small lineup next year featuring Fox Hield and Bogs which leavea plenty of mins for a playervlike Shai who wont be too drastically overmatched when rotating in. Young would be a little more limited but that can be managed.
The key is can the other team be able to take advantage of the size difference at the position to an extent thar outweighs all the bombs we will be dropping on their heads from our side of the court.
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kingsfan1984
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Why say he is NOT Curry? He sure looks the closest thing to Curry ive seen. Some of his vision and passing at same age are arguable superior
kingsfan1984
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The clear factor with Youngbis stature/athleticism.
But look at the more physically imoressive pgs Westbrook and Wall Lillard. Versus Curry, Harden? Paul. The edge seems to go not to the more physically dominate player, but the higher skilled player. This is why there is a good case to be made that Young should be considered top 3 as he is incredibly skilled in passing/vision and shooting/scoring.
Jimmer is a poor comparison to Young beacuse Jimmer only had elite shooting. He was severely lacking jn ball handling, passing, vision, anticipation, offensive creativity etc. Does anyone thjnk Curry, or Steve Nash in his day were average athletes? Yet both were/are on another tier offensively than Westbrook and Wall
Maybe Young busts and doeant become that Curry level player....but sitting at #7, if he is there, and we are looing for that franchise player still, he is as good a shot at becoming that that say Mikal or Miles or Bamba id wager.
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Lots of people got him as a backup PG.....I'm leaning that way but could be wrong. I consider Mikal Bridges as a better prospect in an elite role player kind of way....if that makes sense.
Trae Young's skills aren't really the question mark. It's his size. He's very small with narrow shoulders. I think he will get destroyed by most point guards in the NBA. He barely even had to play any defense in the NCAA because they would usually put him on the least talented wing and most of his time on defense was spent just standing around.
ESPN has him listed at 6'2" 180lbs. I think we have the Thomas Robinson effect going on here where all the measurements will check out but when he gets on the court next to NBA players, you're going to realize he's way undersized compared to what you may have been lead to think. If his offensive skills translate, I think a team will have to be built like Isaiah's Celtics for him to be successful.
ESPN has him listed at 6'2" 180lbs. I think we have the Thomas Robinson effect going on here where all the measurements will check out but when he gets on the court next to NBA players, you're going to realize he's way undersized compared to what you may have been lead to think. If his offensive skills translate, I think a team will have to be built like Isaiah's Celtics for him to be successful.
Most of the PGs in the NBA are defensive liabilities anyways though.
1. Curry, below average defender
2. Westbrook, average defender at best.
3. Lillard, very poor defender
4. Irving, very poor defender
5. Harden, poor defender
I'm not too worried about his defense in the NBA. If he can give us the offensive power, does his defense actually matter? Young is listed at 6'2 180lbs...wouldn't surprise me if he was closer to 175lbs. Even with that being said, I don't see his size being a problem in the NBA. He'll get stronger.
If you don't Young is the top PG in the class, then who is?
At this point, I'm seriously considering Young with our pick. I think he's a possible BPA pick and franchise player. That's enough for me to pull the trigger.
Ya a big that’s a bad defender is way worse than a pg
Agree he has the most star potential after Doncic, Ayton, and Bagley. The nonsense about his size has to stop kids 19
Those guys are poor defenders but I think he's way below those guys physically. Like if there was a position that was smaller and weaker than PG, I'd put Trae Young in it. I think he will be in contention as the worst defending PG alongside Isaiah Thomas.
He looks similar in size to Dennis Schroder who is about the smallest decent PG out there but Trae has a 6'2" wingspan while Schroder's is 6'7".
He's the biggest risk in the draft to me. If I was picking a PG for the Kings, I'd pick Trae despite all my worries about his defense because like you said, you can make up for your lack of defense with even better offense. I just think that the roster would have be specifically built around his defensive weakness to be effective.
It's not nonsense. I'm not talking about muscle mass here. I'm talking about his frame. No amount of working out is going to give him wide shoulders and longer arms.
The size question on Young is real. He can put it to rest with his play on the court. I would 100% not take Young with the other bigs and or wing on the table when we draft. The other PG who has gotten mention as first PG going is Sexton. Bledsoe comp being the reason and a completely different than what Trae Young brings. I'd take neither and go with the bigs or wing prospect.
kingsfan1984
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Reasonable
Mo Bamba vs Mikal Bridges would be a tough call for me. I'd be happy with either pick really. Mikal Bridges looks like an obvious pick for us -- strong defender, 3 year college player at a major program, great outside shooter, NCAA champion -- based on the picks Vlade has made already he's a shoo-in for our pick if he's available. We would finally have a two-way wing player to compliment our young guards and bigs. It's difficult for me to get past the potential of adding a monster shotblocker in the middle though especially if Bamba can extend his jumper range and become a 3 and D big man. Cauley-Stein, Skal, and Giles all have potential but none has a position locked up yet. And if Bamba ultimately tops out as Rudy Gobert with a jumper, we can pick 2 other bigs to build our rotation around and trade the other one.
To elaborate a bit, if the first 6 picks go: Doncic, Ayton, Bagley, Jackson, Porter, Young (in some order) I like the prospects left on the board for us but I'm having a hard time ranking them in order of preference. My list at that point would include: Mo Bamba, Mikal Bridges, Wendell Carter Jr., Miles Bridges, Collin Sexton, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. I think all of those guys are a similar level of talent it's just a matter of which guy best fits with what we're trying to build here. Most people have probably got Bamba or Mikal at #7 but I really like Miles Bridges and Wendell Carter too and I don't want to overlook the guards just because it's not a big need for us right now. That gives us a pool of about 12 good to very good players under consideration wherever we end up. I'm excited!
To elaborate a bit, if the first 6 picks go: Doncic, Ayton, Bagley, Jackson, Porter, Young (in some order) I like the prospects left on the board for us but I'm having a hard time ranking them in order of preference. My list at that point would include: Mo Bamba, Mikal Bridges, Wendell Carter Jr., Miles Bridges, Collin Sexton, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. I think all of those guys are a similar level of talent it's just a matter of which guy best fits with what we're trying to build here. Most people have probably got Bamba or Mikal at #7 but I really like Miles Bridges and Wendell Carter too and I don't want to overlook the guards just because it's not a big need for us right now. That gives us a pool of about 12 good to very good players under consideration wherever we end up. I'm excited!
bajaden
Hall of Famer
I probably saw Young play more than any other player this season, and anyone that thinks he can't play in the NBA is just plain nuts. I don't know that he's the best choice for the Kings, but I couldn't argue against him if that's their decision. As to his shooting, let me put it this way. Give Young an open three point shot from anywhere, and he'll make 50% of them. I don't think I've ever seen a player hounded and pressed as much as Young was this season. There were games where he was doubled the entire game every time he touched the ball. He hardly ever had the opportunity to shoot an uncontested shot. So take that into consideration when judging his shooting.
At the same stage of their careers, Young is a better passer, ball handler, and has better court vision than Curry had. Many wondered if Curry would be anything other than a good shooting undersized SG. Does that mean that Young will be as good, or better than Curry? Who knows, but I think he's going to be damm good. I don't have him at three, but if he blows people away during his workouts, who knows?
bajaden
Hall of Famer
I don't want to beat this horse to death, but Mikal Bridges is ready to step in and play right now, Bamba isn't. If all he had to do was stand under the basket, block shots and rebound, I'd be on board, but unfortunately you have to do more than that in the NBA. Give Bamba a couple of years of development, and you might have a special player. The difference between Bridges and Bamba is one player is full of "if's", and the other isn't. If were doing tiers, then I would have Mikal Bridges, Carter, and barely Bamba in one tier and Miles Bridges, Sexton, and Alexander in the next tier down. Actually, I wouldn't have Alexander that high. I like him, but I don't think he's a lottery pick
Remember that while your projecting Bamba to be a stretch five down the road, it could be way down the road. He shot 27% from the three his season and every other top big in the lottery shot better from the three than he did, including Ayton. Be careful not to turn wishful thinking into reality. Bamba could turn out to be everything you and I would want him to be, and if we end up drafting him, I certainly hope he does. But I have some serious reservations about him and I doubt he'll ever be a star. There were times this season where his post up game looked like it came out of the Papagiannis post up book for dummies. Point being, he has a lot of work to do in that area. Does he have more upside than Mikal? Maybe, but Mikal is a better athlete and right now a better player. Not as tall though.......
Not meaning to hammer Bamba, and I'm sorry if it comes across that way. I just want everyone to have some perspective about what to expect. Know that if we draft Bamba, we shouldn't expect him to come in and look like Gobert. He's very rough around the edges, but he is very good at a couple of things. Maybe more than a couple if you count running the floor. The rest is going to take some time. Put him on the floor against a Cousins, and Cousins will destroy him. Bamba didn't fare well against bully ball players. I saw him get pushed around by players 4 inches shorter than him. So be prepared to be patient.
To be fair, it took Rudy Gobert 3 years to really take off as a dominant force himself and another year for anyone outside of Utah to notice. I don't see this as a problem for us though. We're not going to transform into a great team overnight no matter who we draft. All of our core players are one or two years into their NBA careers. I want us to draft the best player possible this year and that means kicking the tires on Bamba and all these other guys. I really like Mikal Bridges -- like I said he seems like the obvious pick for this front office given their prior tendencies and I'm okay with that. I just want him to be the pick because he's the right player not because he's "safe". Going for "safe" picks in the past has not served us well at all.
Whether we draft a big or not, we were very nearly last in the league in rebounding this season. Thus far in their careers both Skal and Willie are well below average rebounders and Giles hasn't played in a single game yet. We are not set in the frontcourt until we figure out how to control the boards better than we are. We also need a wing who can defend the whole floor and everybody needs more shooting but this is beside the point. We're not plugging holes in the draft we're scouting for elite talent. That's a whole different thing. So while I agree that adding another elite shooter would be nice, it doesn't need to happen at pick #7. It would also be nice to add a player who ranked 2nd (Jaren Jackson Jr.) or 7th (Mo Bamba) in the entire NCAA in Defensive Box Plus/Minus this year.
I don't even know that Mikal is a better player than Mo Bamba right now because they're such extreme opposites that I wouldn't know how to compare them. If the criteria is defensive rebounding and shot blocking than the winner last season was clearly Bamba and that's without factoring in age and experience levels. They're bringing such different skills to the table (not just size) that it doesn't even make sense to make the comparison. I'm wary of the whole "NBA ready" label though as any kind of draft criteria because it has backfired so horribly in so many ways for us over the last decade. We also had a rookie of the year winner in the recent past who plateaued as a rookie led us nowhere. I'm more interested in how good these prospects are going to be in 4 years and the next 10 years after that.
biltalent
Starter
I've done an 180 degree turn on Bamba. Had him at #2 to start the year, because I projected him to become a defensive anchor with upside on offense, especially after seeing him play in preaseason against Australian teams. After his college season, I currently have him #11. I don't think he has the instincts/reaction time, reads, strength nor motor and mindset to become even close to what Gobert is defensively. The comparison is only because of their long arms. And it seems to me Bamba is more interested in improving his offensive game than to fix his defense. His screen-setting is terrible. On the upside, If he is a hardworker, he could become decent on defense, switch on guards, and shoot 3s. At some point you have to take a gamble on him but that is not in the #10 right now (could change with workouts/Testing/Interviews however)
Actually, I think I would lean towards Miles Bridges right now over both Mikal and Bamba for the Kings. Mikal is the better defender but Miles has the edge for me because he projects to be a better creator (handle, passing, pull-up shooting). In addition, I think he will be more versatile and Joerger will trust him more at the 4 because of rebounding/strength. This would be huge for the Kings.
Actually, I think I would lean towards Miles Bridges right now over both Mikal and Bamba for the Kings. Mikal is the better defender but Miles has the edge for me because he projects to be a better creator (handle, passing, pull-up shooting). In addition, I think he will be more versatile and Joerger will trust him more at the 4 because of rebounding/strength. This would be huge for the Kings.
kingsfan1984
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Hrdboiled said " we need to kick the tires on all these prospects"
....that is my approach. I hope the kings front office is approaching the draft with openess and has not come close to ranking these top guys yet and plans to wait as long as possible and do extra due dilegence before cementing their projections....and i also tjink, like Fox, the horizon needs to be 3 to 4 years down the road and NOT who is better today...tbis is particularly important with Mikal.
....that is my approach. I hope the kings front office is approaching the draft with openess and has not come close to ranking these top guys yet and plans to wait as long as possible and do extra due dilegence before cementing their projections....and i also tjink, like Fox, the horizon needs to be 3 to 4 years down the road and NOT who is better today...tbis is particularly important with Mikal.
Based on what I saw in the tourney on Mikal....he looks like a pro style 3 and D SF who also may have more to his game. Gets up and down the court and knocks down 3's. Put him with the Rockets and Warriors and he blows up big time. Why not add him to us since we want to get up and down the court? It's time we start adding the 6'7" - 6'9" wing guys like Boston. Can't have enough of those guys. Mikal can be a big part of that.
kingsfan1984
Starter
It would be healthy to make the best argument for each of the top 15 or so guys to be the Kings pick. Thats the only way to not let a "Mitchel" slip through the cracks like Detroit (Kennard) or Bobcats (monk) Knicks (Frank N.) because we just assume he is in a tier below. Need to Erase the bias that gets built in over a course of a year where the top players ranked are almost gifted the top slots through reputation...thats probably how we "stole" TRob as he "slipped" from a higher consensus spot.
You need multiple 6’7-6’9 guys to compete so you could switch everything.
He would have been a perfect pick for us last year at #10 if he had declared.
Unless you think Fox will ascend to Lillard/Kemba heights, I think you have to swing for the fences on a potential #1 guy rather than a role player. That's if any of the possible #1 guys are still available when we pick. I'd love to have Mikal on the Kings but I just don't think adding Mikal to this bunch will equal a playoff run in a couple years.
OK, I know there are not a lot of Leo Beas and Cowboy Kingdom fans around here, but he did do a nice review on Troy Brown of Oregon. Good size for a wing, high IQ, only a freshman so young, also played PG until a growth spurt.
Anyways hes easily a mid to 20 1st rounder so hope Vlade takes a look.
Anyways hes easily a mid to 20 1st rounder so hope Vlade takes a look.
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