Draft Watch 2018

[VeganKingsFan]

Another strange thing...if Jaren Jackson Jr goes 3 to Atlanta, and becomes the best player in the draft/rookie of the year, the Kings will look pretty bad. A big man starved team NOT EVEN WORKING OUT arguably the best big in the draft seems like a dubious move. Obviously he could have turned down an invite to workout and one still may happen but from what it sounds like the Kings have just had no interest. Seems odd.

There is absolutely zero chance that the Kings haven't tried to get JJJ and other top prospects in for a workout. They would get in every first rounder who is willing to come in. That's how these workouts work. They would much rather have first rounders come in than all these players that likely won't make the NBA. It's all up to the players and agents. Guaranteed.

[kingjawn100]

Another strange thing...if Jaren Jackson Jr goes 3 to Atlanta, and becomes the best player in the draft/rookie of the year, the Kings will look pretty bad. A big man starved team NOT EVEN WORKING OUT arguably the best big in the draft seems like a dubious move. Obviously he could have turned down an invite to workout and one still may happen but from what it sounds like the Kings have just had no interest. Seems odd.

There is absolutely zero chance that the Kings haven't tried to get JJJ and other top prospects in for a workout. They would get in every first rounder who is willing to come in. That's how these workouts work. They would much rather have first rounders come in than all these players that likely won't make the NBA. It's all up to the players and agents. Guaranteed.

According to Kings beat writers they simply havent had interest in JJJ. Maybe they view him as too long term of a prospect. Weird that the guy many pick to go 3 isn’t even getting a sniff one spot higher.

[codydaze]

Another strange thing...if Jaren Jackson Jr goes 3 to Atlanta, and becomes the best player in the draft/rookie of the year, the Kings will look pretty bad. A big man starved team NOT EVEN WORKING OUT arguably the best big in the draft seems like a dubious move. Obviously he could have turned down an invite to workout and one still may happen but from what it sounds like the Kings have just had no interest. Seems odd.

There is absolutely zero chance that the Kings haven't tried to get JJJ and other top prospects in for a workout. They would get in every first rounder who is willing to come in. That's how these workouts work. They would much rather have first rounders come in than all these players that likely won't make the NBA. It's all up to the players and agents. Guaranteed.

According to Kings beat writers they simply havent had interest in JJJ. Maybe they view him as too long term of a prospect. Weird that the guy many pick to go 3 isn’t even getting a sniff one spot higher.

I see JJJ's ceiling as prime-Ibaka, possibly slightly better. I don't see any superstar potential with him and I know one of your concerns with Doncic is his superstar potential so it's interesting that you're so high on JJJ.

[SacKingZZZ]

Fox is a good finisher?

Yes, a few game savers/winners on tough drives in fact. He can get up and dunk which should open up a lot of opportunities to be able to score off the ball via the lob alone. In his first year he was facing as many teammates at the rim as defenders with so much unnecessary congestion in the paint as Joeger looked to score from the mid paint area instead of using it as a driving lane and he still shot close to 50% at the rim. Those shots should be more open and less contested from here on if they start tilting the game plan towards the strengths of the players.

I couldn’t disagree more. OUtside of those few game winners fox was consistently incapable/unwilling to drive to the lane and score through contact. THat to me was more cocerning than the shooting. Its almost like he got by his whole life on being the fastest /highest jumping player every game he played in and never developed any craftiness at finishing at the rim. Essentially why i doubt the off ball thing will work. I think long term fox may be most valuable as a 6th man spark plug off bench

Incapable? We definitely disagree. The way the team played was a trickle effect from the top down. The amount of spread plays for him, or plays where there weren't at least one if not two bigs in the paint can probably be counted on one hand. When they put in a system that works for him and not against him is when you can fully judge him. Like I said, his rookie at the rim stats when put into context paint a picture that he did well despite his own limitations, the rosters limitations, and stylistic incongruities. As a comparative Mason had to deal with some of the same circumstances and play calls, as a result he shot 40% at the rim.

[SacKingZZZ]

Don't know if this has been posted already: https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/6/18/17471402/nba-mock-draft-2018-perfect-pick-michael-porter-jr-luka-doncic-marvin-bagley-phoenix-suns

2. Sacramento Kings - Jaren Jackson Jr., C, Michigan State [assuming that Phoenix Suns take Luka Doncic at no. 1]

This draft is stacked with talented center prospects, but we’ll take Jaren Jackson Jr. over any of them. He’s going to be the best big man in this class because his game translates to the modern era better than anyone else.

Jackson blocked shots at a better rate than Mohamed Bamba, hit 40 percent of his threes and has the quickness and agility to stay with guards defensively. He didn’t put up huge numbers at Michigan State, but he’ll be better in the pros because his skill set is perfectly suited for today’s game.

The Kings are rumored to like Marvin Bagley III or Michael Porter Jr. with this pick, but Jackson’s long-term potential as a 3-and-D center makes his the most prescient selection.

IMO I thought the Kings needed a big man to shore up the weak front court. JJJ can be another dead eye shooter on a team full of shooters, and he can provide much needed defensive versatility as well. I think that could be a better pick than Ayton, who doesn't seem to have figured out the defensive side yet.

Vlade would never make it out alive if he didn't go Ayton at 2. I just watched a video of Ayton clearing 13 feet on the running vert test. That's somewhat Wilt like.

[SacKingZZZ]

And reports coming out just now that we are still strongly considering Porter (stein/amick). I think the Fox thing is exactly why.

If we do go with Doncic i wouldn’t be shocked to see Fox get traded on draft night. What do you guys think about Fox straight up for #4 from
memphis? We could take Bagley or another big there and keep the roster somewhat balanced.

You still take Luka 2... And one of Porter Jr, JJJ, Bamba at 4

Kings will be miserable once they realize Doncic isn't quick to guard starting PG's in the league

Doncic should look up to players like LeBron James and Ben Simmons. Point Forward not Point Guard.

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Well he is, Lebron is his role model. And because of that, in the latest ESPN interview he said his priority is to work hard in the gym and improve his jump shot. He won't be athletic as Lebron but apparently his goal is to play all 4 positions at some point. He is mad talented and smart but we'll have to see how he does in couple of years.

He's built for a switch defense. I think he's a better defender than Ben Simmons one on one against wings and the switching will nullify the effect screening has on sticky bigger wings like Doncic. Bogdan started to catch the fury of opposing coaches late in the year as well and looked like he's going to stick to a lot of screens also. Both are big enough to guard some 4's and most 3's. I want to see that done because the only other way is to have players like Doncic and Bogdan go under screens and against the better teams that's a death sentence.

[SacKingZZZ]

Yeah I went back and read the yahoo article... I think playing with the ball in your hands isnt exactly playing point in the NBA. I have no issues with Doncic's words here. From the way other posters responded I thought he wanted to be the PG lol. Doncic clearly still wants a Fox type guy on the floor with him.

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Again...Call it whatever you want but the more Luka orchestrates the offense, the more fox essentially becomes a shooting guard...who cant really shoot. That is far from ideal roster construction. Also having your 4 best players all be guards is far from ideal too. Bogi is kind of the forgotten man in that he likes to dribble and initiate as well. A lot of mouths to feed at similar positions.

You really keep overblowing the fit issues with Fox and Doncic. What good team doesn't have two guys that can initiate the offense with the ball in their hands?

Doncic is certainly not as easy a fit as someone like Bagley or even Porter Jr perhaps but it can indeed work. 80's Celtics, I'm telling you, that's the template for style of play. Run, run, run, and run some more. Motion offense in the half court like Joerger prefers with multiple players creating. It can work but if they try and run Doncic as a standard playmaking SG or something it will fail miserably. I haven't nearly as many problems with Doncic as a fit as I do with the coach as a fit. He has to be begging for Bagley right about now.

[SacKingZZZ]

Another strange thing...if Jaren Jackson Jr goes 3 to Atlanta, and becomes the best player in the draft/rookie of the year, the Kings will look pretty bad. A big man starved team NOT EVEN WORKING OUT arguably the best big in the draft seems like a dubious move. Obviously he could have turned down an invite to workout and one still may happen but from what it sounds like the Kings have just had no interest. Seems odd.

You can't look at drafts like that. Atlanta might be in a much better position to take a chance on someone who's more raw than the others like him. Teams that take the best individual player don't always become the best team, so what's more important? If Jackson Jr. becomes an all time great he climbed way up a mountain he's starting lower on than the others around him and that means he found a perfect situation for him and I don't think the Kings are it with Harry Giles still needing TLC not to mention all the tweener bigs the Kings have already.

[BoogieTime]

Another strange thing...if Jaren Jackson Jr goes 3 to Atlanta, and becomes the best player in the draft/rookie of the year, the Kings will look pretty bad. A big man starved team NOT EVEN WORKING OUT arguably the best big in the draft seems like a dubious move. Obviously he could have turned down an invite to workout and one still may happen but from what it sounds like the Kings have just had no interest. Seems odd.

There is absolutely zero chance that the Kings haven't tried to get JJJ and other top prospects in for a workout. They would get in every first rounder who is willing to come in. That's how these workouts work. They would much rather have first rounders come in than all these players that likely won't make the NBA. It's all up to the players and agents. Guaranteed.

According to Kings beat writers they simply havent had interest in JJJ. Maybe they view him as too long term of a prospect. Weird that the guy many pick to go 3 isn’t even getting a sniff one spot higher.

Ham wrote that?

The assumption is he turned down an invite from me. I think not many understand that our rep still comes into play

[BoogieTime]

Let the record state from me that if it’s a trade down, I think Carter is a good prospect in that range. Glad we worked him out. If we can’t get who we want at 2, trading Ayton down for Carter and assets doesn’t hurt me

[jazanetti]

With the likelihood of Doncic or Bagley going #2 then I still think we need some wing length. Jarred Vanderbilt is 6'9" and De'Aaron (who played AAU with him) said he's the best rebounder he's ever seen.

Combining rumors, here's a little plan I threw together:

Nuggets trade 14th pick and Kenneth Faried (they're trying to save $) to Kings for Justin Jackson, Skal Labissiere, and cap space
Kings then flip 14th pick, Zach Randolph, Willie Cauley-Stein, and cap space to Grizzlies for 4th pick and Chandler Parsons

With 2nd pick draft Luka Doncic
With 4th pick draft Marvin Bagley III
With 37th pick draft Jarred Vanderbilt

2018-19 Opening Night Roster
PG De'Aaron Fox/Frank Mason/(2-way player)
SG Bogdan Bogdanovic/Buddy Hield/Iman Shumpert
SF Luka Doncic/Chandler Parsons/Jarred Vanderbilt
PF Marvin Bagley III/Kenneth Faried/JaKarr Sampson
C Harry Giles/Kosta Koufos/Jack Cooley

Sign two new 2-way players with 1 being a PG

At the end this means Bagley for Skal, WKS, Jackson + eating additional 25 millions of dead money till 2020?
Awful!

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How is that awful? Skal isn’t a producer and I see his ceiling as a low-end starter. Willie is going to want a huge contract next offseason. Jackson’s ceiling is maybe a low-end starter.
Edit: these ceilings aren’t really likely. Just possibilities.

The dead money is really like paying the rookie the extra money. I’m all for doing that. It puts us in a better youth situation than we are in right now. I’m extremely surprised if you think that our current situation is better than what these trades would bring us.

I definitely think so) I see a lot of bust potential in Bagley - something between TRob at worst and Faried at best.
I like Skal much more than Bagley as a modern NBA stretch four because of his shooting abilities and size. And Jackson can be very solid 3&D wing, not a star but as good as Ariza.

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[kalenclayton]

At the end this means Bagley for Skal, WKS, Jackson + eating additional 25 millions of dead money till 2020?
Awful!

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How is that awful? Skal isn’t a producer and I see his ceiling as a low-end starter. Willie is going to want a huge contract next offseason. Jackson’s ceiling is maybe a low-end starter.
Edit: these ceilings aren’t really likely. Just possibilities.

The dead money is really like paying the rookie the extra money. I’m all for doing that. It puts us in a better youth situation than we are in right now. I’m extremely surprised if you think that our current situation is better than what these trades would bring us.

I definitely think so) I see a lot of bust potential in Bagley - something between TRob at worst and Faried at best.
I like Skal much more than Bagley as a modern NBA stretch four because of his shooting abilities and size. And Jackson can be very solid 3&D wing, not a star but as good as Ariza.

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I’m not nearly as high on Skal as you are. I think he is closer to being a fringe NBA player than he is to become in a low-end starter. He still could be good, but he’s a gamble. I am not as high on Jackson as you as well. I like him and think he will be a 10-year player, but he’ll likely be a 9th man on a good team. That’s definitely not Ariza territory.

I’m actually low on Bagley and I think he is going to be a rotational player at worst. If I got the 4th pick like this discussion had us getting, I wouldn’t be picking Bagley. I’m fine with him, but I would rather go for the gamble of MPJ. I’d like it even more if we went for Bamba or JJJr. I like them all more than Bagley. I just think that the trade OP suggested is great for us. We could leave with another high potential prospect for the cost of cap space, WCS, Skal, and JJ. That is absolutely fine in my book.

I understand and accept your beliefs. We are allowed to disagree on these players and the trades. I just think we would be in a great spot if we did that trade (and selected someone else).


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[kingjawn100]

There is absolutely zero chance that the Kings haven't tried to get JJJ and other top prospects in for a workout. They would get in every first rounder who is willing to come in. That's how these workouts work. They would much rather have first rounders come in than all these players that likely won't make the NBA. It's all up to the players and agents. Guaranteed.

According to Kings beat writers they simply havent had interest in JJJ. Maybe they view him as too long term of a prospect. Weird that the guy many pick to go 3 isn’t even getting a sniff one spot higher.

Ham wrote that?

The assumption is he turned down an invite from me. I think not many understand that our rep still comes into play

Ham has said that and Givoney was on a pod today and said that both Jackson and Bamba are actively avoiding working out for sac.

The reputation thing is definitely still there, especially in the minds of agents who have been steering their clients from sac for years. Plus there's the reality that sac isn't a glamorous/glitzy city.

[kingjawn100]

Don't know if this has been posted already: https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/6/18/17471402/nba-mock-draft-2018-perfect-pick-michael-porter-jr-luka-doncic-marvin-bagley-phoenix-suns

2. Sacramento Kings - Jaren Jackson Jr., C, Michigan State [assuming that Phoenix Suns take Luka Doncic at no. 1]

This draft is stacked with talented center prospects, but we’ll take Jaren Jackson Jr. over any of them. He’s going to be the best big man in this class because his game translates to the modern era better than anyone else.

Jackson blocked shots at a better rate than Mohamed Bamba, hit 40 percent of his threes and has the quickness and agility to stay with guards defensively. He didn’t put up huge numbers at Michigan State, but he’ll be better in the pros because his skill set is perfectly suited for today’s game.

The Kings are rumored to like Marvin Bagley III or Michael Porter Jr. with this pick, but Jackson’s long-term potential as a 3-and-D center makes his the most prescient selection.

IMO I thought the Kings needed a big man to shore up the weak front court. JJJ can be another dead eye shooter on a team full of shooters, and he can provide much needed defensive versatility as well. I think that could be a better pick than Ayton, who doesn't seem to have figured out the defensive side yet.

Vlade would never make it out alive if he didn't go Ayton at 2. I just watched a video of Ayton clearing 13 feet on the running vert test. That's somewhat Wilt like.

To me Ayton's pretty much can't miss.

Let's talk about worst case scenario. The NBA goes away from bigs, his outside shooting doesn't translate and he remains a mostly ineffective defender...

Based on his sheer massive size and athletic ability he'll still get you 15-18 points on dunks/putbacks/good foul shooting, without an actual play being called for him. He's also pretty much guaranteed to give you around 12-13 rebounds or more per game. And eventhough he's not good on defense he'll still block a couple shots a game and intimidate to some degree just cause he's a massive, athletic dude.

So saying that..the absolute worst case scenario for Ayton is around 15ppg, 12rpg,1.5bpg. That's an exceptionally high floor to have. And the ceiling is him being better than Embiid/Anthony Davis. im in the minority but i think Josh Jackson will be a star in the league so him + Ayton + Booker could make the Suns a real problem for the next 10 years.

[bleeds_purple]

Interesting article here...Doncic seems pretty adament about playing point guard. You wonder what that would mean for fox. Are the kings really drafting point guard in 2 straight drafts??

https://sports.yahoo.com/luka-doncic-might-safest-pick-nba-draft-144228512.html

In the NBA you play the position you can defend. The roles on offense are fluid.

reports coming out just now that we are still strongly considering Porter (stein/amick). I think the Fox thing is exactly why.

If we do go with Doncic i wouldn’t be shocked to see Fox get traded on draft night. What do you guys think about Fox straight up for #4 from
memphis? We could take Bagley or another big there and keep the roster somewhat balanced.

I like Fox, but he doesn't have that value and its not a good fit anyway for Memphis. Why would Memphis trade the #4 for Fox? They are trying to stick with Conley and Gasol.

[nolimit0820]

I still think Kings are going Bagley. Let’s not forget how important comfortability is to Divac. I remember him saying that last year as a reason for not picking someone else. Vlade wants to know who he is picking. Bagley came in for a workout. We’re weak at the 4. He comes from a top program. Book it.

[City of Trees]

According to Kings beat writers they simply havent had interest in JJJ. Maybe they view him as too long term of a prospect. Weird that the guy many pick to go 3 isn’t even getting a sniff one spot higher.

Ham wrote that?

The assumption is he turned down an invite from me. I think not many understand that our rep still comes into play

Ham has said that and Givoney was on a pod today and said that both Jackson and Bamba are actively avoiding working out for sac.

The reputation thing is definitely still there, especially in the minds of agents who have been steering their clients from sac for years. Plus there's the reality that sac isn't a glamorous/glitzy city.

Or they see Giles is already in sac

On a serious note some of you are comical when it comes to the ever elusive Sacramento workout.

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[jeffjtk1234]

Ham and Christie don’t really know much about draft prospects. There podcasts are normally comical in that they don’t seem to actually watch tape, they just follow others leads.

That being said, i just don’t see any rationale for passing on doncic. He’s an automatic pick at 2.

I could tolerate bagley but porter JJJ bamba etc. just don’t move the needle for me.

It’s gotta be doncic.


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[taj2133]

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[City of Trees]

https://www.facebook.com/PeakPerformanceProject/videos/10156356863703864/

P3

As the #NBAdraft approaches, the biggest question surrounding Luka Doncic is if he is athletic enough to be a star in the league… In addition to possessing great positional size and very competitive lateral acceleration, Luka demonstrates elite, Harden-like, physical qualities associated with braking/change of direction compared to our #NBA database. Our Director of Biomechanics provides a breakdown.

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